Chief Albert Luthuli House in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, more simply known as Luthuli House, is the headquarters of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) and other subsidiary organizations. The name "Luthuli House" is frequently used as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...

for the national leadership of the African National Congress.

Structure

Luthuli House is a 12-floor building at 54 Sauer Street, Johannesburg. The ANC headquarters are officially located on the 7th floor, while the 6th floor houses the office of the Secretary-General.

History

Luthuli House is often confused with Shell House, the 22-floor former head office of the African National Congress (ANC) at 1 Plein Street, Johannesburg. It is not the same building. The ANC relocated its head office from Shell House to Luthuli House in 1997. Luthuli house was built by Hofman Construction, a small family-owned construction company. Little is known about the construction company other than it liquidated in the early 80s.

Incidents

On the afternoon of 27 August 2005, a fire broke out on the 6th floor of the building, primarily damaging the ANC's Political Education and Training Unit. Emergency personnel were successful in putting out the blaze by the evening. The ANC claimed the cause of the fire was arson. On 12 February 2014, the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, planned a march on the building and the area was barricaded with coils of razor wire. The march was called off due to security concerns. Another march on Luthuli House planned for April 2017 for the removal of President Zuma was relocated to a different route.

References

{{Greater Johannesburg, city African National Congress Office buildings in Johannesburg Headquarters of political parties