Cash-strapped Supa Ngwao Museum closes
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Tuesday January 19, 2016 12:12
The museum started operating in 1992 as one of the historic buildings, which used to be a holding cell for prisoners in the past.
In addition, Supa Ngwao Museum has been proving to be one of the few places whose core business was not to collect remnants of the past but also preserving culture for the next generations. In an interview with the director of Supa Ngwao Museum, Stella Rundle, she confirmed that the museum was closed as it was facing financial woes.
She said the museum has been operating through a government subvention, which is distributed at the beginning of each financial year.
Rundle added that government funds were not enough as they only covered museum operations such as staff salaries, water and electricity bills.
She said government expects them to raise funds on their own for the survival of the museum.
“We ran out of money during the course of the year because we lacked support from the community which made it hard for us to operate but we had to close it while waiting for the next financial year,” she said. Rundle said they get support from foreigners who come as tourists in the second city and students from rural areas for their school tours, ‘but we do not receive any support from the locals’.
The director also revealed that lack of community support is their major concern as they sometimes host art exhibitions and people attend in low numbers and do not buy the displayed artworks, which she said frustrates some of the exhibitors.
She said due to the closure of Supa Ngwao Museum, they had to lay off all of their three staff. Additionally, she said retrenched workers were paid their salaries and benefits accordingly with the last available money. She said that they don’t get support from corporate companies unless they ask for handouts, which is time consuming as they have limited staff.
Rundle pleaded for community involvement, saying it can play a huge role in saving the museum.
“The people in the community can get involved by encouraging the spirit of volunteerism, paying annual subscriptions and visiting our craft shop which sells locally produced craft.”