On 11 September 2017, the Cape Times and IOL published an article by Dr Piet Claassen entitled 'Heritage house owners should be compensated by a property tax cut' (click here to view). Below is a comprehensive response compiled by the team from CTS Heritage.
Dr Claassen raises some important points in his article that require further interrogation. However, before proceeding it is important to establish some basic principles regarding heritage management in South Africa.
One such important basic principle is that “heritage”, this vague and difficult-to-define concept, has an important role to play in the spiritual well-being of citizens and has the power to contribute to building our nation. It has the potential to affirm our diverse cultures, and in so doing shape our national character. It is therefore something to be valued.
As such, the heritage resources, much like mineral resources, of this country are managed by heritage authorities on behalf of all of South Africa’s citizens. Again, much like mineral resources, as much as someone can own a structure or piece of land, no one person can own the “heritage value” of a place. This value is what requires conservation and management by an authority that takes the interests of all citizens into consideration over the interests of a particular landowner when it comes to heritage management.
Another important principle to emphasize is that, as alluded to by Dr Claassen, just because something or someplace is old does not mean that it has heritage significance...
