No bugs among the vines for secret ANC meeting
THE 300-year-old Vergelen wine estate in Somerset West was the venue of a secret ANC meeting 23 years ago, which Nelson Mandela attended for the first time since being jailed on Robben Island.
“The ANC needed a venue where they could have their first caucus meeting after their unbanning,” said Don Tooth, managing director of the estate.
The party, still a liberation movement in 1990, needed to prepare for the first meeting with the government at the start of negotiations towards a democracy.
“Most of the senior [ANC] members had only been in the country for days . . . and they were struggling to find a venue that was not potentially bugged,” said Tooth.
The ANC approached Anglo American, which had bought the estate three years before, in 1987.
“The property was still very bare, with stripped walls, which meant it was easy to clear of any sort of bugging or rigging.”
The original Cape Dutch homestead, built in 1700 by Willem Adriaan van der Stel, has since been restored.
One wing is dedicated to the estate’s history. In it hangs a portrait of Mandela taken during the meeting on April 29 1990.
He is standing in front of one of the five remaining giant camphor trees planted by Van der Stel.
Other pictures show ANC stalwarts sitting on plastic chairs on the stoep of the old homestead, Mandela chatting to Trevor Manuel, Thabo Mbeki, Joe Slovo, Steve Tshwete and Joe Nhlanhla.
While he was president, Mandela hosted Bill Clinton and Queen Elizabeth at the estate.
The last function he attended there was a dinner in 2003 for guests who included Bono, Beyoncé Knowles, The Corrs and Oprah Winfrey, according to Tooth.