The house of reclusive artist Helen Martins, graves of 20th century political activists, the hilltop kingdom of Mapungubwe, fossil sites associated with human evolution and the emergence of modern man, Robben Island and historic wine farms. These are but some of the nearly seventy sites that mirror South Africa as a nation. The sites constitute the apex of the national estate – heritage sites that are so exceptional that they are of special national significance.
Prior to 2000, the National Monuments Council was responsible for the identification and declaration of national monuments. By 1994 South Africa had an estimated 4,000 national monuments of which 98% represented colonial and settler history. The National Heritage Resources Act changed this significantly by creating a three-tier system whereby all former monuments were automatically included on provincial and local heritage registers (some have since been regraded). In addition, the South African Heritage Resources Agency (which replaced the National Monuments Council) was tasked with the identification, grading and declaration of grade I heritage sites. (With Provincial Heritage Resources Authorities and local authorities being tasked with the identification, grading and declaration of grade II (provincial) and grade III (local) sites).
An example of an old National Monuments Council plaque (The Heritage Portal)
The aim of the annual endangered heritage campaign run by the Heritage Monitoring Project is to raise awareness of South Africa’s most at risk sites. While the call for nominations for the 2018 campaign is issued this week (click here to view), we asked site champions and community activists for updates on previously nominated sites. We also analysed comments posted by community members to site threads on the Heritage Portal.
In compiling this national survey we have limited our focus to sites submitted to the Heritage Monitoring Project – or to sites that have made the national headlines. The intention is to track endangered sites and keep them visible in the public eye with the hope that with some support and encouragement local efforts will lead to sites being taken off the list. We acknowledge that much good is being done in the country to protect, conserve and restore heritage sites. Many of these stories are covered by the Heritage Portal through the normal course of reporting. We would however love to know more about threatened sites that have been rescued.
The national context
In total, we’ve been tracking over 130 threatened sites across the country (click here to view list). Nearly 40% of endangered sites are in Gauteng followed by the Eastern Cape (20%), Western Cape (18%), KwaZulu-Natal (9%) and the rest of the country. The dominance of the first four provinces is probably indicative of the fact that these have active heritage organisations – bodies that are often hard to sustain...
The Most Endangered Cultural Heritage Sites campaign is an initiative of the Heritage Monitoring Project (HMP) to identify and raise awareness of cultural heritage sites that are at significant risk from natural or human made forces.
The campaign is an attempt to raise public awareness of the incredible courage and dedication of individuals and local organisations fighting uncaring administrations and land owners, developers, powerful international and local mining interests and natural forces as they try to save the country’s heritage. “More importantly, we aim to provide a platform for heritage activists to share with the public their vision for at-risk sites and how communities can assist overcoming these risks”, says HMP co-founder, Jacques Stoltz.
This year was the second time that the HMP issued a call to the public to nominate sites of concern. In total, more than 35 heritage sites across a range of categories were submitted. The nominations included historic buildings and structures, cemeteries, sites of conflict, museums, mills, memorials, a mission station, a fortification, a cultural park and even a jetty.
The overwhelming public response to the call for nominations continues to show that South Africans are deeply concerned about the state of their cultural heritage.
Yet again, most of the sites share common threats, such as a lack of maintenance, lack of funding or other resources, mining, development pressure, lack of development and investment, gentrification or, simply, official neglect.
“Each year’s nominations provide an opportunity to respond to emerging themes or trends, often a particular site tells us...
2017 has not been a good year for heritage in South Africa. From fires in the Western Cape that claimed the 1792 Du Toit Manor House in Paarl, among others, to the theft of the Thulamela gold collection at the Kruger National Park in December 2016 (only made public knowledge in June this year), the losses have been significant.
Then there was the untold damage to major landmark buildings, including but not limited to the city halls of Pretoria and Bloemfontein, and temporary closures at the Johannesburg Art Gallery and Hector Pieterson Museum in Johannesburg. Fires, floods and negligence have taken their toll.
Bloemfontein City Hall (Christoff Steyn)
Not even prominent liberation names such as Robert Sobukwe and Winnie Mandela could protect sites. The saga of the proposed Winnie Mandela House Museum in Brandfort and the law offices of Sobukwe in Galeshewe are telling examples of official neglect.
In July, the Heritage Monitoring Project called on the public to nominate threatened heritage sites that did not make headlines nor receive much public attention.
In response, thirty-seven submissions were received by the Project, covering endangered and threatened heritage sites across eight of the nine provinces. The nominations include...
Experts call the disappearance of gold artefacts ‘colossal’, ‘a travesty’ and ‘serious breach of security on the part of SANParks’. The Heritage Monitoring Project reports on the theft of items from the Thulamela collection which recently came to light – months after the incident took place.
Questions are being asked within the heritage, museum and archaeological fraternity, why the theft of the Thulamela gold collection from the Kruger National Park early in December last year remains shrouded in secrecy. Museum insiders we spoke to say they are beginning to suspect that the theft has been swept under the carpet by authorities. They also allege that the reticence of the South African National Parks (SANParks) might be hampering the recovery of the items as it is standard practice to report heritage crimes to Interpol and the industry as soon as possible, as this has proven to aid in the recovery of objects quicker, while alerting other museums who may become future targets.
It also appears that SAPS and the Hawks are still no closer to making arrests despite strong suspicions that the theft was an inside job or at least aided by someone internally – as the artefacts were found missing from a locked display case of tempered glass that only employees of SANParks had keys to.
In mid-December last year, staff at the Stevenson-Hamilton Knowledge Resource Centre in Skukuza discovered a locked but partially empty glass display case. The case had contained gold coins and jewellery items from...
In September 2016, the Heritage Monitoring Project ran a campaign to draw attention to endangered heritage sites across South Africa. The result was a top ten list as well a long list that could be tracked over time. We recently put out a call for updates and have updated the relevant tracking threads hosted on The Heritage Portal (click here to view). Below is a quick overview of how a few sites are looking half a year on from the campaign.
Western Cape
There has been a lot of positive action in the Province. The Swellendam Heritage Association has reported that officials from Heritage Western Cape have shown keen interest in the Sugar Bridge (click here to view thread). A number of meetings and site visits have occurred in recent months and it appears as though there is all round commitment for restoration. This is certainly a step in the right direction.
The Sugar Bridge (Marcus Holmes)
The Hout Bay and Llandudno Heritage Association has revealed that the exposure for East Fort (click here to view thread) led to a meeting with the Western Cape Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport. The Minister asked the CEO of Heritage Western Cape to continue the conversation and a solid meeting was held in November 2016 where the issues and opportunites facing the site were discussed (the Association is...
Every time South Africa loses a heritage site, a part of our history and our culture is lost, as well as the possibility of understanding something new about our past. South Africa’s top ten most endangered sites speak of the fragility of our shared national heritage. Whether they are precious archaeological sites, living cultural landscapes, early commercial industrial sites, colonial edifices or working class residential areas, the tenuousness of their survival is palpable in the submissions that were evaluated. The Most Endangered Cultural Heritage Sites campaign is an annual initiative of the Heritage Monitoring Project (HMP) and the Heritage Association of South Africa to identify and raise awareness of cultural heritage sites that are at significant risk from natural or manmade forces.
This year was the first time that the HMP issued a call to the public to nominate sites of concern. Between June and August, more than 46 heritage sites across a range of categories were submitted. The longlist of submissions included cultural landscapes, archaeological and palaeontological sites, built heritage, industrial heritage, burial sites, military sites, public open space and even South Africa’s oldest nature reserve (click here to view).
Over the past few weeks an expert panel of judges has been evaluating the submissions against a set of criteria:
The significance or importance of the site (most importantly, to the local community)
The urgency and extent of risks or threats faced
Feasibility of finding a solution or the feasibility of a proposed solution
