MultiChoice, the ANC and the University of Fort Hare have collaborated to digitise the political party's archives spanning almost a century.
These archives, comprising video and audio tapes, printed material and photographs from 1910-2002, are now available on the ANC's "Archive" Web site and are accessible to all. The digitised archives were handed over to the ANC at a special ceremony in Sandton last week.
"MultiChoice is proud and honoured to partner the ANC on a project that helps preserve a part of South Africa's history and heritage. The website will make documentation from the liberation struggle available to a much wider public," said Nolo Letele, executive chairman of MultiChoice.
MultiChoice sponsored digital equipment at the University of Fort Hare to convert the physical archives to digital format. A Web portal was created to host the digital archives which included meeting notes, agendas, speeches, policy and personal documents held by various stalwarts of the liberation struggle, such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo.
Researchers or institutions can register on the Web site to gain access to the full archives. Researchers, students and even educational institutions can also use the Site to request copies of material from the archives.
"The ANC is thrilled on the partnership with MultiChoice, University of Fort Hare and the Dutch Embassy. This initiative will take us forward into the information and knowledge age, which will benefit the nation and generations to come," said Baleka Mbete, national chairperson of the ANC. "This project will enrich our history as a nation as it will correctly capture historic moments that took place during the period of the struggle and beyond."
The project digitised over 25 000 pages, 2 193 audio tracks, 20 000 photos and 774 videos over a period of six months. A dedicated team of 40 cataloguers from the ANC, the University of Fort Hare and elsewhere were assigned to perform the preservation of the archive material. The original archives are officially housed at the University of Fort Hare and could previously only be viewed by the public when visiting the University. Going forward, the University of Fort Hare will manage the archives and continue to digitise further important historical records.
Additional digitised material was presented to the ANC by the Dutch Embassy. This will also be featured on the Web site.
"The Netherlands wants to contribute to peace, security and prosperity in the world," said Andr'e Haspels, ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Republic of SA. "The transfer of the ANC Archives from The Netherlands to South Africa underlines the respect that we have for South Africa's rich history."
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