A Dissertation Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History, University of the Western Cape, July 2017
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MAKING HERITAGE IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: AGENCIES, MUSEUMS AND SITES A dissertation submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History, in the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of the Western Cape. SIPOKAZI SAMBUMBU SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR LESLIE WITZ Submitted: July, 2017 DECLARATION I, Sipokazi Sambumbu, declare that ‘Making heritage in post-apartheid South Africa: Agencies, museums and sites’ is my own work, that it has not been submitted for any degree or examination in any other university, and that all the sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by complete references. Sipokazi Sambumbu 30 July 2017 i http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank God for everything. ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning’, James1:17. My appreciation and gratitude goes to the following people, for their invaluable roles in the making of this work: My supervisor Professor Leslie Witz, for his guidance, mentorship, unfailing support, and above all, his great patience with me. My colleagues at the History Department of the University of the Western Cape. I will forever appreciate their support and sacrifices that made my extended research leaves possible. The University of the Western Cape Arts Faculty. I benefited a lot from their great support systems for ‘early career researchers’ in the faculty. The University of the Western Cape Research Funding office, for financial support. My colleagues at the University of Witwatersrand School of Education, in particular the Social and Economic Sciences Division, for their encouragement. The University of Michigan African Studies Centre, for the generous fellowship award in 2011-2012. Adam Ashforth and Nancy Rose-Hunt, for their invaluable insight, and support during my stay in Ann Arbor from 2011 to 2012. The Harvard University Centre for African Studies, for the generous fellowship award in 2014-2015. The Harvard African Languages Programme, for the opportunity to work with them. Jean and John Comaroff, Susan Cook, John Mugane, Maggie Lopes and Emmanuel Akyeampong, for the stimulating discussions and support. Judy Mugane, Ntuli Akyeampong, Nthatisi Quella, Lowell Brower, Bongiwe Mkhize, Zeinna Forbes, Nthatisi Quella and Mothusi and Flathy Diseko, for their companionship and support during my stay in Boston from 2014 to 2015. All in various government departments and heritage institutions, who shared their knowledge with me in different ways, especially colleagues at the NHC, SAHRA, Nelson Mandela Museum, Freedom Park, Ncome Monument and Museum and Robben Island Museum. I am grateful to Bayanda Nyengule, Nokuzola Tetani, Noel Solani, Pumeza Mandela, Thembakazi Mvitshane, Bongane Mkhize, Jabulani Phelago, Mlungisi Ngubane, Dalifa Ngobese, Phumelele Ngubane, Nolubabalo Tongo-Cetywayo, Dan Cetywayo, Olusegun Morakinyo, Luvuyo Ndzuzo, Vanessa Mitchell, Nothando Khotseng, Nomvuzo Mayongo, Nomatshayina Mfeketho-Noah, Nomzamo Damoyi-Khati, Vincent Diba, Nosipho Blacky, Geraldine Frieslaar, Babalwa Sowandle, Mariki Victor, Stanley Sello, Christopher Solomons, Bongani Ndlovu, Mxolisi Dlamuka, Masa Soko, Bongani Mgijima, Vuyani Booi, Mbulelo Mrubata. Mr Madida, you are such a good husband oh!. ‘Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?’, Proverbs 20:6. My children, Lela and Kholo, for your love, warm smiles, hugs and kisses. You are most precious. My extended families, you are all bright stars in my life. Nontokozo Gusha, my second pair of hands, thank you. ii http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ ABSTRACT This work responds to the perceptions of post-apartheid heritage practices as producing an authorised heritage discourse. It contrasts this perception by approaching the making of post- apartheid heritage as not just a simple discourse, but as a broad and complicated network of many meanings, knowledges, practices and approaches. These are generated and disseminated through multiple disciplinary and practice inputs and outputs, and at different levels and scales. This work approaches these multiple intersecting points of heritage production and reproductions as an intricate network, within and through processes of heritage making can be seen as productive and unproductive. The focus of this work is in these different facets that emerge as different role players navigate through intricate negotiations of meanings and knowledges about pasts and presents. In this thesis, these workings are repeatedly identified through the term complex, which I use to mean complicated, intricate or convoluted. The analysis applies the term differently from the theoretical concept of complex, which refers to the making of public national citizenry through a power/knowledge, rather than power and knowledge discourse. This work therefore investigates the complicated workings of heritage by means of legislation, the complicated heritage governance by a council and agency, and the workings of heritage through equally complicated operations of museums and sites. The investigation involves focused ethnographic studies of the operations of the South African Heritage Resources Agency, National Heritage Council, Nelson Mandela Museum, Ncome Monument and Museum Complex, Freedom Park, and Robben Island Museum. While this work might be theoretically associated within Critical Heritage Studies, especially its recent preoccupation with the notion of authorised heritage discourse, it is iii http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ framed against this concept. It argues that post-apartheid heritage is produced through intricate negotiations occurring within entanglements, rather than through simple a hegemonic discourse. It also argues that making heritage in post-apartheid South Africa occurs within a wide network of multiple practices and approaches, rather than along streamlined, simple deployments of dominant meanings and knowledges. iv http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ Keywords Heritage, Post-apartheid, Discourse, Legislation, Agency, Council, Museums, Sites, Legacy Projects, World heritage. v http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ List of abbreviations ACTAG Arts and Culture Task Group AHD Authorised Heritage Discourse ANC African National Congress AROSA African Renaissance Organisation of Southern Africa CCMA Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration CEO Chief Executive Officer CFO Chief Financial Officer CHO Chief Heritage Officer CIA Cultural Institutions Act COO Chief Operations Officer DAC Department of Arts and Culture DACST Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology DCS Department of Correctional Services DEAT Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism DoE Department of Education DPW Department of Public Works EMPDD Environmental Management of Planning and Development Directorate (of City of Cape Town) EPP Ex-political Prisoner ICCROM International Centre for the Study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property ICMP Integrated Conservation Management Plan ICOM International Council of Museums ICOMOS International Council for Monuments and Sites vi http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ ICTOP International Committee for Training of Personnel iIKSSA Institute of Indigenous Knowledge Systems of South Africa IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature HRS Heritage Resources Section (of SAHRA) HWC Heritage Western Cape MANCO Management Committee MoU Memorandum of Understanding MRM Moral Regeneration Movement MSP Maximum Security Prison NHC National Heritage Council NHCA National Heritage Council Act NHRA National Heritage Resources Act NMC National Monuments Council NEHAWU National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union PMFA Public Finance Management Act PHRA Provincial Heritage Resources Authority RIM Robben Island Museum SACAR South African Chapter of African Renaissance SAHRA South African Heritage Resources Agency SANParks South African National Parks UCT University of Cape Town, South Africa UNESCO United Nations Education and Scientific Organization UWC University of the Western Cape, South Africa WESSA Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa vii http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration I Acknowledgements II Abstract III Keywords V List of abbreviations VI Introduction 1 Chapter One: Assembling and legislating heritage 17 Making a new heritage assemblage 22 Legislating heritage 28 A post-apartheid heritage sector and the idea of authorised 35 heritage discourse Chapter Two: Institutions of heritage governance 53 Constituting the institutions of heritage governance 55 Who governs post-apartheid heritage? 63 How complex is the complex? 90 Admitting issues and messiness, and reviewing policy 123 Chapter Three: National museums 129 The context of the Cultural Institutions Act 130 The birth of a post-apartheid museum 133 National museums as institutions of governance 141 Nelson Mandela Museum 149 Ncome/Blood River Monument and Museum Complex 173 viii http://etd.uwc.ac.za/ Chapter Four: Monuments and memorials as heritage sites and heritage resources: Freedom Park 190 The idea of post-apartheid memorial complex 193 Ways of knowing Freedom Park 195 The Freedom Park project and the Mbeki era 198 Multiplicity: interests, disciplines, approaches and practices 203 Negotiations and power/knowledge relations 208 Conceptualising and constructing //hapo 212 From a project to a heritage site and heritage resource: 216 Becoming methodical and banal Endeavouring reconciliation as a rendition of resourcefulness 223 Chapter Five: Working