The destruction of a Great Trek memorial stone in Standerton should be condemned, the Afrikanerbond said on Friday.
”Actions like these undo the spirit of reconciliation as promoted by former president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu,” said Jan Bosman, spokesperson for the Afrikanerbond.
The destruction was apparently ordered by the mayor of Standerton and approved by the African National Congress in Mpumalanga.
Bosman said it is only through respect and understanding of each other’s cultures and history that there can be progress with ”much needed” reconciliation.
”Actions such as these are totally unnecessary and will polarise communities even further,” he said in a statement. ”There is not only one history in South Africa.”
Bosman said the diverse composition of South Africa’s population, each with its own culture and history, is testimony of a rich tradition and should be preserved. ”It is not in the hands of a mayor or a political party to rewrite history with irresponsible actions as displayed in Standerton.”
He said it is a pity that an important aspect of the Afrikaner’s history, namely the Great Trek, is being held in contempt with such short-sighted actions.
The Afrikaner organisation said it will take up the matter with the mayor and Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan.
Mayor’s orders
The memorial, built for the 150th celebration of the Great Trek, was destroyed on the orders of Standerton mayor Queen Radebe-Khumalo, Beeld newspaper reported on Friday.
It consisted of a large concrete slab with the tracks of an ox wagon set in it. Thirteen ox wagons travelled through South Africa as part of the celebrations in 1988.
”That piece of thing means nothing to us. It’s just a piece of cement with tracks. I do not even know where it comes from,” Radebe-Khumalo was quote as saying by Beeld.
”It is with shock and disbelief that the Afrikaner heritage community heard of the shortsighted, insensitive and alienating actions of Queen Radebe-Khumalo, mayor of Standerton,” said Gert Opperman, CEO of the Voortrekker Monument and Heritage Institute.
”The physical destruction of other’s cultural heritage or derogatory remarks toward it only leads to alienation and undermines all efforts to create a better understanding and cooperation between cultures,” he said in a statement.
Opperman said Radebe-Khumalo’s action should be condemned and steps taken to rectify the physical and spiritual damage done. He said leaders like the mayor should be an example for ”sensitive actions” in respecting the heritage of the country’s different cultures. ”The past cannot be wiped out or changed by actions like this.”
‘Nothing wrong’ with decision
Lucas Mello, the ANC’s provincial secretary in Mpumalanga, confirmed to the Mail & Guardian Online on Friday that the party knew about the destruction of the memorial prior to it taking place. However, he said the actual verdict was made by the local council — a decision that had nothing to do with the higher levels of the party.
But he also said there was ”nothing wrong” with the council’s decision to destroy the memorial.
”A council of black, white, coloured and Indian took the decision. It was a majority decision, and more legitimate than the past regime [who decided to erect the memorial],” he said in response to a question about whether the public had been consulted about the demolition. ”It was a part of history that was not in the interests of South Africa … People shouldn’t be making a big thing [about its removal].”
Mello added that although the Great Trek was about Afrikaners moving away from intimidation by the British at the Cape, it was also about maintaining the master-servant relationship between whites and blacks. ”[The Great Trek] was a history associated with one group of people.”
He said reports about the destruction had been taken out of the context of when it was erected. ”In 1988 [when the memorial was erected], the winds of change were blowing through South Africa … but the right-wing community in South Africa was trying to undermine the political negotiations, so this [memorial] in itself was linked to that.”
He also said Standerton was a ”politically difficult town” until 1994, where right-wing groups were not in the interests of public unity and even had their own flag. Memorials like this were ”launching pads for such right-wing groups”.
”I don’t think the young Afrikaners of today or the Afrikaners of the future will be proud of that history,” Mello said. ”I don’t understand why people should die over a history that will not add to the future of the country. All this noise is about wanting to live in the past; that is the intention.”