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Africa Subsaharan
US taxpayers donate $103k to Liliesleaf Farm to preserve ANC history
2016-10-14
[IOL] Johannesburg ‐ United States of America Ambassador Patrick Gaspard gave Liliesleaf Farm CEO Nicholas Wolpe $103 329 on Wednesday, to help conserve rare items of significant value and relevance to the history of South Africa's liberation movement.

The US grant will enable Liliesleaf to digitise oral histories, rare books, letters from prison, scrapbooks, strategic organisational documents, and works produced in exile so they may be studied by future scholars.

Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, Johannesburg, was selected to receive the grant, which comes from the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), following a worldwide competition for funds dedicated by the US government to the preservation of cultural sites, cultural objects, and forms of traditional cultural expression in more than 100 countries.

Liliesleaf Farm was the headquarters of the African National Congress’s military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) until it was raided by the apartheid government’s security police in 1963.
Posted by:Besoeker

#6  to help conserve rare items of significant value and relevance to the history of South Africa's liberation movement.

Rare and significant items like the last shred of dignity or the memory of a functional government?
Posted by: SteveS   2016-10-14 12:11  

#5  Love the headline - like 'US taxpayers' just gave the money out of love and on its own free will.
Posted by: Raj   2016-10-14 11:15  

#4  This should not be done with taxpayer's money. Let them "crowdfund" if it is so damned important to them.
Posted by: JohnQC   2016-10-14 08:01  

#3  Odd number.
100k mortgage + closing fees?

Yes, odd indeed. Could have been end of fiscal year (2016) petty cash. A gesture of good will? Surely more to follow.
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-10-14 07:49  

#2  Odd number.
100k mortgage + closing fees?
Posted by: Skidmark   2016-10-14 06:59  

#1  US AMBO Patrick Gaspard:

Patrick Gaspard (born 1967 - Kinshasa, Zaire) is the current United States Ambassador to South Africa. He is a noted Democratic Party political leader and elections staffer.

Prior to becoming Ambassador to South Africa, Gaspard was most well known for his time at the White House and as the day-to-day leader of the Democratic Party headquarters. He served as the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee from 2011 to 2013, overseeing the party committee's efforts to re-elect President Obama. Previously, he was the Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs for the Obama administration from January 2009 to 2011,[1][2] Associate Personnel Director of President-elect Obama's transition team,[3] and National Political Director of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

Gaspard's early career was spent in New York City, including working on the 1988 Jesse Jackson presidential bid and David Dinkins's successful 1989 mayoral campaign.

Little need to continue.

Link
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-10-14 05:31  

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