4 November 2011
The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, and the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Rosemary, had a busy first day of their trip to South Africa on Thursday, paying a visit to Soweto and to the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg.
In Pretoria, Their Royal Highnesses paid a visit to Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who is hosting them as President Jacob Zuma is attending the G20 Summit in Cannes, France.
Prince Charles also attended a meeting with business leaders to discuss climate change ahead of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, while Camilla visited a women’s refuge project in Pretoria.
The royal couple started off the day in Walter Sisulu Square, also known as Freedom Square, in Kliptown, Soweto, where a gospel choir dressed performed traditional songs and the Duchess was given a brown and black headdress by Nthabiseng Dibakoane, a local businesswoman who specialises in hand-made bags, hats, shoes and ethnic dresses.
Dibakoane insisted on giving the hat to the duchess for free after The Duchess told her she wanted to pay for it.
The Prince and Duchess were given a performance of the South African national anthem by toddlers from a creche that cares for Aids orphans and other vulnerable children in the township.
They were then given a tour of the Freedom Charter Monument by Kwezi Gule, the chief curator, who spoke to them about the significance of Freedom Square, site of the signing of the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People on 26 June 1955.
Later in the day, Charles and Camilla were hosted by Graca Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg.
The head of the Memory Programme at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, Verne Harris, told their Royal Highnesses that his staff had put together a display of some of the “gems” in the Mandela archive for them.
They were shown the oldest items in the archive: Mandela’s Methodist Church membership cards, dated from 1929; the warrant of committal from when he was sentenced to five years in prison on 7 November 1962; as well as a selection of his prison desk calendars and notebooks.
Prince Charles pointed out a young Mandela in the earliest photograph of him, with a group of his classmates at Healdtown College, taken in the late 1930s.
In Pretoria later in the day, while the Prince met with business leaders to discuss climate change, Camilla visited Potter’s House, a centre for abused and destitute women.
There were waves and smiles as she entered the humble home, where she met and greeted some of the residents and former residents, among them 28-year-old mother of two Andisiwe Njaba.
Andisiwe sought refuge in the home after she was beaten and stabbed while pregnant with her second baby by her then boyfriend and father of her children.
“I knew I had to turn my life around … I could no longer stand being in an abusive relationship, so I turned to Potter’s House. I came here pregnant with my second child, from 2009 to 2010,” said Andisiwe, who had a long conversation with the Duchess.
When she came to Potter’s House, Njaba said she had no purpose in life, had anger management issues, was unemployed and had no self-confidence.
“But now I’m alive, I’m working, living in my own flat and supporting both my kids. I’m more focused in life – and it’s all thanks to Potter’s House,” said Njaba, who shared a joke with the Duchess about how naughty her kids are at this age.
Potter’s House was established in 1993 as the first non-racial shelter for abused and destitute women in the city of Pretoria. It is hosted by Yeast City Housing and can accommodate 24 women at a time with their children, averaging about 100 women and 50 children per year.
During the remainder of their visit, Charles and Camilla will visit Kwazulu-Natal and Cape Town before leaving South Africa after a church service on Sunday, en route to a four-day visit in Tanzania.
The Prince of Wales visited South Africa in 1997 when he introduced his son, Prince Harry, to southern Africa. His last official visit to Tanzania was in 1984.
This is the Duchess of Cornwall’s first official visit to southern Africa, though she has visited privately. She has never visited Tanzania.
SAinfo reporter and BuaNews
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