Apartheid flag politics in democratic South Africa: a case of Ncome and Blood River Museums.

Abstract

Museums are public spaces dedicated to the interpretation of the past and are almost always trusted sources of information. Its need is felt by the imagined communities for tangible expressions and symbols of their existence in time and space. The article aimed to look at the stereotypes of museums as warehouses of treasure or irrelevant ephemera that may persist among certain segments of their open displays. Recent controversies regarding the public display of the apartheid flag in public gatherings including the Blood River Museum‘s Day of Reconciliation, on December 16, leave much to be desired. Using an interpretative phenomenological analysis, this article inquires into perceptions of the old flag as an apartheid symbol that perpetuates an unforgotten, painful past. It further explores uncovering controversies about the existence or banning of the old South African flag as it calls instances of racial abuse, incites harm, and promotes hatred. Unrequited arguments emanating from the above pose a threat to the national agenda of nation-building and reconciliation. The article suggests a number of mitigating factors that dichotomise racial thinking in the historical narration of the old South African flag and the striving to build a new nation.