Still hope for living museum

BACKLOG: DEPARTMENT TO PROBE DELAY TO PROJECTS

Claim Gauteng provincial government underspent by R4.1bn in 2019-20.

The Women’s Living Museum in Pretoria remains nonoperational, four years after its unveiling. The project, which was initiated to create jobs and uplift the local economy, might form part of an investigation, according to the Gauteng department of sport, arts, culture and recreation.

The department acknowledged that it had been dealing with general backlogs in the delivery of infrastructure projects, “with some dating as far back as 2014”.

The museum tells the story of women’s contribution to the liberation struggle.

It features statues of struggle stalwarts Lillian Ngoyi, Sophie de Bruyn, Helen Joseph and Rahima Moosa.

They led a march to the Union Buildings 60 years ago, when thousands of women delivered a petition to then Prime Minister Johannes Strijdom against the carrying of dompasses and the degradation of African women.

The museum included a leadership development and training centre and dedicated walls for murals, artwork and artefacts which tell the story of women’s struggles covering more than 100 years.

In 2016, it was touted by Susan Shabangu, then minister in the presidency responsible for women, as “an exciting but emotional reflection of the country’s history, where it had come from and what women had done to contribute to where it was currently”.

The Democratic Alliance’s Gauteng spokesperson for finance and e-government, Adriana Randall, said the party was concerned the provincial government had once again underspent on its budget by R4.1 billion for the 2019-20 financial year. The Gauteng department of sport, arts, culture and recreation’s underspending was reportedly due to infrastructure project delays in the renovation of community libraries. It resulted in no spending on heritage assets.

Departmental spokesperson Nomazwe Ntlokwana said the MEC, Mbali Hlophe, had appointed an acting chief director to expedite the process of infrastructure service delivery and investigate the reasons and challenges related to departmental infrastructure projects. – Caxton News Service

Reflection of the country’s history