Soweto and the Mandela House museum
Soweto – an acronym for South-Western Township – provides visitors with a unique cultural experience. It is the largest black residential area in South Africa, a product of the apartheid government’s policy of segregation. A lively, culturally rich area on the periphery of Johannesburg, it has a rich political history – it was a site of struggle in the fight for freedom in South Africa.
Soweto’s historical significance and its vibrant buzz make it a must-see for visitors looking for more than a wildlife and nature experience in South Africa.
Soweto. Photo courtesy Gauteng Tourism Authority
The area has been home to a number of political, sporting and social personalities, among them former president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. Both Mandela and Tutu are recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize – and both lived in the renowned Vilakazi Street area of Orlando West. Boxing legend Baby Jake Matlala, music veteran Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the late Dr Nthato Motlana, a businessman and struggle icon, and journalist Aggrey Klaaste are also products of Soweto.
In Orlando West, on the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane streets, visitors will find the modest house that Nelson Mandela and his family called home from 1946 to the 1990s. Mandela lived in the house with his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase, and, after his divorce, with his second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
Mandela himself didn’t spend much time at the Vilakazi Street home: his growing role in the anti-apartheid struggle drove him underground before his arrest in 1962. Madikizela-Mandela continued to live in the house with their two daughters, Zenani and Zindzi, until she was banished to the Free State town of Brandfort in 1977.
Upon his release from Robben Island in 1990, Mandela moved back to the house for a short 11 days before moving to Houghton, where he currently resides.
The four-roomed home now houses various memorabilia, arts and crafts, honorary doctorates conferred on Mandela and picture collections of the Mandela family. It is around the corner from the Hector Pieterson Memorial, and close to the actual spot where Pieterson fell in the June 16, 1976 Soweto uprising.
Admission
Mandela Family Museum
Adults: R40 (SADC); R60 (international)
Pensioners and students: R20
School groups and children under six: R5
Visiting hours
Monday to Friday from 09h00 to 17h00
Saturday and Sunday from 09h30 to 16h30
Closed on Good Friday and Christmas Day
Directions
From the Soweto Highway (M70), turn left on to Klipspruit Valley Road. Pass Phela Street and the sign to the Hector Pieterson Museum. At the next intersection, turn right into Khumalo Street, and take the third left into Vilakazi Street. Mandela House is on the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane streets