Saving memory of WWI heroes
For years the Bezuidenhout Valley war memorial endured vandalism and neglect.
The names of the dead etched on the memorial were once buried under red paint and vagrants lit fires and chipped away at the monument.
But the memorial has finally been moved to what residents hope is a safer place.
It’s new home is the Bezuidenhout Park and its relocation happened almost unnoticed because of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Local resident Richard Brooksbank had for years highlighted the plight of the monument pressed the Joburg City Council to take action.
“It was a surprise to see it there. I had thought it (the project) had ground to a halt. But I am delighted it is there… It (took) a lot of time, people and money,” said Brooksbank.
The decision on what to do with the monument was delayed by a disagreement among those wanting to save it.
There was a split between those who felt the monument had to be removed to save it, and those who argued that it should stay in its original spot, in a small park off Albertina Sisulu Road.
Those in favour of moving it finally won, but the challenge was to find a new home. The idea was to keep the memorial in the area, as it honoured the Bezuidenhout Valley.
Architect Yasmin Mayat was tasked with moving the memorial.
It was decided that when the monument was relocated it would not be touched up, but simply pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle, so that the scars it had collected over the years would be visible and would help tell its story.
“It is important that it makes a bit of a dialogue; that it is not just something that is fixed in a museum,” explained Mayat.
The project is not yet over. The plan is to create a monument at the spot where the Bezuidenhout Valley war memorial once stood. One idea is to create a mural.
“We are thinking of a theme – something like loss of life, maybe link it to Covid-19 – it is still a work in process. The big thing was that we didn’t want to leave the park empty,” said Mayat.
One of the names on the war memorial is that of Ivan Hind. He was a flying ace who served with the British Royal Flying Corps and he grew up on a plot east of Johannesburg. Chances are he walked the area where the memorial now stands.
Hind was killed on August 12, 1918, when his plane was shot down.
His great-grandniece Jeanette Bensted-smith can’t wait to visit the memorial at the new site.
“I hope now that it is in Bezuidenhout Park it gets treated well,” she said.