[MSN] SA's treasures worth millions going missing

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SA's treasures worth millions going missing

By Anel Powell

Millions and millions of rands worth of heritage resources have been 
stolen from state institutions.

This was stated on Thursday by Phakamani Buthelezi, chief executive of 
the SA Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra).

This is why a R28,5-million national audit of heritage resources under 
state custodianship was started in 2004. Although still in the early 
stages, the initial count of heritage assets has revealed there is much 
that cannot be accounted for.

'Massive black market in stolen goods'
Buthelezi said without a reliable database of heritage items, it was 
difficult to say how many items had been lost or stolen, or what the 
value of these items was. But he said it would amount to many millions 
of rands.

He said many items had been "inappropriately" removed from the country.

Roger Layton, of service provider Ciber, said the thefts of valuable 
resources meant there was a "massive black market in stolen goods".

After the high-profile thefts of state resources, including the 
Mendelssohn diamond ring from parliament and a R3-million gold tea set 
from Tuynhuys, the national government approved the development of a 
national heritage database in 2004.

The five pilot sites of the audit were Tuynhuys, Groote Schuur and 
parliament in Cape Town, and the Union Buildings and Bryntirion Estate 
in Pretoria. More than 5 600 assets were audited at the first five sites.

Unlike traditional audits that count furniture and other movable items, 
the heritage audit included only rare, significant or valuable items.

One of the collections was valued at between R100-million and 
R500-million, while several others were worth more than R10-million each.

David Hart, manager of the national audit unit, said these sites were 
chosen for the first phase because they were not managed by a museum.

"We were therefore concerned that these items would be more vulnerable."

He added: "To know what is lost, we first have to know what we have."

Sahra is working with Interpol and the South African Police Service on 
the listing of heritage items to make it easier for them to be 
identified if stolen. It includes the taking of high-quality photographs 
of all the items.

Layton said the national audit was the biggest of its kind ever done in 
South Africa. It would allow the agency to identify how many collections 
exist and how their items were being managed.

The audit would result in a national database of information about the 
country's valuable movable and immovable heritage resources.

Because of their vulnerability, movable assets were being prioritised by 
the pilot audit.

Layton said the audit was not a one-off count, but could be done regularly.

The initial heritage survey revealed the treatment of many assets was 
not suitable. There was little documentation and often no photographs.

Some sites, especially government sites, were difficult to access. He 
said that at many government departments there was no central management 
of the heritage resources.

Buthelezi made an appeal for more funds to continue with the national 
audit, saying "R28,5-million is just not enough".

The centralisation of information on heritage resources would make it 
possible to create virtual museums on the Internet and make it easier to 
track other institutions' items.

* This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on April 
13, 2007