Tuesday, 11 February will mark the 30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s return from Victor Verster prison.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation will host three events in the Western Cape to honour this moment. These events are considered the “new prisons of Africa, which have come to define life for many, and focus on how to achieve substantive liberation,” the Nelson Mandela Foundation wrote on their website.
It further reads, “These “prisons” range from the physical prisons that are the site of high levels of incarceration and the failures of restorative justice, to the effective prisons that define our lives, such as the violence that keeps people in their homes and the prisons of the mind that keep people within a particular understanding of themselves.”
According to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the three events include:
| Time | Event | Venue |
| 08:00 – 10:30 | Reunion of members of the Original Reception Committee that Facilitated Madiba’s Return from Prison | Drakenstein Correctional Services (Victor Verster) |
| 12:00 – 14:00 | Lecture by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lemayah Gbowee and a panel discussion between Gbowee and Danai Mupotsa (author of Feeling and Ugly) and Opal Tometi (Co-founder of Black Lives Matter) | Cape Town City Hall |
| 14:30 – 16:30 | The Speech that Birthed a Nation, 30 Years On: Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa | Cape Town City Hall balcony |
The City of Cape Town (CoCT) has also warned that, due to the celebrations, there will be road closures in the surrounding areas of Darling Street.
Darling Street will be reduced to two single lanes from 9 am on Monday and will be closed to traffic between Lower Plein and Buitekant Streets from 6 pm on Monday to 10 pm on Tuesday.
Also, from 6 pm on Monday, there will be no parking permitted on Parade Street and Coronation Street.
The CoCT asks motorists to take alternative routes where possible because the road closures could lead to traffic congestion.
