ACT
To introduce an integrated and interactive system for the management of the
national heritage resources; to promote good government at all levels, and
empower civil society to nurture and conserve their heritage resources so that they
may be bequeathed to future generations; to lay down general principles for
governing heritage resources management throughout the Republic; to introduce
an integrated system for the identification, assessment and management of the
heritage resources of South Africa; to establish the South African Heritage
Resources Agency together with its Council to co-ordinate and promote the
management of heritage resources at national level; to set norms and maintain
essential national standards for the management of heritage resources in the
Republic and to protect heritage resources of national significance; to control the
export of nationally significant heritage objects and the import into the Republic of
cultural property illegally exported from foreign countries; to enable the provinces
to establish heritage authorities which must adopt powers to protect and manage
certain categories of heritage resources; to provide for the protection and
management of conservation-worthy places and areas by local authorities; and to
provide for matters connected therewith.
PREAMBLE
This legislation aims to promote good management of the national estate, and to enable
and encourage communities to nurture and conserve their legacy so that it may be
bequeathed to future generations. Our heritage is unique and precious and it cannot be
renewed. It helps us to define our cultural identity and therefore lies at the heart of our
spiritual well-being and has the power to build our nation. It has the potential to affirm
our diverse cultures, and in so doing shape our national character.
Our heritage celebrates our achievements and contributes to redressing past inequities.
It educates, it deepens our understanding of society and encourages us to empathise with
the experience of others. It facilitates healing and material and symbolic restitution and
it promotes new and previously neglected research into our rich oral traditions and
customs.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.
2.
Application and interpretation
Definitions
CHAPTER I
SYSTEM FOR MANAGEMENT OF NATIONAL HERITAGE RESOURCES
Part 1: General Principles
3.
4.
National estate
Application