LAWRENCE BARTLETT, Durban | Sunday 1.30pm
BRITAIN’S Queen Elizabeth II laid a wreath honouring the dead of two world wars at the Cenotaph in Durban on Remembrance on Sunday, the first time in 16 years that she has not led national mourning in Britain.
With her son Prince Charles standing in for her at Whitehall, Durban’s military pomp and the fact that her father King George VI had opened the bronze gates to the “sacred acre” in 1947 would have made her feel at home. The service reflected South Africa’s multi-ethnic society, with Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Hindu prayers.
A few hundred people, including elderly ladies in floral outfits and wide hats as well as many passing beachgoers in shorts and miniskirts, witnessed the ceremony. South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma said the service was a tribute not only to those who died in the two world wars, “but all those who have sacrificed their lives to secure peace, freedom and democracy.”
In an apparent reference to the struggle against white-minority rule in South Africa, he said: “There are times in every nation’s history when it has indeed been necessary to take up arms in defence of what one believes to be right.” However, he added, “We are here also to recommit ourselves that never again shall we resort to war to resolve political disputes.
“Never again shall we subject the peoples of our countries to the devastation and dehumanisation of endless wars.” After the ceremony the British monarch, her husband the Duke of Edinburgh and Foreign Secretary Robin Cook walked a few hundred yards along Durban’s streets to Saint Paul’s Anglican Church for a Remembrance Sunday service at which the duke was to read a lesson.
Sunday is the last full day of Elizabeth’s five-day state visit to South Africa and the end of her official programme. She leaves on Monday for a one-day visit to neighbouring Mozambique, which is also a Commonwealth member. — AFP