Zimpapers Logo

Midlands Bureau Chief
THE Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage is working on establishing an archives centre in each of the country’s 10 provinces to preserve the history of local communities.

So far, the archive centres have been established in four provinces.

Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe said this while officially opening the Zvishavane Community Archive Centre at Shabanie Mine on Friday.

In a speech read on his behalf by his Deputy, Ruth Mavhungu Maboyi, Minister Kazembe said in the long run, the ministry was looking at establishing such centres at district level as a way of preserving culture.

“The mission of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage is to promote a secure and peaceful environment through maintenance of law and order, management of migration, registration and issuance of secure identification documents, regulation of gaming and entertainment activities and preservation of cultural heritage and archival material,” he said.

Minister Kazembe said archives were crucial in preserving an account of the community’s past and present.

“Our target therefore is to initially establish ten provincial community archives, at least one in each province.

More archives will be rolled out at district level, until such a time when we reach village levels. It is our wish to continue cascading these archives downwards as a way of preserving local communities’ history,” said the minister.

He said the Zvishavane Community Archive Centre was the fourth such cultural centre in the country.

The others have since been established at Girls High School in Harare, Arcturus High School in Mashonaland East and Zion Christian Church (ZCC) Mbungo in Masvingo.

He said the location of the Zvishavane Archive Centre was strategic due to the rich mining history of Zvishavane Town.

“The National Archives of Zimbabwe worked synergistically with Shabanie Mine to establish this community archive.

The choice of Zvishavane was very strategic given the town’s rich mining history which is found in various manuscripts, minutes of meetings, policy files, personal files, maps and plans,” he said.

Minister Kazembe said another Archive Centre was also being established in Kariba.