Nic Wolpe – Liliesleaf visionary’s legacy honoured

Nic Wolpe wanted to make Liliesleaf a place of inspiration, liberation, and dialogue; a place to keep memory alive. For his work, he was knighted by the king of Sweden and received the Royal Order of the Polar Star.

Like his favourite fictional secret agent, James Bond, our brother – and Alicia’s uncle – Nic had several brushes with death. When he was six weeks old, he survived a rare pneumonia. As an adult, he survived a benign spinal tumour, a heart attack, and a few other near-death experiences.

On Saturday, 24 August, he died after a two-year battle with a brain tumour. He was 61 years old.

Nic’s life wasn’t easy. He was born into a struggle family. Our parents, AnnMarie and Harold Wolpe, were prominent during the struggle years and beyond. Harold avoided being tried and sentenced with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and others in the Rivonia Trial by escaping from prison in August 1963 with Arthur Goldreich, Mosie Moolla, and Abdullah Jassat.

The escape made headlines, and Harold fled to the United Kingdom (UK), where AnnMarie joined him, followed three months later in October 1963 by their daughters, Tessa and Peta. Nic was able to join his family only in the spring of 1964 as he was still weak after his bout of pneumonia.

Nic’s childhood was hard. He described feeling lonely, and he suffered from severe dyslexia. One of his teachers told his mother that he wouldn’t even be able to work as a dustman. However, Nic was tenacious and driven, and in 1988, obtained a degree in sociology at the University of Warwick in the UK.

His first job was with Joel Joffe, one of the Rivonia Trial lawyers, at Allied Dunbar, a life insurance company. He came home from work one day in 1990 to find his mother on the phone. She handed him the receiver and to his astonishment, Nelson Mandela, who’d only recently been released from prison, greeted him.

Nic returned to South Africa in December 1991 shortly after his parents came back. He worked in a bar at Cape Town’s Waterfront. Later, he joined Operation Hunger and worked for the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, before becoming a business consultant in 2000.

It was at this time that he became interested in Liliesleaf, its history, and its role as the nerve centre of the liberation struggle. Liliesleaf was the headquarters of the underground movement. On 11 July 1963, the African National Congress (ANC) held one last meeting there. The police raided the farm, and many of the leaders were arrested and received life sentences at the Rivonia Trial.

Nic came up with the idea to make Liliesleaf a place of inspiration, liberation, and dialogue; a place to keep memory alive. He approached Mendi Msimang, whom he knew when Mendi was the chief representative of the ANC in the UK, and with his encouragement, Nic forged ahead. In 2001, President Thabo Mbeki announced the formation of the Liliesleaf Trust.

Nic realised that they first needed to acquire the farm and the main buildings. Mendi introduced Nic to Adam Fleming, a businessman and the nephew of Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels, and asked him to become a trustee. In February 2002, Adam invited Nic to join him for breakfast. By the end of that breakfast, Nic’s journey in creating what is now a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation World Heritage Site had begun.

About 40 years after Harold had signed the purchase of Liliesleaf in 1961, Nic was buying it back. He created an interactive museum full of press clippings, video recordings, and memoirs. Not only did Nic create a museum, he had an auditorium built – a space for meetings and conferences.

Nic advocated for the role of heritage, saying, “Liliesleaf is a site of memory that recalls the stories and events through immersive and dynamic interactive exhibitions, and in so doing, ensures that this period in South Africa’s recent history is preserved for current and future generations.”

For his work, he received the Royal Order of the Polar Star in 2017, a knighthood awarded only to foreigners and members of the royal family.

Nic is survived by his older sisters, Peta and Tessa, his brother-in-law, Will, and his four children, Jade, James, Liam, and Olivia.

We’ll miss you Nic, your unbelievable memory, your recounting of scenes from the Marx Brothers’ movies, your love of music particularly Elvis Presley, your sense of humour, your devotion to Manchester United, and that cheeky twinkle in your eye when you smiled.

• Peta and Tessa Wolpe are Harold and AnnMarie Wolpe’s children and Nic’s sisters. Alicia Chamaillé is Peta’s daughter. A longer version of this article was published in Daily Maverick.