1. MEDIA RELEASE June 15 2012
SOPHIATOWN 100 YEARS – PRESIDENT ZUMA SUPPORTS PLANS FOR ENTERPRISE AND CULTURAL CENTRE
In Sophiatown on June 15 2012, the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre was honoured to welcome President Zuma,
who was marking the 100th anniversary of the neighbourhood with a visit to key sites of remembrance.
Beginning at the grave of Dr A B Xuma in Brixton Cemetery, the President spent time at the former home of the ANC
President (1943-49), GP and community activist, in Sophiatown. The house is now the Sophiatown Heritage Centre,
run by the Huddleston Centre for the City of Joburg.
The President, accompanied by Minister Paul Mashatile and ANC Chairperson Baleka Mbete, viewed plans for the
proposed Motswako Enterprise and Cultural Centre.
Over the last year, thanks to an initial grant from the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund, consultations with the
community have resulted in exciting plans for a purpose built enterprise and cultural space, to be built on the
foundations of forced removals – with a focus clearly on the future. There are no recreation facilities in Sophiatown,
and while this project is not for a community centre, it will host cultural and social events as part of its mission to
revive the spirit of Sophiatown.
The Motswako (the ‘mix’) Hub will link youth in the historic western area neighbourhoods – all of which suffered from
forced removals in the mid 1950s – to entrepreneurship opportunities including training and enterprise incubation. It
aims to reach 1000 young people with enterprise and employment opportunities by Freedom Day 2014.
Sally Motlana, activist and Huddleston ‘child’ greeting the President and VIPs at the Xuma House, described her
education as ‘all due to Father Huddleston’s care for me as a very poor child’. She said “In celebrating where we have
come from, this project will create a new and inspiring place of learning and encounter, on the foundations of our
Constitution, here in historic Sophiatown, for all of us who live in South Africa, black and white together”.
The President agreed that enterprise creation was a priority for the country as a whole and welcomed the Motswako
Initiative being taken by the Huddleston Centre, which will focus on young people and the creative industries.
The President addressed an audience including former residents of Sophiatown, who have been advising the
Huddleston Centre on the new scheme to build something for the future, which pays tribute to Sophiatown’s past but
has a clear focus on youth – which is the purpose of the Trevor Huddleston Centre for the past 12 years. Today is the
99th anniversary of Huddleston’s birth.
Today the ANC Centenary Flame also came to the gravesite of Dr A B Xuma, his former resident in Sophiatown, and
then the Anglican Church of Christ the King. The latter sites are two of only four surviving buildings from the
demolition of Sophiatown between 1955-1962.
http://www.trevorhuddleston.org or 011 673 7238

2. For more information: Katlego Gabashane (079 790 8500)
Notes for Editors
Established in 1999, The Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre is a registered NPO and Section 21 company dedicated to
developing the potential of youth, linking them to heritage, and creating spaces where the spirit of Sophiatown can be
experienced in our contemporary age, contributing to social cohesion.
The Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre has, for 10 years, linked youth with potential and drive, to business training,
life skills and networks, enabling them to create their own paths to independence through enterprise.
The Motswako Project will be a purpose-built series of spaces to inspire, encourage, upskill and facilitate real business
development, training and opportunity, combined with human values. It will link the historic western area
neighbourhoods, long disadvantaged by our past, to create a future which speaks to the needs of the majority of the
continent. Phase 2 will also provide a cultural performance space, complementing the enterprise agenda, and
enabling a focus on business in the creative industries.