Former Robben Island Museum council chairperson Naledi Tsiki has described claims in the Robben Island Museum’s 2008-2009 annual report that he was involved in irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure as ‘a malicious political campaign”.
In addition to the irregular spending of funds on a ‘non-approved” stipend for himself of R140 000, and claims amounting to R224 426 for meetings not considered official business, the report accuses Tsiki of losing six cellphones and failing to report the matter to the police or claim from insurance.
The cellphones cost the Robben Island Museum R19 220, while the loss of a laptop cost R2 150. The report also says that he caused damage to a hired vehicle, costing the museum R8 348.
A former political prisoner on Robben Island, Tsiki was involved in a leadership struggle that led to the resignation of the museum’s entire council and the chief executive, Seelan Naidoo, in May.
Tsiki believes former Robben Island political prisoners are not given a meaningful stake in the island. He said it was revealing that he had not been informed of the allegations of impropriety against him.
‘I am shocked at what you’re telling me. It’s such a lot of nonsense,” he said. ‘A political campaign is being waged against me and now this nonsense has been released in Parliament. They are seriously violating my rights.”
The audited annual report tabled in Parliament reveals a dramatic turnaround in the operations of the Robben Island Museum and world heritage site, suggesting that Naidoo had a beneficial impact. From an operating deficit of R16.5-million for the 2007-2008 year, it recorded a surplus of R11-million for 2008-2009.
However, concerns were expressed in the report that the museum is operating without a council, permanent chief executive or permanent chief financial officer.
In February last year chief financial officer Nash Masekwameng, then chief executive Paul Langa and chief operating officer Denmark Tungwana were suspended on full pay pending a forensic audit report into the museum’s financial plight.
After 14 months’ fully paid suspension, Robben Island ex-political prisoner Tungwana is set to return to work after being cleared by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation
and Arbitration of charges of ‘gross negligence and mismanagement”.
Langa was found guilty of misconduct and resigned, while Masekwameng has been fired. Emphasising that he lives in Pretoria, Tsiki asked: ‘How am I meant to fly down and not claim costs for attending meetings? ‘Things were in a mess when I started and they told me to fly down and fix them.”
Tsiki has acknowledged that he clashed repeatedly with Naidoo, but said he had agreed to resign with the rest of the council on the understanding that he would be included in the new council.
The R20 000 stipend he received as museum chairperson was his sole income, he said, and he was trying to set up a meeting with President Jacob Zuma to discuss the issue.
In the annual report Naidoo writes about the ongoing ‘ownership claims” relating to Robben Island and warns that the island runs the risk of regressing to its ‘former dysfunctional state” if staff restructuring and a skills assessment programme are not implemented.
‘Who ‘owns’ Robben Island and its ideas and stories is a complex question that needs to be resolved, as in many senses it goes to the broader question of who ‘owns’ the South African liberation struggle and what such ownership might mean,” writes Naidoo. ‘These are complex matters, but it seems clear to me that we need to move beyond prior claims, especially if such claims entail pecuniary expectations.”
An undetermined number of former Robben Island prisoners are employed as full-time or seasonal tour guides on the island, while a few are employed in senior management.
Interim chief executive Henry Bredekamp said he was planning a brainstorming meeting with former political prisoners. ‘The feeling is that there is not sufficient recognition of Robben Island ex-political prisoners in the planning, and they have a lot to offer,” he said. ‘There is a need to understand that they do have a special stake in the future of the management of the island. But we need to work it out in practical terms. It’s not about ownership, but about co-ownership.”
Acting chief yet to pull a rabbit out of the hat
Henry Jatti Bredekamp, the Robben Island Museum’s acting chief executive, who also heads Cape Town’s museums body Iziko, has not had an easy week.
It was supposed to be the end of his three-month troubleshooting stint. But this has been extended, he told the Mail & Guardian. A rabbit population explosion, threats to historical prisons and staff woes are problems he urgently needs to fix.
The arts and culture ministry had charged Bredekamp with setting straight the World Heritage Site. It has faced a leadership crisis for more than a year.
Bredekamp’s action plan included this week’s launch of a four-month R350 000 culling initiative to clear the island of an estimated 30 000 European rabbits.
The furry rodents have damaged natural vegetation and museum property. It is the island’s second attempt since late last year at cleaning out the rabbits.
Estelle Esterhuizen, who has worked on the island for nine years and is currently its nature conservator, said ‘sharpshooters” were contracted to cull the rabbits.
‘We’re looking at the complete eradication of about 30 000 rabbits and it will take years. The rabbits have eaten so much vegetation that the island is a desert. We have wide open patches with no vegetation,” said Esterhuizen.
‘The rabbits are burrowing into the foundations and threatening the museum buildings. The prisons could collapse as a result of burrows. It’s like walking on sponge.”
Esterhuizen said the rabbits have also threatened the island’s endangered penguin population while out-competing indigenous species for food.
‘Penguins are close to extinction on the island at the moment. There is space competition between the rabbits and penguins. The rabbits burrow into the penguin burrows, which start flooding out when it rains. Penguin chicks are drowned,” said Esterhuizen.
The long-term plan, she said, is to ‘rehabilitate the island, keep small populations of indigenous species and remove the extra stock each year”. This will be achieved by culling 500 fallow deer and feral cats that are a ‘threat to breeding seabirds”. These cats were brought to Robben Island as domesticated pets in the 1800s.
European sailors had earlier introduced rabbits as a food source to the island in the 1600s. While the conservationists focus on the ecology, Bredekamp is listening to staff concerns.
One long-term staffer, who did not want to be named, listed some of their problems. They mostly wanted the ‘dirty [island] mismanagement cleaned”.
‘The capacity and competency of managers need to be checked. We have acting managers who are not committed to their jobs. We suspect that they are recruiting their friends, who can’t do the job,” said the staffer.
‘The boats are also not used properly. They need to be serviced. The Sikhululekile [commercial boat] will break down any moment. That’s a risk to tourists. There are also questions about whether staffers are insured when we work on a boat.”
Dennis Cruywagen, spokesperson for the museum, confirmed that the Sikhululekile broke down last Wednesday, with ‘mechanical problems, but was running again on Monday”.
Bredekamp this week focused on salary negotiations — launched in late July — for 200 mostly contract staffers.
‘I’m not despondent. I want to restore a measure of stability. I have to take the final decision [on salaries] as soon as possible. I have agreed in principle that staff would be back-paid up to July. We should stick to that,” said Bredekamp.
But it’s his temporary seat that needs urgent attention, too. He said this depended on the museum council — which has not yet been finalised by the arts and culture ministry.
Other top positions have been sorted out, he said, but there was still no full-time human resources manager.
‘The new financial officer started this week. The human resources department staff resigned some time ago,” said Bredekamp. ‘When I started three months ago, there were people in acting positions. We need to address this now.” — Yazeed Kamaldien