Itâs vital to keep legacy of Mandela House for posterity
By Staff Reporter
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The news surrounding Nelson Mandelaâs house on Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto, is disturbing, to say the very least.
Mandelaâs house is a prominent cultural and tourist attraction, having been declared a national monument in 1999. He started living in there from 1946 with his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase. Eleven years later after divorcing her, he lived there with his second wife, Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela.
After his 27 yearsâ imprisonment on Robben Island, he returned to the same house in 1990.
After becoming the first black president of a democratic South Africa in 1994, Mandela founded the Soweto Heritage Trust and later left the house â which had been turned into a museum â to the Soweto Heritage Company.