Status Report on the National Archives and Records Service of
SA [Presentation to the Portfolio Committee]

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1. Introduction
2. Project Definition
- Legislative Framework
- Contribution to Nation Building and Social Cohesion
- Objects and Functions of the National Archives in terms of Section 3 the Act
- National Archives Repository: Functions
- Preservation: Functions
- National Film Video & Sound Archives: Functions
- Records Management: Functions
- Security Services: Functions
- Admin & Coordination: Functions

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3. Areas Project is implemented
4. Target group
5. Budget
6. Staffing - Organisational Structure
7. Delivery partners – Stakeholders
8. Role of Provincial Archival Services
9. Role of Local Government
10. Impact made by the Project/Institution
11. Successes - Current Archival Projects
12. Key Challenges
13. Plan to Address the Challenges or Recommendations

• The National Archives and Records Service of South Africa was established by the promulgation of the National Archives of South
Africa Act (Act No. 43 of 1996) as amended;
• This piece of legislation transformed the former State Archives Service into the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa whose mission, function and structure reflect the post apartheid political order;
• The archives constitute a vital part of the nation’s heritage and are a means of enhancing national identity, nation building and empowerment; and
• It should be noted that the implementation of this Act was never costed and this resulted in huge challenges with regard to capacity and implementation.

2.1
The Constitution of South Africa, 1996;
2.2 The National Archives and Records Service of South Africa
Act (Act No.43 of 1996 as amended);
2.3 The Legal Deposit Act (Act No.54 of 1997)
2.4 The Copyright Act (Act No.98 of 1978 as amended);
2.5 The Public Finance management Act (Act No. 1 of 1999);
2.6 The Promotion of Access to Information Act (Act No.2 of
2000);
2.7 The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (Act no.3 of
2000);
2.8 The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (Act
No.25 of 2002);
2.9 Protection of Personal Information Act (Act No.4 of 2013);
2.10 The Protection of State Information Bill;
2.11 Revised White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage; and
2.12 Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS).

The National Archives contributes to the Government’s Programme of Action
(POA) in Outcome 14 viz. Nation Building and Social Cohesion in the following manner:
• by ensuring an inclusive archives with information that is open and accessible to all South Africans.
• through its regulatory role regarding records management in government to ensure proper management and care of public records which is fundamental for transparent and accountable government.

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(a) Preserve public and non-public records with enduring value for use by the public and the State;
(b) Make such records accessible and promote their use by the public;
(c) Ensure the proper management and care of all public records;

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(d) Collect non-public records with enduring value of national significance which cannot be more appropriately preserved by another institution, with due regard to the need to document aspects of the nation's experience neglected by archives repositories in the past;
(e) Maintain a national automated archival information retrieval system (NAAIRS), in which all provincial archives services shall participate;
(f) Maintain national registers of non-public records with enduring value, and promote co-operation and co-ordination between institutions having custody of such records;

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(g) Assist, support, set standards for and provide professional guidelines to provincial archives services;
(h) Promote an awareness of archives and records management, and encourage archival and records management activities; and
(i) Generally promote the preservation and use of a national archival heritage.

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• Collect and to provide access to public and non-public records of enduring value;
• Manage all transfers of records to NARSSA and to provide a quality service to all users;
• Manage intellectual control of strongroom content (collections management);
• Develop finding aids such as inventories for access purposes in line with Encoded Archival Description (EAD);

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• Publicise the NARSSA through a range of outreach activities;
• Implementation of the NARSSA Act and application of the Promotion of
Access to Information Act (PAIA), MISS, etc.; and
• Coordinate and manage Oral History and Memory of the World
Programmes.

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• Provide strategic leadership on preservation and related matters for the NARSSA;
• Provide specialised conservation management support for paper and related records, and manage the physical storage of archival records;
• Manage preservation risks to all archival material and develop intervention strategies to minimise exposure of these collections to such risks;
• Ensure the NARSSA has an approved Disaster Management Plan;

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• Develop strategies for preserving information in other formats such as digitisation and microfilming; and ensure these formats are accessible and preserved accordingly; and
• Provide motivation for resourcing of preservation activities and functions; and

• Collect audio-visual (public and non-public) and related material that was made in or about South Africa;
• Ensure proper preservation of the audio-visual heritage of South Africa;
• Make such records accessible and to promote their use by all South
Africans;
• Promote co-operation between institutions having custody of such records; and
• Promote audio-visual material and the audio-visual industries in South
Africa.

• Appraisal of records of governmental bodies;
• Approval of records classification systems of governmental bodies;
• Determine the conditions subject to which records may be microfilmed or electronically reproduced ( digitisation or scanning of records );
• Determine the conditions subject to which electronic records systems should be managed (e.g. the document and records management functionality in Enterprise Content Management Systems); and
• Inspect public records (MOU with AGSA).

• Implementation of appropriate security measures to protect archival records (National Archives and Record Service of South
Africa Regulations, 2002, Part V, Section 10 (1) (b);
• Implementation of the Minimum Information Security Standards
(MISS);
• Implementation of the Minimum Physical Security Standards
(MPSS);
• Implementation of the DAC Security Policy and Directives; and
• Monitoring compliance to security rules and regulations, investigate non-compliances and report back.

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•
Management of movable assets within the archives;
• Document management/management of workflow and do quality control on correspondence;
• Preparation and coordination of reports(monthly, quarterly, annual,
MTEF, ENE, other ad hoc reports/etc.);
• Risk status updating/monitoring (Risk Management);
• Budget Administration;
• Provision of secretarial/coordination support services to the National
Archives Advisory Council , National and Provincial Heads of Archives
Forum;

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• Buildings Maintenance;
• Housekeeping, grounds maintenance and Hygienic Services;
•
Registry Services;
• Switchboard;
• Cashier and Banking Services; and
• Provision of liaison services with Corporate Governance which includes
HR, Transportation, Procurement, Finance .

The Act provides for:
• A National Archives and Records Service;
• The proper management and care of the records of governmental bodies; and
• The preservation and use of a national archival heritage.

Our Clients are:
• All South Africans as well as visitors from overseas who use our archives; and
• All governmental bodies viz. national government departments and national statutory bodies.

Our total allocation is R10 064 000

PRESERVATION
MANAGEMENT
(Sub-Directorate)
NATIONAL ARCHIVIST (Chief
Directorate)
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
(Directorate)
RECORDS
MANAGEMENT AND
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS (Directorate)
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
REPOSITORY
(Sub-Directorate)
NATIONAL FILM VIDEO
AND SOUND ARCHIVES
(Sub-Directorate)
SECURITY SERVICES
(Sub-Directorate)
Administration and
Coordination (Division)

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7.1 South African Partners
• Department of Arts and Culture (DAC);
• National Archives Advisory Council (NAAC);
• National and Provincial Heads of Archives Forum (NPHAF);
• Archival Platform;
• South African Society of Archivists (SASA);
• South African Records Management Forum (SARMAF);
• AGSA Records Management Stakeholders Forum. The following institutions are stakeholders in this forum: the Presidency, the Auditor
General, the National Treasury, the Department of Public Service and
Administration (DPSA), the Department of Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs (COGTA), South African Local Government Association
(SALGA) and the State Information and Technology Agency (SITA). The
Forum mutually acknowledges the importance of effective and efficient management of public records as a cornerstone of an open and accountable government;
• South African Preservation and Conservation Group (SAPCON);

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7.1 South African Partners
• Oral History Association of South Africa (OHASA);
• Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA);
• Government Audiovisual Stakeholders Forum;
• AFDA Film School;
• Gauteng Film Commission;
• Durban Music House;
• Music Expo;
• The Refinery;
• Videolab;
• SABC Archives;
• Legal Deposit Committee;
• South African Bureau of Standards; and
• Nelson Mandela Foundation.

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7.2 International Partners
• International Council on Archives (ICA);
• Eastern and Southern African Branch of the International Council on
Archives (ESARBICA);
• UNESCO Memory of the World Programme;
• Federation of International Film Archives (FIAF);
• Federation of International Television Archives (FIAT);
• International Association of Sound and Audio Visual Archives (IASA);
• L’institut National de l’audiovisuel (INA);
• International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM);
• Mitsubishi - Japanese Grant in Aid; and
• International Standards Organisation (ISO).

Schedule 5 of the Constitution of 1996 designated the function of archives other than national archives as an exclusive provincial competency, establishing a constitutional imperative for the devolution of the function, which had been performed in the national sphere since its inception after
Union. However as a majority of the provinces inherited little or no archives infrastructure, their capacity to regulate and render services connected to archives and records management has been underdeveloped and a conditional grant to the archives sector could improve the current situation.
Provincial Archives do not fall under the jurisdiction of the National Archives and its mandate, the National Archives and Records Service of SA Act (No.
43 of 1996, as amended), but are independent institutions with provincial archival legislation as their mandates.

Local authorities in South Africa, in terms of archives and records management, fall under the jurisdiction of the different provincial archives services and their provincial archival legislation. In other words they are client offices of the different provincial archives where they reside.

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Output for the 2013/2014 financial year:
• visits by researchers to NAR: 3212
• records provided to researchers at NAR: 36 293
• photocopies provided to researchers at NAR: 45 701
• visits by researchers to Reading Room at NFVSA: 36
• PAIA requests dealt with: 27
• file plans evaluated for governmental bodies: 54
• disposal authorities issued: 12
• learners visiting the NARSSA during open week: 493 (15 schools)
• Oral History projects: 3
• conferences arranged: 1
• exhibitions participated in: 6
• linear metres records arranged and described: 153.60
• productions described / content generated: 113

11.1 Dictabelt Project;
11.2 Rivonia Trial Digitisation Project;
11.3 Revamping of the NAAIRS Project;
11.4 Revamping of the NARSSA Website Project;
11.5 Capital Works Projects; and
11.6 11 th Annual History Conference

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• The Rivonia Trial turned 50 years in 2013. This Trial was captured in the dictabelt format. Other important court proceedings were also captured on dictablets. The dictabelt technology is an obsolete form of recording;
• Volumes of dictabelts that are preserved at the National Archives are not accessible because of the obsolescence of the technology;
• On 20 December 2013, an Agreement between DAC and L’Institut
National De L’Audiovisuel (INA) was signed to digitise 555 Rivonia Trial
Dictabelts; and
• The aforementioned agreement forms the basis of a project where approximately R 3 500 000,00 are made available by INA and the
International Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA) “Save your
Archives” programme to enable the digitisation and ultimately access to this landmark trial in South African History.

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• On 10 October 2014 the Dictabelt Project started when the Acting
Director-General of DAC, Mr Vuyo Jack, symbolically handed over a sample of the dictabelts of the Rivonia Trail to the French Ambassador,
Ms Elisabeth Barbier, at a handover function at the National Archives and
Records Service of SA; and
• On 12 October 2014 two archivists of the National Archives and Records
Service of SA took the first consignment of the dictabelts of the Rivonia
Trail to France where INA will digitise the analogue audio recordings.

• An agreement was signed between NARSSA and the Nelson Mandela
Foundation(NMF) to digitise the Rivonia Trial records donated to DAC
(NARSSA) by the Brenthurst Library;
• The actual digitisation was done by a service provider while the
NARSSA is responsible to do the quality control and to assist the NMF in describing the images in AtoM; and
• The status of the project is at 66%.

• According to the Highlight Report the current status of the Revamping of the NAAIRS Project = 77 %;
• The Project is still in the Configuration Stage;
• 53 members of staff received training on different levels of MS Word,
Excel and PowerPoint to ensure computer literacy and to prevent staff not struggling with basic computer literacy when implementing the “New
NAAIRS ”;
• AtoM ( Access to Memory) has been created by DAC IT on a NARSSA server, staff will be able to play with the system to give feedback to the
SITA development team on short comings of the system;
• Staff will receive training in AtoM before implementation; and
• Implementation is planned for the 24 February 2015.

• 12 members of staff received informal training on how to upload content to the new NARSSA website;
• The testing of the functionality on the testing site against the User
Requirement Specifications started; and
• Due to the interdependency between these projects they will be implemented concurrently.

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A major refurbishment of the National Archives building started on 16
January 2013. The work includes the:
• re-design of the front entrance of the building and the security control room;
• connected to this, all the security systems throughout the building would receive attention;
• replacement of the entire fire detection and suppression systems in the building;
• replacement of the entire air-conditioning and ventilation systems in the building to ensure that all the records are kept at the correct temperature and the correct humidity;
• replacement of the static shelves in the strongrooms with mobile shelves. Mobile shelving would create more than 20% additional space in each strongroom (Total = ±15 000 linear metres);

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• The Old Library Building complex was retained by DAC when the NLSA moved out to the new building and was then handed over to the
National Archives for use;
• A project to refurbish the complex is in the process to be finalised. The tender applications to do the work have closed on 4 March 2014;
• It is expected that the project will be completed by June 2015. About 10
000 linear metres of additional shelving space will be created by this project; and
• A smaller project, whereby two strongrooms were refurbished, was completed in April 2013. This created shelving space of just more than
2000 linear metres which was allocated to the Department of Justice.

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•The Annual National Oral History Conference was successfully hosted from 14-17 October at Cedarwood Hotel Johannesburg with the theme
“ Celebrating 20 years of Democracy: Oral History and the Politics of
Transformation ”
•The conference was opened by the Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture
Ms R. T. Mabudafhasi . The MEC of Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts
,Culture and Recreation Ms Molebatsi Bopape officiated the conference.
•Messages of support from MECs responsible for Archives were read
•The conference was attended by approximately 170 delegates, practitioners from all over South Africa

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•Media interviews were held with Minister Nathi Mthethwa, Deputy Minister
Rejoice Mabudafhasi, President of OHASA Prof Sekibakiba Lekgoathi, Dr
Wally Serote, Acting National Archivist Ms Mandy Gilder and other relevant oral history practitioner.
•Conference resolutions included – Need for the training of learners on oral history methodology, partnerships with heritage institution and a drive to archive projects conducted by institutions
•It is envisaged that the 12th Annual Oral History Conference will be held in
KwaZulu Natal from 13-16 October 2015

• Inadequate budget;
• Severe staff shortages (e.g. positions not funded and filled);
• Career pathing / Succession planning;
• Inadequate space to house the accrual of records;
• Obsolete systems and equipment; and
• Professional training.

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• The amendment of the NARSSA Act is underway;
• A service provider for a feasibility study for a Conditional
Grant on archival services has been appointed;
• A costed feasibility report on a possible conditional grand will be submitted to National Treasury; and
• The grant once approved, will be used to address the key challenges as reflected on Silde 39. These challenges will mainly be around HR, capital works projects, ICT and equipment.