Tackling the future of Freedom Park, on Thursday its CEO, Dr Mongane Wally Serote, denied that there is an inherent contradiction in the park’s mandate. ”The contradiction exists in the nation,” he said.
Speaking at Freedom Park in Pretoria, Serote was responding to recent criticisms from some organisations and individuals that the park is not as all-inclusive as it claims to be — manifested, for example, in its exclusion of apartheid-era South African Defence Force conscripts from its Wall of Names.
Still under construction, Freedom Park emerged out of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It aims to be a site of reconciliation and nation building, as well as a monument to heroes who died in the struggle for freedom.
However, last week, a former TRC researcher who liaises with Freedom Park told the Mail & Guardian Online that Freedom Park’s mandate ”is a little confused”.
”At some level, Freedom Park has to make the choice between reconciliation and commemorating struggle heroes,” the researcher said.
Serote suggested on Thursday that instead of there being an incongruity within the nature of Freedom Park, the core issue is ”how to resolve the contradictions that make up South Africa”.
”How do we address issues of our diversity so that every South African feels part and parcel of our history? We have to deal with the conflicts that divided us in a way that says, ‘This is how these conflicts shaped us,”’ he said.
Serote explained that these and other issues have been under discussion for the past two years, but there is still no clear indication of when they will be resolved. ”It’s a history of over 360 years; it runs deep. It won’t take five years to solve.
”We unearthed contradictions with the construction process,” he said. ”But with taxpayers’ money there has to be time frames; we can’t discuss forever.”
The park is currently in its second phase of construction, which includes the creation of the pan-African archives, its underlying knowledge base and research component, as well as ”//hapo” (from the Khoisan saying ”A dream is not a dream until it is realised by the community”), an interactive museum detailing the country’s history.
Seeing the park as a heritage project, said heritage manager Ramzie Abrahams, two focal points are communicating with the nation and the process of cleansing and healing. These include collecting the stories of the country’s people, as well as reconciliation with the country’s violent history.
”There is a tendency for heritage sites to become divisive … and we shouldn’t deal with heritage in a divisive manner,” Abrahams said. ”There is a tendency to create an ‘other’ and a divide … [We should be asking,] how do you bring closure to these conflicts?”
Serote agreed, adding that communicating with the nation ”taught us to discuss the conflicts as a whole, so that the pain is owned by the South Africa nation”. However, he feels there needs to be more ”bobbing and weaving” in order to resolve the issues facing South Africa.
He welcomed debates such as that over adding the names of SADF soldiers to the Wall of Names, but said it could also be ”taking five steps backward” as such debates split South African issues into groups instead of dealing with them at a collective, national level.
”How do you juxtapose deep-seated pain that exists in groups so that South Africans own up to it, [and say] that it is our pain?” he asked.
There needs to be a balance between ensuring that all groups, especially those ”muted voices” from the past, are effectively represented, while creating a place where all South Africans can collectively engage with their history.
”I am quite optimistic that we can find a manner to say, ‘South Africa, wake up; all these conflicts are your wars.’ We see a potential to do a qualitative shift forward as South Africans. But there should be no pointing fingers; we are all involved in this thing.
”There is no white pain or black pain or Indian pain or coloured pain. If we can see that, maybe we will resolve all of this.”