Gandhi`s house in South Africa put up for sale

M Subramoney

Durban, Jul 27 (PTI) A house in Johannesburg, where
Mahatma Gandhi had lived for three years when he was in South
Africa, has been put up for sale by the owner, but it has so
far found no takers with even the Indian-origin community
members showing little interest in buying it.

Hidden away on a quiet street in Orchards, north of
central Johannesburg, the house was designed by Gandhi's
confidant and architect Hermann Kallenbach.

Its distinct thatched roofs and rondavel style gave
the house its informal name "The Kraal". Gandhi lived in the
house with Kallenbach for three years from 1908.

The owner of the house Nancy Ball, who has been living
in the house for the past 25 years, wants to move to Cape Town
and she has put the house on the market after failing to
attract someone with an interest in preserving its historical
legacy, the Times newspaper reported.

However, she did not reveal the price of the house.

She enlisted the support of Stephen Gelb, founding
director of the Centre of Indian Studies in Africa at the
University of Witwatersrand, on a voluntary basis, to try to
find a suitable buyer.

Gelb tried to solicit the interest of prominent
Indians in South Africa and even explored the possibility of
Wits acquiring the property for use as a residence for
visiting professors. PTI