[5][6] Like its predecessor it was a statutory body, semi-independent of government and presided over by a council appointed by the Minister responsible for culture.

This is borne out by the fact that around half of the national monuments declared by the NMC were located in what is now the Western Cape Province.

During this period the organisation was governed by a Council made up exclusively of white South Africans and had a professional staff of similar composition.

However, from not long after PW Botha's introduction of the Tricameral Parliament in 1984 the membership of the Council included one representative from each of the Coloured and Indian communities.

The Head Office of the National Monuments Council was in Cape Town and for most of its existence was the only base from which the organisation operated.

The National Monuments Council received the bulk of its funds as a transfer payment from the department of the Minister responsible for culture.

The organisation also administered a number of trust funds established for the care of particular sites or types of heritage and derived income from properties which it owned, most notably Dal Josaphat near Paarl in the Western Cape.