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Kwa Muhle Museum
130 Ordnance RdAbout
Also known as the "apartheid museum," Kwa Muhle contains aural and visual exhibits that graphically illuminate how the segregationist policies of the city affected the majority of the city's population. Certainly anyone interested in South Africa's history of race relations should not miss an opportunity to view the exhibition titled the "Durban System." It provides a graphic explanation of how the System, a municipal race policy that evolved in Durban in the early 1900s, granted itself sole monopoly on the brewing and distribution of beer (provided traditionally by women), which it sold through "African-only" beer halls. Proceeds were in turn used to finance the administration and control of black labor in this very building -- these were the offices of the Bantu Administration Board, where the city's black inhabitants were "processed." The "Durban System" is a highly evocative exhibit, and an accompanying audiotape ensures that the information is accessible. The "Pass System" exhibition, located toward the back of the museum, is comparatively text-heavy but provides some insight into the humiliation and hatred evoked by the hated "pass books" that controlled the influx and movement of black people throughout the country from 1948 to 1986.
