Museum manager leaving for KZN job

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MOSSEL BAY NEWS AND VIDEO - The manager of the Bartolomeu Dias Museum in Mossel Bay has resigned to take on a more senior position in KwaZulu-Natal, involving the promotion of heritage sites.

Mbulelo Mrubata managed the Dias Museum for 16 years.

It was clear at his leaving function on Tuesday, 28 June, that he is highly respected and well-liked.

PHOTO GALLERY: Bartolomeu Dias Museum manager's farewell

Museum staff, managers from other museums in the Southern Cape, provincial Department of Sport, Arts and Culture staff and other associates attended the function, either in person or via the Zoom link.

The chairs of the Dias Museum management committee and of the Friends of the Museum were also present.

Western Cape director of Heritage, Museums and Geographical Names Michael Janse van Rensburg attended in person and directed the programme of the farewell.

In his speech an emotional Mrubata, who had come to Mossel Bay from a museum in Lwandle, in the Cape Town area, said it had been an adjustment coming from Cape Town to small Mossel Bay, but he "fell in love" with the town.

The museum was entering an "exciting time, with transformation at the museum about to take off".

'Behaving well'

He thanked museum staff for "behaving well and making my job easy".

Chairman of the museum management committee Harold Müller said the museum had developed and changed in the last 20 years. The general community was welcomed and busloads of children and the elderly were brought to the museum. Müller said Mrubata was "approachable and accessible" and "a loving man".

He said: "You could always talk to him."

Before coming to Mossel Bay, in Lwandle, Mrubata had taken people who had been "disregarded and shoved away, bringing them to the fore". Müller said: "He did the same in Mossel Bay."

Friends of the Museum chair Denise Lloyd said Mrubata had "kept a straight line" and stuck to the rules at all times.

VIDEO - Museum manager speaks at his farewell function (Video: Linda Sparg).

Staff and associates were given a chance to speak and Mrubata was praised for his compliance and for carrying out the vision for museums in the Western Cape, for promoting "social inclusion" and for being "a wonderful mentor".

They said he had much integrity and was a pleasure to work with.

Mrubata said that in his new role, one of the heritage sites he would be promoting was the Pinnacle Point Caves outside Mossel Bay, so he would still be dealing with his colleagues in Mossel Bay.

Photos: Linda Sparg