NHC Discussion Document: Mainstreaming Heritage in Development

In April 2009 the National Heritage Council convened an expert meeting on heritage conservation and development. Following the meeting the NHC interviewed selected experts and stakeholders to solicit opinion on the relationship between heritage and development. Interviews and desktop research were used to inform the development of a discussion document, Mainstreaming Heritage in Development. A draft of this document was discussed with a focus group in March. The revised draft was circulated for discussed to participants attending a workshop convened by the National Heritage Council in Cape Town on 4 May.

The document, attached, is aimed at positioning heritage as a contributor to development, to stimulate debate and obtain input for a policy framework on mainstreaming heritage in development.

In it’s report on the workshop, the NHC notes that:

“The delegates who attended the Policy Development workshop to debate a policy framework that is proposed for mainstreaming heritage in development felt that South Africa may judged harshly by future generations for not preserving heritage vigorously. This initiative of the National Heritage Council (NHC) is intended to ease the tension between development and heritage preservation. There is a view that heritage can coexist with all the development demands whist the property development sector has a view that heritage preservation of especially sites that have economic potential is often overstated.Professor Shahid Vawda, Head of Anthropology at the University of Witwatersrand who was the keynote speaker, believes that development should be look at in a modern perspective where basic needs, poverty alleviation, good governance and structural adjustment are critical factors. He also warned about the lack of attention in involving people beyond consultations. His highly academic presentation also made a conclusion that culture and heritage are important objects in an exercise of development planning. However, he argued that heritage should not be treated as a means to get to something else but should instead be regarded as important in its own right. Advocate Sonwabile Mancotywa, the Chief Executive Officer of the NHC made a point in his opening address that perhaps heritage should have been treated in a similar legislative approach as the land restitution. He based his comment on the lack of appreciation of heritage that is in private ownership. Recently, heritage objects like the Freedom Charter were nearly auctioned. His other example was the mining development near the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site in Limpopo and the Chancellor House that was almost sold for urban development in Johannesburg.The concern of delegates is that there are no clear guidelines, stakeholder engagement and communication of the inconsistent approaches in to which spatial development comply. The workshop will refine the policy framework which will form the basis of the advice that the NHC will present to the Department of Arts and Culture to recommend policy areas to preserve heritage in harmony with development demands of a modern society.”

Source: National Heritage Council http://www.nhc.org.za/index.php

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