H-Tec Stellenbosch - A Homecoming for Nelson Mandela’s Shoes

Visit Nelson Mandela’s shoes at HI-TEC Stellenbosch shop! The Hi-Tec sneakers that Mandela wore walking out of prison are now on permanent display at the Hi-Tec store in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Nelson Mandela’s blue and white Hi-Tec tennis trainers have made their way home from Amsterdam to the Hi-Tec concept store in Church Street, Stellenbosch.

These shoes were Nelson mandela’s favourite footwear during his 28-year long incarceration on Robben Island. Upon his departure he auctioned them off for charity.

When Frank van Wezel, founder of Hi-Tec Sports, heard that Nelson Mandela’s Hi-Tec trainers were going up for auction to raise funds for the Nelson Mandela foundation, he bought them without hesitation. Frank has huge admiration for the late President.

The shoes were kept in a glass case on display for years at the company’s global concept store in Amsterdam. Tourists from all over the world visited the store to see the shoes, take pictures and express their admiration for our late president. 

In December 2018, Frank brought the shoes back to South Africa where they are proudly displayed and can now be viewed in the Hi-Tec Stellenbosch store.

The reaction from the public has been “sensational.” Stellenbosch is home to around 40,000 students, and van Wezel said that students have walked into the store and asked, “are they really Madiba’s shoes? ‘We didn’t know he was wearing quite modern sneakers,’ they’d say, ‘since he was an old man.’ But what they don’t realize is that he was a young man once; in fact he was quite young when he entered Robben Island. He was only 45.”

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Please contact the team at Hi-Tec Stellenbosch for enquiries and information.