Groot Drakenstein Prison in Franschhoek, Western Cape

About Groot Drakenstein Prison

Groot Drakenstein Prison is on the map chiefly because this was the last place in which Nelson Mandela was incarcerated and it was through these gates, (and not those of Pollsmoor in Cape Town or from Robben Island), that Mandela walked to freedom in 1990.

Did you know? Nelson Mandela served the last 14 months of his 27 years in prison in a house in the grounds of the Groot Drakenstein Prison (then known as Victor Verster Prison). He left the prison a free man. At the prison gates stands a life-size bronze statue of him with his fist raised.

The Groot Drakenstein correctional facility (the former Victor Verster maximum security prison near Simondium, between Franschhoek and Paarl) is a working prison that was renamed in 2000.

Surprisingly, the prison looks something like a boys' school rather than a security prison. And its surrounds - it lies in amongst grape vines and undulating hills - is equally incongruous. There is a legend that describes how prisoners from Groot Drakenstein managed to escape on foot - the journey took a week - through the valley and over the mountains to Cape Town.

A larger than life-size bronze statue of Mandela was recently unveiled at Groot Drakenstein Prison. It is a beautiful statue showing Mandela with raised fist - a well recognised gesture of defiance, usually accompanied by the freedom slogan - amandla awethu, isiZulu or power to the people.

Groot Drakenstein Prison is an isolated, out of the way place in which to place such a statue, but the location has been deliberately chosen to stand in the very place where Mandela took his first steps outside of the prison as a free man.

The statue was commissioned from South African artist Jean Doyle by Tokyo Sexwale, a well known businessman who himself spent 13 years on Robben Island. The statue is a tribute to every person who made sacrifices in the fight for freedom.

Inscribed on the base of the statue it reads

"The Sexwhale Family Foundation has commissioned this Long Walk To Freedom Statue in honour of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, together with all those who walked before, alongside and for him in the quest for a united non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and free South Africa, as part of the international struggle for human solidarity against all forms of oppression and exploitation".

Need to Know

WhereGroot Drakenstein Prison, R301 road 5km from the R45 Huguenot Road, Groot Drakenstein, Franschhoek, Cape Winelands, Western Cape, South Africa

WhenPlease enquire.

Telephone+27 (0)21 864-8000

OvernightStay in Franschhoek Accommodation, Western Cape

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Additional Reading

Nelson Mandela

Fascinated with Past President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela? Nelson Mandela is one of the world's most remarkable leaders. Find out more about his past and his impact on South Africa's present and future, and follow in his footsteps with our curated Mandela Route of South Africa.