Records that serve the citizens,
not just the Auditor-General.
Records management for South African national, provincial and local government, SOEs, regulated public entities, and universities. NARSSA-compliant file plans, AG audit support, PAIA at scale, and framework agreement access where it applies.
Book Free Assessment →Records as public accountability infrastructure.
- i.
A statutory file plan, not an optional one.
Public bodies operate under the NARSSA Act and approved file plans issued by the National Archivist. The file plan isn't a nice-to-have; it's the legal scaffolding of public record-keeping.
- ii.
An audit cycle that lands every year.
The Auditor-General arrives with a defined audit calendar. Files are sampled, evidence is requested, findings are issued in writing and then published. Records that aren't complete, retrievable and defensible become qualified opinions and management letters.
- iii.
PAIA at volume.
Public bodies receive far more PAIA requests than private ones. The records have to be findable not in days, but in PAIA-statutory days. The intake-to-decision pipeline is operational, not exceptional.
What we map your records against.
- National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Act — the NARSSA Act, file plans, and disposal authorities.
- Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and MFMA — for national, provincial, and municipal record-keeping.
- Treasury Regulation 16A — supply chain management records, contract records, performance records.
- PAIA — with full Section 14 manual obligations and public-body request timelines.
- POPIA — processing by organs of state, including the Information Regulator's public-sector guidance.
- Auditor-General methodology — audit-readiness expectations and evidence standards.
Six things, sector-aligned.
- i.
NARSSA-compliant file plans.
File plan design, approval submissions to the National Archivist, departmental rollout, and the disposal authorities that go with them. So the file plan you operate is the one you're legally required to operate.
- ii.
AG audit support.
Records assembled for the AG audit cycle, with the evidence trail the auditors expect. Sample files prepared, exceptions logged, management letters answered with the records to back the answer.
- iii.
PAIA at scale.
Intake, classification, decision-making, and production within the statutory timeframes. Manual maintained, Section 14 obligations met, fees correctly assessed.
- iv.
PFMA and supply-chain records.
SCM files, contract files, performance records, deviations and condonations — held in a structure that survives an AG SCM audit without weeks of preparation.
- v.
Records of decisions of public power.
Council minutes, EXCO records, board records, delegations, instructions, internal memoranda — held under the chain of custody that public accountability requires.
- vi.
Information Officer-as-a-Service for organs of state.
A registered Information Officer with public-sector experience. PAIA handling, POPIA compliance, Regulator liaison, and breach response under the public-body framework.
Sized to the entity.
District municipalities, smaller public entities, and statutory bodies typically sit in Professional. National and provincial departments, metro municipalities, SOEs, universities and the larger regulated entities sit in Enterprise. Arcivo is CSD-registered and can be procured through framework agreements where they apply.
Sector close but not exactly this?
Public sector means different things across spheres of government, statutory bodies, regulators, SOEs, public-benefit organisations, public universities, and the entities that sit alongside them. If your slice of the public sector isn't quite what we've described, tell us and we'll show you what's relevant.
— T.