Unique museum presents South Africa’s painful past and promising future

Living in a fast-paced city like Johannesburg makes it necessary to find quiet spaces to help you unwind and enjoy the cultural activities that remove you from the rat race.

One such space that comes to mind is the Apartheid Museum in the south of Johannesburg. It can be described as a crown jewel that holds together the memories of 20th century South Africa, with an emphasis on the rise and fall of apartheid.

According to Emilia Potenza, the curator of the Apartheid Museum, the facility preserves the significant struggles and wins of the country. It is an opportunity for young people to be exposed to a century of South Africa’s history in an unmatched way.

“Knowing about and understanding the past is essential to understanding the present. It is critical to contribute to building the future. The causes and effects of apartheid are complex. South Africans who lived through apartheid gain new insights by visiting the museum,” explained Potenza.

The Apartheid Museum opened its doors in November 2001 and is said to be the first museum of its kind. It was established by an independent non-profit organisation, Akani Egoli, with the development of the museum being an offshoot of the development of Gold Reef City Casino.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the museum doors had to close. However, the museum reopened on April 1 and is back with even more to offer the public.

Potenza said there are separate entrances for visitors to the museum. “You are randomly classified as either ‘white’ or ‘non-white’ and have to enter the museum through the designated entrance,” said Potenza.

Once inside, visitors begin by viewing memory boxes that tell the stories of the descendants of people whose families came to the Witwatersrand to make their fortunes after the discovery of gold in 1886. The exhibition ends with a powerful exhibit entitled ‘What Remains is Tomorrow’.

Don’t miss the red Mercedes-Benz that was given to the late president Nelson Mandela as a gift by the workers and management of Mercedes-Benz SA in 1990, which is on display in the Nelson Mandela exhibition.

“These are but a few of the exhibits available for the public. The museum tells a powerful and often harrowing story and allows visitors to revisit key turning points in our history,” noted Potenza.

A must-see is the new temporary exhibition celebrating the life and times of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu. This space has a myriad of powerful visual and audio-visual installations that explore the role of the church in the struggle against apartheid.

“We live in a polarised world, where ‘othering’ happens daily, often based on race, but also based on gender, sexual orientation, religion and increasingly nationality. The museum explores the causes and effects of apartheid, a system-wide gross human rights violation, and calls on all to fight against racism, discrimination and prejudice in our lives wherever we may encounter it. “This is the reason for the existence of the Apartheid Museum,” said Potenza.

The museum is open from Thursdays to Sundays, from 09:00 to 17:00, and on public holidays. There are also educational tours for schools to connect the content of the museum to the social sciences, history and life orientation curriculum at all grade levels from grade five upwards.

Spend time at the museum on June 16 and experience the remarkable Truth to Power: Desmond Tutu and the Churches in the Struggle Against Apartheid and find out how Tutu warned the government in May 1976 that Soweto was about to explode.

The entrance fees to the museum are adults R150, pensioners, students and children R100, learners R55 and teachers R60.