His name has been used to merchandise everything from lemonade and beer to gold. And no one objects to a modernising touch like the machine dispensing Holkrans Natural Mineral Water on Tant Sannie's kitchen stoep. According to Anneke Lugtenburg, curator of the Kruger House Museum, long may his worldwide fame last, as budgets have been cut and they are over-dependent on the till. And luxury mega-coaches just pile up outside the Dopper church the oubaas founded, engines requested to be off during prayer time. But major restoration is chronically necessary, and the east and west exhibition halls behind the old house have not been funded sufficiently to be ready with new displays for the anniversary of the war.
Foreign tourists trip over ladders and paint pots nevertheless.
The premises have been burgled twice recently, which has set everything back. Have your say Mail the editor Nor do the tourists pause to do Kruger's leisurely walking route through to central Pretoria, to the wonderfully restored old Raadzaal which, on select days, is open to the public. The situation out at Boekenhoutfontein, one of Kruger's farms and his own home on the old Sun City road, is hardly an improvement. It's private property, with a guarded game-fence gate. The old museum sign with its welcoming tea kettle is rusting away.