Cape Town - Ferry operations to and from
Robben Island could be affected in the busy summer season if a request by the Ex-Political Prisoners Association (EPPA) to the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa on Wednesday to dissolve the board of the
Robben Island Museum (RIM) is granted.
EPPA secretary-general Mpho
Masemola said the current board should be fired for failure to
implement the findings of an
investigative report that implicates board members in corruption.
The names the EPPA has
suggested for the new board, which it says will take their issues more
seriously than the current board, include former president Kgalema Motlanthe, National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise and Masemola himself.
Other names are former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke,
former MP Stanley Motimele, Paul Langa and Marion Sparg, one of the few white women to join Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
Masemola said ex-political
prisoners were never part of the board which, in his view, has allowed the corruption.
“For the past 25 years, EPPA
operating outside RIM has created the current situation of corruption and the collapse of governance in RIM. Our advice has been ignored by various criminal elements employed at RIM to lead the institution,” he said.
Asked how the sacking of the board would affect tourism to the Island especially as peak season nears, Masemola said, “That’s the minister’s prerogative. It would probably be affected but not for long as they would have to appoint an interim board.”
Masemola was speaking before a meeting between Mthethwa and the board in Parliament today.
The ex-prisoners are referring to an independent investigation report into the RIM board released in July but embargoed indefinitely by the
minister. According to a statement from the former political prisoners, senior RIM management is
implicated in the report and it details irregular appointments and misuse of taxpayers money.
“The minister must dissolve the board as they have failed to implement the findings of the investigation report. Why is the CEO still at work? Why has the board failed to implement the findings of the investigation report? In fact, why are they still working and why have they not been suspended?” asked Masemola.
Pressed for comment about the meeting and the demands by the EPPA, RIM spokesperson Morongoa Ramaboa said, “Our comment is that all meetings convened by the minister need to be addressed through the ministry. Please contact the ministry directly regarding all meetings convened by the minister and the agendas thereof.”
By the time of writing the story, the minister’s spokesperson Asanda Magaqa had not responded to a request for comment even though she had seen it.
RIM was established in 1997. The island was declared a world heritage site by Unesco in 1999. Between the 17th and 20th centuries, Robben Island served as a place of banishment, isolation and imprisonment.
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