Chairman says he’d like a documentation centre in Durban renamed to the 1860 Heritage Center.
|||Plans are afoot to change the name of the Durban Cultural and Documentation Centre to the 1860 Heritage Centre.
This is according to the chairman of the centre’s steering committee Juggie Pather.
He said the change aimed to pay tribute to indentured labourers and would serve as a living monument to the Indian community. Pather was scheduled to attend a committee meeting on Tuesday.
He said the revamped centre in Derby Street would be discussed with the KZN Department of Arts and Culture as well as its intention to re-open on February 1.
“We will also discuss a secondment or hiring a full-time employee. At this stage it looks as if the 1860 Heritage Centre is most likely to open next Wednesday. The labelling, cataloguing and classifying of cultural artefacts are almost complete. We are on track.”
The documentation centre was established in 1993.
It closed without public consultation in 2008 when the department awarded a tender to Mbongeni Ngema and the Committed Artists Company to manage it as a recording studio. A room bigger than a classroom and adjacent to Ngema’s studio was allocated as the documentation centre and museum.
Subsequent requests by the steering committee for additional space were turned down. This created a public outcry.
Today the renovated and extended centre is slightly larger than two classrooms and contains documents and artefacts on the history of Durban’s Indian community. This includes information on Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa, indentured Indian labour, paintings, jewellery and traditional garments. There is also a display area and sections for a reference library and archives.
The air-conditioned and carpeted multi-purpose centre now has a reception area, ablution facilities and a storeroom.
Pather is hoping volunteers come on board to help out at the centre.
Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, the department’s senior communications manager, Vukani Mbhele said a date for the reopening had not been agreed upon and he was not aware of the name change.
