Mandela Remembrance Walk & Run 2026 is a 5 km event on 6 December 2026, starting at 08:30 in Pretoria. The course climbs about 113 m in total.
From the Union Buildings past the Mandela statue, down Hamilton Street and west along Pretorius Street, past the State Theatre and Lilian Ngoyi Square to Church Square, then back east along Madiba Street, past the Palace of Justice, near the Old Synagogue and past Tshwane House, to finish in the Union Buildings gardens.
Government Avenue, below the Union Buildings, Pretoria. Half marathon and 10 km at 06:30, chip timed; the 5 km Remembrance Walk at 08:30, untimed
Madiba Street, below the Union Buildings gardens, 390 m from the start
It climbs about 113 m in total. The highest point is 1385 m above sea level, at km 0.
None marked on the map
Friday 4 December, 09:00 to 16:00, Nelson Mandela Foundation, 107 Central Street, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg. Saturday 5 December, 09:00 to 18:00, Union Buildings lawns (from Madiba and Stanza Bopape Streets). None on race day
None published
Online with PeakTiming until 3 December, or until sold out: half marathon R220, 10 km R170, walk R120. Unlicensed runners pay R70 for a temporary licence. No entries on race day
From the official 2026 route maps, traced on OpenStreetMap street by street
None marked on the walk's route map
All ages: untimed, at your own pace. No pets, bicycles or blades (event guide)
A medal for everyone who finishes, a technical T-shirt for the first 8,000 online entrants, chip timing for the runs. Discovery Vitality members earn points
Supported by the Gauteng Provincial Government, with the City of Tshwane as host city. Main partners: Athletics Gauteng North, BYD, Cartel Events & Catering and Aquelle. Beneficiary: the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Organiser: Optimize
08:30 · km 0
The 5 km Remembrance Walk starts at 08:30 on Government Avenue below the Union Buildings, two hours after the runners. It is untimed and for all ages: walk at your own pace, and walk together. Pets, bicycles and blades are not allowed. The event began in Pretoria on 13 December 2014 as a 6 km walk from Freedom Park to the Union Buildings; the walk on the official map today measures about 6 km too.
km 0.1 · Government Avenue
Below you on the lawns stands the 9 m bronze statue of Nelson Mandela by Andre Prinsloo and Ruhan Janse van Vuuren, arms open to the city. It was unveiled on 16 December 2013, the Day of Reconciliation, the day after his funeral at Qunu. Up the hill, in what is now the Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre, he was sworn in as president on 10 May 1994, and in December 2013 about 100,000 people came to see him lie in state.
km 0.4 · Government Avenue and Edmond Street
On 9 August 1956 about 20,000 women marched to the Union Buildings against the pass laws, led by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophie Williams-De Bruyn. They left their petitions for Prime Minister Strijdom, stood in silence for 30 minutes, and then sang. Their song gave the country a saying: strike the women, and you strike a rock. 9 August is now National Women's Day.
km 1.3 · Pretorius Street
Down Hamilton Street and right into Pretorius Street, west into the city. In 2012 the city gave many of its streets the names of people from the liberation struggle: Vermeulen Street became Madiba Street, Church Street became Helen Joseph and Stanza Bopape Streets, Van der Walt Street became Lilian Ngoyi Street, Prinsloo Street became Sisulu Street and Schoeman Street became Francis Baard Street. On Pretorius Street you cross Steve Biko Road, Nelson Mandela Drive, and Sisulu, Lilian Ngoyi and Thabo Sehume Streets.
km 1.9 · The partners
The Mandela Remembrance Walk & Run is supported by the Gauteng Provincial Government, with the City of Tshwane as host city. The main partners are Athletics Gauteng North, BYD, Cartel Events & Catering and Aquelle, and Optimize organises the event. The beneficiary is the Nelson Mandela Foundation, set up by Mandela in 1999: this year's event marks its 27 years.
km 2.4 · State Theatre
On your right is the State Theatre, opened in 1981, and beside it Lilian Ngoyi Square. It was once Strijdom Square, named for the prime minister the women of 1956 marched to see. Since 9 August 2016 it has held the Women's Living Heritage Monument, with statues of the four women who led the march: Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophie Williams-De Bruyn.
km 3.0 to 3.3 · Church Square
Past the Ou Raadsaal on the south side of Church Square. Across the square stands the Palace of Justice, where Nelson Mandela and his comrades stood trial in the Rivonia Trial from October 1963. On 20 April 1964 he spoke from the dock: a free, democratic society, he told the court, was an ideal he was ready to give his life for. On 12 June 1964 he and seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment, and the next day he arrived on Robben Island.
km 3.7 to 4.0 · Madiba Street
Up Bosman Street and right into Madiba Street, Vermeulen Street until 2012, now named with his clan name. A block to your left, on Paul Kruger Street, is the Old Synagogue, consecrated in 1898. From 1958 it was the courtroom of the Treason Trial, where Mandela was among the accused; on 29 March 1961 all the remaining accused were found not guilty.
km 4.4 to 5.7 · Madiba Street
Past Tshwane House, the city's headquarters, on your left and Sammy Marks Square on your right. In December 2013, each morning for three days, a cortège carried Mandela's body from 1 Military Hospital to the Union Buildings, and people lined the streets to see him pass. Earlier editions of this walk followed that route along Madiba Street to the Union Buildings, as you do today.
km 5.7 to 6.0 · Union Buildings gardens
Madiba Street brings you back to the foot of the Union Buildings, and the walk finishes in the gardens below them. The line on the official map measures about 6 km. Everyone who finishes gets a medal. This year the event marks 27 years of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which Mandela set up in 1999.
Route: the official 2026 route maps (the runs measured by Pieter de Jager, IAAF/AIMS "A" route measurer), traced on OpenStreetMap; refreshment stations as marked on the maps. Date, times, partners and number collection: mandelawalkandrun.com. Fees and entries: Running Calendar. History: the Nelson Mandela Foundation, SAnews, SA History Online, the Presidency and Wikipedia