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An exhibition is open at Constitution Hill focusing on the two great anti-apartheid leaders and Peace Prize winners.
OLD friends and comrades Nelson Mandela and Chief Albert Luthuli are deep In Conversation at Constitution Hill's Number Four jail until Sunday, 1 August.
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The In Conversation exhibition is a collaboration between the Nelson Mandela Museum and the Chief Luthuli Museum. It celebrates the legacy of these two South African struggle stalwarts and Nobel Prize laureates.
According to the programme manager of the Nelson Mandela Museum, Noel Solani, there was no better place to house the exhibition than Constitution Hill because it is here that the past, present and future of this country reside.
Solani also pointed out that the place was the centre of the liberation struggle in the 1950s and both Mandela and Luthuli were once detained at the Fort.
"Young people who visit the Fort need to learn their [Mandela's and Luthuli's] stories," he said. "You would also know that Joburg is the economic hub of South Africa and a cultural centre of Southern Africa. It also attracts millions of foreign nationals from Africa, Europe and American people who need to know about our past and know where we come from."
The exhibition comprises a collection of photographs, quotations from writings, audio materials and film footage to breathe life into the display showing personal experiences and exchanges between these two leaders.
With two tables and a number of chairs placed on opposite sides, the display is set up in such a way that it looks like a group of people will sit down and start a debate.
In Conversation celebrates the legacy of Nelson Mandela and Chief Albert Luthuli
Both Mandela and Luthuli played huge roles in the liberation of black people and the implementation of equal rights in South Africa.
History
Luthuli was born near Bulawayo in what was then called Rhodesia, around 1898. After his father died, his mother returned to her ancestral home of Groutville in what is today the province of KwaZulu-Natal. He lived with his uncle, Martin Luthuli, at that time the elected chief of the Christian Zulus of the Umzinyathi District Municipality Mission Reserve.
In Groutville, Luthuli attended a mission school at which he completed a teaching course. In 1935, he accepted the chieftaincy of the Groutville reserve and was suddenly immersed in the realities of South Africa's racial politics.
In 1944, Luthuli joined the African National Congress (ANC). In 1945, he was elected to the committee of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial division of ANC and in 1951 to the presidency of the division. The next year he joined other ANC leaders in organising nonviolent campaigns to defy discriminatory laws. In 1960, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the nonviolent struggle against apartheid.
The government, charging Luthuli with a conflict of interest, demanded that he withdraw his membership in the ANC or forfeit his office as tribal chief. Refusing to do either, he was dismissed from his chieftainship.
A photo exhibition shows Nelson Mandela burning his pass in defiance of the pass laws in 1960
When Luthuli was a young man of about 20, Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in Mvezo, near Umtata in the province today known as Eastern Cape. He was the first member of his family to attend school, where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the English name of Nelson.
Politics
In 1941, Mandela came to Johannesburg where he rented a back room in Alexandra. In 1944, he joined the ANC and together with a group of young intellectuals he helped form the ANC Youth League (ANCYL).
After the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party, which supported apartheid, Mandela became more politically active. He led the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People that resulted in the drafting of the Freedom Charter.
In 1961, Mandela became the leader of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He co-ordinated sabotage campaigns against military and government targets, making plans for a possible guerrilla war if the sabotage failed to end apartheid. He also raised funds for MK abroad and arranged for paramilitary training for the soldiers.
He was arrested in 1962 and convicted of sabotage and other charges. Sentenced to life in prison, he spent 27 years behind bars. Many of these years were spent on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that result in multiracial democracy in 1994.
As the first democratically elected president of South Africa - his term ran from 1994 to 1999 - he frequently gave priority to reconciliation. Today, Mandela is a global icon for peace and human rights.
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