The campaign – which forms part of the 2017 Welcoming and Orientation Programme for first year students, now offers all registered students the opportunity to take part in a diversity enrichment initiative.
The diversity enrichment initiative will see students taking a bus tour to three historical sites in Soweto, Johannesburg and Sharpeville. Students will visit former President Nelson Mandela’s house and the Hector Pietersen Museum in Soweto, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg and the Sharpeville Human Rights Precinct.
The home of Nelson Mandela
In Orlando West, Soweto, on the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane streets, you’ll find the modest house that Nelson Mandela and his family called home from 1946 to the 1990s. Mandela lived in the house with his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase, and, after his divorce, with his second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Upon his release from in 1990, Mandela moved back to the house for a short 11 days before moving to larger and more secure premises in the Houghton suburb of Johannesburg.
The Mandela family’s four-roomed Soweto home is now a museum and houses various memorabilia, artworks, awards and honorary doctorates conferred on Nelson Mandela and his family as well as photographs of the family dating back to the 1950s. It's one of the major tourist attractions in South Africa due to its deep history and tie to Madiba's pre-presidential life.
Apartheid Museum
The Apartheid Museum opened in 2001 and is acknowledged as the pre-eminent museum in the world dealing with 20th century South Africa, at the heart of which is the apartheid story. The Apartheid Museum, the first of its kind, illustrates the rise and fall of apartheid. For anyone wanting to understand and experience what apartheid South Africa was really like, a visit to the Apartheid Museum is fundamental.
The museum is a beacon of hope showing the world how South Africa is coming to terms with its oppressive past and working towards a future that all South Africans can call their own.
Sharpeville Human Rights Precinct
The Sharpeville Human Rights Precinct, in the Sedibeng township of Sharpeville, is a memorial to victims of the watershed event that was the beginning of the end of apartheid. The Sharpeville memorial, opened by Nelson Mandela in 2001, features a dramatic wall at the entrance containing the names of the dead, who are buried in the nearby Sharpeville Cemetery, and 69 pillars in a garden split by a stream flowing from a fountain. Mandela named Sharpeville the Cradle of Human Rights.
Apply now!
Interested students should apply to take part in this unique initiative by submitting a written motivation on why he/she should be selected for the tour. The motivation, together with the applicant’s contact details and student number should be forwarded to VTC-studentaffairs@nwu.ac.za If selected, an amount of R60.00 is payable at the Cashier in Building 24. For more information, please visit the Student24/7 Facebook page.
