Piece Berlin Wall
Mandela Rhodes Foundation
Cape Town
South Africa
2016

The Mandela Rhodes Foundation is a joint venture of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Rhodes Trust. Their scholarships support the training of leaders in Africa – in the spirit of Nelson Mandela, by leadership and reconciliation, and in the spirit of Cecil Rhodes, who represented education and entrepreneurship.

When Nelson Mandela visited Berlin in 1996, he chose himself a Wall segment, a gift from the city of Berlin. His hometown couldn’t agree on where to place the segment. It was set up therefore at the harbourside shopping and entertainment district Waterfront, in front of the BMW pavilion.

In 2010, the segment was removed to the city center, to St. Georges Mall vis a vis the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.


A symbol of peace and a token of reconciliation - a piece of the Berlin Wall in Cape Town

https://www.southafrica.net/za/en/travel/article/a-symbol-of-peace-and-a-token-of-reconciliation-a-piece-of-the-berlin-wall-in-cape-town


150 St George’s Mall has become one of Cape Town’s main attractions for locals and visitors to the city, with everyone stopping in their tracks to admire this treasured piece of history. A piece of the Berlin Wall was donated to former president Nelson Mandela in 1996, when he visited Germany on a state visit. He received it as a special gift from the city of Berlin before the end of his tenure as president of South Africa.

This important symbol of peace arrived in SA in 1996 when the German ambassador to South Africa organized for the piece to be housed outside the BMW Pavilion at the Waterfront, where it remained until the Pavilion changed hands. It now resides at the Mandela Rhodes Foundation. The piece of wall has been placed outside the Foundation to be viewed.

The Berlin Wall stood for 30 years until 9 November 1989, when the leader of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. This announcement signaled a new dawn for the citizens of Germany.

It was also during this time when former president of South Africa, F.W. de Klerk, announced the unbanning of all anti-apartheid movements, which saw exiled freedom fighters return to South Africa. A month after the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, on 13 December, Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk met for the first time to discuss the country’s political future. Two months later, on 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison and South Africa was on the brink of becoming a new, transformed nation. His release sparked much excitement across South Africa and people saw Mandela as their deliverance and beacon of hope. Everyone knew the country was about to undergo massive change. Three decades later, both Germany and South Africa can look back with pride on how they managed to dismantle divisive legacies.

The Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.