Apartheid Museum

19/10/2026

On 19 October 1977, the apartheid government banned 18 Black Consciousness organisations and the Christian Institute, closed newspapers including The World and Weekend World, and detained journalists and activists across the country.

Steve Biko had died in police detention just over five weeks earlier. Newspapers had reported the circumstances of his death when the government wanted the story buried, and the crackdown was the answer.

Closing the papers did not silence the journalists. Percy Qoboza, editor of The World, was held without charge until March 1978. Within months he was working again, at a new paper called the Post, staffed largely by his former colleagues. That newsroom line runs directly to the Sowetan, still publishing today.

Censorship was not incidental to apartheid. It was structural, and the journalists and photographers who kept documenting the system did so at real personal risk.

Today, 19 October is marked as National Press Freedom Day.

Visit the Apartheid Museum to explore the history of apartheid and the people who refused to let it go unrecorded.

www.apartheidmuseum.org

15/10/2026

On 15 October 1985, a truck stacked with wooden crates drove down Thornton Road in Athlone, Cape Town. Armed police were hiding inside the crates. When stones hit the truck, the officers stood up and fired into the street. Michael Miranda, aged 11, Shaun Magmoed, 15, and Jonathan Claasen, 21, were killed. Several others were injured.

Athlone had been the scene of sustained unrest, and journalists were in the township covering it. Two CBS News crews were filming that afternoon and captured the ambush from beginning to end. Police later forced them from the scene but failed to seize the tapes, and the footage was broadcast around the world that same evening.

It aired the day before the Commonwealth summit opened in Nassau, where sanctions against South Africa were the central question. Weeks later, the government banned television, radio, and photographic coverage of unrest in areas under the State of Emergency.

For years the state had answered accounts of its violence by calling them exaggerated. That defence did not survive this tape.

Visit the Apartheid Museum to explore the realities of apartheid and the work of those who documented them.

www.apartheidmuseum.org

12/10/2026

In October 1984, the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to Desmond Tutu, then General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, for his role in the non-violent campaign against apartheid. He was the second South African to receive it, after Chief Albert Luthuli in 1960.

By then Tutu was one of the few voices the state had not managed to silence. He argued openly against apartheid and for international economic pressure on the government, at a time when saying so carried real risk.

The award put the world's most visible peace prize in the hands of a man his own government treated as an enemy, and made plain where international opinion on apartheid South Africa stood.

Visit the Apartheid Museum to see TRUTH TO POWER, our exhibition on Desmond Tutu and the role of the churches in the struggle against apartheid.

Plan your visit: www.apartheidmuseum.org

07/10/2026

TEMPORARY EXHIBITION
TRUTH TO POWER
Desmond Tutu & the churches in the struggle against apartheid

Today is the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s birthday. It is also the anniversary of Hamas’s attack on
Israel three years ago today.
WATCH this clip which presents the Archbishop’s view on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Reflect on the
ongoing violence, fear and hatred in the Middle East that has led to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
VISIT the Apartheid Museum to find out more.

©️ Middle East Eye
-

05/10/2026

There is something about the Apartheid Museum that stays with you.

People often leave with more than they expected to. We hope every visit gives you something to reflect on, question, and carry with you.

Plan your visit and book tickets online: www.apartheidmuseum.org

29/09/2026

The exhibitions tell the story, a guide brings it to life.

Our guides carry knowledge that goes beyond what a self-guided tour can offer: personal stories, deeper context, and the details that don't fit on a wall panel. It is an added layer to the museum experience, one that makes the history feel closer.

Guided tours are available for groups of 15 or more and last between 2 and 3 hours.

- South African citizens (with ID): R190 per adult, R140 for pensioners, students, and children
- International visitors: R260 per adult, R200 for pensioners, students, and children

To arrange a guided group tour, please contact the Apartheid Museum directly.

[email protected]
+27 (0)11 309 4700
www.apartheidmuseum.org

28/09/2026

NEW EXHIBITION
JOHN KANI: A LIVING LEGEND

WATCH this clip of John Kani describing his first encounter with Athol Fugard, one of South Africa’s most significant playwrights.

Kani tells how extraordinary it was for him to meet Athol in the 1965. It was the first time in his life that he as a Black man was introduced to a white man on first name terms. It was, “John this is Athol, Athol this is John’ instead of ‘John this is Mr Fugard. Mr Fugard, this is John.” And thus began a relationship between John and Athol which lasted for 60 years.

From 30 August until 30 November, the Apartheid Museum is honouring Kani’s
contribution to the institution with an exhibition that revisits key moments in a stage and screen career that, over six decades, has taken him from Port Elizabeth rehearsal rooms to Hollywood studios.

Drawing on images, text, artefacts, and film, the exhibition showcases the ideas that have occupied Kani on and off the stage, informing his vision as a mentor and visionary.

©️ Apartheid Museum & Full Circle Productions
-

24/09/2026

Heritage Day is a celebration of the many cultures, traditions, and identities that make South Africa what it is. It is a day to celebrate our diversity and the shared sense of belonging that connects us, despite the divisions of our past.

One of the more unexpected ways this idea of togetherness took hold was through Braai Day. In 2007, Archbishop Desmond Tutu became patron of the campaign, recognising the braai as something that could bring South Africans together across cultural and social divides. As he put it, South Africa had many languages, but one word for a braai.

At its heart, that is what Heritage Day is about: finding the things that bring us together, while celebrating the cultures and traditions that make each of us who we are.

We invite you to join us at the Apartheid Museum today for our Heritage Day Market. Enjoy arts and crafts, cultural exhibitions, food stalls, live music from the Soweto Family Band and more.

24 September 2026 | 09:00 - 15:00
Free entry for all South Africans.

Celebrate our heritage. Embrace our diversity. 🇿🇦

19/09/2026

Join us this Heritage Day for “A Blend of Cultures” at the Apartheid Museum! 🇿🇦

Understand our past. Change our future.

Celebrate South Africa's rich cultural diversity with arts and crafts, cultural exhibitions, live music by the Soweto Family Band, and more.

24 September 2026
09:00 - 15:00
Apartheid Museum

FREE ENTRY FOR ALL SOUTH AFRICANS.
Celebrate our heritage. Embrace our diversity.

-

The Apartheid Museum opened in 2001 and is acknowledged as the pre-eminent museum in the world dealing with 20th century South Africa, at the heart of which is the aparth