A new Madiba Mural watches over Woodstock; fittingly positioned on Nelson Street on the side wall of the Humanity Hub building.
Woodstock, South Africa (12 May 2025) — Nelson Mandela now watches over Woodstock as a larger-than-life, six-by-ten metre mural thanks to Cape Town muralist Stefan Smit (@these10fingers). Aptly positioned on Nelson Street and on the side of the Souper Troopers’ Humanity Hub, the new Madiba Mural is a long-anticipated, welcomed and warm addition to the suburb.
“There is no one human being better suited than Mandela, who is such a beacon of hope, to preside over The Humanity Hub, a centre that provides hope and support to people living on the streets of Cape Town,” says Souper Troopers founder Kerry Hoffman.
Stefan’s process begins with laying down a doodle grid on the wall for perspective. After that, the focus was on free-styling with a brush. For this piece, Stefan decided to keep the very formative layer of the doodle grid for all to see as a symbol for Madiba’s beloved shweshwe shirts, showing a small part of the painting process for those in the know.
Though the work began in early April, the seed for the Madiba mural was planted back in 2023 when talks between Kerry and Stefan began.
“I was deeply touched by the mural he painted at Londolozi, where Madiba spent time relaxing after his release from prison, and as soon as I saw that, I knew I wanted something similar on our building,” Kerry explains. What began loosely as a concept incorporating birds in flight grew into the final image of Madiba as a beacon of hope and light.
Says Stefan:
“I wanted to paint something that would brighten up the days of all passing by the Hub. For me, this image fitted in perfectly with Souper Troopers’ work, as I love how much the organisation gives back to the community.”
“It’s like the stars are all in alignment: for this mural of Madiba — who so symbolizes freedom — to grace our building, being painted around Freedom Day and almost magically on Nelson Street” adds Kerry. “Even the street number of our building is 66 Newmarket Street … which brings to mind Mandela’s prison number 46664.”
About Souper Troopers and Stefan Smit
Souper Troopers works with and advocates for Cape Town’s most marginalised residents – those living on the streets. Its Humanity Hub extends this mission by providing a range of services to help homeless people transform their lives, working tirelessly to bring dignity to hundreds of homeless people.
As for the artist, Stefan is an internationally recognised fine artist who resides in Cape Town but travels to create and exhibit globally. While his work has been shown in local and international galleries and private collections, it is, perhaps, his mural work that has the widest reach. Not least because the murals grace buildings from Cape Town to Denmark to Sri Lanka but also because they help folk outside of the art world access the work.
“There’s just something about mural painting: What can I say? I like working at heights,” the artist chuckles.
More about the Humanity Hub
Souper Troopers moved its Humanity Hub from the Community Chest building on Bree Street to its current location in 2022, which enabled the organisation to grow in leaps and bounds. In recent years, it has developed the successful African Worry Dolls upliftment programme, which facilitates Troopers – what the organisation calls the people it works with – in the making of one-of-a-kind miniature dolls from recycled materials. The dolls are sold locally and overseas as far afield as New York and Paris, and help develop important job skills as well as revenue for the services Souper Troopers provides.
by 