June 12, 2002
FREEDOM SQUARE, site of the signing of the historic Freedom Charter by anti-apartheid organizations in 1955, is to be the center of a massive upgrade project to revive the Kliptown area. The square will be renamed Walter Sisulu Square in honour of the 90-year-old former ANC leader.
The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has announced a public competition, calling on architects to submit designs for a monument on Freedom Square. The new design will be part of a massive project to develop greater Kliptown. The judges will be looking for a design which best captures the memory of the square and serves as a fitting tribute to the people who took part in the Congress of the People.
The brief for the design is open-ended, but entries are expected to encapsulate the participatory nature of the Freedom Charter. The briefing document reads: "Entries should communicate concepts for the design of the Freedom Square precinct and for any building on the site. The ideas should be creative and responsive to the historic event that happened when the Congress of the People met in Soweto on the 26 June 1955 and to the nature of the place in which this occurred."
The Gauteng Province is planning to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter in the completed structure in June 2005. Speaking in the Gauteng legislature on Tuesday, Premier, Mbhazima Shilowa said "As a tribute to a giant of our struggle for freedom, the square on which the monument will be erected will be called the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication."
The competition closing date is 18th of June. Entries must be submitted to the Johannesburg Development Agency, 90 Market Street, Johannesburg.
The winning entry will be announced on the 26th of June to coincide with Freedom Charter day. The adjudication will take place over five days from the 20th to the 24th of June.
The judging panel is comprised of: historian Luli Callinicos; architects Kgotso Moleko, Zola Kgaka, Stanley Saitowitz and Mira Fassler-Kamstra; Graeme Reid; the CEO of the JDA; the Executive Mayor or his nominee, and a Gauteng provincial MEC. The first prize is R300 000; R200 000 will go to the runner up; and the third finalist will get R100 000.
Construction on the site will start later this year.
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