SA’s most endangered heritage sites in focus

The Heritage Monitoring Project (HMP) has announced its longlist for the 2016 top 10 most endangered heritage sites in South Africa.

Among them were several Eastern Cape sites, namely amaMpondo Cultural Heritage Landscape, Post Retief, Winterberg, Timbershed, Plettenberg Bay, Old Post Of- fice complex, Port Elizabeth, Victoria Bridge, Fort Beaufort, Thyspunt and Victoria House, Port Elizabeth.

In June the HMP made a call for South Africans to submit endangered heritage sites. A broad spectrum of submissions were received - from BaTswana iron age ruins, to sites of military conflict, ancestral lands, historic townscapes and buildings, to Struggle sites and archaeological and paleontological sites of international significance. These are but some of the submissions that make up the final longlist of South Africa’s most endangered cultural heritage sites.

With close to 50 submissions, the HMP was very encouraged by the response. “Our founding partner, the Heritage Portal, receives constant notices from members of the heritage community expressing concern about neglected sites of significance. With this campaign, we want to identify sites at risk around the country, and get communities and local stakeholders active in finding creative ways to respond to the threats – and hopefully ensure that sites are eventually removed from the endangered list.

Sometimes a local church, mosque, cemetery or monument just needs a small amount of support from the private sector or local resident associations to make a big difference,” said Jacques Stoltz, co-founder of the HMP.

The number of submissions made in the first year of the campaign shows that despite perceptions to the contrary, South Africans are deeply concerned about the state of their cultural heritage.

The Top 10 most endangered sites will be announced this month, to coincide with September Heritage Month.

The full longlist is available at www.theheritageportal.co.za