National Archives of South Africa: Strategic Plan for 1997-2007

Introduction

The National Archives of South Africa Act (43 of 1996), which came into operation on 1 January 1997, established the foundation on which a new archives system will be built for South Africa. This Strategic Plan attempts to set medium and long-term objectives for the National Archives in its endeavours to implement the Act and contribute to the building of the new system. Obviously any projection ten years into the future is a tenuous exercise. One of the key variables is state funding, which at present is inadequate to enable the National Archives to fully meet its legislative mandate. The Strategic Plan assumes no major variations in the level of such funding.

• It is envisaged that transformation will remain the central theme of National Archives endeavour until 2007. The term is used to refer to a range of processes designed to reshape the National Archives into an organisation geared to the successful implementation of the new Act, and one which promotes and fosters democratisation both internally and in the broader context of its operations. Many of these processes are government-wide or Departmental in scope. Others are specific to the National Archives, and are rooted in the Act. These processes are unfolded (together with related objectives) in this Strategic Plan.

• A Head of Transformation was appointed in 1997 with responsibility for driving transformation processes. She will do this through a powerful monitoring function and the utilisation of workshops, discussion groups, external training and other mechanisms. It is envisaged that this position will remain a key element of the senior management team through 2007.

• Appropriate training to support transformation is dealt with under human resources elsewhere in this Plan.

• Specific projects related to transformation are dealt with under appropriate headings elsewhere in this Plan.

• The National Archives will continue facilitating the provincialisation process, the ultimate objective of which is the establishment of nine provincial archives services. Every endeavour will be made to ensure that this objective is reached by 2007.

• By 2007 the National Archives should be focused on the management of national level public records and a broad national co-ordinating role.

 

Supporting transition

South Africa's transition to democracy is all-embracing. Apart from attending to its internal transformation processes and supporting provincialisation, the National Archives will:

• participate in government-wide programmes;

• participate in Departmental transformation processes;

• contribute to the drafting of other legislation (e.g. the National Heritage Bill) which will become part of the broader archival legislative framework; and

• assist and support bodies such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of the Restitution of Land Rights in their work.

 

International engagement

• The National Archives will continue to be an active member of the international archival community, promoting interaction with other nations and fulfilling its responsibilities as a member of the International Council on Archives and other international organisations.

• It will concentrate on its role in the southern and eastern African region, supporting the exchange of experience and expertise.

 

Special projects

A range of special projects are planned for the period 1997-2007. Only those which cannot be positioned elsewhere in this Plan are dealt with here.

• Facilities will be upgraded to meet the needs of the physically challenge.

• The appointment of the National Archives Commission will be facilitated, and thereafter close professional liaison will be maintained with it.

• The National Film, Video and Sound Archives will be thoroughly upgraded.

• The microfilming and return to Namibia of records created in Namibia but removed by South Africa before that country's independence will be managed.

 

LINE FUNCTIONS

Acquisition, custody and control

• By 2007 all acquisition of public records will be managed in terms of a strategic plan with supporting infrastructure.

• The acquisition of non-public records will be managed in terms of a collecting policy designed to redress apartheid imbalances and to fill the gaps in official memory.

• Close involvement in oral history projects will be essential.

• Current infrastructure for the management of electronic records will be expanded to support the systematic identification and acquisition of electronic records with archival value.

 

Arrangement and description

• The professional arrangement and description of paper-based textual records is an area of crisis, with acquisitions far outstripping our capacity to process them. Our objective is to have successfully addressed the backlog by 2007.

• It is also aimed to add 250 000 records to the computerised information retrieval system every year.

• The computerised national register will be promoted vigorously, with the aim of increasing the number of participating organisations by 50%.

• A National Register of Oral Sources will be launched and developed.

• Improving the quality of our finding aids is of vital importance. A programme for their thorough upgrading (and translation where necessary) will be put in place.

 

Preservation

This is an area of crisis, with over 50 million pages of paper-based records in urgent need of restoration. Our present four-pronged preservation strategy (pre-archival intervention, preventive preservation, media conversion and restoration) will be maintained, but:

• the repair and maintenance of our air-conditioning system will be upgraded;

• an in-house microfilm unit will be established and the options for digital imaging investigated;

• the restoration unit will be expanded; and

• in-house repair work will be boosted by the training of staff and purchase of appropriate materials.

 

Access and use

• Every effort will be made to improve and expand our capacity to provide ready access to holdings.

• The provision of additional user support staff will be a priority.

• Capacity to provide support in all the official languages will be strived for.

• Full compliance with the requirements of the Open Democracy Act will be ensured.

• A site on the Internet will be secured, providing access both to information about the National Archives and to our archival holdings.

 

Public programming

The overarching imperative here is twofold: to reach a wider audience, with special emphasis on the less privileged sectors of society; and to become a key player in broader processes designed to preserve and promote South Africa's archival heritage. To these ends, the National Archives will:

• expand and diversify its publications programme, with special emphasis on the needs of indigenous language speakers and of school going children;

• promote the importance of orality to social memory;

• manage open days, exhibitions, group visits, extended reading room hours and other outreach projects;

• work with other stakeholders towards integrating and improving archival education and training in South Africa;

• provide advice, assistance and training to institutions throughout the region; and

• put in place a comprehensive set of user service evaluation instruments.

 

Records management

In terms of the new Act, the National Archives has a more powerful public records auditing function and has acquired numerous new client offices (e.g. statutory bodies). It is planned by 2007 to:

• have secured close professional liaison with every governmental body subject to the operation of the new Act;

• have expanded its training programme to embrace both senior and middle managers;

• have developed an effective unit for advising client offices on the management of electronic records; and

• have developed a fully-fledged macro-appraisal programme which will ensure the systematic, strategic and planned archival appraisal of all government records systems.

 

CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

Organisation

• The National Archives is committed to the principles of accountability, transparency and efficiency.

• The present management structure and processes will be continuously monitored to ensure that they support these principles in changing circumstances.

• Key objectives are the expansion of our administrative capacity and the continued flattening of hierarchical structures.

• As the provincial archives service gets off the ground, serious consideration will have to be given to the establishment of a component dedicated to managing the National Archives' responsibilities in relation to them.

 

Finance

The under-resourcing of the National Archives is of serious concern. Every attempt will be made to motivate more generous budget allocations. At the same time, the attracting of non-state funding for special projects will be pursued vigorously.

• Human resources will be managed strictly according to government-wide and Departmental policies and programmes.

• The education and training programme (embracing internal and external training and the awarding of bursaries) will be focused around three imperatives: the addressing of skills shortages in key areas; support of affirmative action; and the empowerment/development of the previously disadvantaged.

• On a continuing basis areas of our operations suffering from severe staff shortages will be identified, prioritised and every effort made to have appropriate vacancies filled.

 

Accommodation

Both the National Archives Repository and the National Film, Video and Sound Archives are experiencing acute space shortages. It is planned to have completed extensions to both buildings by 2007. These extensions will accommodate anticipated accrual until 2000.

 

NATIONAL ARCHIVIST

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