I wrote to the minister and have received this reply . Here's hoping ! Nneville ----- Original Message ----- From: Sindiswa Gola To: 'Neville Rasmussen' Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 8:55 AM Subject: RE: NAAIRS Archive Database Dear Mr. Rasmussen I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your e-mail below. Please be advised that your e-mail is noted and will be brought to the Minister's attention. Kind regards Sindiswa Gola -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Neville Rasmussen [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 27 October 2010 05:19 PM To: [email protected] Subject: NAAIRS Archive Database Minister L Xingwana Ministry - Pretoria 10th Floor Kingsley Centre 481 Church Street Cnr Beatrix & Pretorius Streets Arcadia Private Bag X 899 PRETORIA Email: [email protected] Madam Minister, Like many South Africans I am attempting to piece together my family history, tracing my ancestors and piecing together the story of our family. Like all South Africans I have a heritage that goes back many centuries and the search for family ancestors involves getting information from many sources, both private and state. You will appreciate that this is a mammoth task involving making contact with records services in many countries as my roots extend far and wide. The record services of many overseas countries are outstanding with vast amounts of information being available on-line, which makes the gathering of information much easier. Many of these records services are government owned and run and provide much more than mere indexes but access to images of the actual documents. I appreciate that our Country is not in the position at present to emulate these foreign record systems, given the constraints on the fiscus and the need to prioritise the type of access to National Archives, amid the many other important functions that your department has to deal with, but it makes it so much more important that the records that are supposedly available are not being withheld due to faulty systems, and in this regard I particularly refer to the NAAIRS system which has consistently had a problem over a considerable period of time. I am aware that I am not the only one experiencing such problems as the subject crops up all too frequently on a number of mailing lists and discussion groups I belong to in the Genealogical field. All too often in response to a query that the system is not working one gets answered by tactless and euphemistical assurances that a fix is imminent. As a South African it is frustrating but to the very many foreigners who are seeking information on their SA ancestors, a poor reflection of our Government efficiency and I have frequently had to defend our land with assurances that it will soon be rectified. This has been going on for a very long time and I cannot conceive that a competent programmer would not be able to sort out the problem of access. One is not always able to travel to the relevant archives on the off chance that some documentation may be available and therefore having the NAAIRS functioning properly cuts down considerably on my time and the precious time of the Archives staff when calling to view records that you know are there and you have the details of the records to give the staff. I am writing to you madam Minister in the hope that you would look into the matter and resolve the issue. I can assure you that there are many thousands of researchers both here and overseas that would rejoice that you fixed the problem. I thank you in anticipation of a solution Neville.J. Rasmussen N.J. Rasmussen [email protected]