02 Jun 2016

Supa Ngwao Museum in Francistown is back in operation after closing in September last year due to financial constraints.

The museum director, Stella Rundle said in an interview that since its beginning, Supa Ngwao heavily depended on government funds mainly for staff salaries and utility bills. 

Although the museum solely depended on government, the intervention was never enough to cover other expenses such as purchasing and collection of historic exhibits.

“We also felt challenged to run or host occasional culture related activities; hence the temporary closure,” said Rundle.

She said the museum’s re-opening last month followed the P90 000 it got from government.

Rundle said in efforts to deal with challenges at the museum, a board of trustees would be elected during an annual general meeting.

“The board will take decisions on how to run the place and come up with ideas of generating more income for the continuous existence of the museum,” she pointed out.

The curator said Supa Ngwao exhibited the country’s various historic and cultural heritages, mostly of Kalanga origin, such as wood carvings, pottery, music instruments, and basketry, among others.

She also said besides such items, the museum had documents and artifacts explaining the history of Francistown.

 There was also a mini craft shop that sold locally crafted items such as wall hangings and souvenirs.

Rundle said though the museum operated only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, only a handful of people had shown interest.

“The community does not make use of the museum as we had anticipated. We always come up with different initiatives such as inviting different ethnic groups for them to showcase their diverse cultures, the intention being to vary activities here, but the turn up has always been low,” she lamented.

Rundle emphasised the fact that the museum was a place where people should be proud to be at as it connected them with history.

She also called for the need to revive the spirit of volunteerism and working collectively in efforts to build the repute of the museum and make it serve its intended purpose. Ends