By Rosina Shiko
Four independent members of the Johannesburg Art Gallery’s (JAG) governing committee have resigned, saying that an ongoing governance dispute has stalled efforts to protect one of Africa’s most significant public art collections.
Pfunzo Sidogi, Molemo Moiloa, Nontobeko Ntombela and Joseph Gaylard announced their resignations on Friday, citing years of deadlock between the City of Johannesburg, Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, and the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation.
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In a statement, the four said they were resigning to “open a way past the present impasse” and to speak more freely about the problems at the gallery.
“The Gallery faces a formidable set of challenges: a building in disrepair, one of the most significant public collections of art on the continent housed in conditions that compromise its physical integrity, an institution without the capacity or the resources it requires, and with no clear picture of what it should become. These challenges are real and they are urgent. They are also surmountable,” they said.
“Instead of addressing these issues, we have been drawn into a fight not of our making, and with no end in sight. For several years the City of Johannesburg and the Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, together with the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, have been embroiled in a dispute about who has authority over the institution, the shape of the remedial measures that should be taken, by whom, and with what resources.”
According to an advisory note published by the outgoing members, the application seeks the replacement of the four independent members and two government representatives on the committee.
The process would give the relevant authorities 30 days to appoint government representatives, followed by another 30 days for those representatives and the mayor to appoint four independent members.
The outgoing members criticised the appointment process, saying it would take place “behind closed doors, with no criteria, nominations, public input or required expertise”.
They accused both sides of losing sight of the gallery’s interests.
The members said public money had already been spent preparing temporary facilities for the artworks and called for outstanding problems to be resolved so relocation could proceed.
They also criticised the Friends and Johannesburg Heritage Foundation for pursuing legal action and public campaigns, including allegations they considered unsubstantiated, which they said had undermined efforts to secure cooperation and support for the gallery.
The four said they had previously proposed a cooperative framework mediated by neutral parties, including an approach to the Office of the Mayor in December 2024. They suspended their participation in the committee in July 2025, setting conditions for their return.
They rejected the premise of the legal proceedings and the account of their conduct contained in them.
“We no longer believe that we can make meaningful progress from inside this structure,” the statement reads. “Nor are we any longer willing to serve as collateral on the sidelines of a power struggle that we have been unable to mediate and whose consequences we have been unable to mitigate.”
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The members called for an end to the litigation in favour of independently facilitated negotiations involving the city, the Friends, the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and other stakeholders.
They also proposed binding agreements governing external partnerships and funding, the relocation and auditing of the collection, urgent repairs to the building and a broader review of the gallery’s governance and institutional structure.
They said that the gallery’s position within the municipal administration restricted its ability to raise funds, manage resources, recruit staff and establish partnerships.
The four also called for a transparent process to appoint their successors, informed by professional expertise and public participation.
They thanked the Chief Curator and staff “who have held it and themselves together in conditions no professional should be asked to work in.”
The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, which is acting alongside the Friends of JAG in the litigation, said documents released with the resignations showed that the independent members had supported several measures the Foundation had also advocated.
“We have also found out when they released all the documentation along with the resignation letter, we discovered that the independent members have been advising, advocating for certain things that we agree with, that actually we proposed. However the city has been ignoring them,” the Foundation’s chairman, David Fleminger, said.
Fleminger also said that the resignations had left the Art Gallery Committee without the legal standing required to make decisions.
“With the four independent members resigned, the Art Gallery Committee is not legally constituted as it stands. It actually cannot take decisions relating to JAG,” he said. “They have to reconstitute a legally sound Art Gallery Committee as per the deed of donation, even in a temporary capacity.”
Under the gallery’s 1913 Deed of Donation, the committee provides for four independent members and three government representatives, including the mayor, council representative and national government representative.
The deed requires a quorum of four members to conduct committee business.
In their advisory note, the members acknowledged that the simultaneous resignations raised legal questions about the appointment of successors, given the deed’s provisions for succession and the minimum quorum requirement.
They recommended that the remaining government representatives follow a transparent appointment process and obtain appropriate legal advice to ensure compliance with the deed and applicable law.
The four said they would continue advocating for the institution from outside the committee and would submit proposals to the City’s Executive Mayor, the Friends and the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation.
Their supporting documents, advisory note and proposals can be found here.
The city and Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
