The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003, is caught in this tension.
Fragmented governance
National and international heritage laws played a secondary role in the approval of Coal of Africa's application for the mining licence.
A missing-in-action UNESCO
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee should have done more to protect the legitimacy of their decision to inscribe the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape.
A problem with the laws
Another concern is that heritage in the Mapungubwe area has been used as a convenient weapon to fight any form of mining.
But the structure that should have been a commenting authority in the mining application, the Limpopo Provincial Heritage Resources Authority, has been all but dysfunctional for many years.
