CAPE TIMES

The entrance to the Nelson Mandela Museum in Qunu which, a Cape Times team found, did not seem to be attracting many visitors, lacked a guide.

Following concerns a former MEC raised about a museum built to honour former president Nelson Mandela, a Cape Times investigation revealed similar problems.

A security guard took a Cape Times team on a tour of the Nelson Mandela Museum and Heritage Centre despite the fact that it had a full-time guide, but who was absent on Saturday. The team found only a few visitors and was shown locked computer rooms and collapsing basketball courts.

Concerned about the management of the centre situated in Mandela’s home village Qunu, near Mthatha, former Western Cape education MEC Cameron Dugmore vowed to file a complaint with Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet after his visit in December.

Yesterday Dugmore confirmed he intended to write a letter of complaint to Kiviet.

Dugmore had visited the centre in December but left disconcerted after he discovered there was no tour guide and there was not much activity.

He then wrote about his experience at the museum on Facebook, triggering a flurry of comments.

He was later quoted in a Sunday newspaper: “I was with family on the way to Durban. My daughters had read books about Nelson Mandela’s early years and we wanted them to see the museum. There was supposed to be a multimedia centre - but there was a really arbitrary video playing there. No guide at all.”

Said Dugmore: “I did not see any other visitors when we arrived at about noon. I saw a vehicle arrive when we were leaving. It is an issue worth following up.”

Dugmore’s concerns were immediately evident when the Cape Times team arrived at the centre on Saturday.

There was no sign of tourists or a tour guide. Two security guards greeted the Cape Times team. One, dressed in a bright red jersey, took over the tour guide job.

“We have a tour guide here, but today he is not here and I’m not an expert on taking visitors on tours,” he said.

The security guard said the tour guide, who lived in Qunu, worked from Monday to Saturday but had not shown up on Saturday. He did not know the reason.

He took the Cape Times into an exhibition room which had boards hanging on the walls with Mandela’s pictures and stories depicting his life from a young rural boy to the first black president of South Africa.

While leading the Cape Times to another exhibition room, the guard pointed out that various rooms, including a computer centre and a kitchen, were locked. They were opened when there were visitors.

Inside a multimedia centre where a video was playing on each of the two TVs, two men sat and worked on equipment.

At the back of the museum, two basketball courts under construction had collapsing fences. The security guard said a storm had apparently blown down the steel fence. - Cape Times

luvuyo.mjekula@inl.co.za