THE ROLE OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF ZIMBABWE IN FOSTERING PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT OF EMAIL IN ZIMBABWE’S CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

Abstract

Management of emerging technologies such as business electronic mail (email) has been a perennial challenge in many developing countries. Amongst challenges to effective management of email are lapses in legal, policy and procedural frameworks, skills and information and communication technology infrastructural deficiencies. The national archival authority in Zimbabwe, the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ), has received a lot of criticism for failing to give direction and help public institutions in managing email in accordance with the provisions of Section 6 of the NAZ Act (1986) which gives the NAZ a superintending role in the management of records in any format in the country. This paper traces the current interventionist role that the NAZ is playing with regards to the management of email. The article focuses on Zimbabwe’s central government where head offices of 12 out of 22 government ministries participated in the study. This mixed methods research sought to tackle the research question from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. A total of 240 records officers, administration officers and information technology officers completed questionnaires while seven NAZ archivists, the NAZ director, one Administration Director and one Information Technology Director from central government participated as interviewees. The study revealed that NAZ had of recent begun to play a more proactive role in helping central government manage email properly and professionally although the assistance was not vibrantly felt across the length and breadth of the entire public service.