First, it is important to review the concept of heritage since the Venice Charter was adopted in 1964. There have been numerous conservation guidelines in the form of charters, recommendations, and resolutions introduced and adopted by international heritage bodies such as UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world. The National Monument Act of 1969 was the first legislation introduced after adopting the Venice Charter. However, this does not diminish the impact of memorialisation practices under the Natural and Historical Monument Relics and Antiques Act of 1923. What it did was solidify biased documentation of history and perpetuate an oppressive and exclusive national heritage narrative. The dominant narrative categories across the country are composed of cultural, historical, architectural, and material legacies left behind by colonial and apartheid powers in the regions and territories they controlled. This is essentially because of the colonial perception that heritage was physical, effectively tangible.

A complicated conversation

This year marks 30 years since the dawn of democracy. The adoption of the constitution in 1996 was one of the turning points in the history of the struggle for democracy. Its preamble advances a belief that South Africa belongs to all who live in it … in addition heal the division of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental rights …

In order to advance these ideals in 1999 the president approved the Heritage Resources Act. This legislation aims to promote good management of the national estate and to enable and encourage communities to nurture and conserve … our heritage is unique and precious and cannot be renewed. It helps us to define our cultural identity and therefore lies at the heart of our spiritual well-being and has the power to build our nation.

The advanced view is that the statues, place names, and other forms of symbolism in public spaces need to be reviewed in line with the values and spirit of a non-racial, democratic, and inclusive South Africa.

The conversation on this matter is complicated, as shown by the events of 2015 (#FeesMustFall and StatuesMustFall) and is likely to continue in the future. Despite the challenges we have made progress and achieved a lot. It is not easy to traverse the layered complexity inherent in matters of heritage and public memory, but I think it provides an excellent space for critical engagement, conversations, and dialogues. After all, in line with Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, we can't tell the South African story and start with secondly.

The other side of the coin

As we pursue the goal of acknowledging and honouring stories that are often overlooked, instead of choosing to erase them, we have the opportunity to present an alternate viewpoint, fill in the gaps, and make corrections. This allows us to move beyond simply preserving physical, tangible heritage but also celebrate the intangible aspects, thus promoting the concept of living heritage, a practice unique to African traditions of documenting and storytelling. Living heritage at its core emphasises a connection between the past, the present, and the future. It includes the continuity of a heritage site’s original function, which speaks to the purpose for which the site was intended, but can also be repurposed to form part of the future narrative. Another factor is continuity of care, which speaks to the ways communities take care of their heritage.

Robben Island tells the story of incarceration but also of hope. The Castle of Good Hope, built between 1666 and 1679, known as the oldest surviving building in South Africa, is reconfigured to embody a story of joy, pain, tears, laughter, disappointment, fear, hope – and all the other human emotions that characterise us as a nation. The alternate viewpoint can shed light on untold stories and narratives that were intentionally omitted or silenced.

The other side of the coin through storytelling, musicals, and theatre 

• Through performances that evoke discussion and provide context to both the past and present, theatre provides a space of engagement where stories and collective memories are enacted, drawing audiences in for the experience. Plays such as Sophiatown by Malcolm Purkey and Pippa Stein, and District Six: The Musical, by Taliep Peterson and David Kramer, preserve not only the memory of these places but allow the audiences to engage with history. With a blend of music, dance, song, drama and theatre can weave together a story that audiences can identify with. Theatre in South Africa therefore serves a function of storytelling, identity and collective memory embodying living heritage.

In addition to the techniques above, two books that add to the other side of the coin are worth mentioning. The Lie of 1652: A Decolonised History of Land, published in 2020, and The Truth about Cape Slavery: the foundations of colonial South Africa, published in 2024, were written by Patric Tariq Mellet, a renowned historian and heritage expert. These publications aim to record and correct a distorted history.

There are other stories, many stories, powerful stories that need to be told and recorded. There are sites of memories in our neighbourhoods that need to be recognised for the role they played in South African history. There are individuals and groups of people that we need to honour. Let us all contribute to broadening our heritage narrative.

The argument is to towards inclusivity, to flip the inherited heritage side of the coin that will have the courage to disrupt homogeneity and advance heterogeneity in pursuit of establishing the alternative memory where two sides of the heritage narrative coin intersect, influence each other, and hybridise in pursuit of dialogic engagements and transformative output.