FREEDOM PARK QUARTERLY BULLETIN QUARTERLY STAKE HOLDER MAGAZINE JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2020 CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF OUR EXISTENCE This year’s National Heritage theme is titled “Celebrating South Africa’s Living Human Treasures “ it depicts what Freedom Park, a National Heritage, whose main mandate is to honour the heroes and heroines whose sacrificed their lives for the liberation of our country. ~ Mr Ronnie Makopo This year Freedom Park celebrates 20 years of its Anniversary. In celebrating the 20 years of existence, It is a pleasure to note several achievements in the operations of Freedom Park such as the inscription of more than 139 000 names of our heroes and heroines on the Wall of Names, which is our main heritage, the Pan Africanist Archives, through a series of dialogues, in which they engaged Justices like : Dikgang Moseneke, Yvonne Mokgoro, Albe Sacs , Richard Goldstone , Johan Kriegler FREEDOM PARK RECAPS NATIONS ASPIRATIONS as well as Advocate George Bizos before he passed on. The Pan Africanist also engaged a member of the Rivonia trial, Dennis Goldberg and many other We buried them for what they were freedom stalwarts. Our fallen heroes and our history The dialogues also included another series on women freedom fighters entitled ‘flowers of the nation of A monument in our hearts we shall mount the revolution’ in which women freedom fighters like the current Minster of State Security Ms Ayanda Their unheard- of names to engrave Dlodlo were engaged. On times sturdy wings their ideal we shall pin Freedom Park’s //hapo museum is a storage of numerous living treasures, such as the artefacts that Africa’s priceless heritage to mankind were used by our ancestor’s pre-colonial rule. Freedom Park is currently a temporal storage for the African National Congress’s Umkhonto we Sizwe Radio Freedom, which is indeed a living treasure. One would have thought that during this unfortunate pandemic period, Freedom Park would cease to rise to the occasion and thereby lose its hard-earned rapport to our communities and indeed our global village. That was not the case. The organisation was rock solid and came up with differentiation strategies to deliver service to the public. Sepamla It was remarkable, informative and indeed refreshing to watch the Political /Liberation Heritage Virtual Dialogue on the 19 September 2020 in which the Minister of Sports Arts and Culture, the CEO Jane Mufamadi, Ambassador Thenjiwe Mtinso, Christine Qunta participated. On the 27 August the CEO was one of the 18 presenters on the Round Table of Civil BRICS ( Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa) Unity, wherein she presented several topics such as ‘ The Role of Museums’;’ The Importance of International Cultural Exchange to the global community. etc. Here’s to another 20 years, congratulations! 02 03 Celebrating our 20th Anniversary of being in In line with the National Heritage month existence! An extraordinary time, a time to theme: ‘Celebrating South Africa’s Living remember and to reflect on 20 years. It’s an Human Treasures’, the theme speaks to anniversary of a family that only grew strong every aspect of Freedom Park’s defying the odds. I want to thank Management deliverables. I therefore, would like to and Staff for their sheer commitment and thank the Department of Sport, Arts and deserve a big round of applause for all the Culture for such creativity and relevance. unconditional dedications throughout the years. You have always been an integral part of the HoD Public Participation Ms M Makoela journey. Without you, this journey would never have been so epic. The enormous sense of pride to be part of Freedom Park cannot be understated. ~Ms Jane Mufamadi All our commemorative activities have been virtual including Heritage Day and I extend my utmost thanks, to the performers for their exhilarating cultural performances that Freedom Park celebrates our rich and vibrant heritage, history and culture as South were rendered at this event, through Music, Poetry, Dance and Art. Africans and Africans. As we instill a sense of national pride in this icon of humanity and freedom we create an awareness that a site exists where those that died fighting for Our Online Heritage Day Spectacular Activity was a resounding success of course freedom and liberation in this country are being honoured. coupled with throngs of tourists on the day. The Park was finally opened to tourists. It was Level 1. Our South African heritage is a proud, poignant and often painful one. But it is also one that speaks of triumph, perseverance and what we can accomplish as South Africans Visitors took full advantage of the free entrance and responded to the Heritage Day and Africans. festivities. Dressed in traditional attire and happiness etched on their faces and the freedom of lockdown Level 1, the Park came alive with the squeals of laughter from The diversity of our beliefs, traditions, culture and language is that which sets us apart children and adults alike. as a nation. It is a constant opportunity for each of us to grow, to learn and to be enriched. As we celebrate who we are and where we come from, we invite each and every South African to celebrate with us – at a place that captures the heart and soul of South Africa in one breath-taking space: Freedom Park. On 21 September Freedom Park opened for business. It is all systems go. There could not have been a more opportune time to open the national heritage monument just few days before the National Heritage Day commemorations. We look forward, to receiving you as our guests. It is a time of great nostalgia, reminiscing about the successes, and challenges that came our way but also about the trust and support which have been our biggest drivers for our continued growth! 04 05 TRIBUTE TO MAMA ALBERTINA SISULU Albertina Sisulu was born on 21 October 1918 in the Tsomo district of the Transkei. It was with Walter that she attended the first conference of the ANC Youth League where Albertina Sisulu was the only women present. In 1948 she joined the ANC Women’s League and in the 1950s she began to assume a leadership role – both in the ANC and in the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW). She was one of the organizers of the historic anti-pass Women’s March in 1956 and opposed inferior `Bantu’ education. Her home in Orlando West in Soweto was used as a classroom for alternative education until a law was passed against it. Both Albertina and her husband were jailed several times for their political activities and she was constantly harassed by the Security Police. She became the first women to be arrested under the General Laws Amendment Act. The Act gave the police the power to hold suspects in detention for 90 days without charging them and in Albertina’s case she was placed in solitary confinement incommunicado for almost two months while the Security Branch looked for her husband. As Walter, sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island, and his co-accused left the courtroom, Albertina Sisulu, some ANC Women’s League members and other supporters rushed out to form a guard of honour to meet the men singing ‘Nkosi Sikele i’Afrika’ in Church Square in Pretoria in solidarity and mourning. For her activism Sisulu was put in detained and put in solitary confinement again in 1981 and in 1985. She also suffered banning’s and house arrest, but managed to keep links between jailed members of the ANC and those in exile. In 1983 Albertina was elected co- president of the United Democratic Front (UDF), and in June 1989, the government finally granted her a passport. The following month she led a delegation of UDF leaders to Europe and the United States. In October 1989, the last restrictions on the Sisulu family were lifted and Walter was released from Robben Island. In 1994, Albertina Sisulu served in the first democratically elected Parliament. She and her husband and son Zwelakhe have won numerous humanitarian awards. On the 2 June 2011 she died at her Linden home in Johannesburg, aged 92. An orchid discovered in 1918 has been named after Albertina Sisulu in honour of her centenary in 2018 which will be named the Albertina Sisulu Orchid. Lauren Marx 06 07 STEPHEN BANTU BIKO 18 DECEMBER 1946 – 12 SEPTEMBER 1977 As we commemorate the 41ST death anniversary of struggle-hero Steve Biko. Let us not forget what Steve Biko stood for. This is an opportunity to unpack the dichotomy of our divided identity and allegiances. One of the hallmarks of the Black Consciousness Movement led by Biko, was the development of black culture, black pride, black intellectualism and black literature. "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." Like all of Steve Biko's writings, those words testify to the passion, courage, and keen insight that made him one of the most powerful figures in South Africa's struggle against apartheid. We pay tribute to this fearless son of the African soil. Steve Biko was born in King William’s Town on 18 December 1946. Steve Biko excelled in school as a youth but his political activities caused him to be expelled from Lovedale High School. Biko was expelled for his political activities from Lovedale College in the Eastern Cape and high school education was received at the Roman Catholic Tribute to Kwame Nkrumah – the Founding Father of Marianhill, Natal. Biko matriculated in 1965 and decided to study medicine at the University of Natal within the non-European section in Durban in the beginning of 1966.