RED LOCATION MUSEUM, NELSON MANDELA BAY, SOUTH AFRICA—JANUARY 14, 2006—

A reburial ceremony of Anti-Apartheid Veterans Raymond Mhlaba and Govan Mbeki is planned for 13 February 2006 at the Red Location Museum from where their remains will be finally laid to rest at the Mausoleum which has been installed within the museum complex.

The Museum Opening Celebrations will follow afterwards with a dazzling programme which includes input from the South African President Thabo Mbeki and other prominent leaders as well as excellent entertainment from National and Local Artists.

Many are expected to attend the event from Global directions and the crowds will be able to interact and view activities via a big screen. The event organizers are Imbizo Events and Hlubi’s Entertainment.

The Museum will open it’s doors to the public on 14 February 2006 and showcasing the launching celebrations will be the spectacular display of no less than 17 exhibitions ranging from multimedia; high tech installations and contemporary art and photographic expressions: - “Orientation and Narrative”,” Hall of Columns”, “George Pemba Exhibition”, “Struggle Underground”, Music and the Struggle”, Sports and the Struggle”, Siyaya Children’s Explorations in Art”,” David Goldblutt Photographic Exhibition”, Sisonke Art Project”, “Vuyisile Mini Exhibition”, “Veteran stories – an Archive of Memory”, “Peter Magubane Photographic Exhibition”; “Enoch Mankayi Sontonga Exhibition”, “Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Exhibition”, “Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality and Göteborg Partnership Exhibition”, “The Struggle and Memory Exhibition” and the Mausoleum.

The Museum is very unique in the sense that it is situated on a site of struggle and is the only museum in the world which houses an internal Mausoleum. The Red Location Museum seeks to remember the past in many ways. It plans to depict the notion of memory: - portraying both the horrors of Institutionalized Racism and the Heroic efforts of the Anti-Apartheid movement. The museum is aspiring to serve as a stimuli towards upgrading the destitute living conditions of the surrounding Red Location community (public programmes in education, arts & culture activities as well as instilling a spirit entrepreneurism, etc.) whilst celebrating those who fought to end apartheid. The brilliant design of the building together with the vibrant museum exhibitions encompasses an overall feeling of awkwardness, ambiguity and complexity and lends itself as a top International tourist attraction.

Link to Red Location Museum*:
(Museum Website under Construction)

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MEDIA CONTACT: Annette du Plessis, Red Location Museum Marketing Officer
E-mail pmngadi@mandelametro.gov.za;
Landline +2741 408 8400;
Fax +2741 408 8401
Mobile +27835652967


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