Join me on a journey to some very special places in our country, places that tell a remarkable story for the whole world.
Many
international tourists, and some South Africans, would have experienced
parts of the trip when they visited the tourist sites that relate the
story of our first democratic president on Mandela Day.
For
those of us who cannot travel right now, let’s start our tour among the
rolling hills around Qunu in the Eastern Cape. Scattered homesteads are
sometimes clustered into little villages reached only by dusty, bumpy
roads.
The cattle that you can see dotted around the
landscape would have been tended by a young Rolihlala Mandela as they
grazed all day long, nearly a century ago. There would have been a small
school in this area, where a teacher bestowed the name “Nelson” upon a
young man, little knowing that he was to become a universal symbol of
the spirit of humanity and reconciliation.
Places like
this are not just about picturesque hills and sparse dwellings. They
reveal layer upon layer of our history and heritage.
You
can have an authentic interaction by living in private homes and local
lodges in rural communities like these. Here, you can gain first-hand
insight into how traditional beliefs and cultural practices intermingle
with modern life. You can understand how the history and hardships of
our people guide our aspirations to transform our economy and bring
marginalised communities into the tourism mainstream.
This place was so important to Mandela that he chose to return here to retire, after leading a divided nation striving to reconcile itself, and serving as a revered statesman.
Let’s leave the
quiet rural countryside of Qunu for now, and head north to Gauteng, to
Soweto in Johannesburg. It was here, in Vilakazi Street, that Mandela
lived in a small red brick house typical of apartheid’s townships.
Farther down the road lived Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Together with
church colleagues and comrades in arms, Tutu and Mandela led the long
struggle to tear down the policies that confined their people to live
within their tiny boxes. Vilakazi Street became the heart of the
struggle against apartheid.
Today,
the precinct is bustling with restaurants and street vendors who depend
on the busloads of visiting tourists for trade. It is the only street
in the world that was once home to two Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Most
visitors are international tourists, but more and more of the locals
are starting to experience the benefits of exploring their own country.
On
Vilakazi Street, the layer of historic social struggle is interweaved
with many economic dimensions — the precinct supports jobs, small
businesses and entrepreneurs. Tourist guides, transport operators and
vendors of memorabilia all benefit from tourism.
We
leave the city of Johannesburg and head for the quiet town of Howick in
the KwaZulu-Natal midlands. It was here, along a winding back road,
that Mandela was captured by security police, leading to the Treason
Trial, and his imprisonment on Robben Island.
The
capture site is marked by an iconic sculpture, which gives visitors a
sense of the important historic event. That moment when a policeman
stopped a car driven by a man disguised as a chauffeur was to become a
defining moment in South Africa’s history.
From here,
our journey follows Mandela to the prison cell he occupied for over two
decades on Robben Island. A short ferry ride from Cape Town takes you to
the island’s small harbour.
A tour of the prison
conveys the hardship its occupants were subjected to. Standing in the
cell that held Mandela captive, you think about how someone who was
confined to the brutality of this place emerged with such humanity, even
towards his captors.
The
penultimate leg of our trip follows the footsteps of Mandela from
Robben Island to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where the prisoner
became president. On the front lawns, an imposing statue of a smiling
Mandela stretches out his arms, protecting his people.
From
here, we return to a traditional family gravesite at Qunu, to Mandela’s
final resting place, where his family and comrades gathered to return
his body to the soil that sustained his early life.
But
the story is far from over: Mandela will be with us through the
political legacy that brought freedom and democracy for South Africa,
and through the many sites that continue to reflect the momentous events
in his life: From Qunu to Vilakazi Street, from Howick to Robben Island
and Pretoria, and, finally back to Qunu.
Visitors will return home with a renewed sense of what these sites mean for South Africans, and for humanity.
We
end our journey as changed people, with a deeper understanding of
ourselves and each other, fulfilling the ultimate purpose of tourism.
Ms Tokozile Xasa is South Africa’s Minister of Tourism.
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