Rates exemption for Nkomo Museum

THE Bulawayo City Council has exempted the Joshua Nkomo Museum in Matsheumhlope from paying rates.

The Joshua Nkomo Museum is a public museum for natural history and gallery chronicling the history of the liberation struggle.

According to the latest council report, the late Vice President Nkomo's daughter, Mrs Thandiwe Nkomo-Ebrahim, applied for the exemption two years ago.

The city council, however, turned down another request from Mrs Nkomo-Ebrahim to exempt the Pelandaba Revolutionary House, arguing that it was being used as an ordinary place of residence.

"It was recommended that the Joshua Nkomo Museum be exempted from paying rates.

"The council was, however, not in support of the application for rates exemption of the Pelandaba Revolutionary House as there was no justification for the exemption.

"The house was used as an ordinary place of residence. The trust was, therefore, requested to pay the outstanding balance, amounting to $8 834 in affordable monthly instalments," read the report.

It was indicated in the report that the financial department received an application for rates exemption on May 18, 2016 from Mrs Nkomo-Ebrahim who was a trustee of the foundation.

"The application was discussed by the finance and development committee on September 27, 2016 and the issue had been deferred pending clarification as to whether members of the public paid any fees to access the museum and whether the foundation was engaged in any other activities that generated income.

"A letter dated October 2016 was written to the foundation seeking clarification but no reply was received until another application dated April 10, 2018 for the rates exemption of the premises was received from the foundation," read the report.

The council said the latest application was also requesting exemption of the Pelandaba Revolutionary House.

"The two houses had outstanding balances for rates and other charges as at April 2018 amounting to $8 806 and $28.

"A letter dated April 12, 2018 was sent to the foundation reminding it of the requirements of the finance and development committee pertaining to the museum," read the report.

The council added that Mrs Nkomo-Ebrahim finally emailed the city council on April 20, 2018 explaining that the museum was realising little money from its activities.

"Please be advised that there are two entities, The Joshua Nkomo National Foundation  and the Joshua Nkomo Museum, which is housed at Number 17 Aberdeen Road in Matsheumhlope.

"A visit to the museum attracts a fee of $1 per person but so far there are no dealings with the general public and we occasionally get schoolchildren visiting but not regularly.

"Due to various challenges, the Trust itself has not been active in any fund raising activities," said Mrs Nkomo-Ebrahim.
In discussion, some councillors argued that the Pelandaba house also qualified to be exempted because it was essentially a heritage site, adding that the late VP Nkomo was not an ordinary person.

Others said council would have set a bad precedent as this would most likely attract similar applications from residents.

In 2016, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) shot down a request by Mrs Nkomo-Ebrahim for the late nationalist's estate to be exempted from paying rates.

She appealed to council to exempt Blue Lagoon from paying rates for a year while she negotiated for a business deal that would enable her to settle outstanding bills.

Blue Lagoon's debt had reportedly accrued due to tenants who were failing to pay bills.