Durban - There is a race against time to finish work on a new Durban museum celebrating the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi.
The museum in Dr Goonam (Prince Edward) Street in the CBD has been stalled by a funding row, fuelling fears it will not be completed in time for an official opening by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he arrives in the city just weeks from now.
The provincial government had made a commitment to contribute R1.25 million, with the Indian government making available the same amount as initial funding for the project.
But the KwaZulu-Natal government subsequently informed Gandhi’s granddaughter, Ella - who is on the trust responsible for the Gandhi Memorial Museum - that it was not in a position to fund the project.
According to a letter to Gandhi, signed by provincial acting director-general Frikkie Brooks, and dated April 1, 2016, the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust had failed to furnish required information to the premier’s office on time.
Some of the conditions the provincial government had set for the transfer of funds were that banking details and a list of the trustees be forwarded to the premier’s office.
The Daily News has seen a copy of the letter.
The letter indicates the trust was promised financial assistance in the 2009/10 financial year and the organisation was requested to submit an agreement from the Indian government for the process to be taken forward.
“None of those documents have reached our offices on time. A business plan, banking details and a tax clearance certificate were requested for the payment to be made, and these were never received; In the light of the above as well as the current government budget cuts that are in place, the Office of the Premier regrets to inform you that it will not be able to assist your organisation financially, or make payments to any service providers that your organisation may have appointed,” reads the letter.
Another letter from the office dated July 27, 2009, addressed to Dr Khorshed Ginwala, chairwoman of the trust, confirmed that R1.25 million would be transferred to the trust upon receipt of a signed agreement with the Indian government.
After building work began in 2014, R1.25m from the Indian government was released to the trust to continue with the work.
But the funds subsequently dried up, and the project stalled, with the contractor still owed about R1.1m, according to Gandhi.
Ginwala on Tuesday confirmed to the Daily News that work on the project had stopped although the main structure had been completed.
According to Ginwala and Gandhi, the building, though complete, was an empty shell.
Ginwala said the provincial government was no longer transferring the funds to the trust. However, she referred questions on the funding to Gandhi.
“The idea was to have the Indian prime minister, who will arrive in Durban in July, open the museum officially. For the trust it doesn’t sit well that the promised funding becomes an issue now.
“We have sent what they required but we are told that it was not on time. We hope that this will be resolved amicably in time for the prime minister’s arrival,” said Ginwala.
Modi was expected in Durban on July 9, the eThekwini Municipality confirmed to the Daily News’s sister paper, the Tribune Herald.
The museum was intended to showcase memorabilia representing Gandhi’s work in India and South Africa.
The idea of a museum was developed by the trust, which was set up to look after two properties which were donated to the then Natal Indian Congress by Mahatma Gandhi in 1913 before he left South Africa.
His granddaughter on Tuesday explained the congress was later incorporated into the ANC.
She was anxious not to be seen to be discrediting some of the role players involved when the project was initiated, but explained why there had been delays in providing the provincial government with the documents.
“The Indian government donated R1.25 million which was released when the building process started in 2014. We work with volunteers so we have been unable to attend to all the correspondence with different stakeholders, hence the delay in furnishing the provincial government with the papers it required to release the promised funds.
“I’m sorry that we’ve had to make people wait for this museum,” Gandhi said.
She said the provincial government had later requested details on what the money would be used for, but this proved difficult.
“We can’t give them such details because we still owe the contractors money and they are the only ones with such details. We were hoping that the Indian prime minister would preside over the official opening of the facility when he comes to Durban in July,” she said.
She said they were working on a plan to resolve the problem.
Brooks could not be reached on Tuesday, but Ndabe Sibiya, spokesman for the premier’s office, said this morning that the matter was being resolved.
He said Premier Willies Mchunu would meet the High Commissioner of India, Ruchi Ghanashyam, in Pietermaritzburg, to deal with this and other issues before Modi’s visit.
Sibiya said the previous premier, Senzo Mchunu, had met Gandhi and Indian Consul-General, Puneet Kundal, this year and said the matter had been taken forward.
“The matter was resolved, it is now a question of dealing with administration,” he said.
Gandhi said: “If possible we would like to see this project properly concluded as soon as possible. We would not like adverse publicity to mar the goodwill and respect we have enjoyed thus far among all the role-players.”
The completion of the museum was reportedly originally set for October 2012.
She said a plan had been drawn up in 2009 by then premier Dr Zweli Mkhize, and Ginwala, among others, who then decided that a monument be built on one of the properties donated to the NIC.
Daily News