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South Africa Pledges High-Powered Technical Mission for Liberia’s Peace and Reconciliation Memorial Museum

The Executive Mansion
Executive Mansion.
Executive Mansion.

The commitment followed high-level discussions led by Liberia’s Minister of State without Portfolio, Hon. Hadja Mamaka Bility, and South African Minister of Sport, Arts, and Culture Gayton McKenzie. Minister McKenzie directed that the mission become the largest delegation ever sent abroad by his department, describing it as a practical demonstration of the historic bond between Liberia and South Africa.

The delegation will include specialists from South Africa’s leading museums, memorial sites, archives, cultural institutions, artifact-repatriation initiatives, and the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission process. The experts will conduct workshops, share technical knowledge, and help Liberia develop credible systems for collecting, preserving, and presenting its history without altering the truth of the country’s past.

Minister Bility warmly welcomed the commitment and assured the South African Government of Liberia’s full cooperation. She said the planned visit would coincide with efforts to convene the museum’s inaugural steering committee, allowing both sides to hold several days of intensive technical discussions and begin moving the initiative from concept to implementation under President Joseph Nyuma Boakai's leadership.

Minister McKenzie described Liberia and South Africa as brother and sister nations whose relationship was strengthened during the anti-apartheid struggle, when Liberia provided refuge and support to South African freedom fighters. He stressed that the upcoming mission would be based on mutual learning. “We are not going there only to teach. We are also going there to learn from the Liberians,” he said.

During its four-day engagement in South Africa, the Liberian delegation met with senior officials responsible for planning, monitoring, and evaluation, as well as representatives of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. The team also met with the leadership of the University of South Africa (UNISA), where both sides agreed to explore knowledge-sharing, specialized training, and postgraduate opportunities for Liberians in fields connected to museum development, archives, peacebuilding, and reconciliation. The delegation also visited the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Hector Pieterson Museum, UNDP South Africa, Mandela House, Freedom Park, Apartheid Museum, and other key cultural and historical institutions.

UNDP Resident Representative in Liberia, Ambassador Aliou Mamadou Dia, described the outcome as a major boost for Liberia’s museum initiative and reaffirmed UNDP’s commitment to supporting the government. With the Rwanda and South Africa phases of the study tour now successfully completed, Minister Bility and her delegation will return to Liberia to report to President Boakai, consolidate the lessons gathered and begin preparations for the arrival of the South African delegation.