From Dompass to Peace Prize – Exploring the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
For those exploring Johannesburg in a single day, the Hop-on Hop-off bus offers a safe and straightforward way to see the city’s highlights. One of the most powerful and thought-provoking stops is the Nelson Mandela Foundation – a calm, dignified space that offers a deeply personal and political journey through South Africa’s struggle for freedom.
Quick Facts
- How to get there: Hop-on Hop-off City Sightseeing Bus – disembark directly opposite the Foundation.
- Cost: Entry by donation – both card and cash accepted.
- Duration of stay: Approximately 1 hour.
- Toilets: Available onsite.
- Accessibility: Fully flat, wheelchair accessible.
- Website: https://www.nelsonmandela.org/
Highlights Nelson Mandela Foundation
- Lifesize bronze statue at the entrance
- Mandela’s Nobel Peace Prize
- A real dompass passbook from apartheid
- Exhibits on the women’s resistance movement
- Mandela and Graça Machel’s matching recliner chairs
- A preserved living room where he spent his final years
- Short films and first-hand video accounts throughout
- Honest portrayals of inequality, race laws, and personal stories
- Calm, reflective atmosphere away from the city noise
A Legacy Built Where He Lived
The Foundation is based at Nelson Mandela’s former home and office in Houghton, Johannesburg. It’s here that he lived after his release from prison and during his later years. Since his death in 2013, the space has become a centre for education, memory, and social justice. Visitors sign in and are invited to donate (cash or card) – there is no fixed entry price.
A bronze statue greets us at the entrance, and from there we’re guided through a chronological, immersive exhibition. It’s not a large space, but every corner carries weight.
Dompass – The Symbol of Control
Among the most striking exhibits is the dompass – a passbook every Black South African was required to carry during apartheid.
Often translated from Afrikaans as “stupid pass”, the dompass controlled where people could live, work, and travel. Failure to produce it could lead to arrest or worse. It was a tool of racial control and economic oppression, and its legacy still resonates.
Seeing a real dompass on display – with stamped pages and handwritten detail, it brings history chillingly close.
Women and the Anti-Apartheid Struggle
A deeply moving section of the exhibition focuses on the role of women in the resistance movement. Far too often sidelined in mainstream accounts, women were central to community organising, protests, and underground networks.
We learn about the 1956 Women’s March, when 20,000 women marched on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest pass laws. We see testimonies from mothers, activists, and organisers who risked everything to speak out.
Displays highlight the gendered violence of apartheid, the burden of caregiving under oppression, and the resilience of women in both rural and urban struggles. It’s a sobering and empowering reminder of how freedom was fought for on every front.
Mandela’s Recliner Chairs – A Glimpse of Home
In Mandela’s living room, the original recliner chairs used by Mandela and his wife Graça Machel still sit side by side. Preserved in his old living space, they offer an unexpectedly tender insight into the man behind the movement.
This room, with its photographs and soft lighting, feels like walking into a home rather than a museum. It reminds us that Mandela’s legacy was shaped not only in prison and parliament, but also in his relationships and daily life. The human and not the legend.
What Does the Nelson Mandela Foundation Do Today?
Though rooted in memory, the Foundation is future-focused. It runs dialogue initiatives, archives, and social justice programmes, using Mandela’s values as a springboard for ongoing change.
The museum exhibitions are just one part of a larger mission: to challenge inequality, promote reconciliation, and keep South African democracy active and evolving.
Final Thoughts
From dompass to peace prize, this visit tells a complete and compelling story — not just of one man, but of a nation still in motion.
Today, the Nelson Mandela Foundation is more than a memorial; it’s a vibrant organisation working to advance social justice, dialogue, and human rights across South Africa and beyond. Through its education programmes, archival work, and public engagements, the Foundation keeps Mandela’s values alive — not as a relic of the past, but as a call to action.
We leave feeling informed, inspired, and quietly hopeful.
This isn’t just a place to remember — it’s a space to imagine what still can be. If you’re in Johannesburg, make time for this powerful stop. You’ll walk away with more than facts — you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of what the people endured.