Enjoy free entrance to Iziko museums tomorrow

SOUTH AFRICA will officially celebrate Human Rights Da, tomorrow, March 21. To commemorate this day, Iziko Museums will offer free entry to all its museums, excluding the Castle of Good Hope, and Groot Constantia.

History is filled with the stories of the marginalised, oppressed and enslaved.

The Iziko Slave Lodge Museum, one of the oldest buildings in the Cape, despite its oppressive legacy, strives to transform from a space of human wrongs to a site of human rights.

Exhibitions and programmes that will be hosted aim to raise the awareness of human rights issues and of sharing the untold narratives of slavery in the Cape.

One of the exhibitions currently showing is Singing Freedom: Music and the struggle against apartheid at the Slave Lodge.

This exhibition unpacks the songs and melodies – carried in the hearts of people – that encouraged and inspired the calls to action that led South Africa to democracy.

My Naam is Februarie: Identities Rooted in Slavery brings into memory the forgotten history of slavery, when the names of the enslaved were stripped away and they were renamed for the month they arrived at the Cape of Good Hope.

“Today, our rights are enshrined in the constitution. This is a privilege we should cherish and we should enable everyone to enjoy this privilege through our democracy through the exhibitions and research programmes that are had at the Iziko Museums of South Africa. The museum is also your forum,” says Iziko chief executive officer Rooksana Omar.

The country remembers the day in 1960 when antiapartheid demonstrators in Sharpeville near Johannesburg were gunned down by police.

The Sharpeville massacre took place on Monday, March 21, as police opened fire on about 5 000 people who had come to protest against “dompass” laws.

COMMEMORATIVE DAYS – FREE ENTRANCE Human Rights Day: March 21, Freedom Day: April 27, International Museum Day: May 18, Africa Day: May 25, Youth Day: June 16, National Women’s Day: August 9, Heritage Week: September 18-24

National Aids Awareness Day: December 1

Emancipation Day: December 1

Day of Reconciliation: December 16