Denis Goldberg House of Hope looks back

TOMORROW marks 27 years to the day that the country held its first free and fair elections. On this day in 1994, millions gathered, standing in long queues for hours, to vote for the first time.

For the Denis Goldberg House of Hope, Freedom Day will see the start of its first three-day holiday programme since the hard lockdown. It will also be its first holiday programme to take place at the Hout Bay Museum, the site of the new Denis Goldberg House of Hope building.

Rivonia triallist Goldberg died at the age of 87 last year, with a final wish for the realisation of the House of Hope, a project envisioned as a space to uplift the youth of the poor communities that border the affluent harbour town of Hout Bay.

Reflecting on the meaning of Freedom Day, Debbie Budlender, for the Denis Goldberg House of Hope, said: “Freedom gives us the opportunity to remember all the people who fought and sacrificed for the freedoms we enjoy today in South Africa. It also makes us think about the long way we still have to go to realise the society that those who struggled dreamed of.”

Struggle icon and retired Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs said tomorrow marked an important day. “Freedom Day is everything. We used to shout ’Freedom in our lifetime’ and the days were terrible back then. Apartheid everywhere, people thrown into jail, books were banned, organisations were banned. We had that dream and people said it was impossible, black and white can never live together in South Africa. It’s not impossible, we did it.”

For the first election, Sachs said many predicted chaos but there was none. “People stood in line for hours and hours to vote. We still have huge problems in South Africa, but the Constitution gives us the means to deal with all of that. So, for me, Freedom Day is not just a nice day – it represents a revolution in our country and I was glad to be part of the process,” he said.

Selected Iziko Museums are also free on Freedom Day. These include the Iziko South African Museum (Isam) the Iziko South African National Gallery (Isang), the Iziko Slave Lodge (ISL) and the Iziko Bo-Kaap Museum. The museums are open from 10am to 2.30pm. Isam, Isang and ISL have two 90-minute timed-access sessions, at 10am and 12.30pm.

Visits can be planned here: https://www.iziko.org.za/whats-on!