Durban — World-renowned storyteller and poet Gcina Mhlophe said it was disheartening to see the Mazisi Kunene Museum in Glenwood structurally and financially collapsing.
This comes after artefacts were moved from the Mazisi Kunene Museum to Msunduzi Library, in Pietermaritzburg, on Wednesday.
The Kunene Museum was founded in 2007 in Delville Avenue, Glenwood. It is regarded as the only existing literature museum in eThekwini. Professor Mazisi Kunene was a freedom fighter, literary icon and poet. He was known as a talented writer whose inspiration was the history of Zulu people, the liberation of Africans everywhere and the oral traditions of African literature.
Three months before Kunene died, the Mazisi Kunene Foundation Trust was launched at the International Convention Centre in Durban on June 3, 2006.
Kunene’s works were originally written in Zulu before they were translated into other languages.
The Daily News also discovered that the facility had to move some of the collection because of the dreadful condition of the building which could have deteriorated the late poet’s artefacts.
His wife and executive director of the foundation, Mathabo Kunene, told the Daily News that she decided to take her husband's collection to Msunduzi municipality after realising that eThekwini municipality had failed to preserve Kunene's legacy. Mathabo said she was disheartened by the way the eThekwini Municipality handled the situation.
"In 2019, the eThekwini Municipality made a public announcement in a newspaper, stating that the City was committed to rescuing the museum. We were not informed about this decision, so I went to meet officials to get more information concerning the City's plan in preserving work done by Kunene.
“Since 2019, nothing came out of the never-ending discussions I have had with the City," Mathabo said.
“I am very disappointed and I feel that the municipality has humiliated my husband, because his goal was to preserve our African liberation, heritage, history and provide knowledge to the youth,” she added.
Acting senior manager of Recreation and Facilities in the Msunduzi Municipality Mandla Ntombela said some of the artefacts which Msunduzi Library would keep included the manuscript information which needed to be protected.
“The information that has been handed over to us is significant to the heritage of our country and we are delighted to be among the stakeholders who will safeguard the collection," said Ntombela.
Mathabo said she felt humiliated.
“These people had a lot of time to resolve this matter. They get paid to do their tasks but till this day, we haven't reached an agreement," she said.
Mhlophe considered the museum as one of the main destinations of tourism.
“I made sure to refer visitors from other provinces. I used to boast about the amazing work done by Kunene and the amazing service of employees from the facility. This dilemma will cause harm to eThekwini schools and universities because students will have to travel all the way to Pietermaritzburg if they require any information done by the icon,” said Mhlophe.
Kunene, who died at the age of 76, was a South African poet best known for his translation of Zulu poem, Emperor Shaka the Great. Kunene wrote this epic by hand and in IsiZulu. The book was given to anti-apartheid comrades in order to inspire them on the battlefields of freedom. The book was published in 1979. Kunene began writing poetry and short stories in IsiZulu from the age of 11.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Mandla Nsele said the City was still gathering details concerning the inquiry.
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