AfriForum shocked by apparent wanton destruction of SAPS memorial
10 July 2015
AfriForum has sent an urgent request to SAPS spokesperson, Mr Musa Zondi, and the SAPS Centre for Service Excellence, asking for an explanation after it had come to AfriForum’s attention that a memorial at the SAPS Academy at Hammanskraal has been destroyed.
According to Alana Bailey, Deputy CEO of AfriForum concerned with heritage issues, the memorial commemorated 13 SAPS students who died in a bus accident in Robinson Pass, between Oudtshoorn and Mossel Bay, on 29 January 1988. They were part of a gymnastics team who were to perform at the Dias Festival in Mossel Bay.
Bailey says that Brigadier Mangane, Commander of the Academy, allegedly had given the order for the destruction of the memorial this week. It was dragged away and dumped. Apart from the fact that this seems like a wanton act of destruction, it also constitutes an illegal process, as the removal of any memorial is subject to the regulations of heritage conservation legislation. In addition it sends a powerful message of disrespect to all SAPS members if the lives of fellow members who died in an accident in the line of duty apparently no longer deserve commemoration in the eyes of a senior commander.
AfriForum had to do with a similar situation when the Mayor of Lekwa Municipality, Ms Queen Radebe, had a commemoration plaque destroyed and was ordered by the high court in Pretoria in 2008 to have it restored and pay for all costs involved.
According to Bailey, AfriForum urgently asked the SAPS for information about the incident, including on whose instruction it had taken place; whether any legal processes had been followed, why the destruction had been deemed necessary; whether any steps will be followed to have it restored and a statement on the SAPS’ official position on memorials commemorating members who died in the line of duty.
The issue has also been referred to the Heritage Foundation.
“Acts of this nature, destroying parts of the South African history and disrespecting fallen fellow South Africans, cannot be condoned,” Bailey said.
Statement issued by Alana Bailey, Deputy CEO, AfriForum, July 10 2015
