N Botha: Gamohle National Archives Oral History Project

14 September 2007

Programme Director
Chief Executive Office of the Northern Flagship
Institute, Mr Makgolo
Deputy National Archivist
Ms Gilder
Colleagues
Distinguished guests
Esteemed Ladies and gentlemen

The year 2006 (last year) marked the National celebration of the 50th
anniversary of the 1956 Women's Anti-pass March to the Union Building here in
Pretoria. On 8 August last year we were here to launch the Gamohle/National
Archives Oral History project which has as one of its objectives the
documenting of the stories related to that historic march. We are here again
today to conclude this project and to assess the information gathered during
this period.

In designing the Oral History Project, Northern Flagship Institution (NFI),
Gamohle and the National Archives focussed on three things:

* gathering the stories of women who participated in the 1956 March
* skills development
* strengthening the relationship between the youth and elderly people.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants in this
programme, who were willing to share their invaluable stories with our team. By
so doing they will also be sharing their stories with the broader South African
society as we have intentions to publish some of the stories.

Today we would also like to congratulate our team who conducted the oral
history interviews for the excellent work they have been doing. I am sure that
they have learnt a lot from these stories and that this exercise has also been
very rewarding for them.

The National Archives of South Africa Act (43 of 1996) as amended,
emphasises the need to "collect non-public records with enduring value of
national significance which cannot be more appropriately preserved by another
institution, with due regard to the need to document aspects of the nation's
experience neglected by archives repositories in the past".

Telling stories is a significant aspect of the culture of the people of
South Africa. That is why the National Archives uses this method as a means of
collecting and documenting the experiences and memories of South Africa's past
that was deliberately neglected and distorted by the colonial and apartheid
systems. They caused a deliberate omission of African knowledge, technologies,
stories and philosophies.

This omission resulted in various aspects of African life such as power
relations, gender relations, economy, health, law, and child rearing practices
etc, not to be documented at all or, if documented at all, it was from the
point of view of the former colonialists.

In 1932 the Bantu Commissioners' Office, better known to the local people as
gaMohle was established in Pretoria as a result of the New Group Areas Act of
1923. The building served as a new administration office with the purpose of
controlling influx and labour. It was also the office which issued the
notorious pass documents to African people.

Last year at the launch of this project I specifically indicated that Oral
History is a tool that can be used to address challenges faced by all of us
charged with preservation of our heritage.

It is important to tell our stories to the younger generation while time
still permits. Our parents and our grandparents, who are bearers of this
memory, may not be around for much longer. Yet, they are the custodians of this
memory. We should not miss the opportunity of documenting the authentic history
of our people, lest history judge us.

From the research that has been done, it is clear that for centuries African
women were pioneers when it came to resisting the wholesale contemptuous
degradation and dehumanisation of women in the social, cultural, economic and
political system. And I daresay that women made a significant contribution in
the struggle for liberation and freedom. It is absolutely imperative for us to
rewrite our history to accurately reflect and record that contribution made by
women of our country.

Even though the struggle against apartheid is considered to be over by some
people in this country, we all need to be mindful of the fact that the struggle
for economic empowerment and the total emancipation of women is not over
yet.

A proper history of the women's struggles in South Africa in general, as
well as in South Africa's liberation struggle still remains to be properly
researched, written and documented. For example, not much has been written
about the struggle of women which resulted in their inclusion as full members
of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1943. It is absolutely important that
this history be documented.

During 2000 the then Department of Arts Culture Science and Technology now
the Department of Arts and Culture was mandated by cabinet to conceptualise and
spearhead a National Oral History Programme for South Africa.

The purpose of this programme was to supplement information already existing
in our country's archival holdings by documenting distorted or neglected
stories. In addition, The White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage provides
for the promotion, protection, creation and funding of South Africa Arts,
including written and oral literature, culture and heritage.

The programme started with an oral history pilot project whose theme was the
1956 Women's Anti-Pass March to the Union Buildings. National Archives staff
conducted the interviews with about 10 to 15 ordinary and prominent women. The
results are preserved at the National Archives of South Africa.

The National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Act 43 of 1996
also determine that the National Archives "maintain a national automated
archival retrieval system, in which all provincial archival services shall
participate".

Consequently, the National Archives has developed and maintains a National
Register of Oral Sources (Naros), amongst others, in order to fulfil this
mandate. The results of this pilot project are already registered in
Naros.
The department appointed a panel of historians, musicologists,
ethnomusicologists, sound archivists, and internationally renowned musicians,
to deliberate on the identification, promotion and preservation of oral history
and indigenous music.

It is critical for our communities to reclaim the space of indigenous and
community knowledge in the promotion of social, economic and cultural
development. Challenges such as poverty, unemployment, rural development, urban
renewal, crime and diseases of poverty such as tuberculosis, cholera, HIV and
AIDS can be addressed by invoking remedies that were successfully used in the
past.

Oral History is a powerful way of reconstructing those aspects of the
nation's memory. It can also be used to develop capacity in our education
system. Eliciting oral tradition is vital to fill the gaps in the education
system. It is important to integrate this knowledge not only into the formal
curricula, but also into indigenous education.

In addition, the dissemination and management of information and knowledge
is crucial to the restoration of the human dignity of millions of our people,
more importantly, to the effective realisation of a united, non-racial,
non-sexist, democratic and prosperous nation.

Furthermore, oral history provides alternative narratives, fresh information
and new insights into our understanding of the past. It stimulates positive
social practices which could enhance the well-being of all the people of South
Africa Oral history benefits the communities in the following ways.

Firstly, it provides emotional support to people through affirmation and
healing. Secondly, it assists communities in eliciting traditional support
systems in matters such as food conservation, burials of their loved ones or
traditional medicine. Communities should derive some benefits from the
commercialisation of commodities produced with the help of indigenous knowledge
accessed through oral history.

The Department of Arts and Culture together with other relevant government
departments will not only be accountable for documenting the nation's neglected
memory but will also endeavour to implement the following programmes:

* training of collection practitioners
* developing a code of conduct for practitioners
* awareness campaigns
* reviewing and updating of the National Register of Oral Sources (Naros)
* the inclusion of Oral History in the school curricula and initiate pilot
projects targeting schools
* promotion of new projects through Nasa outreach programmes
* support for existing projects
* publications and dissemination of Oral History knowledge
* networking with oral history practitioners in the rest of the world
particularly in Africa
* establishment of a National Oral History Association. I am happy to inform
you that the Oral History Association was established in 2004.

The national archives are the custodian of valuable Oral History projects.
Our children and generation to come will appreciate the complete scope of
history that truly reflects our diverse and rich culture.

I am actually very excited about this project, and am looking forward to
what I consider it to be a project re-writing history from a women's
perspective. We have come a long way since 1956; we have made many gains as
women. We do acknowledge that a lot still has to be done. If this project can
yield the results that we hope for, of re-writing our history and filling in
the gaps so that it is authentic and credible, we will have achieved a lot, not
only for ourselves, but for future generations.
There is so much that our young people can learn from the stories of the people
of this country, stories that will assist them in confronting the challenges
that they face today.

I am also very happy that the young people who were involved in this project
have learnt valuable lessons from this rich history and will be able to pass on
the skills and knowledge to other young people in the rest of this country. A
good repository once systemised leads to the establishment of a good archive. A
good archive, in return, stimulates good research. Good research leads to good
publications. This sequence has significant implications for the South African
education system and the history of women as told by women, form their own
perspective.

In conclusion let me, once again, thank and congratulate the staff of the
National Archives and Gamohle for the job well done. The work begun must
continue.

Nangamso! Le ka moso!

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
14 September 2007
Source: Department of Arts and Culture (http://www.dac.gov.za)