South Africa's living heritage in the context of sustainable development

Abstract

In this policy brief, the Draft National Policy is reviewed in relation to the said framework for the management of living heritage in South Africa, focusing on the role of bearer communities in safeguarding their patrimony. Furthermore, the living heritage approach developed by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) is suggested as a strategy for managing the patrimony. This approach does not divide heritage into tangible and intangible, and differentiates between the rights of stakeholder communities based on their connection to the cultural resource.