Madiba’s historic home in Alexandra an eyesore

Government promised to make house a museum

AS SOUTH Africa remembered former president Nelson Mandela, who died exactly six years ago yesterday, his house in the sprawling township of Alexandra remains an eyesore, despite the government’s promise to turn it into a museum.

Madiba lived in the Alex home when he first moved to Joburg from the Eastern Cape, 75 years ago. He later left the Alex house to move to Soweto after making it his home from 1941 to 1944.

The historic Alex house which the Gauteng government promised to convert into a museum has been “abandoned, and left to deteriorate”.

A long-time resident in the township has blamed the government, and said it was dragging its feet and failing to keep its promise.

Linda Twala, who has been going up and down approaching government offices to speed up the process, said he was concerned the government had abandoned the house and the entire township, while many streets in Soweto were converted into heritage sites to honour apartheid Struggle stalwarts.

“People from the government were here (in the house) a few years after Mandela was released from jail. They made a promise to convert the house into a museum, but now they are playing hide and seek.

“Even the plaque that you see, I forced them to install it in 2001,” Twala said. He said the family currently occupying the house wanted to extend and renovate it.

“That would mean a great part of South African history would be dead. I asked the family to move out and I wanted to build a house for them, but someone among the people I work with came here and told them not to leave as they are sitting on millions,” Twala said.

The house shares a piece of land with two houses and the entire yard is occupied by 16 families.

The Star found that the historic house has cracks from the roof down to the door. Some materials like the door Madiba used, have been broken down and placed just outside the house.

A few meters away from the house, there is a community heritage centre which started to operate last year, after many years of being built. Twala said he also asked the City of Joburg to put the house under the centre, and turn the whole street into a heritage site but without success.

France Khuinana, 23, who lives with his unemployed mother and sister in the house, said there was nothing special about the house.

“It feels normal to live here. This is the only home I have ever known. Tourists come here to see the house, but we just go inside, close the door and leave them outside to take photos.

“We want to extend the house because as you can see, it’s small and at my age I should have my own space but they told us not to renovate, extend or even plaster it,” Khuinana said.

The National Heritage Council of South Africa, which is a statutory body responsible for the preservation of the country’s heritage, said it was not involved in the project.

Spokesperson Danny Goulkan said: “It is indeed an important landmark in the legacy of our first democratically elected president.

“The property has been declared a protected local heritage site by the City of Joburg. That is why it has the plaque indicating that it is a heritage site under the jurisdiction of the municipality.

“However, the council was not involved in the project. The City of Joburg together with the provincial department of sport, arts and culture have full jurisdiction to protect and re-conceptualise the property into any type of development,” Goulkan said.

The city couldn’t respond on Wednesday when asked for comment, but instead asked for an extension. However, yesterday they still failed to provide answers as to why the historic site was left to deteriorate.

ANC provincial spokesperson Tasneem Motara said she did not know who was responsible for the house project, and was unable to help with any information.

Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive Sello Hatang said they were not part of the refurbishment project.

“We were, however, approached by residents of Alex to intervene. What we then did was send a letter to the mayor; we are not sure if he received it because we never got a response,” he said.

Hatang added the last time he visited the house was in 2009 when he took Madiba to see his old home.