Chief Albert Luthuli House in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

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

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

(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 closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

for the national leadership of the ANC.

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. 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 concern. Another march on Luthuli House planned for April 2017 for the removal of President Zuma was relocated to a different route. African National Congress Buildings and structures in Johannesburg Headquarters of political parties