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17-556: Amazwi's primary functions are to collect and conserve material evidence pertaining to South African literature, to publicise and popularise it, and to provide all sections of the reading public, both locally and abroad, with the means of access to it. The museum has three principal collections: manuscripts, books and journals, and press clippings. The museum also conducts many outreach programmes (mainly focused on school pupils and university students) aimed at promoting and creating awareness of South Africa's rich literary heritage. The museum

34-715: A small lecture theatre, and an endemic landscaped garden. Nathi Mthethwa Emmanuel Nkosinathi "Nathi" Mthethwa is a South African politician who served as Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture from 2019 until his demotion from cabinet in 2023. He had previously served as the Chief Whip for the African National Congress in the National Assembly in 2008, as Minister for Safety and Security (later known as Minister of Police) from 2008 to 2014, and as Minister of Arts and Culture from 2014 to 2019. He

51-651: A speech given to members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) on 17 August 2012, Mthethwa gave "what would have been understood to be an unqualified endorsement of the police action" at Marikana. This speech, the Commission found, was "calculated to bring about a closing of the ranks and to discourage any SAPS member who was minded to tell the Commission that things had not gone as well as they must have hoped they would." Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture

68-575: Is a diversity of perspectives and positions, and both written and oral literatures are presented. A selection of significant artifacts from the museum's collections is on display, and there are a number of audiovisual installations. Amazwi has two satellite institutions: Schreiner House in Cradock and the Eastern Star Gallery Printing and Press Museum in Makhanda. The Eastern Star newspaper was

85-704: Is from Kwambonambi , KwaZulu-Natal . Mthethwa was Chief Whip of the Majority Party in the National Assembly from January 2008 until September 2008, when he was appointed Minister of Safety and Security by newly elected President Kgalema Motlanthe . He was South Africa's Minister of Police at the time of the August 2012 Marikana Massacre , the most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since 1976. The Marikana Commission of Inquiry led by judge Ian Farlam mentioned Mthethwa's role in

102-647: The Commission should recommend to the National Director of Public Prosecutions that he should consider prosecuting Minister Mthethwa for the murder of the 34 strikers who were killed on 16 August at Marikana." The Commission did not disagree with the recommendations counsel for the Injured and Arrested Persons as it had with the Counsel's recommendations regarding then Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and others, however, it also did not endorse these recommendations. Mthethwa

119-536: The Green Building Council of South Africa as the first five-star Green Star certified project in the category Public & Education Buildings in South Africa. There are numerous display areas as well as humidity-controlled sealed archives. The large 'green' roof over the collections’ storage area enables constant temperature control and substantially reduces electricity consumption. There are exhibition spaces,

136-629: The Ikhamanga Hall, built in honour of the Order of Ikhamanga conferred on Schreiner in 2003. The Hall houses an exhibition on the history of Cradock . In 2016, NELM moved into a 147 million rand, purpose-built building in Worcester Street, on the outskirts of Grahamstown. A project of the Department of Arts and Culture, it was executed by the Department of Public Works. The building has been certified by

153-569: The Land’ is the National English Literary Museum's permanent exhibition. The exhibition tells the story of South Africa through the lens of the country's literature, from the earliest writing of the colonial period through to some of the most recent work being produced. The two principal themes are conflict and the environment, and these are woven through the whole of the story. Five of South Africa's national languages are represented, there

170-453: The forerunner to today's The Star . Established in Grahamstown in 1871, The Eastern Star moved to Johannesburg in 1887 and soon after became The Star. The Argus Group donated the building in which the museum is housed in 1984 and Amazwi restored it from a derelict state. The Eastern Star Gallery houses exhibits of 19th century printing equipment, and an exhibition that examines the history of

187-447: The incident several times. Mthethwa told the Commission in 2014: "What I know is that as the political head at the time, I’d have been responsible for all the things the police were doing". In its official report, the Commission noted that while Mthethwa's counsel had submitted that he could not "be held liable for the tragic loss of lives at Marikana", the counsel representing some 270 injured or arrested mineworkers had "submitted that

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204-429: The press in South Africa. The Eastern Star is open by appointment. In 1986 NELM opened its second satellite museum, Schreiner House. South African literary icon Olive Schreiner , best known for her novel The Story of an African Farm , lived in this house with her siblings in the late 1860s. The museum pays homage to Schreiner's work through exhibitions and educational programmes. The Schreiner House precinct includes

221-483: The years, NELM has evolved into a national resource, housing a significant amount of literary works. In 1980, NELM was declared a cultural institution, governed by the Cultural Institutions Act (Act 119 of 1998). In the 1960s many South African literary manuscripts were ending up in collections in foreign countries. Butler had a vision of a national repository for South African literary manuscripts, and this

238-524: Was established in 1972. Professor Guy F Butler , the Head of Department of the Rhodes University English Department and himself a poet, became aware of the need for the manuscripts of South African authors to be collected. His collection of his and other writers' material soon became too large for the cupboard he at first housed it in. By an Act of Parliament, NELM was eventually born. Over

255-520: Was known as the National English Literary Museum from its founding in 1972 to May 2019. The museum then formally changed its name to Amazwi South African Museum of Literature at the order of Minister of Culture Nathi Mthethwa , aligned to a new organisational vision of linguistic and cultural inclusivity, and a new mandate to promote and preserve important South African literary works produced not only in English, but across all indigenous languages. The museum

272-401: Was not among nine people charged in connection with Marikana in 2018. Farlam himself has since bemoaned the lack of prosecutions, saying: "it was said at the time that we'd exonerated everyone including the minister of police. That wasn't true. We found that the evidence was very inconclusive, we couldn't make a definite finding against the minister of police." The Commission did find that, in

289-841: Was the genesis of NELM. The Thomas Pringle Collection for English in Africa was founded in 1972. In 1974 this became the National Documentation Centre for English and in 1980 was declared a cultural institution and renamed the National English Literary Museum and Documentation Centre. In 2017 the number of literary artefacts in the museum's collection stood at over 100 000. These include authors’ manuscripts, printers’ proofs, diaries, correspondence, publishers’ archives, photographs, posters, play-scripts, theatre programmes and cultural artefacts. The museum's collection of published poems, short stories, novels, plays, autobiographies, travel writing and children's literature exceeds 30 000. ‘Voices of

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