Embracing their origins
DECAYING: ABOUT 150 LOCATIONS ‘ENDANGERED’
People in Alexandra celebrate Heritage Day yesterday, dressing up, dancing and having braais on the streets. It’s not all fun and games when it comes to South Africa’s heritage, though, as the oldest-known heritage site in Mamelodi is now a monument of neglect, pillaging and vandalism.
‘No regard’ for monuments the legacy of this generation – cultural activist.
Once testament to a rich history and heritage, the ’40s thatched Mamelodi Rondavels, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu was schooled, and the only oldest-known buildings in the township, are now a monument to neglect and vandalism.
The significance of the heritage site was described in the SA Journal of Cultural History in 2003 as a “remnant of the history” of Bantu education and the struggle for a nonracial society.
“Except for a small brick wall, there is nothing left. It now stands as an example of how citizens and government have no regard for history,” said local historian
Aubrey Mohase.
He said the site in Mamelodi West (D6) had been restored at a cost of R22 million, but there was little to show for it and then it was gutted by fire last year.
According to the author of three books on the township’s history, the site had been neglected before but the community had kept it going, using the buildings for social and educational events.
“When the Tshwane municipality stopped them from using it, vandals took everything, with the fire consuming anything left. Sadly, all local heritage sites have suffered the same fate,” he said.
The Mamelodi Rondavels are among about 150 heritage sites across the country listed as endangered on the Heritage Portal, an information platform. Cultural activist Khuluma Mahlangu said it was monuments and heritage sites documenting African history and the struggle that were being left to decay. “The neglect of our monuments and heritage sites will be the legacy of this generation,” he said. Solomon Mahlangu Freedom Square, with a bronze statue of the struggle icon, has been stripped of perimeter fencing and plaques at the base of the statue.
A few blocks away is Ribeiro House in which Dr Fabian Defu Ribeiro and Florence Barbara Mathe raised funds for exiles and documented the torture of apartheid’s victims for the international media. They were killed by apartheid agents in 1986 and the house is now in ruins.
Lebo More, a Democratic Alliance spokesman, said yesterday Nelson Mandela’s house in Alexandra, a heritage site, had been abandoned, the historic Rotunda building in Braamfontein had been vandalised, the Cradle of Humankind in Mogale City was a health risk due to polluted rivers flowing through the World Heritage Site and the Boipatong Monument and Youth Centre had structural defects.
Department of Sport, Arts and Culture spokesperson Zimasa Velaphi did not respond to questions.