By Lewis S. Teh
PRETORIA, South Africa, September 3, 2026 — The South African Government has pledged to send a fully funded technical and cultural mission to Liberia to support the establishment of a proposed National Peace, Reconciliation and Memorial Museum.
The commitment followed high-level discussions between South Africa’s Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, and Liberia’s Minister of State without Portfolio, Hadja Mamaka Bility, who is leading a Liberian delegation on a study tour focused on peace, reconciliation and historical preservation.
The delegation was dispatched by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai as part of his administration’s efforts to advance national reconciliation and preserve Liberia’s history.
During the discussions, McKenzie directed that the South African mission include senior experts from museums, memorial sites, archives, cultural institutions and artifact-repatriation initiatives, as well as experts familiar with South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission process.
The delegation is expected to travel to Monrovia to conduct technical workshops, share expertise and assist Liberia in developing systems for collecting, preserving and presenting its history.
Bility welcomed the commitment and said Liberia looks forward to working with the South African Government and its institutions as plans for the museum move toward implementation.
She said the South African technical mission is expected to coincide with efforts to convene the inaugural steering committee for the proposed museum, allowing Liberian and South African experts to hold several days of technical consultations.
McKenzie described Liberia and South Africa as “brother and sister nations,” recalling Liberia’s support for South Africa’s liberation struggle during the apartheid era.
“We are not going there only to teach. We are also going there to learn from the Liberians,” McKenzie said, emphasizing that the partnership would be based on mutual learning and cooperation.
During the four-day South African phase of the study tour, the Liberian delegation also held discussions with senior government officials responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluation, as well as representatives of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
The delegation also met with officials of the University of South Africa (UNISA), where discussions focused on potential cooperation in knowledge-sharing, specialized training and postgraduate education for Liberians in museum development, archives, peacebuilding and reconciliation.
As part of the tour, the delegation visited several cultural and historical institutions, including the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Hector Pieterson Museum, Mandela House, Freedom Park and the Apartheid Museum. It also held engagements with UNDP South Africa.
UNDP Resident Representative in Liberia, Ambassador Aliou Mamadou Dia, described the outcome of the engagements as a boost to Liberia’s museum initiative and reaffirmed the agency’s support for the government’s reconciliation efforts.
The South African engagement followed an earlier phase of the delegation’s study tour in Rwanda, where officials examined that country’s experiences in post-conflict reconciliation, memorialization and historical preservation.
The delegation is expected to return to Liberia to brief President Boakai on the outcome of the Rwanda and South Africa engagements, consolidate lessons from the study tour and prepare for the arrival of the South African technical mission.
The proposed National Peace, Reconciliation and Memorial Museum is intended to preserve Liberia’s history and contribute to national healing and reconciliation by providing current and future generations with a record of the country’s past.
