The first centre dedicated to the history and legacy of the UK’s anti-apartheid movement is expected to open next year after a £1.2m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The centre will be based at the former headquarters of the African National Congress in London. Between 1978 and 1994, the Georgian-era house in Penton Street, Islington, was a hub for coordinating international opposition to apartheid in South Africa. The building, currently uninhabited and in serious disrepair, will be restored and extended.
The Anti-Apartheid Legacy: Centre of Memory and Learning will house a permanent exhibition, cafe, community garden, archive, and shared workspace, as well as areas for temporary exhibitions highlighting contemporary issues such as migration, inequality and cultural marginalisation.
The centre will collect oral history recordings of stories that are at risk of being lost, and will offer school outreach and volunteer programmes.
Trevor Phillips, the former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and a veteran of the anti-apartheid movement, told the Guardian: “I’m delighted that this extraordinary site is to be preserved and celebrated. Even though the building itself was modest and cramped, for many of us it was the epicentre of the most important movement for justice globally, the anti-apartheid movement. I still have my membership card and treasure it.
“Personally, it was the place that gave me the privilege of meeting some of the bravest and smartest activists I’ve ever known, who were never too busy to have a coffee with a kid who just wanted to learn. Twenty-eight Penton Street changed South Africa, yes; but it also created a generation of young activists here who will never forget what we learned there.”
In March 1982, the day of a big anti-apartheid demonstration in London, the Penton Street ANC building was bombed. One ANC worker was injured, and the building was badly damaged.
After the bombing, in a letter to the Times, Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, the president of the former organisation the Anti-Apartheid Movement, Michael Foot, the leader of the Labour party, David Steel, the leader of the Liberal party, and the trade unionist Jack Jones launched an appeal for funds to rebuild the offices.
The bombing was “the first occasion when the violence that is endemic in South Africa has reached beyond the borders of Africa into the heart of our capital city”, their letter said.
Nine South African former security policemen later admitted carrying out the bombing and were granted amnesty by South Africa’s truth and reconciliation commission.
Chris Mullard, the chair of the Liliesleaf Trust UK, which is behind the new centre, said its development “enables a unique platform from which we will strive to reduce inequality and promote inclusivity through its programmes and events which empower as well as inform contemporary communities and which work towards redressing longstanding imbalances in the perceptions and experience of UK’s multicultural heritage”.
Emily Thornberry, the local Labour MP, has given her backing to the new centre. She said: “The importance of ensuring the preservation of our collective past in the struggle against apartheid and all forms of racism and inequality cannot be underestimated, as we work together towards the building of a just and fair society.”
