Hyper-connected museums are the way forward in the Eastern Cape, said new sport, recreation, arts and culture MEC Bulelwa Tunyiswa yesterday as she launched international museum day in Mzingisi Skweyiya hall in Komani.
The MEC started the day by visiting the Komani museum and the Komani library and attending a function in Skweyiya Hall.
Tunyiswa said museums were an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among people.
“The theme for this year’s celebrations is hyper-connected museums, new approaches and new publics.
“During the apartheid era, the role of communities in libraries was excluded and now this government’s new approach is inclusive of communities.”
Tunyiswa drew a distinction between museums reflecting colonial history and those showcasing “our own history”.
She said: “We need to involve our communities to showcase what is happening in our communities and have our own history displayed in our museums.”
She said as a young girl, visiting museums was done once a year when they were on tour.
“That minimised our understanding of museums and what is done in them,” she said.
She encouraged the participation of young people in museums to help change museums.
“We need to emphasise the importance of oral history, as it is one of the important ways of transferring information,” she said.
The department’s Chris Hani district senior manager Peter Mbebe said the MEC also handed 50 pairs of school shoes to pupils from five primary schools in Mlungisi location in Komani.
“This is to show that the programme is not about politics but about changing people’s lives.
“Transformation in our museums can be used to teach our children. There is a focus in local history like the Bulhoek massacre and the Queenstown massacre,” he said. “Part of the celebration is an essay writing competition where the top three winners from the eight district municipalities will be selected. The winners will receive laptops, iPads and cameras.”
Peter said this was to encourage them to record their history. -tembiles@dispatch.co.za..