Menseregtedag: die Cradock Vier-erfenisroete en Garden of Remembrance

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Die Sharpeville-slagting (1960) word jaarliks op 21 Maart as Menseregtedag herdenk.

Op hierdie dag in die geskiedenis het 69 mense gesterf en is 180 mense gewond toe polisie in Sharpeville (naby Johannesburg) op betogers teen die apartheid-paswette losgebrand het.

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Vanjaar se tema op Menseregtedag is “The year of indigenous languages: promoting and deepening a human rights culture”.

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Die Cradock Four Garden of Remembrance word op vanjaar se Menseregtedag amptelik in Cradock** deur die Minister van Toerisme onthul.

Hierdie fotogalery herdenk vier vermoorde apartheidsaktiviste, Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli en Sparrow Mkonto, bekend as die Cradock Vier.

Die Cradock Vier is op 27 Junie 1985 vermoor toe hulle vanaf ’n UDF- (United Democratic Front-) vergadering in Port Elizabeth teruggekeer het.

Hul begrafnis het, luidens ’n artikel, op 20 Julie 1985, ’n historiese dag, plaasgevind:

Their deaths provoked a national outcry, and increasing unrest. Their funeral, in Cradock, was one of the biggest political burials in the Eastern Cape since the death of Steve Biko. On the day of their funeral a state of emergency was declared, historically regarded as the beginning of the end for apartheid. Within five years, Nelson Mandela was to walk free.

Om en by 60 000 mense het hul begrafnis bygewoon.

In die tagtiger- en negentigerjare het geregtelike ondersoeke rakende die gebeure rondom 27 Junie 1985 plaasgevind.

Die Cradock Vier-monument is in 2000 onthul en die Garden of Remembrance is onlangs op datum gebring.

Die eerste reeks foto’s is geneem tydens die 2018 Schreiner Karoo Writers' Festival in Cradock gedurende die Cradock Four Garden of Remembrance-toer, aangebied deur Amos Nteta.

Tydens die wandeling deur ’n pragtige tuin van inheemse plante het Amos vir feesgangers vertel van apartheid-era politieke aktivisme in Cradock, met die laatmiddag-Karoo-son wat agter die vier gedenktekens skuil.

“The death of these gallant freedom fighters marked a turning point in the history of our struggle. No longer could the regime govern in the old way. They were the true heroes of the struggle”. – Nelson Mandela

Die tweede reeks foto’s is geneem op die Cradock Vier-erfenisroete in Lingelihle, Cradock, aangebied deur die Schreiner Karoo Writers' Festival in Cradock (Julie 2011). Hierdie roete is deel van ’n nasionale-erfenis-roete.

’n Groep feesgangers het ’n aantal historiese tonele besoek: die Cradock Vier-gedenktekens en -grafte; Cradock se eie Distrik Ses en Berlynse Muur; die huis van eerwaarde James Arthur Calata en die toneel waar, volgens oorlewering, die eerste weergawe van die Vryheidsmanifes deur eerwaarde Calata geskryf is. 

Die toerleier Nomonde Calata, die weduwee van Fort Calata

Fort Calata se oupa, James Arthur Calata, se huis

Die graf van die Cradock Vier

Op die grafsteen

Cradock se eie Distrik Ses: Volgens Nomonde Calata is dit die perseel waar James Arthur Calata die eerste weergawe van die Vryheidsmanifes geskryf het. Die huise is gedurende die apartheid-era platgestoot, vertel sy. Buffelskop lê in die agtergrond.

Cradock se eie Berlynse Muur: links was die “wit area” en regs die “swart area”.

Wyle Neville Alexander skryf die volgende oor sy grootwordjare tydens apartheid in Cradock, sy geboortedorp:

We lived in the town, on the edge of the white town, between the white town and the location. That whole racial geography of the town is fascinating even today, but at that time it was very clearly marked. Though not yet imposed by law, Apartheid, it was class-based.

You had to be able to pay, and most people were very poor. And what was interesting about the whole Eastern Cape was that so-called coloured and Xhosa-speaking people, in other words, Afrikaans- and Xhosa-speaking people, lived together in the location, intermarried.

And that is what my political attitudes and my human development was very strongly influenced by.

We lived nearby, and my sister and I were constantly in the location, we had friends, we learnt and talked Xhosa and it was absolutely normal for us.

When apartheid came there was an enormous change, and coming to Cape Town, which is so segregated, for me it was a complete change. (Interviews with Neville Alexander – The Power of Language against the Language of Power, 2014)

**Cradock is in 1814 gestig en vernoem na sir John Cradock, goewerneur van die Kaapkolonie (1811–1814). Olive Schreiner, skrywer van The story of an African farm (1883) het tussen 1868 en 1870 in Cradock gewoon.

  • Foto's: Menán van Heerden

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Bronne

  • In the footsteps of James Calata and Matthew Goniwe A tour of Lingelihle township, Cradock (compiled by Brian Wilmot, curator: Schreiner House, Cradock; National English Literary Museum, 2016)
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