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PARLIAMENTARY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

This report discusses the aim and activities of the Archival Platform, challenges in records management and preservation, and the need for transformation and redress in the archival sector. It also highlights the importance of guidance and collaboration in improving service delivery. The report concludes with recommendations for addressing resource and capacity challenges.

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PARLIAMENTARY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

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  1. PARLIAMENTARY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE REPORT TO ARCHIVAL PLATFORM REPORT 01 SEPTEMBER 2015

  2. TABLE OF CONTENTS ON ARCHIVAL PLATFORM: AIM AND ACTIVITIES ON ORIGINS ON RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND CHALLENGES ON PRESERVATION OF RECORDS ON TRANSFORMATION AND REDRESS ON CHALLENGES ON ORAL HISTORY ON ACCESS AND USE ON Guidance and Collaboration ON SUMMARY ON Moving forward ON Addressing resource and Capacity challenges ON IMPROVING SERVICE DELIVERY CONCLUSION 2

  3. 1. ON ARCHIVAL PLATFORM: AIM AND ACTIVITIES The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) acknowledges the pro-active approach and support by the archival sector and the public in the country. The report produced by the Archival Platform (AP) testifies to the intense and robust conversation taking place within the sector. The National Archives and Records Services of South Africa (NARSSA) as the custodian of our national archival heritage, relies on such debates to refocus and realign its services and functions to the sectorial expectations. This report is not painting a situation which is completely new to the DAC, the NARSSA or the sector in general. However the finding will complement other findings of internal processes that have been embarked upon in the department – The Feasibility for the Conditional Grant . 3

  4. 2. ON ORIGINS It is true that the National Archival System was conceptualised through broadly based consultative processes. Such consultative processes culminated in the legislative framework that reconfigured the archival landscape. During apartheid era , the archival system was structured as follows: State Archives at the helm Satellite offices in KZN, Free State and Western Cape. With the democratisation and new constitutional dispensation, archival services had to be devolved into 9 provinces as per schedule 5 of the constitution. Democratisation and diversification have had their own ramifications. Openness and transparency Information and knowledge expansion This began to test the capacity of archival institutions This has been exacerbated by the fact that the Act was not costed The current challenges are largely as a result of this oversight – not costing the Act 4

  5. 3. ON RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND CHALLENGES The Department acknowledges the challenges/problems that are there in records – management. We also acknowledge the lack of the state of art/modern archival equipment, infrastructure and systems to cope with the 21st century demands However, systems for the following have been put in place. Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) This is intended to improve proper preservation of archival records and to create additional storage space – mobile shelving. To date, 8 strong rooms have been completed. National Archives Automated Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS) is being upgraded This is intended to make information more accessible and to be available to the research community. 3. Revamping of the Website This is going to be a user-friendly system that is linked to the collections that are available in the archival repositories throughout the country 5

  6. 3. ON RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND CHALLENGES (cont.) In 2012, the DAC signed a memorandum of agreement with the Office of the Auditor-General This was a pointer to our acknowledgement of the weak systems in records management It was also our recognition that proper records keeping is essential to good governance and accountability. We have participated in the workshops arranged by the Auditor-General From 2015 onwards, we will be participating in records management sessions arranged by the AG. The first one has happened in Eastern Cape on 31 July 2015 6

  7. 4. ON PRESERVATION OF RECORDS In 2014, as part of the 20 years of democracy, we sent circulars to both national and provincial departments sensitising them to the need of preparing records that are 20 years, or older for the transfer to the National and provincial repositories The response has been very good In other circumstances, we have taken public records even before they are less than 20 years old The cases in point, are Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Condolence registers of the late President Nelson Mandela With regards to electronic records keeping, the NAAIRS is being formatted to deal with some of these challenges It is also designed to prevent the loss of information particularly in the electronic environment With regard to repositories being full or not functioning, we have referred to HVAC in on of the previous slides. 7

  8. 4. ON PRESERVATION OF RECORDS (CONT.) In addition to HVAC, we are upgrading an Old Library Building to make space for the preservation of archival records Already 2 floors have been occupied by the Department of Justice for court records The issue of non-functioning repositories and skills development are in the scope of the feasibility study that will be completed in October this year. 8

  9. 5. ON TRANSFORMATION AND REDRESS It is not totally correct that the archives are not acquiring non-public records that cannot be more appropriately preserved by another institution. The cases in point are: Percy Yutar Papers – Donation Copy of the Freedom Charter – Purchasing Stamps stolen from the archives years ago – Donation Peter Tladi Collection – Donation With more resources we could do more national registers for non-public records with enduring value 9

  10. 6. ON CHALLENGES ON ORAL HISTORY DAC established an oral history programme in 1990/2000 This is arguably one of the flagships in DAC In 2004 an Oral History Association was established and it is in collaboration with this Association that DAC (Archives) hosts Annual Oral History Conferences The 12th conference will be held in KZN in October 2015 A wealth of information has been gathered through oral history projects that have been done nationally and the work is continuing. We will be open to suggestions in terms of how oral history conferences can be improved. 10

  11. 7. ON ACCESS AND USE National archives develops annual outreach programmes which are intended to reach out to less privileged sectors of society to make known information about records During oral history conferences, organic intellectuals (elderly) are usually invited to share information about their experience with learners. The staff of National Archives usually take information to people during expos or events that are happening in communities nationally and learners are usually invited to Annual Archives week. We do acknowledge though that with more financial and human resources, we could have a better and more effective and efficient outreach programme. 11

  12. 8. On Guidance and Collaboration A structure called the National and Provincial Heads of Archives Forum has been established. This is where information is shared between the national and provincial archives. Ultimately making sure that there is one National Archival System in the country. e.g. Share standards, Guidelines, Policies, etc. We acknowledge that collaboration is still at a low level, however the situation is fast changing e.g A committee made out of SAHRA, National Archives, South African History Archives (SAHA) and Liliesleaf Museum has been established to come up with a road map that needs to be followed regarding the declaration of the Freedom Charter as an important historical document There is also a collaboration between the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Brenthurst Library and the National Archives regarding digitisation of the Percy Yutar Papers. Collaboration is definitely the way to go and it is supported by DAC 12

  13. 9. ON SUMMARY It is acknowledged that problems are there However, we do not think that the vision of 1990 has evaporated as indicated in the report There is both administrative and political support for the work that is being done to acquire both human and financial resources There is full support of the feasibility study which could pave the way for getting required resources In the current prioritisation and the filling of posts in the DAC, Archives are being given prominence 13

  14. 10. ON Moving forward DAC has already commissioned the feasibility study to asses the needs in the archival landscape nation-wide White paper review presents an opportunity for us to review, rethink and reimagine what we want the archival system to be in the 21st century We would like the Archival Platform to participate in the review process 14

  15. 11. On Addressing resource and Capacity challenges The rest of the issues on addressing resource and capacity challenges are covered by the feasibility study, depending on the nature of a challenge, some will be addressed in a short, and others in a medium to long term DAC is already doing Annual Oral History conferences The Annual Archives Week is now being held in provinces in order to spread and disseminate information about the archives In 2015 Oral History will be in KZN and the Annual Archives Week took place in Limpopo 15

  16. 12. ON IMPROVING SERVICE DELIVERY The feasibility study is also looking at improving service delivery by training and retraining archivists. 16

  17. 13. CONCLUSION We would like to conclude by saying that at the core of the problems – are human and financial capital challenges Despite the scarcity of resources, we continue to step up our efforts to improve the archival system as stated in the previous slides, however, with the availability of resources we would be able to improve the following: Skills development - (training and retraining of archivists, records officials, contractors and IT specialists) Infrastructure – (continue with all CAPEX projects and also work towards getting purpose built accommodation for both national and provincial archives) The national archives building will house the national archives, film archives, presidential archives and records centre all under one roof Devise a national strategy for the collection and preservation of non public records Strengthen partnerships with various stakeholders such as private archives, such as Nelson Mandela Foundation, South African History Archives (SAHA), Liliesleaf, Liberation Archives, UNISA Archives and National Provincial Heads of Archives Forum (NPHAF) With the costed feasibility study report, the DAC would then approach national treasury for a possible conditional grant for archival services. We believe that with the grant for archival services, DAC would be able to go a long way in addressing the problems and the challenges that have been raised and highlighted in this report 17

  18. THANK YOU 18

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