Great Trek memorial stone desecrated

Mayor Queen Radebe-Khumalo recently ordered the destruction of the Great trek Memorial stone in Standerton.

Quoting “”That piece of thing means nothing to us. It’s just a piece of cement with tracks. I do not even know where it comes from,” Great move, by a clearly great states person. Read the full article below.

Taken from iafrica.com

The Afriakaner community in South Africa have expressed shock over the destruction of the Great Trek memorial stone by Mayor Queen Radebe-Khumalo.
“It is with shock and disbelief that the Afrikaner heritage community heard of the short-sighted, insensitive and alienating actions of Queen Radebe-Khumalo, mayor of Standerton,” said Gert Opperman, CEO of the Voortrekker Monument and Heritage Institute.

“The physical destruction of other’s cultural heritage or derogatory remarks toward it only leads to alienation and undermines all efforts to create a better understanding and cooperation between cultures,” he said in a statement.

Opperman said Radebe-Khumalo’s action should be condemned and steps should be taken to rectify the physical and spiritual damage done.

He said leaders like the mayor should be an example for “sensitive actions” in respecting the heritage of the country’s different cultures.

“The past cannot be wiped out or changed by actions like this.”

The Afrikanerbond also condemned the destruction of the Great Trek memorial stone in front of the municipal offices in Standerton.

“Actions like these undo the spirit of reconciliation as promoted by former president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu,” said Jan Bosman, spokesperson for the Afrikanerbond.

The Beeld newspaper reported that the destruction was apparently ordered by the mayor and approved by the ANC in Mpumalanga.

Bosman said it was only through respect and understanding of each other’s cultures and history that there could be progress with “much needed” reconciliation.

“It is not in the hands of a mayor or a political party to rewrite history with irresponsible actions as displayed in Standerton.”

The Afrikaner organisation said it would take up the matter with the mayor and Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan.

The memorial was built for the 150th celebration of the Great Trek.

It consisted of a large concrete slab with the tracks of an ox wagon set in it. Thirteen ox wagons travelled through South Africa as part of the celebrations in 1988.

“That piece of thing means nothing to us. It’s just a piece of cement with tracks. I do not even know where it comes from,” Radebe-Khumalo was quote as saying by the Beeld.