Farouk Chothia in Durban
THERE is a new Battle of Blood River. This time it’s over a bid by the Voortrekker Museum to upgrade the kwaZulu/Natal monument to the original 1838 battle at a cost of about R1-million.
According to sources, the Voortrekker Museum wants to build a “British-style medieval fortress with battlements, towers and castellated gateways”.
Museum director Dr Ivor Pols confirmed this week that plans are afoot to upgrade the monument but declined to put a figure on the development project.
Other sources put the cost in the region of R900 000 to R1-million.
But the plan has been strongly condemned by the kwaZulu Monuments Council (KMC) on the grounds that vast sums of money should not be wasted on a “monument of stone” that could “pander to sectional interests”.
“This is hardly in keeping with the laager, made of bronze ox- wagons, that stands on the site at the moment,” commented one source.
The monument is sited in Ncome in northern Natal. It is the place where the Boers inflicted a heavy defeat on the Zulu army in 1838, forcing King Dingane to flee his territory.
This paved the way for the formal establishment of a Voortrekker Republic called “The Province of the New Holland in South Africa”.
National Monuments Council (NMC) official Andrew Hall confirmed they were “looking at the (Voortrekker Museum’s) proposal from a design point of view”. A further meeting with its leadership has been scheduled for next week.
Hall declined to comment further, though his reference to design is thought to indicate that the NMC’s major concern would be at the appropriateness of the planned castle.
Pols said the site of the museum is owned by a private body, the Bloedrivier Stigting, but it signed off development rights to the state-funded Voortrekker Museum last year.
Sources said that “influential figures from the old dispensation”, including senior National Party (NP) members, have placed enormous pressure on the NMC to give the go-ahead for the project but this has been countered by strong opposition from the KMC.
Said Arthur Konigkramer, chairman of the KwaZulu Monuments Council: “It (the project) is totally unacceptable and totally inappropriate.” He was confident the NMC would not approve the project and it would first consult the KMC as the two are on the verge of amalgamating.
He added that with the Battle of Blood River being a “highly emotive issue amongst all South Africans”, it would be “politically dangerous” for the Voortrekker Museum to go ahead with their plans without consulting other parties and ensuring the project is “people- driven”.
Pols said that with the birth of the “new” South Africa, the history of the Battle of Blood River will be viewed “more objectively”.
“We’ll get other parties involved. Some are already involved,” Pols added.