Seychelles and South Africa sign agreement to increase exchanges between heritage councils

The MOU was signed by Benjamine Rose (right) and the chief executive of the National Heritage Council of South Africa, Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni. (Seychelles Nation)  

Seychelles' and South Africa's heritage councils are to exchange best practices, expertise, and joint activities in the field of heritage conservation, preservation, and restoration through a newly signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Friday.

Signed by the executive director of the Seychelles National Heritage Resource Council, Benjamine Rose, and the chief executive of the National Heritage Council of South Africa, Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni, the MoU takes immediate effect for five years.

The main aim of the agreement is to establish an institutional structure for the two parties to exchange expertise and have joint activities. These will cover diverse aspects such as heritage conservation, preservation, restoration of cultural relics and ruins, academic research as well as promotion and management of natural and cultural heritage.

Rose told reporters that the MoU is an extension of the long-standing collaboration between the two countries established in 1993.

"The agreement creates space for international visibility through different media platforms and groups which will surely expand and spread our brand names to the wider audience of Seychelles and South Africa," she said.

The executive director explained that "South Africa has extensive expertise in the field of heritage management. We are also looking for their support and technical expertise so that we can put together a dossier before submission for world heritage nomination. We also have cooperation in cultural education where our children can benefit from exchanges."

Meanwhile, Lukhwareni outlined that Seychelles is ahead in dealing with the value chains of heritage and culture in that it is able to economise those aspects to bring in revenue.

"That is one aspect that we think we will like. We can also learn on how you have embodied issues from the colonisation era and make a positive spin out of that so that people can come and visit them without dividing the country and make a revenue," he said.

He added that during the South African heritage month of September, there are various cultural and heritage programmes that are held, and "now that we have this agreement, we will be able to invite our counterpart to some of them so that they can get practical experiences in how we are doing it."