Indeed, media and information literacy are the tools that unveil the intricate webs of information creation and dissemination. To possess such literacy is to wield the power to critically assess news, information, and the multifarious forms of media that surround us. It is our safeguard against the deceptions that seek to befuddle our minds.
In the annals of the past year, the legacy of the revered Madiba faced the tempestuous currents of doubt. In the realm of South African social media, a blaze of allegations and conspiracy theories claimed that the true Madiba departed in 1985 at the age of 67. Whisperings insisted that the 67 minutes of charity, performed as a tribute, were dedicated to this real Madiba, while an impostor named Gibson Makanda, orchestrated by the apartheid government, assumed the revered role. This impostor, the murmurs continued, was the very soul behind the termination of Apartheid and the heralding of South Africa’s democratic era.
The tempest of fake news casts a dark shadow upon our society, threatening the very fabric of truth and certainty. To stand against this tide of deception, the Nelson Mandela Foundation crafted a sanctuary of digital archives, a haven of reliable information accessible to all. In homage to the Global Media and Literacy week, the Foundation urges the people of South Africa, especially the youth and students, to pierce through the cacophony and seek the truth about Madiba from this veritable source: https://atom.nelsonmandela.org.
It was on the 11th of February in 2022 when the Foundation unveiled the Archive at the Centre of Memory (ACoM). In recognizing the urgency of guiding students, researchers, and the public at large, the Foundation laid bare the path to Madiba’s archive and how to navigate the Access to Memory (AtoM) archival system. Amidst the fog of unreliable sources and intentional misinformation, the archivists at the Nelson Mandela Foundation have pledged to bestow upon the youth, students, researchers, and all seekers, the assurance that ACoM shall be their fortress of trust—a bastion from which their inquiries and quests shall emerge fortified with authenticity.
“Yáyá ɖǎa nyu ɓɛ́ ɓě ké ɖɛ ɓě vǐè ma kĩ́ín ɓá ɔ kã́á-ɓòɖò nìà ɖé dyɔún wɛ̃ɛ jè dyíɛɛ dyí dyuò, kɛɛ Yáyá se mɔ́ wa mɔ̀ùn kéɛ jè dyuò.”
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