The Nelson Mandela Museum (NMM) recently appointed Dr Vuyani Gweki Booi as its chief executive officer (CEO).
He assumed his duties on May 16, replacing Bonke Tyhulu, who had been with the museum since 2018.
According to the NMM chairperson, Dr Nomvuselelo Songelwa, Booi is a seasoned heritage practitioner, public intellectual and researcher, who is passionate about the national liberation heritage.
He holds a PhD in social sciences (UFH), MA in visual and public history (UWC), PG diploma in museum and heritage Studies (UWC) and a BA in social work (UFH).
He attended the International Curatorial Training Programme at the British Museum (BM) in the United Kingdom.
“He worked at the University of Fort Hare as a senior curator/manager at the National Heritage and Cultural Studies (NAHECS). He further had an opportunity to serve as an acting director of NAHECS on several occasions in the same centre,” said Songelwa.
“He has more than 20 years’ working experience within the field of heritage and culture. During his 20-years’ service at Fort Hare, for 17 of those years he worked as a senior manager, with a mandate to uphold the vision, values and the integrity of NAHECS,” said Songelwa.
She added that he had served on various boards and committees representing the University of Fort Hare. The boards included the Nelson Mandela National Museum, the ANC centenary task team, Victoria Hospital board, the archival platform board at the University of Cape Town, the Eastern Cape Oral History and Indigenous Music Committee and the ANC-Fort Hare Archives committee.
According to Songelwa, Booi had very strong international experience, as he represented the University of Fort Hare in various platforms abroad. For instance, he had an opportunity to visit the city of Reggio Emilio in Italy, Cairo in Egypt, London in the United Kingdom and the University of Connecticut in the USA, to advance the position of the University of Fort Hare on issues related to liberation archives, heritage, research and collaborations and partnerships.
She said they were pleased and happy to have Booi as the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Museum.
She said his knowledge and experience within universities, government, the heritage and cultural field, the liberation route and historical interpretation of South Africa’s liberation struggle history would serve as a bonus in augmenting and preservation of Nelson Mandela’s values and that of his political peers.
“His appointment comes at a time when the museum is asserting itself and claiming its authority and has set the bar of accumulating three consecutive clean audits and we believe that he will continue to take the museum to greater heights.”
