5 places of historical significance to visit in Mzansi

Youth Day and Youth Month are important calendar events in South Africa’s history. It’s a time when the country commemorates the youth of 1976 and the nation itself reflects to find solutions to struggles facing the youth of today.

The June Uprisings of 1976 started in Soweto and spread across to most parts of the country and were a significant event in the fight against apartheid and segregation in the country.

When it comes to our history, some of it is curated and everywhere you go around the country has a story to tell about the people and how they lived. Mzansi has plenty of historically significant sites to see that offer lessons for young and old.

If you’re looking for places to visit to learn about South Africa’s history this Youth Day and Youth Month, here are five places to visit that tell South Africa’s story.

1. Hector Pietersen Memorial and Mandela House on Vilakazi Street

To learn about the history of Youth Day, and June Uprisings, The Mandela House and Hector Pietersen Memorial are the perfect place to start. Mandela House is a museum exhibiting the research, presentation, preservation and legacy, and of course, the heritage of the Mandela family.

The Hector Pieterson Memorial is not far from the spot where 12-year-old Hector was shot on June 16 in 1976 during the Soweto uprising and that today, is a symbol of resistance to the brutality of the apartheid government.

Both historical attractions are on Vilakazi Street and offer tourists the opportunity to immerse in South Africa’s history and learn all about President Mandela’s long walk to freedom and how Youth Day came about.

Admission prices at Mandela House start from R40 to R60, while admissions at Hector Pietersen Memorial range from R20 to R50.

2. Constitution Hill – Johannesburg

Constitution Hill is a living museum that tells the story of South Africa’s journey to democracy. The site is a former prison and military fort that bears testament to South Africa’s turbulent past and, today, is home to the country’s Constitutional Court, which endorses the rights of all citizens.

There is perhaps no other site of incarceration in South Africa that imprisoned the sheer number of world-renowned men and women as those held within the walls of the Old Fort, the Women’s Jail and Number Four.

Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Joe Slovo, Albertina Sisulu, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Fatima Meer all served time there. The precinct also confined tens of thousands of ordinary people during its 100-year history: men and women of all races, creeds, ages and political agendas; the indigenous and the immigrant; the every man and the elite. In this way, the history of every South African lives here.

Constitution Hill offers daily tours of the precinct starting from R120 to R600 and admission is free on South African public holidays.

3. Robben Island – Cape Town

Robben Island is a World Heritage Site and an island in Table Bay off the coast of Cape Town. The name is Dutch for “island of seals”. According to World Heritage Site.org, the island was used as a leper colony from 1836 to 1931 and in the 20th century it became infamous as a gaol for political prisoners under apartheid. Notable among these were Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Tokyo Sexwale, Govan Mbeki, Dennis Brutus and Robert Sobukwe.

During the time that the island was a prison, security was very tight and it was off limits to almost all civilians, including fishermen.

The Robben Island Museum (RIM) has since been established and implements a wide range of conservation, educational, tourist development, research, archiving and general heritage programmes that are designed to achieve its mandate; conserve the Island’s natural and cultural resources and heritage; and promote it as a platform for critical debate and life-long learning.

Tours of the Island range from R400 to R600 a person.

4. District Six Museum – Cape Town

The District Six Museum tells the traumatic story of Kanaldorp, or what later became known as District Six.

The area was a vibrant community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, labourers and immigrants, who were forcefully removed and displaced under the brutal hand of the National Party’s apartheid government.

The museum has also become a space for telling the story of District Six to visitors from near and far.

It has been designed in such a way that a visitor can wander in from off the street and go on a self-guided tour. If preferred, a walk through the museum with an ex-resident storyteller can be arranged (pre-booked tours are guaranteed and preferred; walk-in tours are subject to availability.)

Guided tours are available at the following times from Monday to Saturday and prices range from R50 to R150.

5. Albert Luthuli Memorial Museum- KwaDukuza

The Luthuli Museum was officially opened in 2004 and includes the original 1927 home of Chief Albert Luthuli in Groutville, KwaDukuza. Today the home is a national monument set in lovely landscaped gardens and the grounds provide an ideal setting to absorb the history and achievements of a man who became the first African to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Chief Luthuli was a leader ahead of his time whose commitment to non-violence, non-racialism, democracy and human rights has left an enduring legacy. On the site in Nokukhanya Luthuli Street is the modern Interpretative Centre that houses temporary exhibitions, where visitors gather to mark openings, school children and learners participate in workshops or perhaps members of the public view its offerings.

Admission at the museum is free.

6. KwaMuhle Museum -Durban

The KwaMuhle Museum is dedicated to looking at the apartheid system with an open mind, honouring those that fought against it and exploring its effects on modern society in a positive and optimistic light.

According to the museum, “Kwa muhle” is a Zulu term that means “the place of the good one” and was named in reference to its first manager, Mr Marwick.

Marwick helped close to 7 000 Zulu people to escape Gauteng (then called the Transvaal) during the Anglo-Boer War and he was instrumental in saving the lives of thousands of native South Africans in a time when their blood was sought by settlers and farmers.

The museum is also in a building that was once one of the most despised structures in Durban, the Department of Native Affairs, however, the building has been transformed into a place of hope and optimism, a place in which diversity is celebrated and those who were once a part of the struggle against injustice are honoured.

Admission into the museum is free to the public.