By Sabelo Seroke
It’s a warm day, but we are expecting that the nightfall will be cold. It’s the Midlands. It is really hot during the day and can get cold at night if it’s not the middle of Summer. Apparently Summer is extremely hot here.We are a small group of journalism students from the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and are on an educational journey of what’s called The Freedom Route. Former president, Nelson Mandela, gave an important speech in Imbali Township’s Manaye Hall, just outside Pietermaritzburg.
It is there that he and those that had come to listen to his speech coined the term, “Amandla Awethu”.
From there, he fled the country. It was on his return that he was arrested in what is now called The Mandela Capture Site in Howick. Then, he was briefly kept in what is now known as the old prison in Pietermaritzburg.
“I never associated Nelson Mandela with KZN. I always thought he was a hero in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape,” says student Ndumiso Khuzwayo.
Another freedom fighter, Mahatma Gandhi, was thrown off a train when he refused to move for white women in Pietermaritzburg. “That was the beginning of the peace movement,” says tour guide, Nhlakanipho Mdunge.
At some point his wife, Kasturba Gandhi, was also kept in the old prison.
King Dinuzulu of the Zulu nation was kept there too before he was banished to the island of St Helena where it’s reported that some of his descendants still are. “It was interesting to see how the prison has been transformed into a museum. It had great displays and technological advancements, but kept the essence of being an old prison alive,” explains third year student, Noluthando Dlamini.
Then there was a visit to Pietermaritzburg City Hall which is the oldest and biggest all red brick building in the Southern Hemisphere. “I love the fact that PMB’s architecture is so historic,” says student, Sanele Khumalo.
We don’t know a lot of this history and as a result, it can be forgotten easily. These are definitely places to explore on Heritage and Tourism Month.
