CHIEF DIRECTORATE:
NATIONAL ARCHIVES; HERALDRY AND LIBRARIES (META-INFORMATION):
PRESENTATION TO NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE:
7 AUGUST 2003
1. Major events: 2003
- National Archives: Launch of SA – Mali Project: Timbuktu Manuscripts by Presidents Mbeki and Toure on Africa Day 25 May 2003;
- Implementation of pilot phase of Provincial Records Management Capacity-Building Project in Eastern Cape; Limpopo and two other provinces;
- Hosting of conference of SADC ministers responsible for Archives: Cape Town 19 – 21 October and 37th Round Table of the International Council of Archives (CITRA)
- Appointment of National Archives Advisory Council
- Heraldry: Popularisation of National Symbols;
- New National Orders;
- Appointment of Heraldry Council
- Libraries (Meta-Information Sub-Directorate): Implementation of Legal Deposit Act;
- Appointment of NACLIS (National Council on Library and Information Services)
2. Problem Areas
- Schedule 5 (Constitutional Competencies): This issue affects the archives, culture, heritage, library and performing arts sectors. The support of the Portfolio Committee in addressing the matter at political and constitutional levels is urgently sought.
- Access to Information: The National Archivist sits on the Classification and Declassification Review Committee appointed by the Minister for Intelligence Services to advise on a policy on how to manage the release of "apartheid secrets" (to over-simplify) and how to protect classified information of the democratic government in the environment laid down by the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
- Provincialisation: The constitution requires the implementation of the archives function at provincial level. Former national facilities in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape have been transferred. Facilities in the Free State are being transferred at present, but the transfers in Cape Town to the Western Cape have been delayed. Six provinces will not inherit archival facilitates, but are constitutionally obliged to render the services. Support from the committee for the allocation of special funding is urgently needed in the interests of good governance and the preservation of heritage.
- Electronic records: This is an international problem of profound importance. The National Archives interacts with SITA and DPSA in an effort to set archival standards for electronic records-keeping, it will become the major challenge of the future. It is also a challenge for the National Library and Legal Deposit facilities because there is an increasing need for South African websites to be "harvested" or deposited in electronic libraries. This is already happening in Scandinavia and France.
- Protection of national symbols: The Bureau of Heraldry works closely with the Presidency and the Department of Trade and Industry to develop guidelines and standards for the use of the national flag, the coat-of-arms and the national anthem. Popularisation is part of the issue, but the dignity that these symbols deserve is not always respected, nor the intellectual property rights of the state.