Babalo Ndenze and Xolani Koyana
THE Cape Town City Hall, where Nelson Mandela delivered his first speech as a free man in 1990, is to have a permanent exhibition space dedicated to the former president, who turns 93 today.
Visitors and Cape Town residents will be able to get information about Madiba and learn more about the elderly statesman’s life.
The permanent exhibition is to be part of the grand plan to refurbish the city hall, one of Cape Town’s many heritage sites.
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille announced that the City of Cape Town and the Nelson Mandela Foundation would honour Mandela on Saturday.
The city has renamed Eastern Boulevard after Mandela.
“I am proud to announce that the city will create a permanent exhibition space dedicated to Nelson Mandela,” De Lille said.
“The city, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Mandela Rhodes Trust have reached a memorandum of understanding to develop a permanent exhibition for the Cape Town City Hall representing the life and times of Madiba,” she said.
“I wish to express my thanks to the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Mandela Rhodes Foundation for their commitment and support.”
The city hall has had bad press in recent times for its condition, with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra criticising the City of Cape Town, saying it has neglected the heritage site.
The weekend red-carpet event will feature a dinner, charity auction, and stage production celebrating Mandela’s 93rd birthday.
Last year, the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra expressed outrage at the state of the city hall, saying it was a disgrace.
The city is investigating how best to manage the century-old monument, on the balcony of which Mandela made his first speech on the day he was freed, February 11, 1990, after 27 years in prison, to a packed Grand Parade.
De Lille’s spokesman, Solly Malatsi, said the exhibition would fit in perfectly with the “grand plan” to repair the city hall.
“It is part of the overall plan. It is a heritage site as well,” Malatsi said.
“It’s also part of the plan to position the city hall as a key facility.”
The city’s executive director of community services, Lokiwe Mtwazi, said it was hoped the exhibition would be a tourist attraction and space had been earmarked for it.
“We want to take the city hall back to its glory days,” Mtwazi said.
She said the problem of stinking portable toilets had been sorted out and the interior of the hall had been painted.
The refurbishment of the city hall had not begun yet as the council needed “clearance” from Heritage Western Cape.
Mtwazi could not say how long the refurbishment would take.