https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8647-4669
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ABSTRACT
In South Africa, public archives repositories are operating with limited resources and under strenuous circumstances due to low profiles in the public arena. Advocacy as a tool to raise the archival profile in South Africa for the purpose of lobbying support has not been adequately explored by archivists and civil society in the country. The purpose of this study is to examine the archival advocacy initiatives of civil society organizations in South Africa to determine where and how advocacy can be improved. Data were collected through document analysis, interviews and a literature review to examine archival advocacy approaches by archivists and civil society in South Africa. It was established that the role of civil society organizations in raising the archival profile in South Africa had not been adequate. Furthermore, archivists are conspicuous in their absence in the discourse involving archives. Advocacy has the power to influence constitutional, legislation, and policy reformation. The archival community in South Africa needs advocacy in different forms to challenge those in influential offices to serve their (archival community) interests. Unless archivists become advocates for archives, they risk reducing themselves to arid functionaries.
Notes
1. The blog can be accessed on the link http://www.apc.uct.ac.za/apc/projects/archival-platform-opinions.
2. Harris, “Transforming South African Archives,” 1.
3. Ibid.
4. Ngoepe, “Archives and Records Management.”
5. Harris, “Passion for archives,” 193.
6. Ibid.
7. Ngoepe, “Archives without archives,” 151.
8. Ngulube and Tafor, “Archives and Records Management,” 73.
9. See note 7 above.
10. Ngoepe and Ngulube, “Taking Archives to People,” 20.
11. Archival Platform, “State of Archives Report.”
12. Archival Platform, “Decades of Archival Activism.”
13. SALGA, “Records Management in Local Government.”
14. See note 7 above.
15. Ngoepe and Keakopa, “National Archives and Records System.”
16. Mutsagondo and Chaterera, “National Archives of Zimbabwe Act.”
17. Adu and Ngulube, “Preserving the Digital Heritage.”
18. Ketelaar, “Archivistics Research.”
19. Harris, “Redefining Archives in South Africa,” 7.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Desse, Civil Society Organizations.
23. Hackman, Advocacy and the Development of Archives.
24. See note 10 above.
25. Ibid.
26. Onyancha and Ngoepe, “Access to Information.”
27. See note 4 above.
28. See note 23 above.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Ngoepe, “Operationalisation of Gauteng Archives.”
32. Millar, “Transforming Archival Future,” 29.
33. Saurombe and Ngulube, “Public Programming Skills.”
34. Cox, “Teaching Advocacy in Archives.”
35. Ngoepe, “Grand Societal Challenges,” 19.
36. Ibid.
37. See note 32 above.
38. Mojapelo, “Chapter Nine Institutions.”
39. Harris, see note 19 above.
40. Molefe and Schellnack-Kelly, “Users’ Perception of Archives,” 6.
41. Van der Walt, “Re-positioning Archives,” 115.
42. Mukwevho, “Visibility and Accessibility of Archives.”
43. Ngulube et al., “Uniform Strategy,” 74.
44. Mukwevho and Ngoepe, “Taking Archives to People,” 375.
45. See note 42 above.
46. Ai-Shamsi et al., “Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019.”
47. Boles, “Everything There is a Season,” 58.
48. See note 8 above.
49. Druga, “Raising Money,” 141.
50. Ray et al., “Funding Archive Service,” 176.
51. Purcell, Donors and Archives.
52. McKemmish et al., “Advocating Activism.”
53. Pearce-Moses, “Value of Archives,” 4.
54. Ibid.
55. Chartier and Quigley, “Evolving Advocacy,” 38.
56. Yaco and Hardy, “Archivists and Social Activism,” 253.
57. See note 26 above.
58. Adkins and Benedict, “Archival Advocacy.”
59. Manzuch, “Digitisation Initiatives,” 320.
60. Mukwevho, Ngoepe and Ngulube, “Soft Power Theory,” 3.
61. See note 10 above.
62. See note 12 above.
63. See note 33 above.
64. MacNeil and Eastwood, Archival Thinking.
65. Price, Civil Societies.
66. Ibid.
67. Ngoepe, Stir the Dust.
68. Conradie, “South African Society of Archivists,” 86.
69. Corbett, “Advocacy,” 215.
70. See note 68 above.
71. Ibid.
72. Duggan, “Archival Platform.”
73. Dominy, “Administrative and Policy Vacuum,” 393.
74. See note 72 above.
75. See note 33 above.
76. Makhura and Ngoepe, “South African Records Management.”
77. See note 12 above.
78. See note 10 above.
79. See note 26 above.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Makutla Mojapelo
Makutla Mojapelo is currently working as a lecturer at the University of South Africa (Unisa) in the Department of Information Science. Before joining Unisa in 2019, he worked as a records manager for various government institutions in South Africa. He also worked as an archivist at the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa. In 2019, Makutla Mojapelo participated in the first ever International Council on Archives study school for archival educators as one of the identified future leaders. His research interest includes freedom of information, advocacy, public programming, digital curation, cloud computing and big data.
Mpho Ngoepe
Mpho Ngoepe is a professor in the Department of Information Science at the University of South Africa (Unisa). Prior to his current position at Unisa, Prof Ngoepe has worked for the United Nations Children’s Fund, Auditor-General South Africa and the National Archives of South Africa. Prof Ngoepe is serving in the national committee of the South African Society of Archivists (2009-2019) and the board of Eastern and Southern Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (2009-2019) as the editor of the journals. He also serves on the advisory council of the National Archives of South Africa in his capacity as the chair person of Gauteng Provincial Archives. He is the director of the African Team for the multi-national, interdisciplinary research project exploring issues concerning digital records called the International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES Trust) (2013-2018).