Smuts House needs care

The Jan Smuts House Museum in Irene, Centurion, has been added to a list of 2017 most endangered cultural heritage sites in SA.

Jacques Stoltz decided to add the site to the list after his extensive study of endangered heritage sites recently.

Stoltz, founder of Heritage Monitoring Project, said the Smuts House was in a poor state of repair.

The valuable library with rare books dating from the 16th century lacked the climate control necessary for the preservation of a priceless collection.

He pointed out that no government had ever offered a grant to maintain the house. He said a recent launch of a biography on Smuts proved the world was not quite done yet with this enigmatic, if not compromised, leader.

The prominent statesman, military leader and philosopher was prime minister of the Union of SA from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948.

Although Smuts promoted racial segregation, he appointed the Fagan Commission in 1946 to look into changes that could be made to relax segregation. The commission recommended that influx control laws be relaxed to allow for better inflows of Africans into urban areas.

This progressive idea was strongly opposed by the National Party which, in the years to come, formalised the system of apartheid. In 1948, this philosophical difference resulted in Smuts narrowly losing the general election. He then moved to Irene. Smuts bought and reconstructed the wood and corrugated iron house which served as an officers’ mess during the Anglo-Boer War

Smuts House was for many years a natural port of call and place of pilgrimage for prominent local and overseas visitors. – Caxton News Service

The valuable library, with rare books dating from the 16th century, has been added to the list of the most endangered cultural heritage sites in SA Jacques Stoltz Founder of Heritage Monitoring Project