Robben Island has not been declared a South African national heritage site because its managers have failed to meet statutory requirements for its administration over the past five years, it has emerged.
At the same time, Unesco world heritage committee concerns persist over the way the island is run as a world heritage site.
At the heart of both sets of concerns lies a lack of clarity about how the island is coping with the growing numbers of visitors, the absence of conservation management plans and the lack of heritage conservation plans for its buildings and ecology.
Buildings include the former political prison, church, kramat (Muslim cemetery), remnants of a military outpost and the house where Pan Africanist Congress leader Robert Sobukwe was confined from 1963 to 1969.
Barely 90 000 people visited the island in 1997, compared with 310 000 in 2002. Putting pressure on its ecology is the rampant spread of invader plants.
At its meeting in Durban this week, the Unesco world heritage committee decided to review Robben Island’s progress in meeting 19 points of concern by next February. The concerns, and recommendations for remedying them, arose from an inspection in February last year.
“Progress to date has been slow,” said a resolution approved by the meeting. “The fact that the Robben Island Museum [Rim] report addresses only five of the 19 issues … must also be a matter of concern. Of the five concerns addressed by the Rim progress report, the details given are not sufficient to provide a clear picture.”
The appointment of a heritage officer and Paul Langa as island CEO in April has met two world heritage committee criticisms.
For almost three years, until last April, the island did not have a CEO. In mid-2002, then CEO Andre Odendaal resigned during a hunger strike over alleged mismanagement by ex-political prisoners employed as guides and other staff on the island. In addition, forensic audits revealed financial irregularities and kickbacks for the awarding of supply contracts.
Work aimed at securing national heritage status has finally begun. On June 3 this year the island, and a nautical mile zone around it, were declared “provisionally protected for a period of two years” in the Government Gazette. This followed a memorandum of understanding between island management and the South African Heritage Resource Agency (Sahra).
The Gazette notice means Robben Island has until June 2007 to comply. Tshimangadzo Nemaheni, the island’s senior heritage resource manager, said the aim was to achieve national heritage status by next April.
“A lot of work had to be done … We are not the only site at issue,” he explained when questioned on the five-year delay.
The island’s former political prison was proclaimed a national monument in 1994 and a world heritage site in 1999. But, in the same year, the national monuments council was scrapped and replaced by Sahra.
All national monuments reverted to the control of the provinces pending reapplication for national heritage status. This was necessary because the 1999 National Heritage Resources Act broadens the heritage concept beyond historical buildings to include sites of religious, cultural, historical, natural and ecological significance requiring conservation plans and suitable management structures.
Consultants hired to oversee the integrated conservation management plan are to meet on Friday for the first time, while moves to conserve the lime quarry, where Nelson Mandela and other jailed African National Congress leaders toiled, are under way.
In addition, agreements with the departments of arts and culture and public works are being finalised to maintain the island’s infrastructure.
Sahra CEO Phakamani Buthelezi said that “whatever dilemmas may have been, the national significance of Robben Island has not been affected … We are quite optimistic that Robben Island will meet the challenges.”