Johannesburg - The iconic heritage site in Sandton which served as a secret headquarters for South Africa’s underground liberation movement in the 1960s is calling for financial assistance to stay afloat.
Between 1961 and 1963, Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia served as the secret headquarters and nerve centre of the ANC, the SACP, Umkhonto weSizwe and the Congress Alliance.
The location further cemented its place in South Africa’s history when in July 1963, the apartheid police raided the farm and arrested 10 leaders who were the core leadership of the underground liberation movement.
The raid set the stage for the Rivonia Trial, where Nelson Mandela and other Struggle stalwarts, including Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Ahmed Kathrada, were found guilty of sabotage.
Today, Liliesleaf is a heritage site which is home to exhibitions that tell the story of the journey to democracy in South Africa, however a financial crisis has placed the site at financial risk.
Liliesleaf Trust founder and chief executive Nicholas Wolpe, a descendant of one of the Rivonia accused, Harold Wolpe, told The Star yesterday that Liliesleaf has been struggling to secure operational funding since about 2009.
“It’s been something that has plagued us and we’ve really lived from hand to mouth,” he said.
Wolpe said the coronavirus pandemic further exacerbated the financial woes of the liberation farm and other cultural and heritage sites in the sector.
“What Covid-19 has done is throw the spotlight on the inequity of how the government approaches this sector. It has highlighted the inequality and that dismissive approach that is shown.”
Wolpe said that Liliesleaf was currently closed for operations because the Liliesleaf Trust has been unable to pay salaries to about 30 staffers or purchase anything.
As a result of Liliesleaf’s financial woes, the trust has launched a fundraising campaign in the lead-up to Freedom Day on April 27 and the 60-year commemoration of the purchase of Liliesleaf in August.
Wolpe has made an appeal for contributions to keep Liliesleaf going and to preserve the site’s artefacts and exhibitions, to sustain operations and ensure the sire remains a “treasured resource for future generations”.
“The reality is that we cannot let a site like Liliesleaf die,” he said.
The Star