Photo:Nelson Mandela Museum Bhunga Building.
The Museum at Bhunga
Photo Credit: Nelson Mandela Museum
Mthatha: In the heartland of Eastern Cape province lies a small town of Mthatha, the town is home to the beautiful Nelson Mandela Museum.
The Museum is named after the first democratically elected President of the
Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Nelson Mandela. This Nelson Mandela Museum was gift to the people of Eastern Cape and South Africa.
The town of Mthatha is in the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality under O.R. Tambo District Municipality.
The Nelson Mandela Museum
repositioned itself as a gateway to the Wild Coast Region, which is blessed with a fabulously beautiful subtropical coast stretching from Coffee Bay to Port St Johns.
This museum serves as a springboard and a channel for visitors to follow in the footprints of Nelson Mandela, a global icon and champion for
human rights. A man whose long walk to freedom began in the foothills that rise from the banks of the Mbhashe River in Mvezo where his umbilical cord is buried to the rolling hills of Qunu.
Mandela`s second home was in Qunu where his parents relocated to after his father Chief Gandla was deposed as legitimate chief.
And just after the death of his
father, Mandela was moved to Mqhekezweni. It was at Mqhekezweni where Mandela had the privilege of listening and learning from his elders
about the battles that took place in defence of the motherland.
He gained this knowledge under the guardianship of Regent Jongintaba of
Mqhekezweni.
The Museum oversees two sites; Nelson Mandela Museum Youth and Heritage Centre and Nelson Mandela Museum Bhunga Building.
The Museum at Bhunga Building operates in a building with layers of colonial and Bantustan history and made unique with outstanding Victorian architecture and
marked with imposive public presence.
The same building serves as Nelson Mandela Museum keeping the gifts and collections of Mandela.
This building serves as a national and international symbol of hope. It is
now home to a priceless collection of gifts bestowed upon Nelson Mandela
by various institutions, statesmen, kings, queens, and ordinary people from different parts of the world.
The second site is Nelson Mandela Youth and Heritage Centre which is at Qunu and serves as the youth’s leadership and training development
centre. The statue of Nelson Mandela as a traditional Thembi man is installed next to the main entrance of the centre. It has become a
symbolic tourism attraction that tells a story about Mandela as a Xhosa man grounded in his cultural values and heritage.
The centre is now
fully operational to welcome inbound and outbound tourists.
The recent installation of the two statues on is Bhunga building in Mthatha and the other one in Qunu will help to serve as a catalyst for local economic development opportunities that will come as a result of the installation of these statues. The installation of the Statues is an
enhancement of the Nelson Mandela Museum as a space of engagement and dialogue with compelling exhibitions that tell the life and times of
Nelson Mandela. These two compelling life-size statues of Mandela will further encourage Local, National, and International tour Operators to
include Nelson Mandela Museum in their itinerary. And at the same time, the addition of the two statues would help to anchor the local tourism
economy that would contribute to the creation of job opportunities in the area.
The Museum’s existence is steadied on the values of integrity, ubuntu, and stewardship as its anchor. For the past years, the Museum has
managed to achieve unqualified audits and clean audit outcomes consecutively.
Opening time
Monday to Friday: 09h00 to 16h00
Saturdays:09h00 to 13h00 Sundays: Only advanced
booked tours
Telephone: 047- 5019500 Fax: 047 – 532 3345
Email info@nelsonmandelamuseum.org.za
For more about the museum, visit: www.nelsonmandelamuseum.org.za
Facebook page: https://web.facebook.com/NelsonMandelaMuseum
Instagram: @nelsonmandelamuseum