STOLEN: Well-known landmark at Malaria Institute
The bronze statue of Dr. Siegfried Annecke on the commemorative wall at the Malaria Institute in Tzaneen was stolen last weekend.
Two plaques with information on the institute and the letter ‘I’ were also stolen. “On Monday, when I arrived at the institute, I realised that something was wrong with the commemorative wall. I was devastated to discover that the statue of Dr. Annecke was missing,” said Brenda Henning from the institute. The chief director of the institute, Philip Kruger, has appealed to the public that should they come across the statue or if someone tries to sell it to a scrapyard, to report it to the nearest police station.
“The statue means a lot to the institute, there is a lot of history around it. Dr. Annecke did wonderful work during his lifetime,” said Kruger. The commemorative wall was erected in 1970 at the entrance to the institute and has become a well-known landmark in Tzaneen. The bronze work on the wall was done by the famous South African sculptor, Coert Steynberg, in remembrance of Dr. Annecke. Born in Aliwal-North on February 25, 1895, Dr. Annecke lived his life to help his fellow man, especially those less fortunate and plagued by malaria.
He was the head of the South African Institute for Medical Research’s malaria research in Tzaneen from 1930 until his retirement in 1955. In 1931, he established the malaria control and research station in Tzaneen. The station was originally housed in an old corrugated iron railway barrack, with 11 employees consisting of two doctors, three health inspectors, and two ‘malaria trackers’ among others. The laboratory in Tzaneen was named the Siegfried Annecke Research Institute in 1956, a year after his death.
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It was later changed to the National Institute for Tropical Diseases. Dr. Annecke’s research in the field of malaria, and later bilharzia, and his contribution to the community was monumental. A primary school in Letsitele was also named after him. “He was a world-renowned expert in the field of tropical diseases, a dedicated member of the community, a lecturer and examiner in tropical hygiene, organiser of first aid classes, and was even involved in the construction of the first tar roads in Tzaneen,” said Kruger.
