Qunu – There has been an increase in the number of local and foreign tourists visiting the Nelson Mandela Museum in Qunu since the news broke last week of the former President’s death.
A spokesperson for the museum, Fumanekile Wisani, told SAnews on Thursday that the museum usually receives about 100 visitors a day, but since last Friday the number had doubled daily.
“There’s quite a number of people who are also coming here to write their messages of condolences,” he said.
“What we’ve also picked up is that people were feeling very sad as they view our exhibitions but they were still keen to see those exhibitions, especially the ones about Mandela and (Albert) Luthuli in conversation,” Wisani said.
Luthuli was the leader of the African National Congress and the first South African to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
Wisani said visitors have also been interested in the exhibition of Walter Sisulu and his wife Albertina.
“We always explain to our visitors that the role played by Walter and Albertina Sisulu in the life of Nelson Mandela cannot be forgotten because they are the ones who welcomed Madiba when he first arrived in Johannesburg.”
The museum offers visitors an inspiring journey through the life of the man who the world has come to admire for his role in forging a new democratic South Africa. Mandela had insisted that the museum should not be a tribute dedicated to him, but should rather serve as a catalyst for the upliftment and development of the local community.
Three historical sites form part of the project that is the culmination of an idea born in 1996. The sites are at Mvezo, near Coffee Bay, where Mandela was born, the village of Qunu about 30 km outside Umtata and the Bunga Building on Nelson Mandela Drive in central Mthatha, where the story of the life and times of one of South Africa's greatest leaders is depicted. – SAnews.gov.za
