Question NW845 to the Minister of Environmental Affairs
18 April 2017 - NW845
Steenkamp, Ms J to ask the Minister of Environmental Affairs
With reference to the Minister of Arts and Culture’s reply to Question 528 on 27 March 2017, (a) by what date will the Government proclaim the Vredefort Dome as a heritage site in accordance with the proclamation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation on 14 July 2005 that the specified site is the country’s seventh world heritage site; and (b) what are the reasons for the Government’s delay in proclaiming the site a heritage site?
Reply:
a) Vredefort Dome will be proclaimed as soon as consensus is reached with the landowners on critical issues around governance and management models, and in particular the establishment of the Management Authority. Landowners have demanded that proclamation and governance issues be addressed simultaneously. This is despite a previous arrangement that the proclamation of the Site be processed while the resolution of the governance issues is underway; and
b) Government is not delaying the proclamation of the site as a heritage site. As indicated above, the differences in governance modalities need to be resolved with the landowners associations prior to the proclamation being effected. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has made efforts to create the space for these to be addressed. However, the declarations of dispute by the landowners contribute to the slow pace in finalising the proclamation process. Failure to address these issues may lead to the undesirable withdrawal of the site from the UNESCO.
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