The DA in Limpopo notes the deteriorating state and severe under-resourcing of the Muti Wa VaTsonga Open Air Museum and supports the recommendations formulated following an oversight visit conducted by the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture.
The museum, which serves as a critical repository of the history, traditions, and indigenous knowledge systems of the BaTonga and Tsonga-Shangaan communities, possesses enormous cultural, educational, and tourism potential. This potential is being systematically undermined by poor maintenance, inadequate staffing and weak infrastructure investment.
The Committee found that the museum currently operates with only four staff members, consisting of one Museum Manager and three general workers. There are no trained tour guides, researchers, heritage practitioners, registrars, or maintenance specialists. General workers and EPWP employees are therefore expected to fulfil specialised heritage functions for which they were never properly trained.
The DA is particularly concerned that the museum lacks a dedicated operational budget and remains dependent on fragmented departmental allocations. This has severely limited its ability to conduct proper maintenance, expand educational programmes, improve exhibitions, or develop tourism initiatives.
The oversight visit further revealed serious infrastructure deterioration, including damaged traditional huts, ageing roofing structures, fencing that has allegedly not been upgraded since 2006, and poor access roads. These conditions directly affect tourism growth, visitor safety, and the preservation of heritage assets.
The museum also lacks reliable internet connectivity and proper communication infrastructure, limiting bookings, administration, marketing and stakeholder engagement. The museum remains closed during weekends and public holidays, the very periods during which visitor demand is generally highest. This represents a missed economic and tourism opportunity.
The DA therefore supports the Committee’s recommendations calling for:
• The urgent filling of critical vacant posts, including trained guides and researchers;
• Comprehensive infrastructure rehabilitation and preventative maintenance;
• Improved internet and communication infrastructure;
• Extended operational hours over weekends and public holidays;
• A dedicated tourism and marketing strategy;
• The establishment of a heritage gift shop to support local economic development; and
• Stronger tourism integration with surrounding establishments.
The neglect of museums is ultimately the neglect of our cultural memory. Limpopo cannot claim to value heritage preservation while allowing institutions of such historical significance to deteriorate through underfunding and poor governance.
The DA will continue to exercise oversight to ensure that the Limpopo Department of Sport, Arts and Culture implements these recommendations and restores dignity, sustainability, and proper investment into the province’s heritage institutions. The DA believes that museums must actively document oral histories, preserve indigenous knowledge systems, and provide credible historical interpretation.