Архивите в Южноафриканската република - същност и значение
The Archives of the South African Republic - Substance and Significance

Summary/Abstract: The article acquaints the reader with the archival system in the South African Republic and the work of the main archival institutions and organizations. With the National Archives Act of 1996 a new archival system was introduced in the republic. It consists of a National Archive operating on a governmental level and nine autonomous provincial archival offices in all the main cities of the country, controlled by the Chief Centre in Pretoria. They are responsible for the protection of the public archives, created by the work of the government and its bodies in the centre, in the provinces and on a local level. All other categories of archives - business, church, the ones of political parties and social organizations - are non-public or private archives and they are more than one hundred in number. The South African archivists are organized into several professional organizations. The oldest and biggest among them is the South African Society of Archivists (SASA), founded in 1960. The conflict between rights and interests often puts to the test the archivists' loyalty. Since an archivist is the "agent of the future in determining its heritage from the past", the ethics of the archival profession are a particularly important element. In this respect the "Code of Archival Ethics of the South African Society of Archivists" contains useful information for the archival community in Bulgaria.

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