OUDTSHOORN NEWS - Members of the Friends of the CP Nel Museum arrived for a scheduled special general meeting on Wednesday evening, 21 August, at a locked gate.

According to Hazel Jonker, a committee member and well-known in heritage circles, a meeting was called and the museum manager, Moses Mthethwa, was well aware of it. Committee members were not impressed that the building was locked when they arrived.

"Arriving to find the museum gate locked last Thursday after having been invited to attend a special meeting by the management, we as loyal supporters were somehow not surprised," Jonker told Oudtshoorn Courant.

"For the past five years, the Friends of the CP Nel Museum have been treated with disdain and arrogance by the museum manager. The representative we elected to serve on the Board of Trustees at the 2019 AGM was not recognised by the manager and subsequently, the Friends have not been able to play their oversight role as prescribed by the Museum Ordinance. The citizens of Oudtshoorn to whom the contents of the museum belong, have for five years had no insight into the financial position of the museum. Our appeals to the previous MEC for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport to intervene, fell upon deaf ears. We hope the newly appointed MEC will take the necessary steps to resolve this untenable position at the C P Nel Museum."

Liwa Gunguluza, chairman of the museum board, told Oudtshoorn Courant that the behaviour of Mthetwa is unacceptable and that he intends to notify the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport of the latest incident. He postponed the meeting until a workable solution to the ongoing problems could be found.

In another twist in the saga, Johan du Pisani, Herman Labuschagne, Johan Fourie and Jerome Lambaatjeen resigned from the museum board due to unhappiness with the state of affairs at the museum.

Comment from the department

Tania Colyn, head of communications, Department Cultural Affairs and Sport reacted as follows on a media enquiry regarding the museum matter: "The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport was notified that a special annual general meeting of the Friends of CP Nel Museum could not proceed on 21 August due to the museum premises not being accessible for the scheduled time. We regret the inconvenience to those who arrived for the meeting. The department is addressing the matter with the museum management."

Mthethwa was also approached for comment, but did not respond.

‘Ons bring jou die nuutste Tuinroete, Hessequa, Karoo nuus’