Ex-inmates demand release of report
EX-POLITICAL prisoners from Robben Island are threatening to return and chain themselves to their former cells unless their demand for the release of an investigation report into corruption by the management of the famous jail, now a museum, is met.
The Ex-Political Prisoners Association (Eppa) says it has a copy of the report, which is full of recommendations and disciplinary action to be taken against members of the Robben Island Museum (RIM) board and management. Eppa received a copy of the report from Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa in July, but it was put under an indefinite embargo by the minister.
In a letter to the former prisoners, dated July 15, Mthethwa wrote: “The report that is enclosed with this letter is being issued for your information only and may not be shared/distributed to unauthorised persons (outside the Eppa) without the department’s written consent.”
Eppa secretary-general Mpho Masemola said the association was alarmed by how long it had taken for the report to be released and they were worried that as the year drew to a close, the issue would be forgotten.
The report is the result of an independent investigation into allegations of corruption, nepotism and poor governance at the RIM.
“We’ve been waiting for 25 years for all our grievances to be addressed, if they do not do this, we will return to the island and lock ourselves up there in protest,” Masemola said. “The RIM board had a special board meeting on October 25 at the Nelson Mandela Gateway to discuss the implementation of the remedial action against those implicated in the investigation report, instituting disciplinary measures against those implicated in the report, restructuring of all departments and relations with Eppa, and correcting all wrongs of the past laid by Eppa against RIM.”
Eppa is particularly keen on the dismissal of the officials named in the report and said the officials, by their actions, had brought the museum into disrepute.
Museum spokesperson Morongoa Ramaboa said: “The investigation was instituted by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture. Please contact the ministry directly for an official response on all matters pertaining to the investigation.”
The RIM was established in 1997. The island was declared a world heritage site by the UN in 1999. Between the 17th and 20th centuries, Robben Island served as a place of banishment, isolation and imprisonment.