Archival Services is a Directorate within the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa. It receives its mandate from the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Act (Act No. 43 of 1996, as amended). In terms of Sections 5, 11, 12 and 14 of the Act the Directorate performs the following functions:

• take custody of public records;
• arrange and describe records;
• preserve public records;
• make public records available for use by the public; and 
• acquire and manage non-public records. 

This directorate also delivers on the mandate as stated by the Act that there is a need to document aspects of the nation's experience neglected by archives repositories in the past. This is done through Oral History projects.