Liliesleaf Museum was not underfunded: Mthethwa

Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has refuted claims that the historic Liliesleaf Museum is shutting its doors due to a lack of funding.

The CEO of Liliesleaf Trust Nicholas Wolpe told news agency AFP that the museum is closing indefinitely as a result of being underfunded by the department.

However, the ministry says it has spent around R70 million on the museum over a period of 13 years.

The department has also injected an additional R1,8 million during the 2020/2021 financial year into the Liliesleaf Trust.

Spokesperson Masechaba Khumalo said the department entered into an agreement with Liliesleaf Trust to upgrade and enhance the facility's exhibition infrastructure in 2015.

"Based on this contract of R9 million, a first tranche of R8,1 million was transferred to the trust. The remaining R900 000 could not be honoured due to failure of Liliesleaf Trust to account on the initial payment of R8,1 million. An obligation spelt out in the MoA between DSAC and Liliesleaf Trust.

“In terms of PFMA Section 38, government cannot continue funding an institution that fails to account for public funds that it receives from government."

Khumalo said in May the ministry escalated the failure of the CEO to report and account for the R8.1 million to the Liliesleaf Board, led by former President Kgalema Motlanthe.

"The board committed to do a forensic investigation into the matter and report back to DSAC. The department is still awaiting feedback from the board in this regard. Liliesleaf Trust is ineligible to receive yearly operational funds from DSAC since the site has not been designated as a Declared Cultural Institution under the Cultural Institutions Act and a Schedule 3 A Public Entity under the PFMA.

Between 1961 and 1963, the northern Johannesburg Liliesleaf Farm served as the secret headquarters and nerve centre of the banned ANC.

Police in 1963 raided the farm after receiving a tip-off and arrested more than a dozen core ANC activists, who were tried and prosecuted alongside their Nelson Mandela.

Liliesleaf, where Mandela also hid under the guise of a farm worker, was restored around a decade after apartheid officially ended in 1991 and turned into a museum that opened in 2008.

But it has since struggled to secure funding from both the government and private donors, forcing it to shut this week.

(Additional reporting by AFP)

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