Outrage in Afrikaner community over removal of Klerksdorp’s Great Trek memorial

There was outrage in the Afrikaner community following the removal of the 1938 Great Trek Centenary Memorial in Klerksdorp during Heritage Month.

Jaco Cilliers, head of culture of the Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations (FAK,) said the Matlosana municipality had unlawfully changed the 1938 Great Trek Centenary Memorial in Klerksdorp and erected another memorial in its place.

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“This action is directly contrary to the National Heritage Resources Act 25 of 1999.” Following “inquiries at the North West heritage body, it was confirmed that no written application was made to erect this memorial stone and the municipality itself decided to replace it”.

Cilliers said on the memorial stone, erected on 25 September in place of the Great Trek memorial, the names of municipal workers who died during the Covid pandemic appeared.

“This monument was erected for a specific reason and that reason must be understood and respected in historical context,” he said.

“Putting this memorial stone right there is completely outside the context of heritage. What does the municipality want to achieve by this?”

Right context

Cilliers said the municipality had every right to recognise these persons and added the FAK had no problem with it erecting such a memorial stone.

“But it is not the right place or monument to do so, because it does not match the right context,” he said.

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Freedom Front Plus (FF+) arts and culture spokesperson Heloise Denner described the removal of the monument as callous.

“It serves as proof the ANC has absolutely no regard for the cultural heritage of any other group. The ANC government sees the annual celebration of Heritage Day as nothing more than an opportunity to pacify minorities with empty rhetoric, while reality demonstrates that, in the ANC’s world, there is no room for the heritage of others,” she said.

“The FF+ has never denied anyone else their right to celebrate their history, culture or any important events.

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“It is not about the fact that people who lost their lives to the pandemic are being commemorated, but that other people’s heritage, which is close to their hearts, is being trampled in the process,” she said.

Afrikaner culture and symbols

Political analyst Dr Fikile Vilakazi said South Africans had been pushed to accept that apartheid, which was promoted by the National Party (NP) and significant in the Afrikaner culture, had made certain people tentative about embracing their heritage.

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The Afrikaner community had not generally accepted that some historical actions by the NP were wrong and when the ANC removed Afrikaner symbols, it was because they said it reincarnated the feelings of apartheid.

Negotiations

Political analyst Piet Croucamp said he wasn’t against the removal of apartheid statues.

“Things that offended people of the past, such as slavery and apartheid, those things are being removed in areas to less offend people.

“If it becomes a battle between two histories and one uses its political authority, as government, to act upon the other, it becomes unnecessarily problematic,” he said.

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Croucamp said these things had to be negotiated and talked through and there must be consideration from all sides.

“There is room for talking about these things. The Constitutional Court said we must talk about Kill the Boer, kill the farmer, so let’s talk about Afrikaner heritage and Afrikaner symbols, rather than using political authority to act upon another political narrative as a form of revenge,” he said.