Robben Island has been plagued by one scandal after another in recent years. But Ivan Meyer, MEC of Cultural Affairs and Sport for the Western Cape, visited the Robben Island Museum recently and gave it the ‘thumbs up’ for improvements that have taken place.This followed a site visit in March by Unesco officials who found that the museum was compliant with all requirements for a World Heritage Site. TANYA FARBER spoke to the new CEO, Sibongiseni Mkhize, to get his perspective.
Less than a year into his tenure as the chief executive officer of the Robben Island Museum, Sibongiseni Mkhize believes that things are turning around at the island that had been all but “written off” by the public.
Speaking from his office at the Clock Tower from where the ferries depart, he told the Cape Times that the museum’s stable leadership, new key appointments, an upgraded maintenance plan for the ferries, an integrated conservation management plan, and his own insistence on good corporate governance had ushered in a new era for the world heritage site, and next year’s audit reports would be proof.
“In the past, people had begun dismissing Robben Island and had laughed it off, but now I believe everyone is taking it more seriously, including stakeholders and parliament who have renewed confidence in us.”
On the issue of leadership, Mkhize said that there was a period about two years ago, when the island did not have executive leadership or a governing body, and that the “collapse” had resulted from bad corporate governance. He said much credit should go to the new council that was set up before his arrival, and that the appointment of an ‘outsider’ (he hails from the Market Theatre in Joburg) had also been a healthy step.
“All the staff had gone through a traumatic time without leadership and have welcomed the fact that a person not affected by the baggage of the past has come from outside.”
Because of this, he said, a major driver for him had been to “instil principles of fairness and justice, and news ways of looking at things”.
In terms of new key appointments, Mkhize said the tenure of a senior ferries operation manager who came on board in December last year – a month after Mkhize’s own arrival – had been fundamental to the turnaround strategy since it was the ferry situation that was at the heart of the island’s waning reputation.
“Since then,” he said, “we have had a really smooth operation. Instead of grounding the ferries when there is a problem, we anticipate issues by having a proper maintenance plan and schedule. Because our previous lack of capacity to manage the ferries had been singularly the biggest problem, we can now focus on our core business which is heritage conservation and educating the public about Robben Island.”
He said that since the new ferries manager joined in December last year, the only reason for ferry cancellations had been bad weather.
“Prior to that, there had been several breakdowns, some of which resulted not only in loss of ticket sales revenue, but also in additional costs of hiring outside ferry contractors,” he said, “but we have not contracted any outside ferry services in the past eight months and the 2010-2011 peak season during my tenure went off smoothly, without any disruption to services.”
Mkhize recalled that their most unfortunate ‘no boat day’ brought on by rough sea conditions was during the recent trip of US First Lady Michelle Obama to South Africa. “She so badly wanted to visit Robben Island,” he said, “but I personally went out with the scouts in the early morning, but no matter how well prepared we were, we couldn’t risk her life or that of any other passenger.”
On the environmental side of things, which has been the focus of much negative publicity, Mkhize said things had improved. “Our environmental conservation unit was strengthened by the appointment of a unit manager in December, 2010,” he said, adding that the island was working closely with academic departments and other experts to make sure that a balanced ecosystem was maintained.
He said the rabbit problem reported on in the media had been brought under control.
“A rabbit census is difficult,” he said, but in the wake of the culling that took place before his appointment, “you can see by greenness of the island that the situation is under control” as an over-infestation of rabbits resulted in a visible decimation of plant life.
He did add, however, that driftwood remained a challenge.
“Too much of it is a problem, but the penguins use the wood to create colonies so it is difficult to simply eradicate it, but we are looking into this issue.”
Mkhize denied allegations that fresh water has to be transported to the island because of alien vegetation sapping resources.
“We have, as before, a desalination plant stationed on the island and do not have to transport fresh water across the ocean to get here. We generate water and electricity on the island, and the Department of Public Works is our custodian that assists with infrastructure.”
He also said they were working on their strategic plan for the next five years, and that this included drafting a new integrated conservation management plan.
In conclusion, Mkhize said that “everyone has felt the change on how the business of the museum is managed and how fundamentally important it is to adhere to principles of good governance”.
He said the organisation still faced its greatest challenge: finding a suitable business model for such a unique museum which was a World Heritage Site, on an island and in high demand by tourists despite never being built to accommodate a high influx of people on a daily basis.
“The biggest challenge for a suitable approach is implementing an alignment between our human resources strategy, our business model and our budget,” he said, “and those need to all speak to each other.”