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The purpose of this study is to assess the extent to which the Mpumalanga Provincial Archives (MPA) complies with the Mpumalanga Archives Act, 2008 legislative/policy provisions of archives building, capacity building and electronic records management and to suggest recommendations for effective archives and records management (ARM) programme in South Africa.

This paper adopts a quantitative approach supplemented by qualitative data using document review to collect data and content analysis.

The results show that MPA enacted Mpumalanga Archives Act, 2008. However, the challenge is the implementation of such legislation. The findings of this paper would contribute towards the literature in archival legislation in South Africa and other parts of the world.

Even though the paper was based in South Africa, it was limited to the MPA of South Africa.

The findings are expected to be instrumental in the implementation of Mpumalanga Archives Act, 2008.

The findings and recommendations will help in guiding MPA on the implementation of an effective provincial archive and records to facilitate the effective management of records to determine those of archival value, to preserve them for posterity and to make them accessible to the public.

This is an original study using a document review to review the Mpumalanga Archives Act, 1998. The effective archives infrastructure will contribute to compliance with legislative components such as archives building, cooperation, ERMS, appraisal and disposal of records, archives advisory body and access to information.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of climate change on South Africa’s Mpumalanga Provincial Archives (MPA) and related records management activities.

A qualitative research approach/method was used to collect data from the source, including purposive sampling and expert knowledge solicited through semi-structured interviews. A review was undertaken to source climate data and related archival sector literature.

Recent extreme weather events in Mpumalanga seem to bear out climate change projections. The current absence of relevant strategies and plans implies that the MPA and provincial departments are not yet prepared for emergencies. The lack of a plan, an implementation strategy and related training may increase the impact of disasters on the provincial archives’ environment. Without disaster plans and robust preparedness, the question of how the MPA is going to preserve archives for future generations is raised. In addition, due to a lack of guidance for registry staff, appraisal is not allowing for identification and processing of archival materials, so combined with a lack of disaster management strategies and plans contributes to the loss of archives.

This research is limited to the MPA; however, the findings may be extended to other South Africa provincial archives and parts of the world experiencing similar issues. There is a need to conduct similar research on a larger scale so as to explore the impact of climate change in other provincial archives to provide a wider context of the problem within South Africa.

When archivists accept holdings into their repositories, they take the responsibility for their archival custody. But, these efforts may come to nothing if the archives are lost. Disaster management is the key to the protection of the archives.

This paper contributes to the literature on the impact of climate change on archives. The results achieved should be seen as a first step towards identification of the issue.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of volunteerism during the digitisation project by the Office of the Premier in Mpumalanga with a view recommending the best practice.

The empirical data was collected through the semi-structured qualitative interviews with the records manager and ten volunteer archivists employed by the Office of the Premier.

Local pupils within the Mpumalanga province were recruited to participate in the digitisation project as a form of youth empowerment. The Mpumalanga Provincial Archives was not involved in the digitisation project to ensure that all digitisation specification was in line with the requirement of the provincial archives. Furthermore, a lack of resources to implement the digitisation project was cited as the main stamping block for the successful implementation of the project.

This paper is limited to the Office of the premier, in the Mpumalanga province.

Archivists interested in recruiting volunteers on a digitisation project can use this paper to understand the benefits and cost of volunteer labor before putting volunteer projects into practice.

The success of a digitisation project depends on the involvement of the Mpumalanga Provincial archives.

This paper presents a unique case study in South Africa of a digitisation project staffed with volunteers in the office of the Premier.

South African public archives have not been able to transform into active documenters of society. As a result, they cannot carry out their mandate of collecting non-public records of lasting value and national significance and recording aspects of the country’s experience that have previously been ignored by archives repositories. This paper aims to discuss efforts by the Gauteng Provincial Archives to transform the archival landscape in South Africa by collecting sports memories. This is because, in democratic South Africa, the archival landscape was expected to change and reflect the nation’s diversity, despite the fact that it still largely reflected the Western-dominated global mainstream.

This study is based on the authors’ personal experiences with the development and operation of the Gauteng Provincial Archives. The authors are also involved in the Gauteng Provincial Archives’ oral history project, which aims to build an inclusive archive by recording oral histories of sports memories across the province.

The construction of the Gauteng Archives Repository has ushered in a chance to decolonise South African archives by collecting sports memories. These are windows of opportunity through which ordinary people can include their own experiences, filling in the gaps left by colonial and apartheid archives.

This paper offers practical experience in transforming and decolonising archives through collecting sports memories.

This study aims to assess the Venda indigenous archives incorporation into the Limpopo Provincial archives to promote archives decolonisation.

This research is based on a qualitative research method. Interviews conducted with the 10 Limpopo Provincial Archivists and 25 community leaders based in the Venda area were conducted. The semi-structured interview was used to collect data.

It is a South African constitutional mandate for each province to manage its archives. As the former Venda was now part of the Limpopo province, its archives were incorporated into the Limpopo Provincial Archives. The Venda archives incorporation to the Limpopo Provincial Archives did not consider the will of a community member to travel a long distance. Furthermore, challenges faced by archivists such as lack of skills and knowledge to process archival materials, lack of funding and participation in the incorporation of archives materials.

This research confines itself to the Venda indigenous archives created from 1979 to 1993.

This paper addresses archives decolonisation.

The paper has the potential to demonstrate the value of the indigenous archive.

The study can be replicated for other research practices. This case study can be implemented in other parts of the world that face similar circumstances so regarding the transfer of archives and the challenges faced to maintain community knowledge and make them accessible.

In the wake of the fourth industrial revolution, where most information is accessible online, archives should be visible online for them to fulfil their legislated mandate and facilitate access to information resources. The Covid-19 pandemic has further underscored the importance of online platforms in making archives accessible without the public having to visit archival institutions physically. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which public archival institutions of South Africa are visible online with the view to deepen their understanding of how archives promote themselves online.

The study employed content analysis to establish the online content of public archival institutions in South Africa. A google search was conducted using the names of the archival institutions as search terms. The top results obtained after the search were recorded for further analysis.

The findings suggest that public archival institutions in South Africa have limited online presence. Only the National Archives of South Africa had an active website with collections that are accessible online. Some provincial archives had websites hosted by their parent bodies while others had no websites at all. Only the Limpopo and Eastern Cape provincial archives had their Facebook pages in the top results. There were no signs of other social media sites in the top results.

The study concludes that public archival institutions are not visible online. All provincial archives need to have websites where they can be accessed. The use of social media platforms needs to be prioritised. In this fourth industrial revolution age, people communicate and interact online. Public archival institutions should therefore make it their primary mandate to take the archives to where the people are currently meeting.

Despite the availability of the mandate of public archives repositories to “take archives to the people in South Africa”, archives in South Africa remain largely the domain of the elite. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adoption of social media in South Africa as a tool for taking archives to the people especially young people between the age of 13 and 34. The researchers confined the study to all ten public archives repositories in South Africa.

This quantitative study collected data using survey questionnaires and web-based content analysis of social media presence of public archives repositories.

The study revealed that few public archives repositories are using Facebook, followed by Twitter and LinkedIn to engage users. The public archives repositories rely mostly on social media platforms operated by their mother bodies as they are subsidiary units within arts and culture departments in government. As a result, public archives repositories are restricted to operate their own accounts on social media. It is argued that public archives should be allowed by their mother departments to operate their own accounts on social media platforms. Failure to change this restriction could lead to public archival institutions continuing to take archives away from the people, instead of taking archives to the people.

The study sought to provide useful practical implications for public archives repositories as it would serve as a benchmarking tool to enable the development and reporting on the visibility and accessibility of archival material, and thus ensure an increased public knowledge of archives.

The study triangulated data collection instruments that helped to collect as much and as diverse data as possible, which generated the best possible insights into the phenomenon of interest. Previous similar studies in South Africa utilised only survey method with either interviews or questionnaires as data collection tools.

This paper aims to assess the role of archives in documenting African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) records on the liberation struggle of South Africa from 1960 to 1990 with a view to recommending the best method of collection and preservation of archival materials.

Qualitative data were collected through interviews with purposively selected employees of the African National Congress (ANC), the Nelson Mandela Foundation centre of memory, the national heritage and cultural studies at the University of Fort Hare, the National Archives of South Africa and provincial archives of South Africa. Interview data were augmented through content analysis of ANC documents such as policies, websites and annual reports.

The study found a gap of documentation of the role of archives in documenting ANCWL’s contribution to the liberation of South Africa. The National Archives of South Africa did not play a meaningful role to document the history of African National Women’s League in the liberation struggle of South Africa. There was also a lack of coordination of community archives that keep ANCWL archives materials. There is a need to embark on oral history and bilateral relations with overseas archival institutions to repatriate ANCWL archives to South Africa. Furthermore, contemporary history records about the ANCWL records need to be listed, arranged and described and made available to the public.

The research is limited to the role played by the National Archives of South Africa and community archives such as the ANC archives, the Mayibuye Centre archives based at the University of Western Cape in documenting ANC and ANCWL and contemporary issues that impact the development of ANCWL records created from 1960 to 1990.

The findings are expected to be instrumental to document the history of women’s struggle for democracy in South Africa. The ANCWL collection may contribute to social cohesion to enable society to understand the role of ANCWL during the struggle for democracy in South Africa. While the literature on women’s archives is limited, there is still much research that needs to be conducted. Increasing the body of research will strengthen understanding of the role of the National Archives of South Africa and community archives on documenting women’s liberation struggle in South Africa.

The document of women’s history would enrich the archival collection. This means that records with historical, cultural and social significance will be permanently preserved by archives.

The research appears to be the first of its kind to assess the documentation on the role of archives on documenting ANCWL. The archival heritage of women’s struggle for democracy forms part of the national archival heritage of South Africa as they bridge the gap of undocumented history of South Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to assess and compare the current state of archival and records systems in two of ESARBICA member countries, namely South Africa and Botswana.

The paper uses a qualitative research approach. To draw inferences and make recommendations, a survey was conducted in national and provincial archival institutions of both countries. Secondary data were derived from literature search and primary data from questionnaires.

While archives and records services in both countries do have legislation, they are not being recognised and given status in the government and public arena. Archivists and records managers in either country are still marginalised by state administration. There is no political champion of archives and records management in either country. There is a shortage of funds and staff, accompanied by poor infrastructure and lack of vision by the leaders of archival institutions in both countries. In South Africa, the national archives have inherited a role from the previous dispensation and it still remains a subordinate functionary within the Department of Arts and Culture, rather than being relatively independent. In Botswana, the national archival system is centralised and is also a subordinate functionary within the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

The findings and recommendations will help in guiding national and provincial archival institutions in both countries to facilitate the effective management of records to determine those of archival value, to preserve them for posterity and to make them accessible to the public.

This is the first comparative study on archival and reocrds management systems between Botswana and South Africa.

The purpose of this study was to examine the strategies for the preservation of archival materials in the International Council on Archives Section on University and Research Institution Archives (ICA SUV) by the members and to make recommendations for the digital archival preservation to continue its accessibility during the national lockdown because of COVID–19.

This study is based on the survey conducted on the ICA SUV members during the national lockdown. The study used a survey research methodology through e-mails as data collection instruments.

The key findings revealed that most of the sections on university and research institution archives lack digitization preservation strategies and most of their records are not accessible online, as most of their collections are still preserved manually through the paper-based system; furthermore, archivists are not fully trained on digital management. The paper recommends universities to develop preservation strategies to migrate records from the paper-based system to electronic records management system.

The population of the study comprised ICA SUV members, who responded to the survey. Therefore, the sample size and geographical spread were inadequate for generalization of the findings. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that accessibility of the archives was dependent on the quality of digitized archives.

This study demonstrates that the development of a preservation strategy enhances access to archival materials during the national lockdown because of COVID–19.

This paper highlights the plight of university archives and reiterates the need for urgent digitization of their archives of universities all over the world.

To the best of author’s knowledge, this paper appears to be the first to review the responsibilities of archivists now and in the future as the result of COVID–19. This study is confirmed to be on the positive side of COVID–19 and change the archive sector by adapting to information communication technology.