Shoddy Robben Island risks delisting as UN Heritage Site

ROBBEN Island has been forced to launch a rescue plan to save its status as South Africa's premier world heritage site after maintenance failed to meet Unesco standards.

Steps are already being taken to address the situation. African countries in general, it seems, don't have the resources to maintain these places.

The site is one of several in Africa that has been at risk of being delisted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) for failing to meet maintenance standards.

It comes as South Africa proposes new sites - including the Kimberley Mines and Pilgrims Rest - ahead of a Unesco World Heritage conference in Durban in July.

Problems at Robben Island cited by a Unesco inspection team in a report last year included:

• A lack of an integrated management plan to administer the site;
  
• Corrosion of the island's limestone quarry;
  
• Poor building maintenance;
  
• A lack of balance between exposing the island as a tourist attraction and conserving it as a world heritage site;
  
• The impact of too many tourists;
  
• Over-harvesting and poaching of perlemoen;
  
• Invasion of alien plants;
  
• Uncontrollable fires;
  
• The presence of feral cats, unsuitable large herbivores, European rabbits and black rats; and
  
• The impact of vehicles and residents or tourists on endangered animals.
  

During the apartheid years Robben Island became internationally known for its institutional brutality. The duty of those who ran the island and its prison was to isolate opponents of apartheid and to crush their morale. Many freedom fighters, including former President Nelson Mandela, spent more than 20 years in prison for their beliefs.

The island has since become one of SA's most important attractions with hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting each year.

Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan said this week that Unesco's World Heritage Committee (WHC) had conducted an inspection and compiled a report saying that "if certain measures were not taken the place would be in danger of being delisted".

Unesco encourages the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage sites around the world.

"Steps are already being taken to address the situation," said Jordan. "African countries in general, it seems, don't have the resources to maintain these places."

The ministry had convened a meeting of African experts last month to address the problem of important sites on the continent being in danger of losing their status.

"Unesco has high standards for the maintenance of world heritage sites. The problems at Robben Island regarded management of the site but not the merit of the site itself," Jordan told a parliamentary briefing.

Paul Langa, interim director of the Robben Island Museum, said a task team had been appointed to implement the recommendations of the Unesco report. The team has compiled a draft integrated management plan which has been forwarded to Unesco.

Langa said some Unesco recommendations had already been addressed, including the over-harvesting and poaching of per lemoen, and drinking-water facilities.

Langa said it would cost the Department of Arts and Culture R2-million to implement the plan.

He said the Robben Island Museum had requested more funding for repairs and maintenance.

Sonwabile Mancotywa, CEO of the National Heritage Council - SA's heritage co-ordinating body- said the WHC had accepted the plan to address concerns.

"Robben Island has been pro- active, it has saved itself," he said this week.

It had addressed most issues to the council's satisfaction and had committed itself to installing a chief executive officer by the end of the month. Museum board member Laura Robinson said a series of interviews for the post had already taken place.

"We've got to do a lot of maintenance and repair work to the buildings," she said.

"The maximum security prison is our priority for the forthcoming year. We are developing a detailed conservation plan to address how we do the appropriate maintenance without destroying the quality of the prison."

Mancotywa said Unesco also recommended "that a memorandum of understanding" be established with the Department of Public Works to strengthen co-ordination for conservation and maintenance.