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Zambia
National Heritage Conservation Commission Act, 1989
Chapter 173
- Published
- Commenced on 29 December 1989
- [This is the version of this document as it was at 31 December 1996 to 23 March 2021.]
- [This legislation has been revised and consolidated by the Ministry of Legal Affairs of the Government of the Republic of Zambia. This version is up-to-date as at 31st December 1996.]
Part I – Preliminary
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the National Heritage Conservation Commission Act.2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"ancient heritage" means—(a)any building, ruin, or remaining portion of a building or ruin;(b)any pillar or statue;(c)any settlement, cave or natural rock shelter with traces showing that people once lived there, any house site or church-site of any kind, or remains or parts of these, any mound representing the midden of an ancient settlement, and any other site with concentrations of buildings, such as trading centres, town sites and the like, or remains of these;(d)any site and remains of workings and any other place of work of any kind, such as a quarry or other mining site, iron extraction site, charcoal kiln and any other trace of a craft or industry;(e)any trace of any kind of cultivation of land, such as a pile of stones heaped up when land was cleared, a ditch and any trace of ploughing;(f)any fence or dry stone wall, and any enclosure or arrangement for hunting, fishing or snaring;(g)any road or other track entirely unpaved or paved with stones, wood or other materials;(h)any dam, weir, bridge, ford, harbour-works, landing place or ancient slip-way or the remains of such;(i)any bar made of sunken vessels;(j)any landmark for use on land or on water;(k)any kind of defence such as a fort, entrenchment, fortress and remains of these;(l)any site for holding council, any cult site or any place where objects were thrown for purposes of magic, any well, spring or other place with which archaeological finds, tradition, belief, legends or customs are associated;(m)any stone or solid rock with inscriptions or pictures such as rock carvings, rock paintings, cup marks, ground grooves or any other rock art;(n)any monolith, cross or other such heritage;(o)any stone setting, stone paving or the like;(p)any burial place of any kind, individually or in collected sites, such as a burial mound, burial cairn, burial chamber, cremation patch, urn burial and coffin burial;(q)any place or thing which is designed by the Commission as an ancient heritage;which is known or believed to have been erected, constructed or used as the case may be, before 1st January, 1924, whether above ground, underground or underwater."badge" means the emblem or seal of the Commission;"Commission" means the National Heritage Conservation Commission established under section three;"committee" means a committee constituted by the Commission under section twelve;"conservation" means the professional care of any heritage so that it shall continue to play a useful role for present and future generations;"cultural heritage" means—(a)any area of land which is of archaeological, traditional or historical interest or contains objects of such interest;(b)any old building or group of buildings of historical or architectural interest;(c)any relic, national monument or ancient heritage;(d)any other object constructed by man, other than a relic, of aesthetic, archaeological, historical or scientific value or interest;"Director" means the Director of the Commission appointed under section fifteen;"Deputy Director" means the Deputy Director of the Commission appointed under section sixteen;"excavation" includes any process of digging or unearthing or any act involved in such process and "excavate" shall be construed accordingly;"heritage" includes—(a)any ancient heritage;(b)any cultural heritage;(c)any natural heritage;(d)any national monument;(e)any relic;"Honorary Commissioner" means a person designated to be an Honorary Commissioner under section nineteen;"member" means a member of the National Heritage Conservation Commission appointed under section five;"national monument" means a heritage declared to be a national monument under section twenty-seven and includes any property provisionally so declared for a period of five years from the date of the provisional declaration;"natural heritage" means—(a)any area of land which has distinctive beautiful scenery or has a distinctive geological formation; and includes any palaeontological area;(b)any area of land containing rare distinctive or beautiful flora or fauna;(c)any waterfall, cave, grotto, old tree or avenue of trees;(d)any other natural object with aesthetic, or scientific value or interest;(e)any natural relic and national monument;"plaque" means a sign erected by the Commission which indicates that an object is an ancient heritage, relic or has been declared as a national monument;"Registrar" has the same meaning assigned to it in the Lands and Deeds Registry Act;[Cap. 185]"relic" means—(a)a fossil of any kind;(b)any drawing, painting, petroglyph or carving on stone commonly believed to have been executed in Zambia before 1st January, 1924;(c)any object of historical, scientific, anthropological, archaeological, aesthetic or cultural value made or used in Zambia before 1st January, 1924;(d)any object of ethnological interest;(e)any ethnographical material associated with traditional beliefs such as witchcraft, sorcery, exorcism, rituals or other rites;(f)any object associated with a person or an event prominent in Zambian history;(g)any product of archaeological excavation (whether regular or clandestine) or of archaeological discoveries;(h)any anthropological, historical or archaeological contents of any ancient heritage; or(i)any other object of historical, scientific, anthropological, archaeological, aesthetic or cultural value declared a relic by the Minister under section thirty-two.Part II – National Heritage Conservation Commission
3. Establishment of Commission
4. Seal of Commission
5. Composition of Commission
6. Tenure of office and vacancy
7. Remuneration and allowances
A member shall be paid such remuneration or allowance as the Minister may determine.8. Functions of Commission
9. Delegation of functions
The Commission may, by directions in writing and subject to such terms and conditions as it thinks fit, delegate to the Director, Deputy Director, or any member, any of its functions under this Act.10. Ministerial directions
The Minister may give to the Commission such general or specific directions with respect to the discharge of its functions as he may consider necessary and the Commission shall give effect to such directions.11. Proceedings of Commission
12. Committees of Commission
13. Disclosure of interest
14. Immunity of members
No action or other proceedings shall lie or be instituted against any member or member of any committee for or in respect of any act or thing done or omitted to be done in good faith in the exercise or purported exercise of his functions under this Act.Part III – Administration
15. Director
The Commission, with the approval of the Minister, shall appoint a Director who shall be the chief executive officer of the Commission and who shall be responsible for the administration of this Act subject to the control of the Commission.16. Deputy Director
The Commission, may on such terms and conditions as it may determine, appoint a Deputy Director to assist the Director.17. Attendance at meetings of the Commission
18. Staff of Commission
19. Honorary Commissioners
20. Prohibition of publication or disclosure of information to unauthorised persons
Part IV – Financial provisions
21. Funds of Commission
22. Financial year
The financial year of the Commission shall be the period of twelve months ending on the 31st December in each year.23. Accounts
The Commission shall cause to be kept proper books of account and other records relating to its accounts.24. Annual report
As soon as practicable, but not later than six months after the expiry of each financial year, the Commission shall submit to the Minister a report concerning its activities during that financial year.25. Contents of report
The report shall include information on the financial affairs of the Commission and there shall be appended thereto—26. Tabling report
The Minister shall, not later than seven days after the first sitting of the National Assembly next after the receipt of the report referred to in subsection (1), lay it before the National Assembly.Part V – Conservation of heritage
27. Declaration of national monuments
28. Entry on land for purposes of surveying
29. Registrar to be notified
Whenever any land upon or under which a heritage is situated has been declared or provisionally declared to be, or to form part of, a national monument the Commission shall furnish the Registrar with a copy of the statutory notice made under section twenty-seven together with the particulars of the survey undertaken and a diagram of the area of land.30. Endorsement on title
31. Restriction on alienating, mortgaging subdividing etc.
32. Object to be declared a relic
If the Commission considers an object to be of historical, scientific, anthropological, aesthetic or cultural value the Minister, on the recommendation of the Commission may, by statutory notice, declare the object to be a relic notwithstanding that the object may not have been made or used in Zambia before 1st January, 1924.33. No alteration, removal etc. without consent of Commission
Subject to section forty-one, no person shall, without the written consent of the Commission—34. Export of heritage
35. Destruction of heritage
36. Actions to protect safety and avoid risk
Section thirty-five shall not apply in respect of the alteration or demolition of a property which is immediately necessary—37. Permits for collection or excavation
38. Conditions of permit
A permit issued under section thirty-seven shall be subject to the following conditions:39. Acts authorised by permit
A permit issued under section thirty-seven authorises the holder to do some or all of those acts specified in the application, at such time or within such period and subject to such terms, conditions, restrictions or directions as may be specified by the Commission.40. Offence and penalty
41. Normal mining, engineering and agricultural operations not prohibited
Nothing in sections thirty-three to thirty-seven, inclusive, shall be construed as prohibiting any person in the normal course of mining, engineering or agricultural operations from doing any act which would otherwise be an offence under those sections if that person—42. Discovery of ancient heritage or relic
Any person, who discovers what appears to be an ancient heritage or relic shall—43. Powers of Commission when discovery reported
Upon receipt of a report under section forty-two the Commission may—44. Resumption of operations
If the Commission does not exercise any of its powers under section forty-three the person may resume his operations thirty days after delivery of his report.45. Ownership of relics
Any relic whose ownership cannot be reasonably determined shall be deemed to belong to the Commission.46. Compensation for removal of relic
Where a relic is not owned by any person and the Commission removes the relic from land, the compensation to be paid to the person occupying the land shall only be for the temporary loss of use of the land or any damage caused during the time required by the Commission to remove the relic.47. Acquisition of relic
48. Negotiations for heritage sites
Where any heritage is located on land held by any person, the Commission may negotiate with the holder of the land to—49. Regulations
50. National monuments Continued
Any Government Notices, Declarations by the Minister, or Statutory Instruments which declares any heritage to be a national monument under the Natural and Historical Monuments and Relics Act shall continue in full force and effect, as though made pursuant to section twenty-seven of this Act.[Cap. 266 of 1947]51. Repeal of Cap. 266 of the 1971 Edition
The Natural and Historical Monuments and Relics Act is hereby repealed.History of this document
24 March 2021 amendment not yet applied
31 December 1996 this version
Consolidation
29 December 1989
Commenced