31 OCTOBER 1999: South Africa has been elected to the prestigious 21-member World Heritage Committee of the United Nations organisation UNESCO.

South Africa secured one of the seven vacant seats out of the 25 candidate countries and will be represented by Dr Tanya Abrahamse, Deputy Director-General in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mohammed Valli Moosa welcomed the news and said that it underscored South Africa's commitment to both the international convention on World Heritage sites and conservation of them.

The election took place during the 12^th session of the General Assembly of State Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage currently taking place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 28 to 29 October 1999.

Minister Moosa said that the election of South Africa as a member of the World Heritage Committee highlights the international community's confidence in the dedication and commitment of South Africa toward the protection and conservation of the world's irreplaceable cultural and natural heritage.

Being a member of the Committee will enable South Africa to play a pivotal role in the future inscription of geographically balanced sites on the World Heritage List and assist developing countries to play a more active role in the convention's implementation. Thus, South Africa's election to the committee is a milestone since its ratification of the Convention in 1997.

South Africa ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1997 and became the 150^th State Party to the Convention. Membership currently stands at 157 State Parties.

The line function Department in charge of implementing the Convention is the National Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT). Coordination of the implementation of the Convention therefore lies with DEAT, which established the South African World Heritage Convention Committee to assist with the implementation process. This Committee comprises DEAT; Department of Foreign Affairs; Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology; National Monuments Council; South African National Parks; National Botanical Institute; Provincial Cultural Heritage and Environment departments.

In June 1998, the South African World Heritage Convention Committee submitted South Africa's first three sites for inscription on the World Heritage List to UNESCO's World Heritage Centre:

Robben Island off Cape Town.
The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
The Cradle of Humankind, the early hominid sites of Sterkfontein, Kromdraai, Swartkrans and environs in Gauteng.

After an extensive evaluation of the sites, the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee, in July 1999, recommend for inscription of all three sites. A decision will taken at meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Marrakesh, Morocco, from 29 November to 4 December 1999.