Luthuli home declared a museum
Zibonele Ntuli
23 August 2004
One of South Africa's nine commemorative symbols to mark the country's history and heritage has been completed near Stanger in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Chief Albert Luthuli Legacy Project, initiated with the launch of a Memorial Lecture in March this year, comprises different components such as a church, a museum and a sculpture in honour of the outstanding African leader.
President Thabo Mbeki on Saturday unveiled a state-of-the-art memorial to pay homage to Chief Luthuli's life, works and philosophy.
Chief Luthuli was the first African to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961 for his outstanding efforts in fighting for human dignity, political freedom and social prosperity.
Chief Luthuli died 37 years ago. Besides actively fighting against apartheid and colonial rule, he was a teacher, farmer, businessman, lay preacher and a traditional leader.
Among those who attended the ceremony were former Home Affairs Minister
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordaan, Luthuli family members and a number of KwaZulu-Natal MECs.
In the morning, Mbeki and his entourage attended a church service at the Groutville Congregational Church where he unveiled brick blocks scripted with a concise autobiography of the late Chief Luthuli.
Mbeki also laid a wreath at Luthuli's grave before officially declaring the late Luthuli's home a museum.
The house has been restored by the Department of Arts and Culture and has been proclaimed a museum.
The museum is described as a site of struggle, a meeting place for people linked to the country's struggle for human rights and democracy.
The house was under constant police surveillance when Chief Luthuli lived there.
Although Luthuli had been banished by the apartheid government to his home, many people travelled there to seek his counsel.
The ventilation shafts running beneath
the floorboards were once used to conceal documents. According to the Arts and Culture Department, during the reconstruction, workmen uncovered a number of papers dating from that historic era.
In 1966 the attorney general of US Senator Robert Kennedy and his wife flew to South Africa on an unofficial trip to visit Chief Luthuli, where they held a private discussion on a wooden bench that is still positioned under a tree outside the museum.
Luthuli and his guest discussed the ANC's vision of a united South Africa, with Senator Kennedy giving the former ANC leader a portable record player and recordings of speeches made by his brother, the former US president JF Kennedy.
Mbeki also unveiled a bronze Luthuli sculpture in front of the KwaDukuza Municipal Chambers before delivering his keynote address at the Stanger showgrounds.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Luthuli's first daughter, 72-year-old Dr Albertina Luthuli called on the local people to visit the
museum and learn about the struggle for freedom.
"The house now belongs to you as the community, you should come and read so that you can know where we are coming from," she said.
She said her father was a family man who spent quality time with his children.
"When government approached us to turn our home into a museum, we learnt that leaders do not belong to their families, they belong to the people. We could not stop the wishes of South Africans in honouring our father," she said.
Source: BuaNews
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