The South African museum making millions
The Luthuli Museum in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal, has been consistently profitable for the past five years, generating millions in surpluses.
Officially opened in August 2004, the museum is centred on the home of Chief Albert John Luthuli and aims to preserve the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s legacy.
Luthuli was an anti-Apartheid activist and traditional leader who served as the President-General of the ANC from 1952 until his death in 1967.
During this time, he would mentor some of the most prominent and influential ANC leaders of the 20th century, including Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo.
Born to a Zulu family in 1898 in Rhodesia, Luthuli moved to Groutville in 1908 to attend school. The town was the historic home of the Luthuli family.
Trained as a school teacher, Luthuli only ventured into politics in his late 30s when he was elected chief of the Umvoti River Reserve in Groutville.
Luthuli joined the ANC in 1944 and became the provincial president of the Natal branch in 1951. Famously, a year later, he led the Defiance Campaign against the government’s pass laws.
Inspired by his deep Christian faith and Mahatma Gandhi’s methods of protest in India, Luthuli became known for his dedication to non-violent resistance.
This belief came to the fore after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, after which Luthuli managed to resist calls for the ANC to take up armed resistance against the government.
He formed multi-racial alliances with the South African Indian Congress and the white Congress of Democrats, frequently drawing backlash from Africanists in the ANC.
As a result, Luthuli was the brains behind much of the ANC’s vision for a non-racial South African society, even at the cost of the Pan-Africanist Congress breaking away from the party.
His supporters continue to brand Luthuli as an icon of peace, similar to Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., who was partly inspired by the South African’s commitment to non-violence.
Luthuli repeatedly received government banning orders, and the imprisonment or exile of his political allies weakened his power over the ANC.
After his second banning order expired in 1956, Luthuli was arrested that same year during the preliminary hearings for the Treason Trial.
Luthuli was one of 156 leaders who were arrested on charges of high treason due to their opposition to Apartheid and the Nationalist Party government.
This was when his name was first suggested for the Nobel Peace Prize, which he was awarded in 1961. Luthuli was the first African to win the award and was given it for his use of non-violent methods of protesting against racial discrimination.
The museum
The Luthuli Museum was officially opened on 21 August 2004 and is centred on Luthuli’s original 1927 home.
On the site in Nokukhanya Luthuli Street is the modern Interpretative Centre that houses temporary exhibitions, where visitors gather, and school children and learners participate in workshops.
Admission to the museum is free. It relies on an annual state grant and donations to continue operating and maintaining its gift shop.
The museum also has a research department that produces publications and hosts exhibitions and conferences about Luthuli’s life.
Among the many displays are a variety of photographs of early anti-Apartheid veterans of the day, including Luthuli.
A striking, life-size replica figure of the chief sits on a chair just inside the front door of the museum.
In his autobiography, Let My People Go, Luthuli described himself as a ‘compulsive football fan’. The Luthuli Museum, with this in mind, exhibits an outdoor soccer exhibition illustrating his interest in the game and his administrative role in the sport.
The museum is efficiently run by a council of seven, which has resulted in it generating consistent profits (surpluses) over the past five years.
Its state grant has risen from R14.9 million in 2020/21 to R17.7 million in 2023/24. Crucially, over the same period, its visitor numbers have skyrocketed from 15,305 to 44,853.
In the past financial year, Luthuli Museum stuck to a tight budget, having underspent across all its programmes to produce a profit.
The council also oversees a significant investment fund created from donations to the museum, which can supplement its income if needed.
Luthuli Museum’s solid financial performance over the past five years can be seen in the graph below, which shows its profits for the period.
Images of Luthuli Museum
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