All four independent members resign from Johannesburg Art Gallery Committee, urge end to legal battle as Gallery and collection deteriorate

All four independent, non-governmental members of the Art Gallery Committee of the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) have resigned. They say a years-long dispute between the City of Johannesburg and the Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, joined by the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, has displaced urgent work on the Gallery. Meanwhile its building is in disrepair and one of the continent’s most significant public art collections is housed in conditions that compromise its physical integrity. Their statement and the correspondence behind it are published at www.jagreset.com.

Key facts

• Who: Pfunzo Sidogi (member since 2022), Molemo Moiloa (since 2022), Nontobeko Ntombela (since 2018) and Joseph Gaylard (since 2014), the Committee’s four independent members.
• What: Resignation from the Art Gallery Committee with FAQs and supporting documents. Also an Open letter that charts a future set of terms and conversations for how to address the foundational issues of the JAG.
• Why: The members say the dispute over who has authority over JAG, and over remedial measures and resources, has stalled progress, and that they can no longer make meaningful progress from inside the Committee. They wish to make clear what the key issues to be addressed actually are.
• Legal context: The Friends of JAG have applied to the High Court for, among other things, the members’ removal.
• Where: www.jagreset.com

“We no longer believe that we can make meaningful progress from inside this structure,” the members said. They say they step down in the hope of replacing a costly and unnecessary legal battle with a process of transparency, honesty and productive conversation.

The Gallery’s situation

The members describe a building in disrepair, a collection at physical risk, and an institution without the capacity, resources or clear direction it needs. They say these problems are urgent but surmountable.

They say the City has not allocated budget to complete the temporary relocation of the collection, has made it hard for external partners to contribute, and has incurred significant legal costs. They say the Friends have driven a public campaign that has misdirected attention from the problems that need solving. In their view, the conflict has also deterred the corporate and private supporters the Gallery now depends on.

The members also criticize the Friends’ general process thus far, and in particular their court application, which asks for the Mayor and two officials to appoint four new independent members within thirty days, with no criteria, nominations, public input or required expertise.

What the documents show

The Open letter includes a set of steps that the former members understand to be the core issues that impact the JAG’s ability to move forward, including a costly and wasteful legal fight, a lack of clarity on governance issues and the need to rethink the structure of the municipal governance model to enable greater functionality of the JAG. This open letter invites members of the public who agree, to support it.

The published material includes the members’ correspondence with the Office of the Mayor from December 2024 and July 2025. It sets out their call for a cooperative framework managed and mediated by neutral parties, and the conditions on which they would return to the Committee. The members reject the account of their conduct in the court papers and say the record contradicts it. 

What happens next

The members address their open letter to the Board of the Friends of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and the Office of the Executive Mayor, setting out what they believe should happen, and have shared this publicly. The public can sign the open letter at jagreset.com.

The members also thanked JAG’s Chief Curator and staff, who they say have held the institution together in conditions no professional should be asked to work in.