Public entities

Heritage Institutions contact details

Museums or Cultural Institutions

Museums are the windows to the natural and cultural heritage of a country. South Africa can justifiably be called the museum country of Africa, with the earliest of its museums dating back to the first half of the 19th century.

Today, more than 300 of the approximately 1 000 museums in Africa are situated in South Africa. They range from museums of geology, history, the biological sciences and the arts, to mining, agriculture, forestry and many other disciplines.

Most of the country’s national museums are declared cultural institutions (national museums that have framework autonomy and are managed by their own councils), and fall under the overall jurisdiction of the Department of Arts and Culture. They receive an annual subsidy from the department, but are mostly autonomous.

In terms of the Cultural Institutions Act,1998 (Act 119 of 1998) [PDF], the declared museum institutions in Gauteng and Cape Town have been grouped together into two organisations known as flagship institutions.

While the components of these two museum flagships (the museums from which they have been constituted) continue to operate as semi-independent museums regarding their core functions (collection, preservation, research and education), other functions, particularly administration, financing and human-resource management, have been centralised.

The following fifteen institutions were declared cultural institutions by the Minister of Arts and Culture in terms the act:

The Northern Flagship consists of the National Cultural History Museum (NCHM) and its former satellite museums (Kruger House, Tswaing Meteorite Crater, Willem Prinsloo Agricultural Museum, Pioneer Museum, Sammy Marks Museum and the Coert Steynberg Museum), the Transvaal Museum and the South African National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg.

The Iziko museums of Cape Town, formerly known as the Southern Flagship Institution, consist of the South African Museum, the South African Cultural History Museum and its satellite museums, the South African National Gallery, the William Fehr Collection and the Michaelis Collection. In terms of the Cultural Institutions Act, 1998 [PDF], the declared museums in other provinces continue to operate as before. These include the National Museum and the War Museum of the Boer Republics, the William Humphreys Art Gallery, the Natal Museum and the Voortrekker Museum, the National English Literacy Museum and the Afrikaanse Taalmuseum.


The Robben Island Museum was established as a national monument and museum, and declared South Africa’s first world heritage site in 1999. Guided tours are offered to historical sites on the island, including the cell in which former President Mandela was imprisoned. The Robben Island Museum has its own council and is a separate declared institution, independent of Iziko.

Apart from the declared museums that fall under the department, there are also a number of other national museums that are administered by central government departments or research councils.

For more information about museums in South Africa, contact the Chief Directorate: Heritage at Tel: 012-441-3067 or 012-441-3037.

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Performing Arts Institutions or Playhouses

The following arts institutions assist to create a sustainable performing arts industry based on access, excellence, diversity and redress. The institutions receive annual transfers from the Department, but also generate their own revenue through ticket sales, donor assistance, sponsorships and rental income.

For more information about Performing Arts Institutions, contact the Sub-Directorate: Performing Arts Portfolio
at Tel: (012) 441 3627

 

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Libraries

The NLSA was established on 1 November 1999 through the NLSA Act, 1998 (Act 92 of 1998) [PDF] , with the amalgamation of the State Library in Pretoria and the South African Library in Cape Town.

The functions of the NLSA are to build a complete collection of published documents emanating from or relating to South Africa; to maintain and preserve the collections, and to provide access to them through bibliographic, reference, information and interlibrary-lending services; and to promote information awareness and literacy.

Blindlib is a statutory organisation located in Grahamstown. Its aim is to provide, free of charge as far as is reasonably possible, a national LIS to serve blind and print-handicapped readers in South Africa. It is partly state-funded and depends for the remainder of its financial needs on soliciting funds from the private sector and the general public. Blindlib also produces documents in special media such as Braille and audio formats. It develops standards for the production of such documents and researches production methods and technology in the appropriate fields.

It also acquires, manufactures and disseminates the technology people with visual disabilities need to read.

The vision of Blindlib is based on five broad objectives, namely, to significantly contribute to: helping build a nation of readers, assisting the organised blind community, improving the lives of individuals with print disabilities by meeting their information needs , helping the State to discharge its cultural mandate and its obligations to blind people , assisting Africa’s development by providing advice, expertise and documents in accessible formats for blind persons and the institutions that serve their information needs and Literature for the Visually Handicapped.

For more information about the Library and Information Services in the Department of Arts and Culture, contact Tel: 012-441-3227 or 012-441-3354.

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Other Institutions

In terms of the National Arts Council Act, 1997, the NAC facilitates opportunities for people to practice and appreciate the arts.  The Council also promotes the general application of the arts in communities, fosters the expression of national identity through the arts, and gives historically disadvantaged people greater access to the arts.  Other functions include addressing historical imbalances in the provision of infrastructure and promoting opportunities for artists nationally and internationally.

The NFVF was established in terms of the National Film and Video Foundation Act, 1997, to develop and promote the film and video industry in South Africa. It provides for and encourages the creation of opportunities for people from disadvantaged communities to participate in the industry. The Foundation also promotes local film and video products; supports the development of and access to the industry, and addresses historical imbalances in infrastructure, skills and resources in the film and video industry.

The National Heritage Council, a statutory body that aims to bring equity to heritage promotion and conservation, was officially constituted on 26 February 2004 in terms of the NHC Act, 1999 (Act 11 of 1999) [PDF]. The council creates an enabling environment for preserving, protecting and promoting South African heritage.

Its other objectives are to protect, preserve and promote the content and heritage that resides in orature (oral heritage), and to make it accessible and dynamic; to integrate living heritage into the Council and all other heritage authorities and institutions at national, provincial and local level; to promote and protect indigenous knowledge systems; and to intensify support for promoting the history and culture of all South Africans, particularly research and publications on slavery in South Africa.

The National Heritage Resources Act, 1999 (Act 25 of 1999) [PDF], established the South African Heriage Resources Agency to provide for the identification, protection, conservation, and promotion of South Africa’s heritage for the present and future generations.

The aims of Sahra are to coordinate and monitor the identification of our national heritage, set a norm and standards and maintain the management of heritage resources nationally, encourage and facilitate the development of provincial structures, control export and import of nationally significant heritage resources, develop policy initiatives on the promotion and management of our heritage, nurture an holistic celebration of our history, set national policy for heritage resources management, i.e. formal protection, general protection and management, and to develop an integrated and interactive system for the management of the national heritage resources.

 

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