It has been brought to the attention of the Heritage Association of South Africa by Mr. Anthony Wiley that an old National Monuments Council bronze badge (often called a plaque) was being offered by a seller in Wellington on the well-known web sales platform BOB (the old Bid or Buy). The seller who trades under the name De Vreede appears to have a strong reputation as a 5 star graded trader with many satisfied customers. He is based in Wellington in the Cape. The price tag was R8000 – which probably would be the cost of making a bronze replica today.

These badges / plaques are valuable and becoming rarer as more are removed from old national monuments. It would seem that vandals or misguided individuals seem to think that because such an item is old or because the National Monuments Council no longer exists (disappeared in 2000) that removing such plaques to either recycle the metal or to claim as a cool souvenir is not really “theft”. I have news for all who are interested in heritage – the removal of these old badges / plaques is THEFT.

 

The stolen NMC badge on the Enoch Sontonga Memorial

 

Removed NMC badge at the Gauteng Legislature (Kathy Munro)

 

Perhaps in the current world of uncertainty where morals have slipped, taking such a special piece is “unimportant” and “minor”, but in fact if we do not worry about old heritage, we are losing something deep in heritage and identity. Our grasp of the importance of respecting the heritage of all South Africans and sites – prehistoric, ancient, very old, old and recent is compromised.

I have followed up with the seller in Wellington (I do not know his name only his non de plume). I have written to him via the facility on Bob Shop for a potential buyer to ask the seller a question. My question is a simple one: 'What is the provenance of this plaque now on sale?'.

The seller explained that he had purchased the plaque on an auction in Johannesburg but could supply no further information. He advised me to contact the sales platform officials. I phoned and spoke to a lovely lady, Natasha Van Zyl, on the Community Help Desk. She advised that I should write a letter. This was the start of a correspondence and full marks to Bob Shop for their reply: 'We appreciate your diligence in safeguarding South Africa’s heritage and your efforts to ensure that such significant artifacts remain protected.' She has committed the company to 'working within their policies and applicable regulations to ensure an appropriate course of action, transparency and a resolution that serves the public interest.' Their requirement is that whilst the full history of the plaque should be determined, it also needs to be established whether such a plaque may have originated from a national monument.  

That seems reasonable except that all such NMC badges / plaques came from what were old national monuments (provincial heritage sites today).

 

National Monument Badge and Plaque at The Castle (The Heritage Portal)

 

Meanwhile I have not been able to speak to the seller. He has dropped me a note to say that pending further investigation he has now withdrawn the plaque from sale.

I have alerted the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. The organisation has stated that it deplores the sale of old National Monuments Council bronze badges. I have also alerted the Council members of the Heritage Association of South Africa. I have written to the South Africa Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) via their website. This is the national state body responsible for heritage and the successor body to the older National Monuments Council.

Background to National Monuments Recognition and Plaquing

The Historical Monuments Commission was appointed by the Union government of South Africa in 1923 and lasted until 1969. It was the body that first raised awareness of heritage encompassing monuments, relics and antiquities. In the 1920s they started by surveying monuments within the Union of South Africa – covering  old buildings, military defences, historic sites, game sanctuaries, places of great natural beauty or scientific interest. These surveys included Bushman (sic) paintings and engravings and relics of archaeological and palaeontological interest, but it was only in 1934 that a new Act (the Natural and Historical Monuments, Relics and Antiquities Act) empowered the Commission to proclaim monuments, relics and antiques. In 1937 the Act was amended to stop the export of archaeological and palaeontological finds.

Plaques and badges were awarded to properties and national treasures of distinction. Over the period 1935 to 1941, this Commission began to use bronze plaques, badges, warning notices and fences to identify and inform the public about sites. Survey work continued. The record was impressive covering 102 national monuments marked with 71 bronze badges and some  51 plaques. In addition, this Commission issued 67 warning notices, erected 33 fences and undertook another 29 surveys. The Historical Monuments Commission was the first body to use the distinctive badge with the logo of the Cape Town VOC Castle encircled by a garland of proteas and surmounted by the Union of south Africa Coat of arms. We do not know  (at this point) who designed the first HMC badge – possibly the SA Mint was involved. In 1941 Professor C van Riet Lowe edited a book on The Monuments of South Africa. It covered the history of the Commission and its work over the period 1934 to 1940. It is now a sought after collectible guide.

 

Book Cover

 

Through the years there was slow progress in the identification of monuments and working with the owners to recognise a heritage site and encouraging public access. Heritage recognition was given to a broad spectrum of properties, places of geological formations, surviving blockhouses, caves, the van Plettenberg Beacon, the Valley of Desolation in Graaf Reinet, some ancient trees, Kruger’s House in Pretoria, forts, battlefields, mountains, waterfalls, indigenous flora and even picturesque villages.

 

Valley of Desolation and NMC Badge (Bev Forbes)

 

Buildings included early African kraals, Cape Dutch and Georgian houses in the Cape and Voortrekker houses further inland. Among the antiques given status, national treasures were a grandfather clock and an early printing press. It all added up to a strange juxtaposing of battlefields and military outposts, some geological formations, some archaeological sites, and recognised Anglo Boer War history. Back then the Commission worried about monuments, relics and antiques and worked out very specific definitions. It pioneered progressive thinking about protection of heritage, proclamations, and stopping the export of cultural materials. Over its lifespan some 300 sites and buildings were proclaimed, and some 200 bronze commemorative plaques and badges were installed.

The Historical Monuments Commission was dissolved in 1969 and was replaced by a new body, the National Monuments Council, which functioned as the custodian of monuments and relics in South Africa, but also added South West Africa (now Namibia) to its coverage. It was responsible for the declaration of several thousand national monuments. Its headquarters was in Cape Town and not surprisingly there was a bias towards the Cape. About half of the national monuments declared by the NMC were in the Western Cape.

 

Bronze NMC plaque at Boschendal (The Heritage Portal)

 

Government Avenue badge, Cape Town (The Heritage Portal)

 

Originally the mindset was a product of apartheid norms and ideology, but over time (particularly post 1980), the body became more representative in its membership and heritage interpretations widened. The book by JJ Oberholster The Historical Monuments of South Africa published in 1972 by the Rembrandt van Rijn Foundation for Culture remains the most comprehensive source of the geographic spread of monuments at a time when the dominant narrative of heritage was as viewed by the establishment. This book was originally published in Afrikaans and then translated into English. It remains a good source of information on the heritage thinking and demarcations of the 20th century. The book is dated and clearly there was still a bias to the Cape with 215 listed for the Cape Province, followed by the Transvaal with only 65, Natal 62 and the Orange Free State with 62. A total of 367 monuments are documented in this book. It is a much heavier publication than the 1941 van Riet Lowe book. It is well-illustrated with sepia toned drawings and photographs, maps and a selection of lithographic reproductions of 12 plates showing the work of artists such as de Meillon, Bowler, Angas, Samuel Daniell, Bowler and Baines. These plates were also published by the South African Permanent Building Society in their annual calendars. The colonial narrative of exploration, conquest, military occupation, churches, mission stations and new towns set the tone and seamlessly conveyed an older ideology that heritage was about conserving the European view of architecture, technology and countryside or what a European mindset considered important in archaeology and other sciences.

We can still see one of the NMC badges, well preserved and protected in the entrance of the William Cullen Library at Wits University on the East Campus. In a glass cabinet is the Diaz padrão of Saint Gregory erected by Bartholomew Diaz in 1488 at Kwaaihoek near the Bushman’s River Mouth. This relic was discovered by Prof Eric Axelson - admittedly scattered fragments, which were reassembled to recreate the stone cross. It came to Wits for safekeeping and has remained here ever since.

 

Diaz Cross (The Heritage Portal)

 

The National Monuments Council adapted to a degree with changes in demographics and the coming of the democratic framework, but with new agendas and strong revisionist thinking about the kind of heritage that ought to be given national heritage recognition, the Council was not the right fit for a new South Africa. The Council was dissolved in 2000 and most of what were counted as national heritage sites became provincial heritage sites in terms of the new National Heritage Resources Act of 1999.

This Act, not without limitations and imperfections, is the cornerstone of state heritage structures today, with the establishment of the South African Heritage Resources Agency at the apex and the various provincial authorities taking care of heritage at a more regional level. It is now a three-tier system. Old monuments were then reclassified into national, provincial and local.

Again, the principal legacy from the NMC was the bronze plaques and badges. In 1996 the Centre for Conservation Education recognised the significance of the NMC badges. Whilst the Council is defunct, the bronze badges and information plaques are still regarded as insignia of significance, valued by heritage people and by local custodians. Those old bronze badges are still a quick and visible point of recognition for many architecturally significant buildings.

There was continuity too, with the NMC adopting the older plaque of the Historical Monuments Commission – the design of the Cape Town Castle was retained but within the entrance gate archway is the padrão (the symbol marking Portuguese exploration and presence along the coastline of Southern Africa (including Namibia) prior to 1652.

William Martinson has located an article from the SA Journal of Cultural History (2010). From this account it is possible that Joe Calafato, a precious metal artist who worked at the SA Mint from 1938 to 1945 could have been involved in the production of the heritage badges during the HMC era.

 

One of the illustrations in this article shows Calafato with an HMC badge on a shelf behind him

 

I think one can presume - until proved to the contrary - that the NMC badges were probably designed and cast at the SA Mint.

Graaff-Reinet was the town with probably more declared NMC sites than any other South African town. It had the distinction of having 220 listed national monuments, as efforts were made by the NMC to recognise the distinctive architecture of the Karoo house. Streets of houses in Somerset, North, Park Bourke, Parsonage, Cradock and Stockenstroom Streets were awarded NMC badges. The badges were reduced in size for this range of domestic architecture recognition.

 

The small bronze National Monuments Council badge from 8 Church Square, Graaff Reniet. Note the gouge marks in the wall plaster, lower right of the badge, showing that this badge was also subjected to an abortive attempt at theft. (Peter Whitlock)

 

Peter Whitlock, who is the leading heritage architect in Graaff-Reinet, explained:

It should firstly be noted that two types of badges were placed on Graaff-Reinet National Monuments. Firstly, the typical large badge which one sees on most other former National Monuments throughout the country and secondly, a scaled down version (about 100mm in diameter) which I have never seen elsewhere. The latter are by far the most numerous and appear mostly on domestic structures, normally arising from the group / precinct proclamations that took place in the 1980s. Exactly how many of the small badges were actually placed on buildings is unknown off-hand although the presence of these badges is recorded in the 1989 NMC survey.

There has been a theft problem in Graaff-Reinet and Peter regularly notices or hears about missing badges. He would like audits to be done to establish how many large and small badges and plaques remain.

I have also had some feedback from William Martinson who has spoken to Ashley Lillie who has provided some photographs. William confirmed that the National Monuments Council created a set of smaller NMC bronze badges to deal with group declarations (declarations that were done in the absence of the ability to declare a Conservation Area). The heritage houses in Cross Street in Makanda (Grahamstown) are an example of this use. Such badges were used by the NMC in the period prior to 1988.

William adds that a third, even smaller version of the NMC bronze badge was also created (just 74 mm tall by 59 mm) to mark moveable objects that had been declared in terms of the Act.

 

Illustration of the small bronze badge, a miniaturised version of the NMC plaque (William Martinson)

 

In Johannesburg, the memorial on the site of the grave of Enoch Sontonga (the man who wrote the Xhosa hymn Nkosi sikielel’ iAfrika) at the Braamfontein cemetery had one such bronze NMC plaque. Sadly, it was stolen (see main image). In 2024 the City of Johannesburg in collaboration with the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation erected a replacement plaque, a ceramic replica, which was successfully aged using some abrasive paint. 

Occasionally the JHF is called upon to replace the NMC plaques with a replica. The organisation has connected with an enterprising person in George who now supplies ceramic replicas. However, in Johannesburg the blue plaque has become the standard for local plaques.

 

Northwards Blue Plaque (The Heritage Portal)

 

Today, the old NMC and HMC badges and plaques are all but forgotten. The South African National Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) is the current custodian of heritage and the official state authority. It has recognised and demarcated over 80 sites as national heritage sites. The list is varied and covers archaeological sites, early settlements, cultural landscapes, caves, graves, tombstones, fossil sites, rock paintings and more. The approach is one of redress and restorative narrative to endorse and encourage pride in heritage by many more entities and societies. It is a much broader vision. Archaeology, palaeontology and geology stand alongside the expected architectural landmarks such as the Voortrekker Monument, the Castle of Good Hope, the Parliament building in Cape Town and the Union Buildings.

 

Union Buildings

 

SAHRA bronze badge at Nelson Mandela's prison house at Victor Verster Prison (William Martinson)

 

Today private civil society heritage bodies around the country are marking heritage sites with blue plaques and information boards. There is nothing exclusive or proprietary about blue plaques. Bronze and copper as valuable metals are not good materials for plaques. The fibre glass option for blue plaques is less enticing to thieves.

Conclusion

The purpose of this contribution is to alert heritage enthusiasts to the fact that old bronze badges and plaques from the HMC and the NMC are still out there. Many survive, they have now become national assets or part of the national estate with heritage value and need protection. Such badges should be preserved.

 

Missing badge at Fort Hendrian (Petria de Vaal Senekal)

 

I appeal to readers to please avoid buying such treasures as they are likely to have been stripped from authentic old national monuments. These items remain government property. They should not be traded or gathered as thoughtless souvenirs or slipped into display cases of private collectors. My advice to collectors is to build your own interesting collection for and of your own time that will have value in the future. For example, old postcards of your town, books, theatre programmes, old photographs, antique bottles, kitchen utensils, period tins or souvenirs of an event or a city.

In my view, the badge at the centre of this article should not be sold and ideally should be donated to a local museum or heritage body.

Kathy Munro is an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. She enjoyed a long career as an academic and in management at Wits University. She trained as an economic historian. She is an enthusiastic book person and has built her own somewhat eclectic book collection over 40 years. Her interests cover Africana, Johannesburg history, history, art history, travel, business and banking histories. She researches and writes on historical architecture and heritage matters. She is a member of the Board of the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and is a docent at the Wits Arts Museum. She is currently working on a couple of projects on Johannesburg architects and is researching South African architects, war cemeteries and memorials. Kathy is a member of the online book community the Library thing and recommends this cataloging website and worldwide network as a book lover's haven. She is also the Chairperson of HASA.