Soweto remembers ‘Mendi’ centenary
WORLD WAR 1: 607 UNARMED BLACK SA SOLDIERS DIED AFTER SHIP WAS STRUCK IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL
The legend of the ‘Death Dance’ was born when sons of Africa died bravely.
The South African Legion of Military Veterans national headquarters and its Soweto branch will next Saturday hold a centenary memorial in remembrance of those who lost their lives when the SS Mendi sank in 1917.
The legion said the service will be held at the Mendi Memorial in the Avalon Cemetery, Soweto, at 2pm. Counsellor Vasco Da Gama from the City of Johannesburg is scheduled to speak at the event.
The troop ship Mendi set sail from Cape Town on January 16, 1917 with 802 members of the 5th Battalion, South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC), along with 22 officers and 33 crew.
The ship was headed to La Havre, France, where the call had come out for men to trench and help fight in the ever increasingly bloody war on the Western Front.
After calling at Plymouth, the Mendi set sail for Le Havre, but in thick mist, while about 19km off St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight, she was struck by the SS Darro, a 11 000-ton liner. The incident happened on February 21, 1917. Immediately the Mendi started to list to starboard and sink.
The Darro had backed out of the hole she had caused and the sea poured into this breach. The Mendi sank in just 25 minutes.
It was obvious that many would never make it to safety and the legend of the “Death Dance” came into being. Among those left on board the ship, panic did not ensue. Instead a leader emerged, the Reverend Isaac Dyobha, who called the men together and admonished them.
“Be quiet and calm, my countrymen, for what is taking place is exactly what you came to do. You are going to die … but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we will drill the death drill.
“I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers. Swazis, Pondos, Basutos, we die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the kraal, our voices are left with our bodies.”
And so, those left on board removed their boots and stamped the death dance on the slanting deck of a sinking ship, far from Africa, but united together as brothers and comrades in arms. Among the 802 SANLC troops on board, some 607 men died, along with nine officers and all the crew.
The legion said the dependants of those that were on the Mendi were especially welcome to attend this service, although the ceremony was open to everyone. – ANA