The Nola and Nick Steele Archival Collection was launched by UKZN Special Collections and the Alan Paton Centre and Struggle Archives (APC), in partnership with the Steele family and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam on 25th April. The guest of honour at the function at the Leeb-du Toit Council Chambers on the Pietermaritzburg campus was Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a longstanding personal friend of the Steele family.
Speaking at the launch, APC Senior Librarian, Mr Nazim Gani said that 25 April marked the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Centre. Former Principal of the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Professor Colin Webb said that ‘the aim of the APC is to build up around the core donation from Mrs Anne Paton a study and research centre devoted to the literature and politics of intergroup conciliation – two of the deepest concerns of Alan Paton’s life. The APC is a facility for the living, an instrument for carrying forward the struggle for improved human relations that filled so much of Paton’s essentially human life.’
Nola and Nick Steele’s collection, which was donated by their sons, is a combination of personal and work related documentation, diaries, artwork, letters, reports, and minutes of meetings encompassing the period 1949-2008. It sheds light on the history of nature conservation in Natal and Zululand, now KwaZulu-Natal, the many dilemmas that have arisen over the years and the various roles this dedicated couple played.
Mr Peter Rutsch added his collection to the Steele material. It relates to the Association for Rural Advancement’s bid to protect the rights of local communities around Maputaland, Tembe and Ndumo Game Reserve. Rutch worked for the Legal Resources Centre in Durban and interacted, often representing opposite sides, with Nick Steele. He is still active as a lawyer concerned with nature conservation.
Associate Professor at the Department of Organization Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and at the African Studies Centre Leiden, Professor Harry Wels said, ‘It is my honour and privilege to say a few words at the launch of the Nola and Nick Steele Collection. I worked with both of them extensively over the last 20 years, with Nola when she was still with us and with Nick through the legacy of his work, his books and diaries and other personal papers.’ He added, ‘Nick and Nola resisted and stood firm for the principles of humanity that apartheid forbade by law and enforced by intimidation.’
Professor Ida Sabelis, Associate Professor at the Department of Organization Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, observed that, ‘the thought of including the voices of women, of including their perspective in the history of nature conservation was the beginning of the venture, of which the archive presentation is one milestone among many more to come.’ She added: ‘in the same way that Nola and I shared an interest in telling the women’s side of the conservation saga, this archive may serve to take yet another step: to ultimately also include the voices of the Zulu game guards and their wives and children, who shared the successes and the hardship of nature conservation in KwaZulu-Natal. That is our long-term wish, which always motivated the building of this archive.’
Ms Rosa Deen archived the collection as part of a project of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. ‘By making it accessible to researchers and the public, it is my hope that it will open the way to new projects we cannot even imagine yet on the history of conservation in KwaZulu-Natal,’ she said.
In his closing remarks, Buthelezi said: ‘at the height of apartheid, a 25-year-old white game ranger came to my home at KwaPhindangene and spoke with great passion about conservation and the need to set aside land for game reserves. It is essential that we protect this accumulated knowledge that not only honours the Steeles for their work, but gives us invaluable insight into the history of nature conservation in KwaZulu-Natal, at a time of great political turmoil.’
