A digital platform, described as the first of its kind internationally, is to be expanded to store South Africans’ indigenous knowledge (IK) on subjects such as arts, crafts and farming practices.
Derek Hanekom, South Africa’s minister for science and technology, launched the National Recordal System (NRS) on Friday in a bid to “protect, preserve and promote” the country’s IK, which relies heavily on the spoken word.
Hanekom launched the project in Moruleng and said: “It is often said that, when an old person dies in Africa, a whole library disappears.”
Central to the future success of NRS will be the National Indigenous Knowledge Management System (NIKMAS), a secure multimedia digital repository.
Riette Pretorius, project manager at the Meraka Institute, an operating unit for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), said: “The system is unique in that it records African IK in its original oral format, links it to a complex metadata schema, and provides the necessary mechanisms for both positive and defensive protection – the first of its kind internationally.”
The system is already storing IK on African traditional medicine and indigenous foods, but will be expanded to include arts, crafts and farming practices.
So far 21 members of the community have been given computers and cameras and are being trained to use the NRS.
The data will be then be verified by community elders before being submitted to NIKMAS.
IKS documentation centres have been established at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Vuwani Science Centre in Limpopo, Tsengiwe in the Eastern Cape, Thaba Nchu in the Free State, and Tshwane in Gauteng and it is hoped there will be centres in all nine provinces within two years.
