Massive upgrade for KZN museums
AFTER years of decline owing to neglect and a lack of funding, museums in KwazuluNatal are to undergo change.
The MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Ntombikayise Sibhidla-saphetha, announced this at an event to mark International Museum Day at the Durban City Hall on Friday.
Sibhidla-saphetha said his department was in the process of bringing all municipal museums under the auspices of the province and said that two new museums – in Nkandla and Creighton – would be launched by the end of the current financial year.
“We are concerned about the state of some of our museums,” she said.
“In this regard, the department has improved the museum subsidies to beef up the look, quality and content of museums.”
She said that the department was influenced by a base- line study last year that found there were changes that needed to be made on how the museums were run.
“Museums must be encouraged to assume their rightful place as learning centres, where pupils go to supplement the learning that takes place at school,” Sibhidla-saphetha said.
Siphesihle Mkhize, 18, a Zwelihle High School, Umlazi, matric pupil, visiting a museum for the first time, said: “There is stuff in museums that we don’t find in textbooks. It should be part of our learning.”