NEW legislation which gives the government wide control over national treasures has been slammed as "draconian" by local art experts. Art dealers, historians and collectors are outraged over the National Heritage Resources Bill, which was pushed through Parliament this week.
They claim the Bill - under which exports of SA art works can be banned and works expropriated - will negatively affect trade in art works and that it infringes on the rights of private collectors. De Beers has objected to the Bill, saying it will restrict the use of its property, even its mine dumps. The legislation is also expected to have a severe impact on trade in medals and Anglo-Boer War memorabilia.
The Bill, which replaces the National Monuments Council Act, sets up the South African Heritage Resources Agency to manage South Africa's national treasures. The agency can protect items or places of historical importance by declaring them heritage objects or sites. Stephan Welz, Sotheby's representative in South Africa, said sales in art works would suffer under the new Bill.
He said it could affect people wanting to export works because a permit will be needed to take any object of artistic or historic importance out of the country. Owners of paintings by the likes of Thomas Baines or Gerard Sekoto, early Cape silver and rare Africana books, will all have to apply for a permit, even if the object is a family heirloom. Even those planning to emigrate with art works or heirlooms will need a permit.
The agency can refuse a permit if it declares a work a national heritage object.
Welz said this would force owners to accept a local offer or sell to the agency at a much lower price. "It is draconian - they are not acting fairly towards the owners. The state seeks to control privately owned collections, yet it has a dismal record of looking after its own," he said. Welz said he supported the Bill in principle, but was concerned that the stringent controls would encourage the growth of a black market. "People will just trade under the table," he said.
Art dealers said they had a taste of what's to come when items were withdrawn from an auction in Pretoria last month because of concern over historical importance.
Edward Bernardi of Volks Auctioneers was commissioned by the North West government to sell the collection left to the province by Elizabeth Rose, daughter of John Gubbins, a famous collector. At the last minute the province withdrew several items. However, Bernardi said, they were of no significant importance. "The selection was arbitrary," he said.
De Beers, which owns a number of national monuments in Kimberley, is concerned that the legislation will limit the way it uses its property. If its Boardroom building in Kimberley is declared a national heritage site, the company fears that the agency will dictate how it can use it.
Concerns have also been raised about the qualifications of agency staff and the agency's ability to enforce the legislation. There has also been concern at the lack of consultation over the Bill. Brigitte Mabandla, the Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, told Parliament that 90 percent of existing national monuments related to white colonial history.
"The Bill gives us the means and mechanisms to protect our unique and valuable heritage resources so that they can be made accessible to all people and so that benefits that may accrue from their use can be spread in an equitable way."
Janette Deacon, an archaeologist at the National Monuments Council and a member of the team who wrote the legislation, said only declared national objects or sites would be affected by the new law. Deacon said the agency would carefully consider any declaration it made and avoid "absurd consequences". She said in most cases permits would be issued, but "you have to consider the concerns of nation and individual. We don't want to destroy trade, but we do need to have some controls." All military objects found in the future on heritage sites will become state property. But trade in war memorabilia already in circulation will not be affected.
"This is important, especially with the Anglo-Boer War centenary. A lot of artefacts have been lost through people going on to battlefields with metal detectors." She dismissed the claim that there had not been consultation and said there had been three public meetings in 1996.