SECRETARY of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation Tashia Burris says she is hoping to have the antiquities component of the division up and running during the first quarter of 2025.

At a news conference on October 28, Burris said the division is conducting its reprioritisation exercise for this fiscal year and there will be a rollout of a number of programmes that have been in the planning since last fiscal and the previous fiscal year.

She said, “The focus this year will be on strengthening culture and obviously getting the antiquities department open and functioning. We have had to take a little while in terms of building out the antiquities department because there is a challenge with talent, especially in that area, to be able to lead and operate such a specialised unit.”

Burris said the division also had to get legal advice and expertise in terms of building policy around antiquities “to ensure that when we finally launch, we have a robust policy in place to guide not just the operations of the unit but to also guide how the sector is going to be managed from a government place; and the role of civil society; and the role of non-governmental organisations, in helping us build out and execute that antiquities mandate.”

She added, “So it is our hope that we should be able to officially launch the antiquities unit by the second quarter this fiscal, which is the first quarter of 2025 – January to March.”

Burris said the media will get an idea of the work being undertaken behind the scenes to help build the department and all of the programmes that will be rolled out under the management of that antiquities unit.

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