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TThe time is the oppressive 1950s, as the National Party government elected by the minority white franchise in 1948 continues rolling out apartheid. The place is Chancellor House, in the heart of Johannesburg’s CBD. The residents are Mandela & Tambo Attorneys, who run their legal firm from these premises.
It was a brave decision by the Essa family from Polokwane in Limpopo to lease the building they owned in a so-called ‘Indian area’ to two black African lawyers.
Between 1952 and 1956, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo had a thriving law practice, trying to help others who were accused of crimes against the state and disobeying the draconian laws of the time.
Many of their clients needed help in securing passes – identity papers granting the right to stay and work in towns or cities (during apartheid, Africans were officially citizens of their rural ‘homelands’, not ‘white’ South African cities), which were obligatory for black people to carry at all times.
The firm closed in 1960, after Nelson Mandela was arrested and later imprisoned, and Oliver Tambo fled the country to lead the struggle from exile.
When Chancellor House opened its doors once again to the public in 2010, Amos Masondo, then the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, said that ‘if bricks could talk, this building would have been replete with colourful stories about the struggles for national liberation’.
For years, the former law offices had been derelict and crumbling, inhabited by squatters and damaged by fire, but today the building has been faithfully restored with the help of old photographs.
A new roof has replaced the dilapidated one, new ground floor windows have been installed, and the three small rooms of the second-floor offices, where Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo once practised in South Africa’s first black law firm, have been relaid with parquet flooring.
Chancellor House is now a dignified freedom struggle memorial that resonates with the spirit of the two remarkable men who changed South African history.
Did You Know?
TTravel tips & Planning info
Who to contact
Past Experiences
Tel: +27 (0)83 701 3046
Email: past.experiences@hotmail.com
How to get here
Chancellor House is on the corner of Fox and Gerard Sekoto streets in Ferreirasdorp in the heart of Johannesburg’s CBD.
Tours to do
Past Experiences offer great walking trips around the inner city, including a visit to Chancellor House.
Get around
On foot. To get in and out of the Jo’burg CBD, you can self-drive or use buses, metered taxis or smartphone taxi apps – or the Gautrain, via Park Station (if you’re staying in Rosebank, Sandton, Midrand or Pretoria).
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