Issued by: Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
MEDIA STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, DR BEN NGUBANE
18 December 1995
ARCHIVES TO BE ALIGNED WITH DEMOCRATIC REFORM IN SOUTH AFRICA
A Bill which will align the archives in South Africa with the democratic reform that is taking place in the country at the moment is to be tabled early in the next session of Parliament. Dr Ngubane, today, announced that Cabinet has approved the tabling of the National Archives of South Africa Bill.
The Minister said that the current Archives Act, as well as archives acts promulgated by the former homelands are limited in scope and nature, lack clarity, and do not reflect the political and institutional changes in the country.
Dr Ngubane stated that the new act will define professional terminology extensively. For example, the term "public record" will replace "archives". In the current act loopholes in the definition of "archives" have resulted in legal interpretations which exclude certain categories of archives, eg. tape-recordings. In the proposed new legislation "record" is defined as recorded information regardless of form or medium, to include all types of information carriers.
Dr Ngubane also said that the provision of a component dealing specifically with non-public records was an important aspect of the legislation. The Bill will provide for the maintenance of such national registers of non-public records which are of enduring value. For example, the archives of the Christian Institute have been searched for unsuccessfully. These records are currently not required to be listed and preserved in terms of existing legislation. The Minister believes that many invaluable non-public records which filled the gaps in our recorded past had been lost because of the absence of legal provisions for its preservation. Although the Bill provided for non-public records, Dr Ngubane said it would not interfere with custodianship by seeking to enforce transfer to the National Archives.
The National Archives of South Africa Bill will also propose the shortening of the open access period from 30 to 20 years. The problems that can be caused by the long passage of time (30 years) before archiving can be illustrated by the fact that the Government only in 1994 determined that the records of the Rivonia trial, preserved by the Master of the Supreme Court, were incomplete. The Bill will be aligned with the Open Democracy Bill with regard to access to information and protection of privacy as a fundamental human right.
The Minister is confident that the proposed new system, under the direction of a National Archivist, would further the protection of our national heritage and set the tone for an open and democratic archival dispensation for South Africa.