The Importance of Documentation Strategies

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dissemination of information on various components of indigenous knowledge within, but not limited to the ‘African traditional medicine and indigenous foods’. This indicates that despite the availability of documentation centers, the practices of Vhomaine is not well covered, hence the IKS Policy (2004:30) dictates that the mechanisms for recording the IK by IK holders should be developed. It can be concluded that the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Documentation Centers (IKSDC) is meant for the preservation of the indigenous knowledge but not indigenous health knowledge of Vhomaine who sometimes see visions, have dreams and go on trance and such cannot be documented as they happen. Therefore, the investigation of the documentation of Vhomaine’s practices becomes of paramount importance.

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and mechanisms for recording and preservation of indigenous knowledge for future use by future generations.

Kudzayi & Musingafi (2013:19) evaluated strategies that are in place to protect indigenous knowledge and discussed the role of legislation in the general protection of Science and knowledge with emphasis on the indigenous knowledge systems and indigenous health knowledge and their systems. Mapara (2009) notes that African people rely on indigenous knowledge for medicinal and herbal needs, food supply, conflict resolution and spiritual growth. If these are not recorded and well documented, there is a possibility of losing this knowledge. In support of the IKS Policy (2004:35), Kudzayi & Musingafi (2013:20), with regard to the loss of oral forms of recording, storing and preserving information, assert that indigenous knowledge is mostly stored in peoples’ minds and passed on through generations by word of mouth rather than in written form, and it is therefore vulnerable to change, and hence, its documentation is imperative. Kudzayi & Musingafi (2013:20) further identified the factors that contribute to the loss of indigenous knowledge such as development process like rural / urban migration, changes to population structure and modern technology like radio and television. These factors were also identified by the IKS Policy (2004) such as technological development. The aforementioned aspects can be recorded through written form as indigenous knowledge and indigenous health knowledge. The writers are silent about the documentation process of Vhomaine’s practices especially the diviners when they consult with their ancestors / living-dead. The strategies for documentation therefore cannot come-up without collaborating with Vhomaine. The application of the organizational knowledge creation theory which allows internationalization is thus important.

The need and importance of documentation was again noted by Kudzayi & Musingafi (2013:20) who maintain that the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) argued that there is a need to protect indigenous or traditional knowledge from exploitation for financial gain by the third parties. The only way to save this knowledge is through recording and documentation. What is silent from their approach is which

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person/s or the bodies should be responsible for documentation of the knowledge. The role that needs to be played by the knowledge holders in this process is not voiced out.

These unanswered questions leave much to be desired. The argument is that if the knowledge holders do not know and understand how their knowledge should be documented for future use, it will be difficult to close the identified gap in this study.

Masango & Mbarika (2015:43-59) explore global debates concerning documenting IK about Africa’s complementary and alternative medicine (e-ACAM) and further explore whether it is possible to document both the common and uncommon knowledge about e-ACAM. This stems from the notion that the ethnopharmacological information of medical plants is fast disappearing. The herbalists are in the advanced position to document herbs and animal portions used for healing. It is argued that the same symptoms do not need the same herbs for healing. The diviners argue that they need to be shown first by the ancestor / living-dead. Masango & Mbarika (2015:44) avert that the report on traditional Chinese medicine by the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2010) indicates that traditional Chinese medicinal practitioners use herbs and other methods to treat a wide range of conditions. However, the documentation strategies were not proposed. The IKS Policy (2004) proposes that strategies for documentation to be mined for Vhomaine’s health knowledge need to be developed. The development of such need not to be one-sided. The African indigenous people such as nurses working in biomedical professions, have moved from the traditional way of healing. Vhomaine are therefore left in isolation. This idea has been supported by Zuyderduin et al (2015:1) who maintain that training African nurses under the educational model in the Western biomedical tradition has resulted in a loss of connection with indigenous knowledge systems as well as undervaluing the merits of intuition and the spiritual paradigm. The value for money attached to biomedical practitioners such as nurses and doctors at the expense of the traditional health practitioner such as Vhomaine who could perform healing practices for free or at a lower cost has also been demonized. The earning of a salary by a particular sector of the practitioners also played a role in undermining the indigenous health practitioners and their knowledge.

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The Indigenous Knowledge Systems Policy (2004:15), in recognizing the important de facto role of traditional medicine in South Africa, promulgated the Traditional Health Practitioners Act No. 22 of 2007 which maintains that there is a need to intensify Research and Development work, particularly in relation to the recording and support of traditional healers’ safety and accessibility, amongst others. On the very same nerve, as already indicated, the need by the South African Government to explore further mechanisms towards the development of recording and documentation strategies of indigenous knowledge becomes imperative.

The World Health Organization (WHO) secretariat report on Traditional Medicine, (13 December 2013:2), EB134/24, Provisional Agenda item 9.1, states that more countries have gradually come to accept the contribution that traditional and complementary medicine can make to the health and well-being of individuals. The report further states that Member States in the South-East Asia Region are now pursuing a harmonized approach to education, practice, research, documentation and regulation of traditional medicines. This trend needs follow-up for the South Africans to tap from best practices.

However, the question remains on how the indigenous health knowledge of Vhomaine which is informed by and mostly guided by the ancestral spirits or the ‘living-dead’ could be formally recorded and documented using current technology, hence the documentation is of maximum importance. Only the herbalists can use the current technology but the problem is when they wrongly tap the knowledge from the diviners.