Apartheid and Nelson Mandela – a city walk
Lived experience, history, art and legacy – Fahiema Enous leads an engaging walking tour through Cape Town city centre, where she’ll show us places of importance during and after South Africa’s apartheid era. Fahiema remembers apartheid well – she was born in Wynberg (Cape Town) and was a student at the University of Cape Town during the tumultuous transition period in the early 1990s.
There was huge excitement and hope at the time of the first democratic election in South Africa on 27 April 1994 (now a public holiday, known as Freedom Day). Fahiema reflects on the promises of Nelson Mandela, who was inaugurated as the first black president of the new government on 10 May 1994.
Fahiema is passionate about her city and loves showcasing it. She has worked as a full-time tourist guide for 3 years and enjoys including sites from the apartheid era and Nelson Mandela in her tours. Her previous career was in IT – Oracle Apps DBA, working for Old Mutual, Woolworths and Quantum Leap Consulting.
Our journey with Fahiema begins in District Six, a historic neighbourhood where more than 60,000 residents were forcibly removed after it was declared a “white-only” area. Nelson Mandela visited both before and after his 27-year imprisonment. We’ll walk to Church Square via Barrack Street, stopping at murals and buildings connected to Mandela and how democracy is unfolding today.
After a brief discussion outside Groote Kerk in Church Square, we proceed to Government Avenue, stopping first at Parliament and then at the President’s Cape Town office, Tuynhuys. It was here that Nelson Mandela and PW Botha met secretly on 5 July 1989, and where FW de Klerk announced on 18 March 1992, that South Africa had ‘closed the book on apartheid’.
Next stop, across the Company’s Garden to the High Court Annex in Queen Victoria Street, where we’ll find the installation by the artist Roderick Sauls of two benches, one marked Whites Only and the Non-Whites Only. These are close to the Race Classification Board Memorial. This commemorates the historic site of the original apartheid-era Race Classification Appeal Board.
We’ll stop by St George’s Cathedral and the fragment of the Berlin Wall given to Nelson Mandela in 1996 during a state visit to Germany. This is aptly next to the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.
Walking through Mandela Rhodes Place, we’ll head to Longmarket Street. Here we’ll talk briefly about the murals – Nelson Mandela (pictured) and Desmond Tutu, both by Hout Bay artist Brian Rolf. In between is Winnie Madikizela-Mandela by Garth Wareley (better known as Aweh Migo, born, raised and working in Cape Town).
Continuing along Longmarket Street, we’ll pause outside Woolworths’ head office, at the back of City Hall. We’ll end the walk at the bronze statue of Nelson Mandela by artists Xhanti Mpakama and Barry Jackson, unveiled in 2018.
We recommend visiting the excellent Nelson Mandela in Cape Town – Legacy Exhibition at City Hall.
Date: Saturday 18 July 2026
Start of tour: Church Square by Labotessa boutique hotel
End of tour: Mandela in Cape Town exhibition, City Hall, Grand Parade
Time: 10h00 – 12h00
Cost: R400pp / R300pp paying pre 10 July – all the money will be going to charity
Book: kate@cultureconnectsa.com | WhatsApp/Phone +27 72 377 8014
This open, ie public tour – let me know if you would like a private tour of your own
Do join me afterwards for a quick lunch at one of my favourite cafes nearby
Recommended reading:
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela was published in 1994, but he began writing it clandestinely in prison in 1974. There are lots of shortened versions, an audiobook and a 2013 film.
Doing Life with Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend by Christo Brand, a former prison guard for Nelson Mandela, updated 2022. The friendship is built on mutual respect. Brand shares personal stories and rare insights (I really enjoyed this easy read). Let me know if you would like to meet Christo or have a tour with him at Robben Island
Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg, 2023. This Nelson and Winnie Mandela biography explores their relationship and its role during apartheid.
