The lives of anti-apartheid icons are profiled on concrete pillars inside the Red Location Museum in New Brighton. Picture: Fredlin Adriaan

Red Location Museum about to finally open

Long-delayed complex will commemorate PE’s battle against apartheid, reports Mark Carrels

AFTER more than a year of delays, the much-anticipated Red Location Struggle Museum in Port Elizabeth is finally due for its official opening next month.

The R30-million museum, which will open on February 13, is one of five initiatives being undertaken by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality as part of the Red Location Precinct Development Projects.

The museum was originally due to open in February last year, but construction has been delayed several times.

According to museum director Gcinibandla Mtukela, authorities had indicated earlier that the official opening would take place in November last year. However, this had not happened as the building had not yet been completed.

The museum falls under the jurisdiction of the recreation and cultural services department of the municipality, which was helping to finance the project for the next three years, said Mtukela.

The municipality recently employed a marketing and maintenance officer, which had brought the number of museum staff to six, said Mtukela.

“We are hoping to expand our recruitment drive later this year as we need a total staff complement of 23,” he said.

Red Location was situated in New Brighton – a historical fact that is sometimes ignored, said Mtukela. “Pre-fabricated structures which had served as homes for Afrikaner women during the South African War were first moved here from Uitenhage in 1901,” he added.

Families were relocated there in 1901 and, after much resistance from landowners and the community, Red Location was finally established in 1903.

This was in fact the first settlement to have been established in New Brighton, he said. Exactly how Red Location received its name is still a subject of debate, but Mtukela believes it could be because the original corrugated iron structures took on a reddish hue over time.

Red Location was home to many former anti-apartheid activists and a safe haven where political fugitives – including Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba – sought refuge in the ’40s and ’50s.

Even though there were strict laws in force as to where social gatherings could be held, Red Location was a political and social hotspot during this period.

Photo exhibits already on display inside the 4 500m² museum show that Red Location was the main part of New Brighton where beer brewing was allowed. At gatherings where umqombothi was shared, men could congregate according to their clan. At these gatherings there was often much political talk, led by men such as “Oom Ray”.

After the ANC’s armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe went underground in 1960, Red Location was popular for hiding political fugitives. Well-hidden cells were erected between shack floors and the ground where these fugitives could hide from the security police, the exhibit shows.

Mtukela, who grew up in New Brighton, remembers being told stories of how “Oom Ray” had led the defiance campaign against the apartheid government’s oppressive pass laws in 1952.

“Thousands turned up at the nearby railway station that day to give themselves up for arrest . . . though Oom Ray was only looking for a group of 30 people to support him,” he explained.

Mtukela said authorities were in the process of inviting high-profile South Africans such as Pallo Jordan to the opening. “Well-known figures who have world acclaim on international heritage issues will also attend the launch.”

There has in the past been some resistance to the museum project, because the community felt that housing needed to be prioritised.

“The project got back on track in 2003 after negotiations between the New Brighton co-ordinating committee and stakeholders of the museum,” Mtukela said.

It is the first establishment of its kind to be based in a local township and one of only two museums in the country which specialise in apartheid history.

“The museum seeks to remember the past in many ways. It plans to depict the nation’s memory, portraying both the horrors of institutionalised racism and the heroic efforts of the anti-apartheid movement,” said Mtukela.

He believes the museum will serve as a stimulus for upgrading the destitute living conditions in the settlement.

The cultural centre already houses a museum, art gallery, creative art centre and conference hall, while a virtual library is nearing completion.

The museum’s design achieved international acclaim when it scooped a World Leadership Award in the architecture and civil engineering category in London on December 5. It is expected to become a major tourist attraction in the future.

An interesting feature is 15 concrete pillars along the length of the museum, each showcasing renowned political icons such as Mbeki, Mhlaba and Molly Blackburn.

Twelve memory boxes comprising large photo exhibits will also feature different aspects of Red Location, from its beginnings to its profile during the struggle, dating back to 1903.

Mtukela said the museum will be opened to tour groups from Tuesdays to Sundays and that artists will be able to use the museum for exhibits. A coffee shop and arts and crafts facility forms part of the initiative.

News