National Monuments Council (South Africa and Namibia)
 |
|
| Abbreviation | NMC |
|---|---|
| Established | 1969 |
| Dissolved | 2000 |
| Legal status | Defunct |
|
Region served
|
South Africa and Namibia |
The National Monuments Council (NMC) was the national heritage conservation authority of South Africa, and therefore also of Namibia, during the major part of the apartheid era. It was the successor body to the Historical Monuments Commission and became known principally for its declaration of several thousand national monuments. It came into being through the promulgation of the National Monuments Act of 1969 and ceased to exist on 31 March 2000 when it was replaced by SAHRA and the provincial heritage resources authorities established in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999.
The National Monuments Council was the successor to the Historical Monuments Commission which had been in existence since 1923 and upon its creation the 'historical monuments' declared by the Commission became known as 'national monuments'. Like its predecessor it was a statutory body, semi-independent of government and presided over by a council appointed by the Minister responsible for culture. It had its head office in Cape Town rather than the national capital Pretoria. This reflected its preoccupation with the heritage of the early colonial (Dutch) period, the area around Cape Town being the most densely colonised during that time and hence the area in which most remnants of Dutch colonialism in South Africa are located. This is borne out by the fact that around half of the national monuments declared by the NMC were located in what is now the Western Cape Province.
Most of the period of existence the NMC fell within the apartheid era. During this period the organisation was governed by a Council made up exclusively of white South Africans and had a professional staff of similar composition. However, from not long after PW Botha's introduction of the Tricameral Parliament in 1984 the membership of the Council included one representative from each of the Coloured and Indian communities. During the de Klerk era (1989–1994) the organisation began to shift focus and declared a number of sites important to the history of the African community, including those associated with anti-apartheid movements, commencing with the declaration of the Sol Plaatje House in Kimberley in 1992.
...
Wikipedia