Act 41of 1967

HISTORICAL MONUMENTS, RELICS, FAUNA AND FLORAACT

Section

1 Short title

2 Interpretation

3 Establishment and constituti on of the Commission

4 Functions of the Commission

5 Members of the Commission not to be remune rated

6 Funds of the Commission

7 Restriction on power to alien ate etc.

8 Pro clamation of monuments, relicts and antiques

9 Protection of monuments, relics and antiques

10 Protection of fauna and flora

11 Minister may prohibit removal or export of monument,relic, antique etc.

12 Penalties

13 Regulations

14 Repeal of Proclamation 40 of 1938

Historical Monuments, Relics, Fauna and Flora Act

ACT 41 OF 1967

ACT

[Date of Assent : 13th December, 1967][Date of Commencement: 2211d December. 1967]

To provide for the pres ervation and protection of natural andhistorical monuments. re lics , antiques, fauna and flora andfor connecte d matters .

Enacted by th e Parliament of Lesotho

1. This Act may be cited as the Historical Monuments , Short t itleRelics, Fauna and Flora Act, 1967.

2. In this Act unless the context otherwise requires _ Interpre ta tion

"antique" means an object pro claimed as such by the Ministerunde r the provisions of section 8;

"commission" means the commission established by section3;

"fauna" means any wild animal, any reptile (other than apoisonous snake ) , bird, fish or bee proclaimed as suchby th e Ministe r under the provisions of section 8;

"flora" means any plant or tree growing witho ut cult ivationin, or which is indigenous to, Lesotho, but does notinclude the flower or seed of any such plant or treeunless it is expressly prov ided in a not ice issue d by theMinis ter und er section 8 that the flower and seed of th eflora described in such notice is also pro tected;

"Minister" means the Ministe r of the Government for thetim e being responsible for education and includes anAssistant Minister to the extent that he is authorised bythe Minister to perform the duties and exercise th epowers of the Minister under this Act ;

"monument" means an ar ea or object proclaimed as such bythe Ministe r under th e provisions of section 8;

"relic" means an object proclaimed as such by the Ministerunder the provi sions of section 8.

3. (l) There is hereby established a commission to be Establis hmen tknown as the "Commission for preservation of Natural and and t it t iHistorical Monuments , Relics and Antiques and the protection of ;¥~h~ U Io nFauna and Flora", which shall be a body corporate with perpetual commissionsuccession and capable of suing and being sued in its own name,of acqui ring and alienating property, ente ring into contracts and ,subject to the provisions of this Act, generally of performing allsuch acts as are necessary for or incidental to the carrying out ofits functions and duties under this Act.

Function sof thecommission

(2) The commission sha ll consist of not less than five andnot more than seven members who shall be appointed by th eMinister.

(3) A member of the commission shall hold office for fiveyears unless he sooner resigns or his appointment is terminatedunder the provisions of subsection (8) and a retiring membershall be eligible for re-appointment.

(4) When a vacancy occurs on th e commission by death orresignation, absence from Lesotho, illness or otherwise. theMinister may appoint a person to fill that vacancy for the un­expired portion of th e period for which th e member whose officehas become vacant had been appointed.

(5) Members of the commission shall choose one of th eirnumb er to be chairman; if at any meeting of th e commission thechairman is absent, the members present shall choose one of theirnumber to be chairman of that meeting.

(6) The member presidin g as chairman at a meeting of th ecommission shall have a delib erative vote as well as a castingvote .

(7) Three members present at a meeting of the commissionshall constitute a quorum and a decision of a majority of membersof the commission present at a meeting shall be deemed to be adecision of the commission.

(8) A member of the commission shall vacate his office ­(a ) if he has been absent from three consecutive meetings

of th e commission without the perm ission of the chair­man; or

(b) if he is in the opinion of the Minister unable or unfit todischarge the functions and duties of a member of thecommission.

4. (1) The commission may-(a) make a list of all objects whose proclamation under

section 8 it considers desirable;(b) tak e steps to ascertain the owners of any object;(c) purchase or otherwise acquire any such object or by

agreement with th e Government or any public body orwith any private person having th e ownership or controlof any such object , take such steps as may be practicableto preserve it;

(d ) take steps for the erection of tablets in suitab le placesgiving information in both official languages of Lesothoabout historical events which occurred at such places;

(e ) assume control over any such object if requested by theperson having the ownership or control the reof so to do,and as trustee for the Government accept any suchobject which the owner desires to donate or has be­queathed to the Government;

(f) preserve, repair. restore or insure any monument, relic,or antique unde r its control;

Membersof thecommis ionnot to beremunerated

(g) lend any such relic or antiqu e to any museum or otherpubli c institution;

(h) recommend to th e Minister th e proclamation of anysuch objects in terms of section 8; and

(i) through any of its members have access at all reasonabletim es to any monument or relic proclaimed undersection 8.

(2) The commission shall -(a) when required by the Minister investigate and report

upon any matter relating to any object proclaimed undersection 8 or upon the desirability of so proclaiming anyobject ;

(b) on or before th e thirty-first day of December in everyyear furnish to th e Minister a report upon its workduring the year ended on the thirty-first day of Marchlast preceding and on any other matters connecte d withthe preservation of monuments, relics and antiqueswhich it may desire to bring to th e attention of th eMinister; and

(c) make a register of all monuments, re lics antiques, faunaand flora proclaimed as such under section 8.

5. No remuneration shall be paid to the members of thecommission, but each member may draw from the funds of thecommission his reasonable expenses for travelling and subsistencewhile engaged upon the business of the commission at such ratesas the Minister may prescribe.

6. The fnnds of the commission shall consist of such grants , Funds of thecommiss io ndonations, fees and annual snbscriptions as may from time to

time be made to it or be payable to it.

7. Save with the written consent of th e Minister, the Rest rictioncommission shall not alienate, hypothecate, or let any object T po;'O':owhich is its property or for which it is trustee as aforesaid. a lena e e c.

8. The Minister may from tim e to tim e on the recommen- Proclamationdation of the commission bv notice in the Gazette, proclaim to ofbe _ " mo.numents.

relics and(a) a monument, any area of land having a distinctive or ant iques

beautiful scenery or geological formation, any area ofland containing a rare or distinctive or beautiful floraor fauna, any area of land containing objects of ar­chaelogical , historical or scientific interest , any water-fall, cave, grotto, avenue of trees, old tree or old buildingand any other object (whether natural or constructedby man) of aesthetic, historical, archaelogical or scienti-fic value or int erest;

(b) a relic, any fossil of any kind , any drawing or paintingon stone or petroglyph known or commonly believed tohave been executed by Bushmen or other aborigines ofsouthern Africa or by any people who inhabited orvisited southern Africa in ancient days, and any irn-

Protectionofmonuments.relics andantiques

Protectionof fauna andflora

Minister mayprohibitremoval orexport ofmonument.relic .antique etc .

plement or ornament known or commonly believed tohave been used by them and any anthropological orarchaeological contents of the graves, caves, rockshelters, middens, shell mounds or other sites used bythem;

(c) an antique, any movable object (not being a monumentor a relic) of aesthetic, historical, archaeological orscientific value or interest, the whole or more valuableportion whereof has for more than one hundred yearsbeen in any part of southern Africa, or which was madetherein more than one hundred years before the publica­tion of such notice;

(d) protected fauna or flora, any fauna or flora, the speciesor kind whereof is described in such notice.

9. (1) Whenever the owner of any object, proclaimed underthe provisions of section 8 alienates, pledges or lets it he shallforthwith inform the commission of the name and address of thealienee, pledgee or lessee.

(2) No person shall, without the written consent of thecommission destroy or damage any monument or relic or makeany alteration thereto or remove it from its original site or exportit from Lesotho.

(3) A person desiring to remove a monument or relic fromits original site or export it from Lesotho shall when applying tothe conunission for its consent, supply the commission with adrawing or photograph of the monument or relic in question andshall state the exact locality in which it is situated and the placeto which and purposes for which it is desired to remove or exportit.

(4) No person having cont rol of any antique shall withoutth e written consent of the commission destroy or damage it orexport it from Lesotho.

(5) A person derising to export an antique from Lesothoshall when applying to the commiss ion for its consent supply thecommission with a photograph and description thereof and sha llstate the place to which and the purposes for which it is desiredto export the antique.

.(10. (1) No person shall without the written consent of thecommission destroy or damage or remove from its originalhabitat or export from Lesotho any fauna proclaimed undersection 8 to be protected fauna.

(2) No person shall without the written consent of thecommission destroy or damage or remove from its original siteor export from Lesotho any flora proc laimed under section 8 tobe protected flora.

11. (1) The Minister may, on the recommendation of thecommission, by notice in the Gazette prohibit the removal or theexport, without the consent in writing of the commission, of anyobject or group or collection of objects which is, in th e opinionof the Minister, capable of being proclaimed under section 8.

Penalties

Repeal [ofProclamation40 of 1938 ]Vol. IIp. 1214

(2) The owner of any such object or group or collectionof objects or of any object which forms part of such gro up orcollection who is affected by any such prohibition, may submitto the commission an objection in writing to that prohibition. Thecommission shall transmit that objection to the Ministe r who mayth ereupon cancel, modify or confirm the prohibition.

12. A person who knowingly -(a) fails to comply with or contravenes any provision of

section 9 or section 10; or(b) contravenes any prohibition issued under section 11; or(c) in an application to the commission for its consent makes

a statement which is false in any material resp ect orsupplies therewith any drawing or photograph which isfalse in any material respect; or

(d) damages or dest roys any tabl et ere cted in terms ofparagraph (d) or subsection (1) of sect ion 4; or

(e) destroys, damages or mars any drawing, painting orpetroglyph described in paragraph (b) of section 8 orany substance near such drawing, painting, petroglyphor without the consent of the commission destroys ordamages any part of a cave or rock in or on which th ereis any such drawing, painting or petroglyph; or

(f) without the consent of the commiss ion destroys,damages or disturbs any grave, cave, rock shelter,midden or shell mound described in par agraph (b) ofsection 8,

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine notexceeding two hundred rands or in default of payment to imprison­ment for a period not exceding six months.

13. The Minister may, afte r consulta tion with the com- Regulationsmission, make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act,generally for carrying into effect th e principles , purposes andprov isions of this Act. and in particular but without prejudice tothe generality of the foregoing , he may make regulations pres­cri bing-

(a) the procedure in connection with meetings of the com­mission;

(b) the qualifications of its members; and(c) the rates of travelling and subs istence allowances to be

paid to members of the commission.

14. The Protection of Relics, Fauna and Flora Proclama­tion is hereby repealed .