Posted on August 18, 2009
The National Archives Advisory Council is the successor structure to the National Archives Commission, which was established in terms of the 1996 National Archives of South Africa Act. The architects of this legislation were mindful of the need to create new management and oversight structures for the National Archives which took into account the fact that at that point it was little more than the old apartheid-era State Archives Service with a new name. One of the key mechanisms for providing the post-1994 ANC-led government with watchdog and public accountability capacities in relation to the transformation of the National Archives was the National Archives Commission. Quite deliberately the legislation provided the Commission with critical executive powers in addition to a medley of advisory ones, including: assisting the National Archives in executing its functions, promoting the co-ordination of policy and planning at national and provincial levels, approving the appraisal (selection of materials for archival preservation) policies of the National Archives, and approving requests by government structures to be exempted from any provision of the 1996 Act.
The first National Archives Commission, appointed by the then Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology through a public nomination process, became active in 1998. It ran into trouble very quickly. The Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology had not understood the need for a substantial budget and administrative infrastructure to support a body with a role beyond the merely advisory. In consequence, from the outset the Commission felt hamstrung and was unable to perform its wide range of functions effectively. By 2000 administrative chaos and internal division had brought the Commission to its knees.
In 2001 the National Archives of South Africa Act was amended by the Cultural Laws Amendment Act. One amendment replaced the Commission with a National Archives Advisory Council. Unlike the Commission, the Council was to have no executive powers. In addition, it was to have formal representatives from each of South Africa's nine provinces. The smaller watchdog Commission was to be succeeded by a larger talk-shop Council.
Due mainly to inefficiencies within the national Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and to severe under-resourcing (and, in some instances, chaos) in provincial archives (and broader arts and culture) structures, it took a long time to get the Council up and running. Like its predecessor, it was to experience inadequate administrative capacity. Moreover, its energy was to be sapped by the parlous state of most provincial governments, and by a Minister disinclined to listen to its advice. It quickly descended into a morass of disempowerment, disaffection and frustration. By 2009 it had effectively become moribund.
While the determination to resuscitate the Council has been welcomed in some quarters, it is hard to imagine how in present circumstances it can become an effective voice. To do so it will have to find a core membership capable of securing the ear of the Minister, embracing an advocacy role, and overcoming the structural weaknesses outlined above.
Verne Harris
Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialogue