ABSTRACT
In 2011 UNESCO commemorated the 40 anniversary of the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting Illicit Import and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The use of the term 'cultural property' in the title of the Convention instead of 'cultural heritage' denotes the pre-eminence of 'commercial' interests and a perspective of Western property law. During the colonial era, these Western models were imposed on existing African traditional and customary law systems, with the resultant contradictions and tensions. Central to the debate on cultural property are issues of ownership. The general rule of law is that an object illegally exported does not necessarily infringe the importation laws of the importing State. In the major importing States, illegal export does not render the importer actionable in the courts of the importing countries. The auction house, at the request of the South African authorities, withdrew the sale of the cultural property pending settlement of legal issues.
