Town in uproar over Anglo-Boer War memorial
Graves desecrated to create fake tribute to ‘unknown victims’
● An elaborate war memorial in Aliwal North is a touching tribute to 300 black South Africans who died in a concentration camp in the area during the Anglo-Boer War.
A group of 25 tombstones — each with the words “Grave of the unknown victim” inscribed on them — pay homage to the lives lost during the war between 1899 and 1902. There’s just one hiccup.
The graves beneath these impressive tombstones at Dukathole Cemetery in the Eastern Cape are not of people who died during the war.
Recent tests have confirmed what locals have long known — the memorial was built over existing graves of local townsfolk who were never involved in the war. In fact, many of them died just a few decades ago.
The shocking blunder has sparked outrage among more than 20 local families.
They claim the headstones on the graves of their loved ones were ripped out and tossed into the Orange River by contractors hired by the Eastern Cape government in 2007 to build the memorial, which was unveiled by then MEC for sports, recreation, arts and culture, Noxolo Abraham-Ntantiso. The Sunday Times this week found headstones dumped behind the local museum.
The 20 families are demanding R500 000 each in compensation from the province.
“I feel very offended because my children, grandchildren and I can’t visit the graves of my family members anymore,” said retired nurse Pulane Tsomoko, 68.
“Now there are tombstones for unknown black people where my ancestors’ graves used to be.”
She said they had not been consulted about the war memorial.
The tombstones of five of Tsomoko’s relatives, including that of her great-grandmother, Pulane Mohageng, and her great-grandfather, John Mohageng, were removed and replaced with war memorial tombstones.
“In black culture, if you can’t find the grave of the person you’re visiting we pick up a stone at the cemetery and throw it and say: ‘My mother, I came to visit you but I can’t find you.’ That’s what I am now forced to do.”
Tsomoko was made aware of the destruction of the tombstones by Maria Mochochoko, 59, whose uncle, Tololo Mvelase, was buried in the cemetery in the 1960s.
“We were shocked when we saw this and we consulted the mayor at the time, Eric Manzi, ” said Tsomoko. “[We] were told to submit our names, and the name of the family member who was buried, to the council."
An angry Mochochoko, who was about eight years old when her uncle died, said: “I feel very bad that his grave now has a tombstone on it with the words ‘Grave of the unknown victim’. How can he be unknown when I know he was buried there?”
Another community member, Sipho Ntshobodi, 58, said the affected families had been told by a council official, whose name he could not remember, that they would build a monument listing the names of their forefathers whose graves were destroyed.
“They said they would slaughter a cow and arrange a feast for us.
“We have rejected this. There are Sothos and Xhosas who observe their culture and traditions differently. We want compensation . . . [to] perform our own rituals.”
Another resident, Lucas Panyane, 49, recalled workers on the site telling him in 2007 that a local councillor had told them to throw the old headstones into the river.
“They said he did not want community members to see the dates on these headstones. One was dated 1912 and the other 1920, which was long after the . . . War.”
Monwabisi Charlie, an activist and member of the Khulumani Support Group in Aliwal North, took up the community’s fight Picture: Sizwe Ndingane with the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities.
The commission hired anthropologist Coen Nienaber to conduct a ground-penetrating radar survey of the memorial site.
The commission’s spokesman, Mpiyakhe Mkholo, said Nienaber’s report confirmed the memorial was on the existing graves of community members.
“The [commission’s] investigation has come to the conclusion that the monument is not a true reflection of those who died as a result of the Boer War.”
Khayelihle Mpungose, who in February was appointed caretaker administrator of the troubled Walter Sisulu local municipality under which Aliwal North falls, said he would launch an internal investigation.
The Eastern Cape department of sport, recreation, arts and culture did not respond to questions. In an SMS on Friday, spokesman Andile Nduna said: “The head of department has called the guys who attended that December meeting with him to account as well on the response we wrote. So lots of discussion/talking points are being ironed out.”