16 Oct 2018

There are plans to take the mandate of the National Museum and Monuments to a higher level during the eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11).

Such plans, Vice President Slumber Tsogwane said at the National Museum and Monuments 50th anniversary commemoration, include development of two site museums at Ntsweng in Molepolole and Old Palapye near Malaka.

Also, he said government had set aside P30 million for construction of an ivory museum, which would address bio-diversity conservation of threatened species in Botswana including animals, plants, micro-organisms and different ecosystems both in water and on land.

Tsogwane further said the national museum and monuments headquarters, which was old and dilapidated, would be refurbished during NDP 11 to make it more attractive, modern and technologically sound.

He said P40 million had thus been budgeted to implement the project.

Regarding the inception of the museum 50 years ago, Tsogwane said it ‘was a key milestone achieved only two years after independence when government would have been preoccupied with many other development priorities’.

“In the many steps towards nation building during the formative years of our Republic, the importance of having a heritage institution such as this one could never be over emphasised,” he said.

He said the primary emphasis in opening the National Museum in 1968 was to present the interaction of man and the environment in Botswana, with first part of the permanent exhibition opened in 1976 with twelve display cases.

“The exhibition has grown to seventy cases that fill the existing five main display galleries,” he said.

He noted that the museum had a staff compliment of less than five people when it opened in 1968 and that the number had grown to over 150 employees to date.

Such growth, he said had been brought about by the continued partnership between the museum and the country’s international development partners and organisation who helped in training staff in highly specialised disciplines.

He also paid homage to three people, whom he said contributed immensely to the development of the Museum; the founding chairperson.... Kgosi Bathoeng 11, the first director, Alec Campbell and the first curator, Doreen Nteta.

The vice president also talked about the mobile Pitse ya naga, which complemented the school curriculum with visual objects and reference resources on culture, history and the environment for students, saying he was elated that the programme after 38 years was still being implemented and had borne fruits as the institution continue to receive increased visits from schools.

Regarding the museum’s achievements, Tsogwane said the exhibitions of the day expressed the achievements of the institution overs the years adding that the exhibitions were innovations and initiatives, which were a vehicle for focused action by the Botswana National Museum and its stakeholders towards the preservation of culture and heritage, sustainable development, economic diversification and empowerment of the people of Botswana.

Meanwhile, Assistant Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Itumeleng Moipisi said the 50 years were a milestone, which would be cherished and remembered for years to come.

The commemoration was held under the theme “Museum at 50: celebrating our heritage”. Ends