Statistics Act, 1999
R 385
National Heritage Resources Act, 1999 (Act No. 25 of 1999)Chapter I : System for Management of National Heritage ResourcesPart 1 : General Principles3. National estate |
| (1) | For the purposes of this Act, those heritage resources of South Africa which are of cultural significance or other special value for the present community and for future generations must be considered part of the national estate and fall within the sphere of operations of heritage resources authorities. |
| (2) | Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the national estate may include— |
| (a) | places, buildings, structures and equipment of cultural significance; |
| (b) | places to which oral traditions are attached or which are associated with living heritage; |
| (c) | historical settlements and townscapes; |
| (d) | landscapes and natural features of cultural significance; |
| (e) | geological sites of scientific or cultural importance; |
| (f) | archaeological and palaeontological sites; |
| (g) | graves and burial grounds, including— |
| (i) | ancestral graves; |
| (ii) | royal graves and graves of traditional leaders; |
| (iii) | graves of victims of conflict; |
| (v) | historical graves and cemeteries; and |
| (vi) | other human remains which are not covered in terms of the Human Tissue Act, 1983 (Act No. 65 of 1983); |
| (h) | sites of significance relating to the history of slavery in South Africa; |
| (i) | movable objects, including— |
| (i) | objects recovered from the soil or waters of South Africa, including archaeological and palaeontological objects and material, meteorites and rare geological specimens; |
| (ii) | objects to which oral traditions are attached or which are associated with living heritage; |
| (iii) | ethnographic art and objects; |
| (iv) | military objects; |
| (v) | objects of decorative or fine art; |
| (vi) | objects of scientific or technological interest; and |
| (vii) | books, records, documents, photographic positives and negatives, graphic, film or video material or sound recordings, excluding those that are public records as defined in section 1 (xiv) of the National Archives of South Africa Act, 1996 (Act No. 43 of 1996). |
| (3) | Without limiting the generality of subsections (1) and (2), a place or object is to be considered part of the national estate if it has cultural significance or other special value because of— |
| (a) | its importance in the community, or pattern of South Africa’s history; |
| (b) | its possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of South Africa’s natural or cultural heritage; |
| (c) | its potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of South Africa’s natural or cultural heritage; |
| (d) | its importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of South Africa’s natural or cultural places or objects; |
| (e) | its importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by a community or cultural group; |
| (f) | its importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period; |
| (g) | its strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons; |
| (h) | its strong or special association with the life or work of a person, group or organisation of importance in the history of South Africa; and |
| (i) | sites of significance relating to the history of slavery in South Africa. |
