Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) exhibition launch and dialogue forum

A decade after the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) was passed in South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory asks what access to information and the representation of our history means within the context of the liberation struggle. The first forum on these issues, held at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg on February 25, 2011, coincided with the launch of the exhibition, ‘Remember Africa, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (1924-1978)’.

The exhibition: ‘Remember Africa, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (1924-1978)’

The Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe exhibition launch this evening marks the opening of the 10th in a series of exhibitions created by the Nelson Mandela Foundation as a means of engaging members of the public in open dialogue.

Created in collaboration with the Robert Sobukwe Trust among others, the exhibition features multimedia content about Robert Sobukwe’s life, his legacy and some of his personal artefacts: an iron from his incarceration at Robben Island, study material he pored over while at the University of Fort Hare and a schoolbook with the inscription “Remember Africa”.

The exhibition and the subsequent dialogue sessions to be held at the NMF serve to present previously disowned narrations as a very real part of our history in post-apartheid South Africa.

Keynote speakers Dini Sobukwe, son of Robert Sobukwe, and Jacob Dlamini, established author and historian, opened the dialogue platform.

See the NMF report on the exhibition launch.

Read the keynote address delivered by author and historian Jacob Dlamini.

Read the address delivered by Mr. Dini Sobukwe

The Dialogue Forum: Access to Information and the Making of South African Pasts

Verne Harris, Head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Centre of Memory opened the proceedings by defining the key themes: the secret, the taboo and the disavowel:

The secret is the story one chooses to keep hidden. The choice might be conscious or unconscious.
The taboo is the story one feels one has no choice but to keep hidden. Cultures of family, institution and/or society demand it.
The disavowal is the story one chooses to disown, reject, marginalise or wash one’s hands of (such as, for example, the story of struggle icon Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, who many believe has been disavowed in recent history)

Following input from panelists who focussed on these key themes the topic was opened to the floor. Comment and debate was lively, frank and thought provoking.

To read an overview of the workshop proceedings

See the opening remarks by Verne Harris, Head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Centre of Memory.

For any additional information relating to the Centre of Memory and Dialogue, please visit the Nelson Mandela Foundation website

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