Cape Town - Paintings by local art masters Gerard Sekoto, Thomas Baines and Irma Stern, rare geological specimens, coins, meteorites, military medals, Chinese ceramics and a valuable European snuffbox collection are just some of the items that have been registered as stolen in South Africa.
Altogether, the pieces are worth up to R15 million.
READ: #ArtHeritage: Get creative with these SA art hotels
Missing gems
The SA Heritage Resources Information System lists 261 missing items. However, research conducted in 2012 suggests that the figure is higher. The research reported that a staggering 2 665 items from 30 institutions were reported lost or stolen in a five-year period.
While experts believe that art theft is a global problem, local museums and galleries have been left especially vulnerable after decades of insufficient funding and lack of investment in management systems and controls. Poor oversight is compounded by high staff turnover, resulting in inexperienced personnel overseeing scores of items. Many posts at key institutions remain unfilled.
While all state entities must have heritage asset registers, many institutions are grappling with the task of conducting audits and updating inventories.
Only about 6.72% of the estimated 9 million objects in the collections in Ditsong museums have been fully inventoried in compliance with accounting standards introduced in 2014.
In the absence of trustworthy asset registers, the true loss of our nation’s heritage is as murky as the underground basements meant to protect it.
SEE: Thulamela: SA's gold heritage stolen
- In February last year, 23 artworks valued at an estimated R700 000 are removed and destroyed at the University of Cape Town by protesters.
- In April 2014, five vases of Chinese origin are stolen from the East London Museum. This followed an earlier incident at the museum in which a small wooden box and seven meteorites were stolen.
- In November 2012, R17.5-million worth of art is stolen from the Pretoria Art Museum in a heist that made international headlines. A piece by Irma Stern is recovered at the scene, while police later find four other works by Maggie Laubser, JH Pierneef, Hugo Naude and Stern at a cemetery in Port Elizabeth. Gerald Sekoto's Street Scene (1939) is however still missing.
Gerard Sekoto, Street Scene, 1939
Source: Pretoria Art Museum
4.Valued at the time at R3 million, an oil painting by JH Pierneef is stolen in October 2012 from the Totius House Museum in Potchefstroom.
5. In May 2012, rare Asian ceramics are stolen from Groot Constantia Estate. This is believed to be the second such incident in a decade at the historic manor house.
Sydney Khumalo's Mourning Woman
7. In May 2010, porcelain worth an estimated R500 000 is stolen from the Academy of Science and Art in Pretoria.
8. In April 2008, two horns from a mounted white rhinoceros are stolen from the Iziko South African Museum. This follows similar incidents at the Museum of Natural History in Pretoria, Reinet House in Graaff-Reinet and the King William's Town museum.
9. Two United Nations’ medals awarded to Nelson Mandela are stolen from the Nelson Mandela Museum in Umtata in October 2000.
10. In that same year, antique maps are stolen by armed gunmen from the William Cullen Library at Wits in Johannesburg.
Jacques Stoltz is co-founder of The Heritage Monitoring Project.
SEE: The best Heritage Day events to attend this week
What to read next on Traveller24:
- #WolrdRhinoDay: Why we need to protect our rhinos
- WATCH: #Trending on Traveller
- How affordable are skiing holidays for South Africans, really?
