Mandela arrest site - development to start
2011-08-02 19:10
Durban - A multi-million rand development will start soon at the site in Howick where former president Nelson Mandela was arrested 49 years ago, KwaZulu-Natal co-operative governance said on Tuesday.
The development would include a museum, a multipurpose theatre and an amphitheatre, said provincial co-operative governance spokesperson Vernon Mchunu.
The project would be launched on August 5, during the commemoration of Mandela's arrest, he said. Apartheid Museum board member advocate George Bizos was expected to attend.
Mandela was arrested in 1962, 3km outside Howick, near Pietermaritzburg, on the main road to Johannesburg.
He had been leaving the Groutville home of former African National Congress president Chief Albert Luthuli after discussing the armed struggle.
Mandela spent 27 years in prison.
Mchunu said the uMngeni Municipality and the department of co-operative governance had acquired the property adjacent to the capture site on the R103.
- SAPA