The artwork is set around four brick columns. In the middle of the columns is a wide circle with a floor mosaic of the MK emblem of a warrior with a spear and shield. The MK logo is done as a pebble mosaic in back stones, against a white stone background. The columns are 3 metres high by 700 cm wide, with cement tops. The circle is 5 metres in diameter.
The four equidistant columns resemble sentry-boxes, facing in different directions (north-south and east-west). Each of the pillars is decorated with mosaic bearing inscriptions from key documents in the annals of the struggle for democracy. The lettering is in black mosaic set into a white and off-white background. The main pillar carries a portrait in mosaic of Petrus Molefe.
The artwork is aligned with the nearby Freedom Charter Memorial, at the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication in Kliptown, which is within view. Also linking with the Freedom Charter site, the Petrus Molefe monument is positioned between large planters on either side in the form of voting crosses.
The launch of uMkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the nation), the armed wing of the ANC, was announced on 16 December 1961 by a series of bomb blasts against apartheid structures in Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth.
Petrus Molefe was the first MK operative to be killed during those first operations. He lost his life in Dube, Soweto, when an explosive device which he was carrying went off. He was accompanied by Ben Ramotsi, who was seriously injured. Petrus Molefe is buried in Nancefield Cemetery, Soweto.
The Petrus Molefe Monument was commissioned by Johannesburg City Parks & Zoo, with guidance and input from Community Development (Arts, Culture and Heritage). The monument was formally unveiled at the opening of the Petrus Molefe Eco-Park on 9 December 2011. The launch of the new park, attended by MK veterans, was held in the run-up to the 50th Anniversary of Mkhonto we Sizwe (16 December 2011).
Protected under Section 37 of the National Heritage Resources Act (Public Monuments and Memorials). “Public monuments and memorials must, without the need to publish a notice to this effect, be protected in the same manner as places which are entered in a heritage register …”
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.
