8115 Vilakasi

La maison a été plus ou moins transformée en musée familial mais enfin c’est émouvant  quand même de grimper les trois  marches qu’il a souvent grimpées , de voir ses livres, chaussures, photos , mobilier de l’époque , de savoir que Winnie quand elle n’était pas en prison elle-même  a élevé leurs filles  là etc…Rien de spectaculaire .  Mandela, lui-même qui rêvait tant et tant de revenir dans cette maison au 8115 Vilakasi Street à Orlando west, quand il était à Robben Island n’en revint pas de la trouver si petite ! " Quand j'ai vu notre maison j'ai été surpris de voir qu'elle était si petite Elle faisait la taille de la maisonnette  du gardien  qu'il y avait derrière mon cottage quand j'étais à Victor Verster ( dernier " enfermement ) .... Il n’y resta que 2 semaines se rendant vite compte qu'il ne pourrait plus mener une vie normale , comme "avant"  …Mais il repasse devant de temps en temps paraît-il,toujours fêté par ses voisins et amis du coin .

‘That night I returned with Winnie to No. 8115 in Orlando West. It was only then that I knew in my heart I had left prison. For me No. 8115 was the centre point of my world, the place marked with an X in my mental geography.

 Nelson Mandela, The Long Walk to Freedom, on his return to 8115 Orlando West after his release from prison in 1990. Mandela House at 8115 Orlando West, on the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane Streets, Soweto, was built in 1945, part of a Johannesburg City tender for new houses in Orlando. Nelson Mandela moved here in 1946 with his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase, They divorced in 1957, and from 1958 he was joined in the house by his second wife, Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela (Winnie). 

 He was to spend little time here in the ensuing years, as his role in struggle activities became all-consuming and he was forced underground (1961), living a life on the run until his arrest and imprisonment in 1962. 

 Nelson Mandela returned here for a brief 11 days after his release from Robben Island in 1990, before finally moving to his present house in Houghton. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, herself imprisoned several times, lived in the house with her daughters while Nelson Mandela was in jail, until her own exile to Brandfort in 1977, where she remained under house arrest until 1986. The family continued to occupy the house until 1996, when the Mandelas divorced. The house was subsequently turned into a public heritage site, with Nelson Mandela as the Founder Trustee.

‘The house itself was identical to hundreds of others built on postage-stamp-size plots on dirt roads. It had the same standard tin roof, the same cement floor, a narrow kitchen, and a bucket toilet at the back. Although there were street lamps outside we used paraffin lamps as the homes were not yet electrified. The bedroom was so small that a double bed took up almost the entire floor space.’

 ‘It was the opposite of grand, but it was my first true home of my own and I was mightily proud. A man is not a man until he has a house of his own.’