Port Elizabeth - A plaque at Sarah Baartman’s grave in Hankey has been defaced, Eastern Cape police said on Sunday.
Warrant Officer Gerda Swart said a group of men were seen throwing white paint on the plaque on Saturday.
“A report was made by a community member at the Hankey police station at around 11.45pm after he saw a group of men throwing the paint at the plaque.”
She said a case of malicious damage to property and another under the National Heritage Act.
“No arrest have been made,” Swart said.
Baartman was a Khoi-woman born in the late 1700’s in the Gamtoos Valley, this area is known as the Eastern Cape now. While in her early 20’s she travelled to England with English ship’s doctor, William Dunlop, where she was exhibited as an anthropological freak because of her large buttocks. She became very popular in Britain which led to her move to Paris in 1814, where she continued to be exhibited.
Baartman died in 1816, aged 26. Her remains were brought back to South Africa in March 2002 and were buried at the Saartjie Baartman centre of remembrance. Her grave was declared a national heritage site.
ANA