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National Heritage Resources Act, 1999 (Act No. 25 of 1999)

Chapter III : General Provisions

Part 2 : Miscellaneous

58. Transitional provisions and consequential amendments

 

(1) For the purposes of this section, "the previous Act" means the National Monuments Act, 1969 (Act No. 28 of 1969).

 

(2) The National Monuments Council established by section 2 of the previous Act is hereby abolished and all its assets, rights, liabilities and obligations shall devolve upon SAHRA without formal transfer and without payment of any duties, taxes, fees or other charges. The officer in charge of registration of deeds registry must, on submission of the title deed and on application by the authority concerned, endorse such a title deed with regard to such development.

 

(3) Any person who was in the employment of the Council referred to in subsection (2), is regarded to have been appointed under this Act.

 

(4) The remuneration and other conditions of service of an employee contemplated in subsection (3) may not be less favourable than the remuneration and other conditions of service to which that employee was entitled to before.

 

(5) If a person appointed under subsection (3) or a person regarded to be so appointed, is dismissed, that person may within 14 days after the date of notification of the dismissal, appeal in writing against the dismissal to the Minister, who may confirm, vary or set aside the dismissal.

 

(6) The National Monuments Council library shall become part of the national heritage resources library established under section 13(2)(b).

 

(7) The committees established by section 3A of the previous Act are hereby abolished and all their assets, rights, liabilities and obligations shall devolve upon SAHRA without formal transfer and without payment of any duties, taxes, fees or other charges.

 

(8) Unless it would in any particular case obviously be inappropriate, any reference in any law, document or register, to the National Monuments Council must be construed as a reference to SAHRA and any such reference to an officer or employee of the National Monuments Council must be construed as a reference to an employee of SAHRA performing functions or exercising powers similar to those of the first-mentioned officer or employee.

 

(9) All trust funds for which the National Monuments Council acted as trustee, including the War Graves Trust Fund referred to in section 9A of the previous Act, shall on the date of commencement of this Act become vested in SAHRA as part of the National Heritage Resources Fund referred to in section 40, and SAHRA must act as trustee on the same terms and conditions as existed prior to the commencement of this Act.

 

(10) On the establishment of a provincial heritage resources authority, arrangements must be made for the transfer of such assets, rights, liabilities and obligations of SAHRA in that province to the provincial heritage resources authority as the Minister and the MEC deem fit.

 

(11) Sites and objects which prior to the commencement of this Act were protected by notices in the Gazette in terms of the previous Act, shall, subject to the provisions of any provincial legislation for heritage resources conservation and any agreement in that regard, and without the need for the publication of notices in the Gazette, continue to be protected in terms of the following provisions of this Act:
(a) Immovable national monuments in terms of section 10 of the previous Act shall be provincial heritage resources sites: Provided that within five years of the commencement of this Act, the provincial heritage resources authorities in consultation with SAHRA, must assess the significance of such sites in accordance with the heritage assessment criteria set out in section 3(3) and prescribed under section 7(1) and SAHRA must declare any place which fulfils the criteria for Grade I status a national heritage site;
(b) immovable properties entered in the register in terms of section 5(1) of the previous Act must be entered in the heritage register for the province in which they are situated and in the inventory of the national estate;
(c) conservation areas in terms of section 5(9) of the previous Act shall be heritage areas: Provided that where no provision has been made for the protection of such areas in by-laws under the previous Act or in a town or regional planning scheme—
(i) sections 31(7)(a), (b) and (c) of this Act automatically apply to such heritage areas; and
(ii) the local or other planning authority concerned must provide for the protection of such area in accordance with the provisions of section 31 within three years of the commencement of this Act;
(d) provisionally declared immovable properties in terms of section 5(1)(c) of the previous Act are provisionally protected for such remaining period as specified in the notice of provisional declaration;
(e) national gardens of remembrance in terms of section 9C of the previous Act are provincial heritage sites;
(f) cultural treasures in terms of section 5(c) and movable national monuments in terms of section 10 of the previous Act are heritage objects.

 

(12) A notice under section 10(3)(a) or 5(5)(b) of the previous Act which was served within six months prior to the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to be a notice served by a provincial heritage resources authority in terms of section 27(8) or section 29(1) and (2) of this Act, as the case may be.

 

(13) A permit issued under the previous Act shall be deemed to be a permit issued by the responsible heritage authority under the relevant section of this Act.