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The flagship museum in the Eastern Cape that was set up to collect memorabilia and honour the legacy of Nelson Mandela is being dragged down by unstable leadership, poor training and organisational instability.
The Nelson Mandela Museum had been operating for an extended period without a permanent chief executive . It did not adhere to labour laws and it had a bloated managed structure – one employee per manager. The staff, which totalled 25 in all, had not signed performance agreements and the department of arts and culture had no monitoring mechanisms in place to ensure that proper process were in place to manage the museum.
These were the damning findings of the arts and culture portfolio committee after an oversight visit to the museum – which has a site in Mthatha and nearby Qunu – last September. In its report, which was tabled in the National Assembly this week, the committee also found that the museum had no skills development and equity plans in place.
The committee recommended that the museum’s council urgently expedites the appointment of a chief executive, that it does away with its top-heavy structure, that it adheres to labour laws and that it ensure that job gradings were carried out.
It also recommended some basic organisational requirements – for management to host regular staff meetings and to ensure that the museum complied with the Constitution and all laws governing South Africa.
Members of the museum council returned to Parliament to update the committee this week, but according to Democratic Alliance member of Parliament Mponeng Rabotapi, they did not have sufficient information, so would be recalled after Easter.
In a portfolio committee meeting late last year, the committee chairperson Xoliswa Tom pointed out that it should be “non-negotiable” that the museum should follow in the footsteps of Mandela’s excellence.
The museum has been rapped over the knuckles by the committee in the past, and also by others.
The Auditor-General’s report to parliament last June found that leadership had not enforced adequate consequences for poor performance and transgressions of legislation, “resulting in a culture where repeat findings have become acceptable”.
The Auditor-General that there were insufficient mechanisms in place to ensure that financial transactions were recorded correctly. “As a result, material misstatements were identified during the audit process.”
The museum, which has an annual budget of R22.26 million, was opened by Mandela 17 years ago.
At the historic Qunu site where Mandela spent his childhood, visitors can tour some of his haunts, including the granite sliding rock that he played on as a youngster.
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