Plaques commemorate KZN struggle heroes

Didi Makhanya, with two plaques commemorating her late parents. Picture: : Jacques Naude

Didi Makhanya, with two plaques commemorating her late parents. Picture: : Jacques Naude

Published Nov 25, 2015

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Durban - Liberation martyrs and historically significant places will be memorialised with 3 000 plaques.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture plans to place these “at sites that connect with the struggles of our people”.

This was unveiled at the Language, Library, Archive and Museum Conference at the ICC on Tuesday.

Speaking on behalf of MEC Ntombikayise Sibhidla-Saphetha, department head Sbongile Nzimande said the Green Plaque Programme was part of the KZN Heritage Preservation Initiative, in partnership with Olde World Foundry in Hammarsdale.

This “ancient” metal casting technique was used to make the plaques, with two youths from Hammarsdale employed to learn the art.

“It is significant that the foundry is in Hammarsdale. That community paid a heavy price in the struggle for freedom and justice. It was also the site of significant peace efforts in nation-building and reconciliation,” said Nzimande.

The first two plaques, displayed at the conference, had the names of anti-apartheid activists Victoria Nonyamezelo and husband Griffiths Mlungisi Mxenge, who were murdered in the 1980s.

One of their daughters, Didi Makhanya, was at the conference.

“You don’t expect these things,” she said of her parents being the first to be memorialised with plaques.

“You just assume people have forgotten, or that they don’t really care any more that our parents literally died for freedom. These plaques are a symbol that people are aware of the sacrifice they made, and we are pleasantly surprised that the world has not forgotten, because we, as a family ,will never forget,” she said.

“Our home was petrol-bombed, but it’s still standing and was rented out for a while. But now people just live there for free and it’s in a terrible state. Our family had happy times there, but it also carries so much pain. It would be nice if there was something to mark what had happened there. It’s part of the heritage of our country,” Makhanya said.

The plaques would be connected by Quick Response (QR) code to the Initiative’s online heritage portal, and by GPS to a mobile application.

Said Nzimande: “This is an exciting and unprecedented way of ensuring that the heritage of our province is accessible and meaningful in a format that speaks to the new technological age.”

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