The Lottery-funded library with empty shelves

#DodgyLottery part three: R20 million has been spent on the Credo Mutwa Museum and Library, with very little to show for it

Nearly all the bookshelves in the Credo Mutwa museum and library are empty. Photo: Raymond Joseph

Even though the National Lotteries Commission has pumped over R19.6 million into a library and museum complex to celebrate the life and work of one of Kuruman’s most famous sons, there is very little other than a building to show for it.

And, although the Lottery funding was granted in 2017, the complex was only completed earlier this year.

Two companies, PKT Consulting Engineers and Kaone Wethu, which were involved in the construction of the complex have links to NLC Chief Operating Officer Phillemon Letwaba and members of his family.

Read also:

• Part one: Conflicts of interest and incomplete projects: How Lottery money is being spent
• Part two: Kuruman’s unfinished R23 million old age home

The complex is intended to preserve the heritage of the world-famous sangoma, author, and African storyteller, Credo Mutwa, now 98 and sickly, who lives across the road from the newly-built brick building.

“In 2017, the NLC approved funding for the library and museum for the preservation and display of the work of Dr Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, a well-known African healer, shaman and a writer. The establishment will contribute to the documentation and preservation of the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) of South Africa,” the NLC said in a media statement late in February this year, shortly before the centre was opened.

At the height of Mutwa’s fame, famous people and celebrities, including Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana and her brother, Earl Charles Spencer, sought Mutwa’s counsel.

But despite the NLC’s stated plans, the museum building is largely an empty shell and negotiations with Mutwa’s family to display his work and the collection of books, artefacts and art he has collected over a lifetime are yet to bear fruit.

To be fair not every bookshelf is empty. The left bookshelf pictured above is filled with copies of Mutwa’s seminal work Indaba My Children. Photo: Raymond Joseph

We visited the site in mid-July.

The only exhibit in the museum is a travelling one consisting of a series of illustrated banners that tell the history of the Northern Cape. It is on loan from the McGregor Museum in Kimberley.

There is also an audio-visual presentation of an SABC series about Mutwa, which is played when people visit the museum. In spite of the millions from the Lottery, curator Asandiswa Manatha says that funds are not yet available to stock the museum with exhibits.

In the library section, there is only one rack with any books – including several shelves of copies of Mutwa’s seminal work, Indaba My Children, and an eclectic mix of paperbacks and some children’s books. The rest of the shelves are bare and gathering dust, apparently because there are no funds to stock the library.

The NLC says it will continue to support the museum and the library, after spending almost R20 million on the building.

“The NLC has funded the construction of the museum in honour of Credo Mutwa,” NLC spokesman Ndivhuho Mafela said in response to emailed questions.

“We have handed over the facility to the community and we are informed that curators are appointed to assist the facility. The Commission will continuously provide support where necessary and required to ensure that the facility fully operates to its potential.”

After GroundUp published Part One of this series on Friday, the NLC released a statement saying:

“The Credo Mutwa Museum has since been completed and handed over to the community. The NLC is assisting the community and the appointed curators to finalise issues surrounding intellectual property of Sanusi Credo Mutwa.”

This travelling exhibit is the only display in the museum. It tells the history of the Northern Cape and is on loan from the McGregor Museum in Kimberley. Photo: Raymond Joseph

For the record

As this reporter’s tour of the facility was ending, I was confronted by local activist Sandra Melato, who earlier in my investigation, had complained during phone calls with me of “corruption” involving the museum and some other NLC projects in Kuruman. She told me that her life was “in danger” because she had spoken out about corruption.

But now she accused me of being “against black development”, saying: “When the NLC gives money to white people you do and say nothing, but when they help blacks you say they are corrupt.”

Mafela said that Melato had made “serious allegations of intimidation” against me.

R20 million of Lottery money has gone to the Credo Mutwa museum and library in Kuruman. Photo: Raymond Joseph

More about National Lotteries Commission

• Kuruman’s unfinished R23 million old age home 05 August 2019
• Conflicts of interest and incomplete projects: How Lottery money is being spent 01 August 2019
• Limpopo’s forgotten schools and the Lottery’s expensive toilets 24 May 2019
•  
•  7 August 2019   By Raymond Joseph

© 2019 GroundUp.

Sunscreen wouldn't have saved Bob Marley from melanoma, and it won't help other dark-skinned people

An image of Bob Marley at a Bob Marley Exhibit in Miami Oct. 16, 2013. Lynne Slakdy/AP Photo

Melanoma is a potentially deadly form of skin cancer linked to overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun. Sunscreen can block UV rays and therefore reduce the risk of sun burns, which ultimately reduces the risk of developing melanoma. Thus, the promotion of sunscreen as an effective melanoma prevention strategy is a reasonable public health message.

While this may be true for light-skinned people, such as individuals of European descent, this is not the case for darker skinned people, or individuals of African descent.

The public health messages promoted by many clinicians and public health groups regarding sunscreen recommendations for dark skin people is incongruent with the available evidence. Media messaging exacerbate the problem with headline after headline warning that black people can also develop melanoma and that blacks are not immune. To be sure, blacks can get melanoma, but the risk is very low.

In the same way, men can develop breast cancer, however, we do not promote mammography as a strategy to fight breast cancer in men.

This message is important to me as a black, board certified dermatologist and health services researcher at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, where I am director of the pigmented lesion clinic. In this capacity I take care of patients at high risk for melanoma.

Melanoma in black people is not associated with UV exposure

Darker skin provides more protection from damage by the ultraviolet rays of the sun. Spotmatik/Shutterstock.com

In the U.S., melanoma is 20 to 30 times more common among whites compared to blacks.

In blacks, melanoma usually develops in parts of the body that get less sun exposure, such as the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. These cancers are called “acral melanomas,” and sunscreen will do nothing to reduce the risk of these cancers.

When was the last time you had a sunburn on the palms or soles? Even among whites, there is no relationship between sun exposure and the risk of acral melanomas. Famously, Bob Marley died from an acral melanoma on his great toe, but sunscreen would not have helped.

The research on the association of UV radiation and melanoma among blacks is lacking. Most studies assessing the relationship exclude patients of darker skin types. In the largest study of this question to date, no connection was found between UV index or latitude and melanoma among black people.

Racial disparities in melanoma outcomes are not related to UV exposure

Many dermatologists often point out that black patients tend to show up to the doctor with later stage melanoma, which is true. However, this is an issue of access and awareness and has nothing to do with sunscreen application. Black people should be aware of growths on their skin and seek medical attention if they have any changing, bleeding, painful, or otherwise concerning spots, particularly on the hands and feet.

However, the notion that regular application of daily sunscreen will reduce an already extremely rare occurrence is nonsensical.

UV radiation does affect dark skin and can cause DNA damage; however, the damage is seven to eight times lower than the damage done to white skin, given the natural sun-protective effect of increased melanin in darker skin. To be clear, using regular sunscreen may help with reducing other effects of the sun’s rays such as sun burns, wrinkling, photoaging and freckling, which are all positive, but for the average black person sunscreen is unlikely to reduce their low risk of melanoma any further.

If sunscreen was important in the prevention of melanoma in dark-skinned patients, then why have we never heard of an epidemic of melanoma in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with intense sun, a lot of black people, and little sunscreen?

In certain sub populations of black people, such as those with disorders causing sun sensitivity, albino patients, or patients with suppressed immune systems, sunscreen use may reduce risk of melanoma.

But if you don’t fall into one of these categories, any meaningful risk reduction from the application of sunscreen is unlikely.

Melanoma public health messaging must change

Sunscreens have not been shown to protect black skin from melanoma. LightField Studios/Shutterstock

When it comes to the public health message related to sunscreen, skin cancer, and black people a one-size-fits-all approach misses the mark. The facts simply do not add up for the recommendation of sunscreen as prevention of melanoma in black people. Many dermatology and skin cancer focused organizations (a few of which I’m a member), promote the public health message of sunscreen use to reduce melanoma risk among black patients. However, this message is not supported by evidence.

There exists no study that demonstrates sunscreen reduces skin cancer risk in black people. Period.

This issue of regular sunscreen use in black people was made even more pressing after the release of a study last week on sunscreen absorption in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This study showed that significant amounts of certain chemical sunscreen ingredients can get in the blood when used at maximal conditions, with unknown impacts on human health. To me, the most shocking part of the study was that most of the participants were black, the group least likely to derive any meaningful associated health benefits from sunscreen, while being exposed to potentially harmful levels of chemicals.

As dermatologists and public health advocates, we can do a better job educating patients and the public about melanoma prevention, without promoting public health messages that are grounded in fear and/or lack evidence. Black people should be informed that they are at risk of developing melanoma, but that risk is low. 

Any dark skinned person who develops a new, changing or symptomatic mole should see their doctor, particularly if the mole is on the palms or soles. We don’t know what the risk factors are for melanoma in black or dark skinned people, but they certainly are not UV rays.


Adewole S. Adamson, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (Division of Dermatology), University of Texas at Austin
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.