Fires and floods: records, archives management and destruction in Zimbabwe since the colonial period

Abstract

This article investigates the systemic vulnerabilities of Zimbabwe’s records and archives management systems through a historical analysis of archival destruction spanning the colonial era to the present. For a context, this article refers to the destruction of public archives by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) in 1922, the loss of BSAC records during the Nazi bombings in London in 1941, and the damage to archives in Kwekwe (2021) and Harare (2024). Using records management theories, including life cycle and continuum models, the article employs a qualitative methodology that analyses both primary and secondary sources. In doing so, it reveals how the absence of effective policies, inadequate infrastructure, and insufficient collaboration between records-creating agencies and archival institutions has profoundly contributed to the loss of archives and records, not only in Zimbabwe but across Africa, since the colonial period.