South Africa Nelson Mandela

South Africa Nelson Mandela

2020 HST class group travel to South Africa to learn about history of epidemics, here a short visit along the way to the Neslon Mandela Capture Site. 

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About the site:

"On 5 August 1962, police waved down a car on a lonely country road in KwaZulu-Natal. At the wheel was Nelson Mandela, posing as a chauffeur. His arrest was the catalyst for a series of trials, culminating in the Rivonia Treason Trial that would ultimately see him spend 27 years in prison. Today this site is marked by an impressive and emotional sculpture in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
Having succeeded in evading capture by apartheid operatives for 17 months, Mandela had just paid a visit to African National Congress (ANC) president, Chief Albert Luthuli to report back on his African Odyssey, and to request support. It was in this dramatic way, at this unassuming spot, that Nelson Mandela was finally captured, and proceeded to disappear from public view for the next 27 years.

Marking the 50-year anniversary of what began Nelson Mandela's "long walk to freedom" – and the piece of land that, quite randomly, irrevocably altered the history of South Africa – is a quiet, powerful sculpture, set into the environment of this silently potent space. Until relatively recently, the Mandela Capture Site was just a small bricked area with a plaque. But on the 50th anniversary of this event in 2012, an impressive steel sculpture and visitor centre was unveiled to give full recognition to the significance of this place." Source.