FREEDOM PARK QUARTERLY BULLETIN

QUARTERLY STAKE HOLDER MAGAZINE OCTOBER TO 2019 Freedom Park’s stunning architectural beauty is beyond adequate description TABLE OF CONTENTS especially at twilight when the reeds light up the evening sky with its majestic splendour. What makes this a wonder is so incredible that it is beyond comprehension how it came to be. The composition of the forms and the lines of the Park are perfectly asymmetrical. Here we meet with a beautiful mixture of lines, horizontal with vertical, and straight with curved and cobbled pathways all Chairperson’s remarks 02 harmoniously set together in total unity. They adopt each other with amazing uniformity and the combination is entirely rhythmic and melodic. To me this is how I perceive the Freedom Park. Breathtakingly awesome in its design yet significantly CEO’s Foreword 03 knowing that this is the fruit of the freedom that we now enjoy. This is the resting place of our people who died for the cause of liberating our land and transforming it into an independent sovereign nation. Editor’s Comment 04

In taking Freedom Park to the people and fulfilling its mandate, we explore and celebrate the nation’s capacity for reconciliation and its desire to build a united Lest We Forget 05 nation whilst recognizing the diversity of cultures. Freedom Park has streamlined the spectrum of the stakeholder community by integrating, through debates and Opinion Piece 11 discussions, the Indian, Coloured, Afrikaaner, Khoi and San leadership to seek a manner of addressing the issues of inclusivity and representivity in the conceptualization and design of the Park. International Solidarity 12

Freedom Park embodies the aspirations of the nation. That is, a nation that recognises the centrality of the past in informing the present so that signposts for Dialogue with the Nation 15 the future can be put in place – a future that envisages a non-racial, non-sexist democratic society. Corporate Calendar 16 The Park complements the existing heritage landscape of and seeks maximum coherence and minimum duplication in its relations with other heritage sites. In this context, Park opens an opportunity to reposition how the South African Heritage sector delivers its services to communities and the nation, and the world at large.

In taking Freedom Park to the people and fulfilling its mandate, we expect to explore and celebrate the nation’s capacity for reconciliation and its desire to build a united nation whilst recognizing the diversity of cultures.

Rogini Govender

This December marked the 6th death anniversary for . We honoured the former President in a Peace and Reconciliation Walk. On December 16 is considered as one of the the global front we were delighted to honour the most historic and memorable days in the Soviet soldiers in a solemn Wreath-Laying. The history of South Africa, this day still stands inscriptions with the names of 67 Soviet/Russian as a reminder of where we come from, soldiers who sacrificed their lives to assist the where we are and where we are going as a liberation movement resulting in the united nation. Although commemorated establishment of a free and democratic South differently during , this day has Africa was recognized and remembered. The since the onset of democracy, been used relationship between Russia and South Africa to foster reconciliation and national unity. dates back to the struggle years, during which many Soviet soldiers fought side-by-side with ~Ms Jane Mufamadi, Freedom Park CEO liberation armies, such as in ~ Mr Ronnie Makopo South Africa, MPLA in Angola, and FRELIMO in Mozambique.

This quarter we celebrate the month of Reconciliation. This day acts as a catalyst for In line with government’s initiatives, Freedom Park celebrated the day by fulfilling its reconciliation and nation building. Our first democratically elected South African president mandate, which is to remember and honour men and women who lost their lives in the and the Patron-in-chief of The Freedom Park, Dr Nelson Mandela, captured the essence of struggle for freedom and humanity and to foster social cohesion and nation building in the this day in his address on Nation Reconciliation Day, 16 December 1995: “There are few country. Visitors will reflect and pray, deliver messages of hope, peace, and reconciliation countries which dedicate a national public holiday to reconciliation. But then there are few and healing to each other. nations with our history of enforced division, oppression and sustained conflict. And fewer still, which have undergone such a remarkable transition to reclaim their humanity . . . This The path of reconciliation has proved to be most challenging for the South African nation. Day of Reconciliation celebrates the progress we have made; it reaffirms our commitment; However, as Frost so aptly reminds us, it is this choice that “has made all the difference.” and it measures the challenges.” South Africa has often been hailed as the miracle nation – a cause for the rest of the world to marvel at the phenomenon of a country on the brink of civil war that chose a road of As we come together in the many events hosted at Freedom Park these gatherings gives negotiation. We have accomplished this despite the differences in culture, race, religion and ordinary South Africans the chance to join with their brothers and sisters across different creed that define us. racial, religious, political, social and economic boundaries and come together with one aim in mind: to act as a catalyst for people across the nation to forgive and be forgiven. As we engage with the communities on a national level: by bringing diverse communities together, Freedom Park provides a platform for diverse individuals to realise that they share As an institution tasked with promoting reconciliation, social cohesion and nation building, similar experiences, a similar past and similar pain. In terms of reconciliation and nation Freedom Park together with the Veterans League celebrated December 16 with an Interfaith building, this is a pivotal realisation that will allow all South Africans to embrace each other Prayer and Dialogue. The Prayer and Dialogue was conducted given the recent xenophobic as diverse brothers and sisters. attacks that swept across the country. The South African nation is no stranger to what may seem impossibly charged situations. We have experienced situations that could have Designed to restore the cohesion by focusing on reconciliation as well as bearing witness to resulted in a civil war consuming our country, but each and every time we have opted for the the past, it encapsulates our living heritage and thus assists us to create footsteps between humane route. It is time that we make a conscious decision to opt for that route again. the past, the presence and the future. I would like to thank all stakeholders for their association with Freedom Park and wish I would like to thank all stakeholders for their association with Freedom Park and them a Blessed Festive Season. wish them a Blessed Festive Season

02 03 LEST WE FORGET!

NELSON ROLIHLAHLA MANDELA 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013 This call to every South African to embrace the efforts of Freedom Park does, however, go far beyond the individual realm. Today Freedom Park Nelson Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 into a royal issues a similar call to corporate South Thembu tribe in the South African village of Mvezo. He Africa, asking them to take ownership of first in his family to receive a formal education, Mandela this project that reflects the pride of a completed his primary studies at a local missionary nation – a physical space that continues school. There, a teacher dubbed him Nelson as part of to sing the praises of a national unity that a common practice of giving African students English we have achieved despite our numerous names. He went on to attend the Clarkebury Boarding diversities. Institute and Healdtown, a Methodist secondary school, where he excelled in boxing and track as well as academics. In 1939 Mandela entered the University of Head of Department Public Fort Hare. Participation, Ms Modjadji Makoela

This quarter has seen a great visitor increase, in the number of events hosted as well as tourist arrivals. We have welcomed markets that have not visited before and our visibility as a foremost heritage destination has heightened. The following year, he and several other students, including his friend and future However, reaching every South African with the message of reconciliation and nation building business partner (1917-1993), were sent home for participating in a becomes a somewhat daunting task without the aid of strategic partners. boycott against university policies. After leaving for he worked first as Freedom Park envisions its target market as the approximately 58 million South Africans. Active a night watchman and then as a law clerk while completing his bachelor’s degree by participation, buy in and ownership from corporate South Africa is pivotal. Various avenues of correspondence. He studied law at the University of Witwatersrand, where he assistance and ownership need to be explored. became involved in the movement against racial discrimination and forged key relationships with black and white activists. In 1944, Mandela joined the African Exposure in government and corporate internal newsletters and departmental outings to Freedom National Congress (ANC) and worked with fellow party members to establish its Park are two practical examples. Inviting foreign dignitaries to the Park to understand the heartbeat of our nation is another. Freedom Park also offers organisations a unique and distinctive alternative youth league, the ANCYL. That same year, he met and married his first wife, Evelyn to the run of the mill break-aways and team building exercises. The Sanctuary offers a serene Ntoko Mase (1922-2004), with whom he had four children before divorcing in 1957. haven in an environment that stimulates creativity and inspiration – ideal for board meetings, He then married Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in 1958 and had two daughters (later conferences and workshops, while the tranquility of Uitspanplek makes for an idyllic relaxation or divorcing in 1996). Nelson Mandela’s commitment to politics and the ANC grew social area. stronger after the National Party 1948 election victory which introduced apartheid. The following year, the ANC adopted the ANCYL’s plan to achieve full citizenship for Freedom Park is a constant affirmation of national identity and values and a celebration of the triumph of hu¬manity that was realized when the country achieved democ¬racy in 1994. Freedom all South Africans through boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and other nonviolent Park is a national monument located on a 52 hectare site on Salvokop Hill in . It is methods. Mandela helped lead the ANC’s 1952 Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust strategically positioned opposite the , juxtaposing the past with the processes Laws, and promoted the , ratified by the Congress of the People in of moving forward. It suggests a meeting place, a venue for the gathering of clans and nations, a 1955. Also in 1952, Mandela and Tambo opened South Africa’s first black law firm, place to listen to the voice of silence, a place to pray. It is a sacred place, a step to the heavens and which offered free or low-cost legal counsel to those affected by apartheid to our humanity. legislation.

I take this opportunity of wishing all our Partners, Stakeholders and Staff of Freedom Park: A Blessed and Peaceful and a Prosperous New Year!!

04 05 On 5 December 1956, Mandela and 155 other activists were arrested and went on On his 80th birthday in 1998, Mandela wed Graça Machel. The following year, he trial for treason with all of the defendants were acquitted in 1961. Nelson Mandela retired from politics at the end of his first term as president and after leaving office, co-founded and became the first leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nelson Mandela remained a devoted champion for peace and social justice in his Nation”), also known as MK, a new armed wing of the ANC. In January 1962, own country and around the world. He established a number of organizations, Mandela travelled abroad illegally to attend a conference of African nationalist including the influential Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Elders, an leaders in Ethiopia, visit the exiled Oliver Tambo in London and undergo guerrilla independent group of public figures committed to addressing global problems and training in Algeria which earned him a five years in prison. The following July, police easing human suffering. In 2002, Mandela became a vocal advocate of AIDS raided an ANC hideout in Rivonia, and arrested a group of MK leaders. Mandela and awareness and treatment programs. seven other defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment and spent the first 18 of his 27 years in jail at the brutal Prison. While in confinement Mandela He was treated for prostate cancer in 2001 and weakened by other health issues, earned a bachelor of law degree from the University of London and served as a Mandela grew increasingly frail in his later years and scaled back his schedule of mentor to his fellow prisoners. He also smuggled out political statements and a draft public appearances. In 2009, the United Nations declared 18 July “Nelson Mandela of his autobiography, “,” published five years after his release. International Day” in recognition of the South African leader’s contributions to In 1982 Mandela was moved to and in 1988 he was placed under democracy, freedom, peace and human rights around the world. Nelson arrest. In 1989, then-president F. W. de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and died on 5 December 2013 from a recurring lung infection. was released on 11 February 1990.

After attaining his freedom, Nelson Mandela led the ANC in its negotiations with the Lauren Marx governing National Party and various other South African political organizations for an end to apartheid and the establishment of a multiracial government. were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1993. On 27 April 1994, more than 22 million South Africans turned out to cast ballots in the country’s first multiracial parliamentary elections and an overwhelming majority chose the ANC to Remembering SAMORA MACHEL lead the country. On 10 May Mandela was sworn in as the first black president of South Africa. The Lingering Mystery Of The Death Of Samora Machel

As president, Mandela established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to investigate human rights and political violations committed by both supporters and opponents of apartheid between 1960 and 1994. He also introduced numerous social Samora Moisés Machel was a Mozambican military and economic programs designed to improve the living standards of South Africa’s commander, revolutionary socialist leader and eventual black population. In 1996 Mandela presided over the enactment of a new South President of Mozambique. Machel led the country from African constitution, which established a strong central government based on independence in 1975 until his death in 1986, when his majority rule and prohibited discrimination against minorities, including whites. presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain where Improving race relations, discouraging blacks from retaliating against the white the borders of Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa minority and building a new international image of a united South Africa were central converge. to President Mandela’s agenda. On 19 October 1986 Samora Machel was on his way

back from an international meeting in Lusaka, Zambia in To these ends, he formed a multiracial “Government of National Unity” and the presidential Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft when the plane proclaimed the country a “rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.” In a crashed in the Lebombo Mountains, near Mbuzini. gesture seen as a major step toward reconciliation, he encouraged blacks and whites alike to rally around the predominantly Afrikaner national rugby team when South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

06 07 There were ten survivors, but President Machel and twenty-four others died, Exhibited in the Gallery of Leaders, alongside other heroes and heroines who made including ministers and officials of the Mozambique government. The Margo outstanding contributions in the struggle for freedom and humanity, Sobukwe’s Commission, in collaboration between the South African government and high-level greatest contribution was in his bravery and capacity to inspire a people to revolt international representation, investigated the incident and concluded that the against injustice, as manifested in the Sharpeville protest which exposed once and for accident was caused by pilot error. all the brutality and fascism of the apartheid regime. However, although many people know his name, they have been robbed of the history of how he fought against Despite the acceptance of its findings by the International Civil Aviation apartheid and an understanding of his ideals and values. Organization, the report was rejected by the Mozambiquean and Soviet governments, suggesting the aircraft was intentionally lured off course by a decoy radio navigation beacon set up specifically for this purpose by the South Africans. Speculation about the accident has therefore continued to the present day, Freedom Park Mourns The Loss Of Anti-apartheid particularly in Mozambique. Hans Louw, a Civil Cooperation Bureau operative, claims to have assisted in the death of Machel. The late Pik Botha, South African Activist Professor Ben Turok foreign affairs minister of the time, who later joined the ANC, said that the investigation into the plane crash should be re-opened. A memorial at the Mbuzini crash site was inaugurated on 19 January 1999 by Nelson Mandela and his wife Graça, and by President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique. The theory that South African agents were involved in the death of Machel was the basis of a novel, Blood Safari (alternatively titled "Onsigbaar") by prominent Afrikaans author Lauren Marx

Remembering Robert Sobukwe – Lest We Forget

We pay tribute to one of South Africa's greatest but sometimes forgotten heroes of the struggle for freedom.

Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe is arguably one of the less documented freedom fighters in South Africa. As a leader of the Pan Africanist Freedom Park mourns the loss of Professor Ben Turok a former anti-apartheid activist, Congress (PAC), Sobukwe led from the economics professor and former Member of Parliament – he was 92. A long-serving forefront in the anti-pass campaign which anti-apartheid activist, Turok was one of the party delegates tasked with drawing up resulted in the infamous 21 March 1960 and presenting the Freedom Charter in 1955. He also served three years in prison for Sharpeville massacre, in which 69 people died. his activism during apartheid in the 1960s. His famous quote: 'There is only one race. The human race.' resonates in us the very essence He was always outspoken and dedicated his whole life to fighting for freedom, equality for which he stood for, a non-racial future rather and social justice in South Africa. He was a loyal, lifetime member of the ANC. Our than a multi-racial one. condolences to his family, friends and the ANC on their tremendous loss.

08 09 Freedom Park Mourns The Loss Of Amaxhosa King, OPINION PIECE Mpendulo Calvin Zwelonke Sigcawu

I DID WHAT WAS RIGHT: BRAM FISCHER’S LIFE OF COURAGE

Abram Fischer, commonly known as Bram Fischer, was a South African lawyer of Afrikaner descent, notable for anti-apartheid activism and for the legal defence of anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela at the . Following the trial he was himself put on trial accused of furthering communism.

Abram “Bram” Fischer was born on 23 April 1908. He was schooled at Grey College and in 1926, Fischer went to the University of Cape Town to study economics and History. After winning a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, he returned to Grey University College (now known as the University of the Free State) in Bloemfontein. Rejecting traditional South African views on race relations, he joined the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA now known as SACP) and participated openly in its activities, while at same time he reached the top of his profession as a corporate lawyer, Freedom Park mourns the loss of King Mpendulo Calvin Zwelonke Sigcawu. defending Nelson Mandela and his comrades on sabotage charges in a case that AmaXhosa King, Mpendulo Calvin Zwelonke Sigcawu, passed away recently after became known as the Rivonia Trial. being admitted to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. He was not just a King for himself, he was a king for his people who was always out He was widely admired as a brilliant man who, given his family background and there articulating the interests of his people, a man with a very solid contribution on all qualities of leadership, might have become a prime minister of South Africa had he matters of his province. King Sigcawu “was one of the kings who were vocal in terms followed an orthodox political route. Fischer and his wife Molly Kriger, were also of cultural-related issues”. He was one of the anchors of the Xhosa culture and the known to open their doors to all members of society in need of legal advice. Fischer preservation of Xhosa culture. was struck off the roll by the Johannesburg Bar Council in 1965 after he skipped bail on charges under the Suppression of Communism Act. But 294 days later he was The chairperson of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Healers, Prince Ntsindiso arrested and tried. On 9 May 1966 Fischer was sentenced to life in jail. In 1974 Mdunyelwa, said the passing of the King is a “great loss to the nation generally, and in Fischer was diagnosed with cancer. In March 1975, racked with illness and after a particular to the Xhosa kingdom. series of pleas for mercy, he was transferred to his brother’s Bloemfontein house, which the apartheid regime declared a prison in order to control access to him. He Freedom Park pays tribute to this “son of the soil” and expresses its deep died just two weeks after his 67th birthday on 8 May 1975. condolences to his family.

10 11 INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY In fact, the purpose of his last visit to Moscow was to clandestinely meet its head, Mac Maharaj, in July 1989. The ANC President spared no efforts both to advance the struggle, including its armed form, and to reach a political solution when the Professor Vladimir Shubin On Liberation Struggle conditions would favour it. Relations Between OR Tambo (ANC) And USSR By that time Tambo’s health was far from perfect and Soviet doctors were expecting him for regular medical check-up and treatment. Instead of that, he was planning to Oliver Tambo, then Deputy President of the African National Congress, paid his first go to London, Paris, Lusaka and finally to Kuala-Lumpur to the Commonwealth visit to Moscow in April 1963, and this visit meant the resumption of direct ties Summit. “There will be many Kuala-Lumpurs”, I told him, trying in vain to convince him between the Congress and the Soviet Union. The resumption, because ANC to urgently come for treatment, when accompanying him to the airport. President Josiah Gumede visited the USSR 36 years earlier, at the 10th anniversary

of the 1917 Revolution, however unfortunately it became just an episode in our He promised to undergo treatment in September but in August he had a serious relations. stroke. It happened after he travelled all over Front-Line States in a plane provided by

Kenneth Kaunda soliciting support for an ANC draft of what would soon become the Tambo’s visit, his discussions with Boris Ponomarev, International Secretary of the famous Harare Declaration. So, he sacrificed his health for the adoption of the ruling Communist Party, and other Soviet officials opened the door for versatile document that became a basis for the eradication of the apartheid regime, for the final support of the ANC and its allies. It included political support, humanitarian success of his life-long struggle. assistance, and training of academic and political cadres, sending of Soviet military

specialists to the MK camps in Angola, treatment of wounded and sick… Its volume Vladimir Shubin was a high-level Soviet official who was involved for many years in was great, but its importance was first and foremost in the fact that the Soviet Union aiding the African National Congress and its ally, the South African Communist Party, provided support when other could not or did not want to do so. in their struggle against apartheid.

Just one example. When in 1969 the Tanzanian leadership ordered to close the MK The article has been supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, camp in Kongwa, unfortunately not a single African country was ready to admit the project No 19-514-60002 "International Solidarity and Struggles against apartheid. ANC fighters. Moscow was approached and Soviet Il-18 planes brought MK cadres to Historical memories in South Africa and Russia". “retraining” in the USSR, mostly in Perevalnoye near Simferopol in the Crimea. They Vladimir Shubin, GCOT stayed there for many months, and finally, upon their return to Africa, they became a

core around which the young activists assembled that left South Africa and joined

“Umkontho we Sizwe” after the Soweto uprising.

Oliver Tambo was involved in one way or another in our bilateral co-operation in all RUSSIAN EMBASSY WREATH-LAYING CEREMONY fields. Not only did he regularly visit MK cadres who studied in the USSR, but also passed a short course of military training in Moscow himself – in 1964, with a group The Russian Embassy together with Freedom Park held a ceremony to honour and pay tribute to the of the ANC leaders. Soviet Russia people who contributed to the South African liberation struggle. The Russian Ambassador His Excellency H.E.Ilya Rogachev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the The rise of the ANC co-operation with the Soviet Union was marked by the meeting of Republic of South Africa its President with the then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the Kremlin on 4 As South Africa celebrates the centenary of Oliver Tambo, this event could not be more opportune. November 1986. I was present at the meeting and recall how Gorbachev informed The event rekindles the close relationship these heroes and the entire Soviet Russia community had Tambo that P.W. Botha was “knocking on our doors through the third, even the fourth with the late struggle stalwart, Comrade Oliver Reginald Tambo. party, but we are not in a hurry” and assured him that any step in this direction would be taken only after consulting the ANC leadership. Freedom Park is mandated to honour those who died in the struggle for freedom and humanity and to foster reconciliation, social cohesion and nation building in the country. This is better reflected in its He did not keep his word, like in other cases, however Moscow’s assistance memorialisation of over 85 000 heroes and heroines who perished in the eight conflicts that shaped South Africa we have today. These conflicts include pre-colonial wars, Wars of resistance Genocides, continued, including practical support for the Operation Vula guided by Tambo. Slavery, First World War, Second World War, South African War and the Liberation struggle.

12 13 DIALOGUE WITH THE NATION

Freedom Park hosts the Argentinian Embassy Public Lecture on Reconciliation

On the liberation struggle, Freedom Park narrated and exhibited the four pillars that defined people struggles against the most heinous and diabolic system called apartheid, correctly defined by the United Nations as a crime against humanity. The four pillars of the struggle against apartheid were: underground struggle, armed struggle, mass struggle and international solidarity.

We could not be more proud to be the conduit of the Soviet Russia political, social and economic footprints in the African continent. The names will remain an epitome and eternal testimony of the true global diplomatic relations between Soviet Russia and South Africa.

There were rare archived photos of OR Tambo taken during his visits to Moscow, these exhibited during the ceremony. This year the focus was on Oliver Tambo and his relations with the Soviet leadership. The Ambassador said they will keep they will keep Freedom Park celebrated International working with Freedom Park to perpetuate the memory of the Soviet participation in the Human Rights Day, with the Republic anti-apartheid struggle. of Argentina as we jointly hosted a Public Lecture on Reconciliation, themed: Memory, Truth and Justice. Ambassador H.E Mr Alberto D’Alotto delivered the keynote address. The ambassador shared the Argentinian experience under the military dictatorship his country endured during the seventies. His lecture concentrated on how the Argentinian society dealt with the consequences of that tragic past in order to establish the foundations of a strong democracy for the future.

14 15 CORPORATE CALENDAR expecting to work and succeed. Freedom Park aims to empower the youth to realise their potential to not only make a positive change in their community but also to pursue their dreams. COMMEMORATING THE RIGHTS WITH PEOPLE The guests were treated to various motivational speakers, then there was an WITH DISABILITIES opportunity for them to express their views and opinions, as well as ask questions. Entertainment was provided in the form of various cultural performances with exceptional choral singing.

If we want to leave the youth with one message it would be that you can do it! In a community rife with poverty, ignorance and unemployment, we want to bring a message of motivation, self-worth and strong community values, based on our rich history, heritage and culture.

Freedom Park is dedicated to those who suffered so that South Africa can be free. It tells of where we come from, why we are where we are today and of the events that shaped our country and its people. More importantly, it showcases where South Africa is going as a nation.

Every year December is commemorated as Disability Awareness Month, and this year’s theme, ‘Together Building South Africa Inclusive of Disability Rights. The right of persons with disabilities to access employment opportunities is enshrined in various pieces of national and international legislation, and it is our collective responsibility to empower and assist persons with intellectual disability to access these rights.

This event highlighted the dire need for information that the public continue to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities have equal access to employment opportunities and that their rights be protected and upheld. Freedom Park was thrilled to drive positive change by its support of like-minded organisations by illustrating that at work, its what people can do that matters. This event also highlighted and promoted the message that youth with disabilities should grow up

16 17 It was also used to establish mechanisms to promote, protect and preserve indigenous PAN AFRICAN CULTURAL EXPERIENCE knowledge systems as well as to showcase a sense of pride, creativity, and genius of Africans by not showcasing the hard, sometimes cold exhibits, but also highlighting the humane aspect of Africans.

A MoU was signed where both institutions further acknowledge that the quest to consolidate and strengthen democracy and integrated liberation history and heritage in their respective countries will require collaborative and cooperative efforts from respective heritage institutions entrusted with this responsibility. The main purpose of this MOU was aimed at stimulating tourism, entrepreneurship in trade, agriculture, creative industry etc. through heritage and culture by involving as many communities as possible in Africa, regardless of their social, economic or educational background. In addition to this the aim is also to transform cultural products and services, moving them from the peripheral to the mainstream.

TPACE was a 3 day indigenous knowledge system experiences, made up of food, language, fashion, research, trade & exhibitions. Activities such as our insect eating competition, masterclasses on staple foods from across the continent and showcasing products, places, experiences you never thought possible on our unique and only continent was showcased.

This experience not only delighted, but educated and informed, all attendees on what wonderous unbridled potential we possess and have access to through heritage and culture.

As Freedom Park we support the Pan African project that will rotate across Africa, given that the Park’s endeavours to contribute to reconciliation not just of South Africans, but all Africans in the continent and the Diaspora.

18 19 DECEMBER 16 INTERFAITH AND DIALOGUE In a situation that has been dubbed a humanitarian crisis, more foreigners in South Africa have come under attack than ever before. Various institutions and prominent figures have expressed their condemnation of the acts of violence. According to Dr Serote, the responsibility for resolving this matter does not rest solely with the powers that be. “As these are acts that influence each South African personally, we are all responsible for getting involved, be that in our communities, our organisations, our religious groups or on an individual level. We need to have this issue out in the open. Shifting the responsibility is not a luxury that we as a country can afford – not when human rights are being violated right on our doorsteps.”

The pre-dawn interfaith session at Isivivane was significant where leaders of the diverse faiths represented in South Africa blessed the event. As a nation moving forward, we need the guidance and leadership from a higher power more especially on the Day of Reconciliation, celebrating our country’s democracy, we need to come together across the perceived divisions of faith and religions to intercede for reconciliation and nation building in South Africa.

After the Interfaith Prayers Dr Serote of the ANC Veterans League together with CEO Ms Jane Mufamadi called on all South Africans to demonstrate their proven ability to choose a road of communication and negotiations instead of violence in resolving the xenophobic atrocities that have swept the nation.

20 21 FREEDOM PARK – NEW FEES STRUCTURE

Our Admission fee Are as follows: Editorial Team R60 per Adult, R40 for Children/Senior Citizens R150.00 for International Visitors Public Participation HOD: Ms. Modjadji Makoela Editor: Rogini Govender Layout and Graphic Designer: Olebogeng Mafoko Guided tours 9am, 12pm and 3pm Photography: Vincent Vilakazi/ Olebogeng Mafoko We value and appreciate your patronage!!! FIND US GPS COORDINATES

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