On 24 February 2010, cabinet approved the appointment of the following people to the Council of Robben Island Museum: Ms Thandi Modise (Chairperson), Mr Ben Martins (Deputy Chairperson), Ms Luli Callinicos, Mr Luyanda Mpahlwa, Ms Rashida Abdullah, Dr Mmutlanyane Stanley Mogoba, Mr Oliver Nqubelani, Dr Nthabiseng Motete, Mr Mava Dada, Ms Mokgadi Olgar Morata, Mr Mabhuti Sithembile Gwavu, Mr Moses Mongezi Gasela, Ms Grace Masuku and Mr Pandelani Nefolovhodwe.
Robben Island is an integral part of our rich history and heritage. While it served as a prison of anti-apartheid activists such as former President Nelson Mandela, it has become a museum and heritage site since 1997 and a world heritage site in 1999.
During her address to the new council, Minister Lulu Xingwana stated that Robben Island Museum is a pre-eminent heritage institution in our country.
“Robben Island Museum by its nature and history is a highly complex institution with intricate layers of interests.”
She emphasised that the island had a rich and layered history going back 10 000 years.
“It is acknowledged for its great political symbolism as a place of selfless struggle and as a place signifying the triumph of the human spirit over great adversity,” Minister Xingwana stated.
“Robben Island has a chequered history of maritime contacts, confinement and banishment, oppression and hard labour, torture, segregation and discrimination. It has also been a military post, World War Two, garrison, a leper’s colony and a mental health facility, a prison for common law offenders and political prisoners,” said the minister.
Minister Xingwana also mentioned that our great political leaders and activists like former President Nelson Mandela, Tata Walter Sisulu, Tata Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Katharada, Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe and Toivo ya Toivo of Namibia, and others were incarcerated on Robben Island. This island has the history of many important struggle and liberation activists.
The council is undergoing an induction workshop which began yesterday with an informed site visit of Robben Island Museum and with information and discussion today.
Ms Thandi Modise, the Chairperson, expressed the new council’s determination to work to maintain, conserve and provide strategic management direction to Robben Island.
“I am delighted that the council comprises of members with varied expertise and experience which would be valuable to the Robben Island Museum and beneficial not only to South Africa but to the world.”
The Ministry and Department of Arts and Culture would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the new members on their appointment to the council of one of our historic cultural institutions. We believe that under the new leadership, the museum will live up to its mission and vision. With their expertise and wealth of experience, the museum will play a pivotal role in our national effort to ensure nation building and social cohesion.
For further clarity please contact:
Premi Appalraju
Cell: 082 903 6778
Lisa Combrinck
Cell: 082 821 4886
Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
16 March 2010
