‘To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Nelson Mandela
Today marks the 49th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s arrest in 1962. His capture began his 27 years in prison … and his long walk to freedom. This dramatic and historic moment followed Mandela’s clandestine visit to ANC president chief Albert Luthuli’s Groutville home to report back to him on his African odyssey and call for support for armed struggle.
At the capture site, some three kilometres outside Howick in KZN on the main road to Johannesburg, plans are to establish a museum, multipurpose theatre, amphitheatre, Truth Café and Truth Store. The initial phase features the opening of an exhibition: Mandela: Leader, Comrade, Negotiator, Prisoner, Statesman on the life and times of Nelson Mandela.
The exhibition is a joint project headed by Christopher Till director of the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg as well as the Gold Museum in Cape Town, in association with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory (Nelson Mandela Foundation) and the Nelson Mandela Museum (Mthatha).
Tourism and supporting educational and cultural facilities are planned for this site, creating job opportunities for the local community. Already up and running is the exquisite, free-form beading undertaken by the deft fingers of the Umpumelelo Bead Artists, whose handiwork this art piece is.
For another take on these craft artists, read about the ”significance … of their work …bought as a gift for the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, with a plaque linking it to the Nelson Mandela Capture Site, forever commemorating this location … and a serendipitous encounter”.
And for more background context – do look over The Capture: A Small Part of Madiba’s Legacy, courtesy Steuart Pennington, SA Good News.
Meanwhile this is the sign to look out for when you are on the R103 in the Midlands!