The Enoch Sontonga 1873 – 1905 exhibition, at the Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition at the Cape Town City Hall, honours the composer of Nkosi Sikilel’ iAfrica, the South African National Anthem.
Enoch Mankayi Sontonga, born 1873 and educated in the Eastern Cape, has earned his place in history as the composer of one of Africa’s best-known and most loved anthems. Sontonga unfortunately died at the young age of 32 and therefore never knew how popular his anthem would become and the role it would play in our democracy.
- The City chose to honour Enoch Sontonga and the role his anthem has played in our history with its first temporary exhibit at the City Hall as South Africans reflect on our democracy this Freedom Day.
‘I am very proud to have been a part of the opening of the Enoch Sontonga exhibition at the Nelson Mandela in Cape Town – Legacy Exhibition on the eve of this year’s Freedom Day. I would like to commend the City team responsible for prioritising this important part of our heritage. It’s so important to honour our past, however, this will prove to be in vain if we do not use the lessons and examples from national symbols such as Mr Sontonga to equip us to take full responsibility and own our future. Enoch’s story inspires me, it teaches me that we can all be a part of a better tomorrow and that we should not underestimate our contributions to society,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
The Enoch Sontonga Temporary Exhibition forms part of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition in the Cape Town City Hall. Entrance is free and the City encourages everyone to visit the exhibition at City Hall to learn just how Nkosi Sikilel’ iAfrica became the iconic anthem that it is today.
The City of Cape Town met with Geneveve Walker, a staff member at the National Monuments Council who was asked to assist with locating the grave of Enoch Sontonga with the idea of honouring Sontonga’s memory in 1994. Walker and her assigned team did the research on Enoch’s grave at that time and provided the City’s Environmental Management Department with all her research; materials and artefacts to make this exhibition possible.
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika became well known and popular beyond the borders of South Africa, and over the years has been translated and adapted into several other languages. It is still the national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia and has been sung in Zimbabwe and Namibia for many years.
In 1994 Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem van Suid Afrika, the old South African anthem, become South Africa’s national song.
WHAT: Enoch Sontonga
WHERE: Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition, Cape Town City Hall, Darling Street, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: Thursday, 28 April 2022 up until June 2023
INFO: Visit | E Mandela.Legacy@capetown.gov.za
See also Cape Town Green Map
