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The Nelson Mandela Museum has once again honoured Mr. Nelson Mandela’s birthday by engaging in activities that will make a difference in communities, destitute families and most of all revive the ‘Past for a better tomorrow’.

For the previous years the Nelson Mandela Museum has positively responded by making a difference to the community of the Eastern Cape and further restored visible sites relating to Nelson Mandela. The 94th year birthday of Nelson Mandela has kick-started with a number of activities aimed at continuing to where Madiba left off?

The International Mandela Day mainly portrayed  as a day where businesses and the have’s need to make a contribution to the have-not, has seen the museum engaging directly and indirectly with various NGO’S, government departments, businesses, churches and institutions of higher learning in the social, educational upliftments of our communities. 

 As an institution representing a man of many talents; an Academic and an archivist in his own capacity, the Nelson Mandela Museum in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation is hosting scholars and heritage practitioners through a Colloquium program looking at the Legacies and the state of the archive in honour of Nelson Mandela. The Nelson Mandela Museum further views the content of a book written by Madiba at the time when in Robben Island and various documents and motion as part of the archives. It is through this notion the institutions embarked on fact finding mission about the current state of South Africa’s archives in relation to the forms of struggle waged by South Africans. The event is embraced by Minister Tokyo Sexwale who is the chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Revered Frank Chikane. This, colloquium will also feed to the international conference on’ archives deepening democracy’ planned for September 2012 and to be held in East London. 

 The community of the King Sabatha Dalindyebo Municipality through Liberty in partnership with SpringAge will be hosting springbreak think tanks creating innovative ideas and projects with youth leaders within KSD and O.R.Tambo District Municipality in the footprints of Nelson Mandela. Liberty and SpringAge will contribute its 67 minutes Big Walk titled ‘stepping out for education’.  The financial broker will also assist community members through financial literacy workshops for the benefit of the community of KSD.  

As part of its Month long program, the Nelson Mandela Museum in partnership with the Mbizana Local Municipality, Ludeke Methodist Mission Church will revive the historical importance of Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela Mandela footprint at Mbizana. The initiative will see the restoration of the site where Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela got married. The two stalwarts got married in 1958 after Nelson Mandela divorced Mrs Evelyn Mandela in 1957. The event will also see the Museum, Mbizana Local Municipality and the business community of Mbizana making a difference in the lives of two destitute families and further revamp one of the schools at Ludeke rural village. The event will take place on the 19th and 20th of July at Ludeke and Nkatolo village.  As part of its programs the Nelson Mandela Museum sponsored a bus to the Mvezo Traditional Council for the delivery of blankets to the elderly people of the Eastern Cape. The Winter Warmth Outreach Project is a project aimed at donating 2000 blankets to the elderly people of the Eastern Cape. The program has target rural areas of Mthatha, Lady Frere, Cofimvaba, Engcobo to mention a few. As an institution we felt it a necessity to support the initiative as our Patron always endorses a respect of the elderly.

 The Nelson Mandela Museum further views the Nelson Mandela month as a month aimed at honouring the unsung heroes of the struggle in relation to Madiba’s statement “i was not alone”. It is in his words that the Nelson Mandela museum has engaged with the Family of the late Chief Zwelebango “Msebenzi” Bhalizulu an ANC stalwart and an UMkhoto Wesizwe member and the family of Comrade Nkathazo who also spent 7 years in Robben Island. As a gesture to the contribution made by the late stalwarts, the institution honoured the two families by donating Tombstones to the two families.

 As a youth and an Artist by birth (Nelson Mandela), the Nelson Mandela Museum mentored artists from the Eastern Cape through an intensive 8 week Arts Incubator program at the Nelson Mandela Museum Youth and Heritage Centre. The program was launched on the 13th of July 2012 in honour of Nelson Mandela art of war that brought us freedom of speech, peace and democracy.

 Knowledge sharing and heritage preservation is a form of the struggle Madiba waged especially through scribing and dialogue. As part of knowledge sharing the Nelson Mandela Museum in partnership with Vodacom, Google, Daily Dispatch and Uluvo lwethu Rural Development Agency capacitated unemployed grade 12 learners within the rural communities of Qunu in the field of Computer, Technology and Research. The initiative will see the formal launch of Qunu Online that will keep the world updated about current affairs of Qunu inter-alia Nelson Mandela’s footprints.  

 For more information contact Nokuzola Tetani on 0824834643 emails: nokuzola@nelsonmandelamuseum.org.za/mandelamuseum2@intekom.co.za/nokuzola3@gmail.com

 Practitioners in the heritage sector are paying attention to the worrying state of historic legacies and how they are preserved for the country and the continent of Africa. Professionals in the sector believe that there is a growing urgency on all the affected public and private role-players to craft a national plan for the safeguarding of historic evidence that is potential archive material.

The Mandela month provides a moment for the role-players to address the subject and also reflect on the desired archival strategy of the historic material of Nelson Mandela.

A colloquium focussing on the “Legacies and the state of the archives” will be held at the Nelson Mandela Museum, Mthatha in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa from 17 – 18 July 2012. A detailed programme is available on www.nhc.org.za

Speakers at the colloquium include Reverend Frank Chikane, Minister Tokyo Sexwale, Professor Ciraj Rassool, Professor Gary Minkley, Dr Helena Pohlandt-McCormick, Professor Luli Callinicos, Dr Xolela Mangcu, Dr Phindezwa Mnyaka, Deputy Minister A. Dlodlo, Reverend B. Finca and Adv. Sonwabile Mancotywa.

The Colloquium is a preparatory session for the International Conference on Archives that will be hosted by the National Heritage Council from 17 – 19 September 2012 at the ICC in East London, Eastern Cape Province.

Ends.                                                                             

Issued by:      The National Heritage Council – www.nhc.org.za on behalf of all the partners, Nelson Mandela Museum and the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

Contact:         Danny Goulkan (Marketing & Communications Manager – NHC)

012 348 1663/ 072 952 2260/ danny@nhc.org.za

Or

Ms Nokuzola Tetani (Marketing Manager – Nelson Mandela Museum)

082 483 4643

“Rembembering our heroes”

The late Chris Hani welcoming Chief Zwelebango Bhalizulu of Qunu on the day of his release from Robben Island.

The Nelson Mandela Museum a proud advocate of Nelson Mandela’s values has joined hands with the family of the late Chief Zwelebango Bhalizulu of Qunu, also a niece to Nelson Mandela.

Chief Zwelebango of Qunu, a former MK Cadre and an ANC Member was politically persecuted by the previous regime for his political involvement and he was later sentenced to Robben Island.  After his release from prison in 1991 he retained his Chieftaincy. In 1995 Chief Zwelebango was assassinated by unknown assailants and he was buried at the Qunu Great Place.  

Another MK Veteran Mzwandile Vena, also a son of Qunu, will give a tribute to the late Chief, Aaaah Zwelebango. 

Mr. Matshongwe Edward Nkathazo is one of the political activists that contributed immensely to the struggle for a democratically elected government. His political involvement can be traced at the time when he was working for General Motors’ in Port Elizabeth in the early 1960’s. He was arrested in 1964 and sentenced to six years in imprisonment where most of those years were spent in Robben Island. At the time when Mr. Nkathazo was in prison Mrs. Nkathazo wrote a letter to Mr. Mandela. Mrs. Nkathazo will officially donate a letter of response from Nelson Mandela to the Nelson Mandela Museum.

“As a museum we felt obliged to honour and remember the role played by Chief Zwelebango Bhalizulu and that of comrade Nkathazo. We need to take note of the fact that our patron Nelson Mandela even mentioned that he was not alone in the liberation of this country. The restoration of these grave sites symbolizes the theme ‘Remembering our heroes’.

 The Mandela month is a month where every institution, individuals should play a role in the upliftment of communities”, said Khwezi Mpumlwana, C.E.O of the Nelson Mandela Museum.          

For more details contact Ms. N.Tetani

Senior Manger Marketing and Communication

Cell: 082 483 4643 Fax: 047 538 0218 Email:mandelamuseum2@intekom.co.za

The Nelson Mandela Museum is making it possible for the learners and broader community of Sterkstroom and the surroundings to learn more about the two great leaders; Nelson Mandela and Chief Albert Luthuli during the youth month and the year of the ANC Centenary.

The Nelson Mandela Museum is making it possible for the learners and broader community of Sterkstroom and the surroundings to learn more about the two great leaders; Nelson Mandela and Chief Albert Luthuli  during the youth month and the year of the ANC Centenary.

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The Nelson Mandela Museum will temporarily close its Mthatha site for a major upgrade at the end of October and will operate solely from Qunu.

The closure of the Bhunga Building will not affect normal Museum operations. The Museum’s exhibition offering is being expanded at its multi-facetted Qunu site – also known as the Nelson Mandela Youth and Heritage Centre. The Museum also offers accommodation and conferencing facilities, indoor and outdoor sports, a restaurant and secure parking Various cultural and adventure tour options customised to suit visitor needs are available. These include the popular Footprints Tour, also known as the Nelson Mandela Heritage Trail, that allow visitors to walk in the footprints of Nelson Mandela visiting various sites of historical significance directly associated with him from Mvezo, Qunu and Mqhekezweni, to the University of Fort Hare. The upgrading of the Bunga Building has been on the cards for several years as the structure does not fit the expectations of a modern museum. The Bunga was custom-built in the 1930s to house the region’s administration. Its upgrade will take up to 30 months. The state of the art Nelson Mandela Museum building that will emerge will meet 21st century standards, and will once again feature a display of gifts awarded to Mr Mandela by the people of the world. The architecture and specialised internal environmental control system will meet international heritage and preservation standards. Furthermore, the renovation of the site will help boost the image of the Eastern Cape Province and the city of Mthatha. The new structure will include a reference library, IT Centre, children’s room, theatre, exhibition halls and orientation centre. The Museum would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience and urge all stakeholders, South Africans and members of the international community, to take the long walk with us to Qunu.

 For more information and Tours, Contact:

Senior Manager, Marketing and Communication: Ms. N.Tetani Tel: (047) 532 5110/ Cell: 082 4834643 Email: nokuzola@nelsonmandelamuseum.org.za Marketing and Communications Department Nelson Mandela Museum, Bunga Building, Mthatha

The Nelson Mandela Museum a proud advocate of Nelson Mandela’s Values and a preserver of our heritage was excited to be part of the historic re-launch of Nelson Mandela’s capture site at Howick, Kwazulu Natal.

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Nelson Mandela Museum staff and friends this year continue where they left off on Nelson Mandela Day 2010, creating awareness, protecting and preserving seminal sites associated with Mr Nelson Rolihlalhla Mandela’s development in the Transkei villages where he was raised.

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The Nelson Mandela Museum hosted educators and Learners at the Nelson Mandela Youth and Heritage Centre in Qunu, Mthatha. The Winter School camp program resumed on the 05^th July and will end on the 10^th of July 2011.

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