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The Executive Mayor of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) Cllr Gregory Nthatisi flanked by the Free State Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae, told residents during the celebration of Waaihoek Wesleyan Mission Church in Bloemfontein on Thursday, 8 January 2026, that the City will be celebrating the heritage building annually.
Nthatisi alluded to the sentimental and heritage value of Waaihoek Church, an important building that gave birth to the South African Native National Congress (SNNC) in 1912, and later became the African National Congress (ANC). The Executive Mayor said the church is the umbilical cord of South Africa’s democracy and that all individual and corporate successes are owed to the place, for it is the genesis of everyone’s freedom.
“It will be naïve and stupid of any South African in particular, and Africans to ignore our history, our heritage was born here in terms of our liberation struggle; it was born in this place we are standing in,” said Nthatisi.
The Executive Mayor told the audience that their convergence at Waaihoek is a symbol of the convergence of the struggle heroes who converged at the church to fight the then oppressive regime of apartheid.
“Never again shall Waaihoek Wesleyan Church, our heritage site left uncelebrated. We are going to celebrate it year in and year out. We are going to broadly consult firstly and foremost with the people of Mangaung on how best are we going to celebrate this place, this history, this heritage without losing the discipline and the substance of it.
We need to come with innovative ideas as the people of Mangaung, to say as the people who are the custodians of this land that is so recognised globally, nationally and internationally, what are the best modalities that we are going to put in place to make sure that this place becomes one of the best tourist destinations,” said the Executive Mayor.
Cllr Gregory Nthatisi said in the celebrations of the heritage site, the City needs to also invite internationalists who supported South Africa during the struggle, either by the supply of arms, training camps, education, exile and so forth; he said they need to come and see what they were supporting all along, they need to touch base with the genesis of South Africa’s democracy.
He further committed that the metro, in collaboration with the Free State Provincial Government, will work together to ensure that Waaihoek is attractive and it is what it is supposed to be, in terms of its standard, stature and substance regarding how the people of the world understand it. He said the place must also benefit locals.
“We need to be innovative enough to ensure that this place creates as much opportunities that have to do with the wellbeing of our people, that have to do with the tradition and culture of our people, that has to do with the history that must be understood, we are the ones that must sell it. But on top of that, this place must begin to tell the world who we are,” said Nathatisi.
