Page 27 - Library Annual Report 2019

7.5. Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library - Highlights
The Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library (TMPL) holds the archives and gifts from the former President in partnership with the Unisa Library. The archives are at the Unisa Library and digital access to part of the collection is available on the Unisa Library Digital Collections website. A variety of objects is on display in the TMPL at the main campus in the Kgorong Building.
Various TMPL Objects
The bulk of the object collection is still in storage and in 2019 much of the storage areas were rearranged to improve the safe conservation of the donated objects. Documentation is underway to allow for digital access to the collection. The Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute (TMALI) hosted it’s tenth annual Africa Day Lecture in May 2019 and an exhibition, Dialogue and Conversation, was hosted at the Unisa Art Gallery to celebrate this event.
The TMPL envisages becoming the custodian of the archival records of other African leaders. This year saw the arrival of the archives of pan-Africanist advocate, founding member of the Organisation for African Unity, now the African Union, and rst Prime Minister and President of Ghana, .
Kwame Nkrumah. These records were kept in England during the time of his exile and were about to be sold to the British Museum, and fortunately his children agreed to rather let them be kept on African soil in the TMPL
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