Arts, Culture & Heritage
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Blue Plaque Sites

Red Square in Fordsburg

Table of Contents

About Red Square in Fordsburg

Plaque developed in cooperation with the management of the Oriental Plaza shopping centre. The plaque is accompanied by a series of storyboards.

Address

Oriental Plaza, South Mall, Albertina Sisulu Road, Fordsburg
October 2017

Inscription

SITE OF RED SQUARE Red Square was a favourite political meeting place for protest movements around the 1940s and 50s, at a site now covered by the South Mall and Car Park 4 of the Oriental Plaza. The Defiance Campaign was launched here in 1952, the first mass anti-apartheid campaign led by Nelson Mandela as Volunteer-in-Chief. Completed in 1976, the Plaza was built to accommodate Indian traders evicted by the apartheid government from 14th Street in Pageview /Fietas.

Photo courtesy: Kabelo Mokoena (Sunday Times)

Explore Joburg

A culmination of research gathered over many years, the Online Johannesburg Heritage Register is being launched on Nelson Mandela Day 18 July 2025.

Among the many heritage sites featured is Chancellor House, the downtown offices of Mandela and Tambo Attorneys in the 1950s. After having been vacant and shuttered for more than a decade, this iconic building is being revived and brought to life once again as offices for the Community Development Department, which oversees the City’s Arts, Culture & Heritage Services.

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