Cape Town - Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has sacked the chairperson of the Robben Island Museum (RIM) barely five months after he appointed her.
The Ex-Political Prisoners Association (Eppa) , that called for the dissolution of the entire board, said it would not let up the pressure on the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture until a report into allegations of maladministration at the museum has been fully implemented.
Bernadette Muthien was sacked barely five months after Mthethwa appointed her to the post.
Deputy chairperson of the RIM board, Khensani Maluleke, will act as interim chairperson with immediate effect.
The sacking came a day after the resignation from the board of Gregory Houston, on the same day the Eppa demanded that the minister disband the entire board for failing to implement the findings of a report that implicated some members in corruption.
Eppa secretary-general Mpho Masemola said: “The chairperson is fired after hardly five months in office for trying to bring change. A new struggle has begun.
“Thus far we had been impressed by the lonely efforts of the chairperson of the RIM board who is carrying a torch of right behaviour in a morass of corruption.
"South Africa cannot delay now in cleaning up Robben Island."
In a press statement issued late on Thursday, the minister’s spokesperson, Asanda Magaqa, said: “A new chairperson will be appointed by the minister.
"The appointment is expected to be finalised and announced by this ministry in the next few days.
“It is upon this announcement that the minister will elaborate on the investigation findings, as well as articulate his carefully measured resultant decision-making where these appointments are concerned.”
The minister said: “The report’s findings will be used to establish a culture of strict adherence to standards of good and responsible entity governance.”
Masemola, meanwhile, said: “It is time for the minister to also release the forensic report in its entirety to the public. Eight months is enough time for the department to have taken proper action.”
@MwangiGithahu