Municipality dumping at historical site

Workers of the Merafong City Local Municipality were again caught red-handed dumping rubbish in the area behind the Gert van Rensburg Stadium in Fochville this week, despite the fact that there are various historical ruins in the same area.

The Herald reported last week that a municipal bakkie with the registration number KR46YSGP was found dumping at the site on Monday, June 27.

Although the municipality took no further steps against the perpetrators, they did clean up most of the mess shortly afterwards. Only two days later, on Wednesday, June 29, the occupants of another municipal vehicle – this time a truck with the registration number BF32RLGP – was photographed dumping branches at the same site.

“This is unacceptable as the municipality says it is against dumping. We even heard allegations that they gave workers the permission to dump there, as it is municipal land,” says a concerned resident, Corne van der Merwe. “We cannot understand why the municipality or no one else seems to care about this site as it is filled with historical ruins. By the looks of it, thousands of people stayed here hundreds of years ago,” says another concerned resident, Johan Knell.

Knell and his wife, Drienie, have been visiting the area for years.
They showed the Herald how some of the ruins start only metres from the gravel entrance. Many are also within walking distance into the veld of the paths used by runners and walkers who take part in the weekly WeRun Fochville. These runners and walkers, however, stick to their trails and do not venture into the veld.

Some of the ruins are also situated near the fence of the Fochville Old Age Home and on farms surrounding the municipal land. Many initiates also come to the area, which can be seen in the distance on the hills opposite the main road past Kokosi – possibly because so many of their ancestors stayed there.

“Most people in Fochville do not have an idea what a fascinating historical place this is, but as far as I could determine, archaeologists do not have much interest in it because these ancient people did not leave a lot of valuables behind. We have, however, seen a variety of Iron Age tools that was left behind. In the valley behind the stadium, we have also found some Anglo Boer war relics, such as belt buckles and a variety of ammunition. People do not always realise that this is not so far from the Danie Theron monument and an area of active fighting during that war. My dream is for the area to be declared as a historical site so that it can be protected. It would be wonderful if someone could put a museum up here,” says Knell.

According to a Wikipedia, the ruins are the remains of Sotho-Tswana settlements on the hills surrounding Fochville. They were inhabited until the inhabitants were driven away by Mzilikazi in the 1820s. The Sotho-Tswana people lived in this area for roughly 300 years before the 1815 to 1840 Difaqane and the 1815 to 1816 volcanic winter. They farmed sorghum, maize and cattle in the fertile valleys and had a thriving community. During the Difaqane they accepted refugees from the south and eventually, caving in to both population and environmental pressures, moved toward the Brits area. Wikipedia based this information on the Doctoral Thesis that an archeologist, Mark Steven Anderson, completed at the University of Cape Town in 2009.

The Herald asked the Merafong City Local Municipality about the issue on Monday, and they said that the dumping had been cleared. They did not say whether the area will be protected or not.