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Honoured guests,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen.

It is my privilege and pleasure today to announce and publicly launch the web-enabled National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS), maintained by the National Archives of South Africa. I believe that the web-enablement of this system is a striking example of the way in which technology can be harnessed as a tool to promote democratisation in our country. This technological breakthrough effectively means that any internet user, whether in research institutions, schools, community centres or homes, will be able to access and search NAAIRS and retrieve information on the collective archival resources kept in repositories throughout the country.

The availability of NAAIRS on the internet will facilitate the objectives envisaged by the Promotion of Access to Information Act (No 2 of 2000). NAAIRS will assist members of the public to identify and locate public records in archival custody containing information that they may require for the exercise or protection of rights. The achievement also constitutes a major advance in the National Archives' outreach strategy, conceptualised in terms of the National Archives of South Africa Act (No 43 of 1996). The Act requires the National Archives to make archives known to the public at large, especially less privileged sectors of society, and to promote archival services. In fulfilling these objectives, it is intended to transform public archives repositories into community resources. In short, in the words of a popular slogan in the archival profession, the web-enablement of NAAIRS will "take archives to the people".

I would like to reflect briefly on the nature of archives and the function they serve. While paper-based manuscripts come to mind when we think of archives, archival records can take many other forms, including cartographic records, photographs, audio-visual material, microfilms and electronic media. They are records if they provide information and evidence, and archival if this information and evidence has enduring value. Archives serve an important role in a democratic society because they encourage governments to handle public affairs in a transparent fashion, accountable to their citizens. The National Archives of South Africa is responsible for preserving a national archival heritage for use by the government and people. These archives, as well as those kept by private archival institutions, constitute a vital part of the broader national heritage because they are an instrument for fostering national identity. They give us information about our past, and thus help us to understand the present. This information is as important to a nation as individual memory is to a person. Furthermore, public archives, the records of governmental bodies, serve as a mechanism for governmental accountability and transparency, and they protect enduring civic, legal, property and other rights. Archives are therefore a cornerstone of democracy. In the words of Eric Ketelaar, former General State Archivist of the Netherlands, in a landmark address to South African archivists in 1992:

"Archives - well preserved and accessible to the people - are as essential in a free democracy as government of the people, by the people, for the people. Because archives are not only tools of government, not only sources for historical research: access to public archives gives the people the possibility to exercise their rights and to control their governments, its successes, its failures." (Unquote).

The vital role that archives play in helping us understand and come to terms with the past, as well as protect people's rights, can be illustrated by the extensive use made of archives in the custody of the National Archives by researchers of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and of land restitution processes. And on a daily basis, numerous ordinary members of the public use archives in seeking documentation in support of citizenship, residence, property, marital and other rights. In addition, archival records are used for on-going official purposes and a broad spectrum of research interests.

The National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System seeks to provide efficient access to information about the collective national treasure house of archives. The National Archives of South Africa is mandated in terms of the National Archives Act to maintain such a system, containing information on public archives kept in both national and provincial archives repositories throughout South Africa. In addition, the legislation mandates the National Archives to maintain automated national registers of non-public records in the custody of any institution in South Africa on a voluntary basis. Since 1974, an extensive retrieval system has been built up that affords users the ability to identify and locate archival material of both public and private origin, irrespective of its place of custody. The system effectively facilitates the national integration of archival information in a manner that is possibly unique in the world. It therefore has the potential of affording access to the total national archival heritage. The system currently comprises a staggering seven million computer records.

In conceptualising the web-enablement of NAAIRS, given the outreach function that it is intended to serve, particular attention was paid to building functionality and a level of user-friendliness that would not assume any previous knowledge of the system. NAAIRS will be accessed via the National Archives' website, which will contain information about the National Archives, the provincial repositories and their services.

The web-enablement of NAAIRS constitutes a technological breakthrough in its own right, as it is the first time that existing mainframe databases have been web-enabled in the public sector. I would therefore like to think that this places the National Archives and the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in the vanguard of e-government, the rendering of public services via the internet. Given the technological challenges, I am pleased to pay tribute to those involved in the major collaborative effort through which this achievement was made possible. IBM South Africa provided substantial sponsorship for a pilot project through which the concept of web-enablement was proven and a basis was laid for further development. In a fully-fledged project, SITA's enthusiastic project leader and application programmer were supported by staff of the National Archives and the IT Division of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology.

In concluding, I would like to quote a message sent by an Australian user of the web-enabled NAAIRS during its test phase:

"May I give you my heartfelt thanks and congratulations on a truly magnificent achievement. You have set an example which I believe is unique in the world, and I trust you are very proud of it, as you deserve to be." (Unquote).

My Department and I are indeed proud of the groundbreaking work of South Africa's National Archives, and the contribution that the web-enablement of NAAIRS makes to democratisation and the promotion of the use of national archival resources by the people of the country.

I thank you for your attendance and interest.

Issued by: Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, 14 May 2001