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The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

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Pieterson Memorial Square to Vilakazi Street, where the homes of Nelson M<strong>and</strong>ela <strong>and</strong><br />

Desmond Tutu stood. 134<br />

At about the same time, the Gauteng Prov<strong>in</strong>ce, the City of Johannesburg <strong>and</strong> St<strong>and</strong>ard<br />

Bank had formed a Soweto Heritage Trust under Nelson M<strong>and</strong>ela’s patronage to promote<br />

<strong>and</strong> develop cultural <strong>and</strong> heritage tourism <strong>in</strong> Soweto. <strong>The</strong> development of heritage sites<br />

<strong>and</strong> routes would “enhance <strong>and</strong> protect” the “quality” of Soweto’s environment, “<strong>in</strong>stil a<br />

sense of community pride <strong>in</strong> Soweto’s heritage”, “contribute to nation‐build<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong><br />

reconciliation” <strong>and</strong> offer “employment <strong>and</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess opportunities”. <strong>The</strong> Soweto Heritage<br />

Trust made plans to turn Soweto’s heritage of resistance <strong>in</strong>to a more purposeful themed<br />

environment <strong>in</strong> a series of stages. It also managed to retrieve the M<strong>and</strong>ela house from the<br />

control of W<strong>in</strong>nie Madikizela M<strong>and</strong>ela, who had controversially earned money from<br />

tourist visits for a period. 135<br />

<strong>The</strong> Trust’s corporate identity was styled through the adoption of a pietà‐like visual<br />

symbol, based on Sam Nzima’s iconic photograph of Pieterson’s lifeless body be<strong>in</strong>g<br />

carried by Mbuyisa Makhubu. 136 For the first phase, the Hector Pieterson Memorial Square<br />

would be developed <strong>in</strong>to “a vital tourism <strong>and</strong> education centre”, with “walkways”,<br />

“water features” <strong>and</strong> an amphitheatre. Plans were formulated to establish a visitor’s centre<br />

with an exhibition <strong>and</strong> to create a “Heritage Trail” from the Hector Pieterson site to other<br />

sites such as Vilakazi Street. Related to this, plans were also made to convert M<strong>and</strong>ela’s<br />

Soweto home <strong>in</strong>to a museum. In the future, it was envisaged that other sites such as<br />

134 Leslie Witz, Ciraj Rassool <strong>and</strong> Gary M<strong>in</strong>kley, ‘Repackag<strong>in</strong>g the Past for <strong>South</strong> <strong>Africa</strong>n Tourism’,<br />

Daedalus, Vol. 130, No. 1, W<strong>in</strong>ter 2001, pp 284‐5; Barbara Kirshenblatt‐Gimblett, Dest<strong>in</strong>ation Culture:<br />

Tourism, Museums <strong>and</strong> Heritage (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998). See also MelanieAnn<br />

Feris, ‘Soweto a Grow<strong>in</strong>g Magnet for Overseas Visitors’, .<br />

135 ‘Soweto Heritage Trust’, Johannesburg, n.d. (c.1998), brochure; Charlene Smith, W<strong>in</strong>nie pocket<strong>in</strong>g<br />

museum earn<strong>in</strong>gs’, ; <strong>The</strong>mba Sepotokele,<br />

‘Scramble to defuse W<strong>in</strong>nie museum row’, .<br />

136 ‘Soweto Heritage Trust’. This image became so powerfully associated with history <strong>and</strong> culture <strong>in</strong><br />

Soweto that it also entered a new Soweto forum of celebrity, glitter <strong>and</strong> showbiz, when Hector<br />

Pietersen‐like pietà statuettes were presented as ‘Soweto Awards’ to honour prom<strong>in</strong>ent Soweto<br />

residents from different walks of life (‘<strong>The</strong> Soweto Awards’, SABC 3, 8 June 2002).<br />

237

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