THIS year marks the 350th year of Castle of Good Hope, which is in the process of being submitted to UNESCO to be listed as a World Heritage Site. It’s also the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings.
In August a bench with a plaque to commemorate Eva Krotoa Havgard was unveiled in a side alley at the Castle by the Minister of Defence and custodian of the Castle, Nosiviwe Mapisa (who considers the Castle to be “sacred ground.”)
The event took place to the tune of a naval marimba band and sacred rituals in what has been termed by some as “the pursuit of national reconciliation, healing and nation-building”. But the Khoi San community aren’t having any of it.
Commemorative benches may be considered Eurocentric, yet some of the earliest commemorative plaques were produced by the Benin of Nigeria in the 13th century, commemorating significant persons and events associated with the Oba, or king’s, court.
Last September a group of Khoi San activists smashed a mosaic bench dedicated to Eva Krotoa Havgard. The bench was unveiled at the renaming ceremony of Krotoa Place, the small square between St George’s Mall and Castle Street on Women’s Day four years ago. It was inspired by a well-meaning group of Grade 7 learners from Manenberg and donated by the Rock Girl Safe Spaces Campaign, a grassroots initiative aimed at creating safe places for women and children, encouraging awareness and stopping violence perpetuated against girls and women.
Unlike the slab of smooth ironwood from a Castle beam and its faux bronze plaque contextualising Havgard’s life that constitutes the latest bench at the Castle, the mosaic was certainly a more inspired piece and its intention was well meant. But that is not the point. As we well know the way to hell is paved with good intentions. For some members of the Khoi San the bench was an absolute no- no. Understandably they “found it disrespectful for people to sit on Krotoa’s face, which had formed part of the mosaic”.
It’s interesting that a year after the first bench was smashed another bench is introduced. In fairness this one has no images so something may have been learned in the process. But no matter how well meaning the bench is there is something off about the transference of the weight of oppressive colonialism for the weight of the contemporary buttock.
There’s another irony that cannot fail to be noticed. Havgard dies, is buried in the Castle grounds and 100 years after her death her remains were interred in an unmarked grave in Die Groote Kerk. It would seem that even in death there is no escape for Havgard, was who was symbolically repatriated to the Castle grounds, the very place where she was originally held a prisoner in the dungeon.
We know very little of her history other than that told from the vantage of the victorious. Any oral records of her have long expired. Historians have had to rely on the particular lens of Jan van Riebeeck through his journals. The event, an invitation only affair was filmed. it was interesting to see from the film footage Mapisa say that “Krotoa didn’t wallow in self-doubt” suggesting she was on intimate terms with her .
When all accounts of Havgard’s life suggest that she was consistently placed in a divided position as interpreter for the colonial Dutch and at the same time acutely aware of the needs and situation of her own people.
In a nutshell she was married to a Danish man and VOC official Peter Havgard. Her children were removed from her. She spent time incarcerated in the Castle dungeon and on Robben Island where she died, because she wouldn’t comply with the Dutch. She was instrumental in the formation of the Afrikaans language and many South Africans are her descendants.
Activist Patric Tariq Mellet’s writing (South History Online) provides a picture of her which draws on the writings of historians such Richard Elphick and Karel Schoeman and his own insight.
Havgard, a Goringhaicona was considered to be the offshoot clan of maroons (escapee slaves) from the other Khoena groups and lived between worlds throughout her life. Although she lived with the Van Riebeeck’s from 10 she was never a foster child but a servant to his wife. She dressed like an Asian slave rather than a European was taught the Dutch language, religion and culture not for her own development but to act as an interpreter and diplomat. It was Hagvard who was responsible for working out terms to end the First Dutch-Khoi-khoi War.
There are two concerns around the bench. Divides exist between the Khoi San communities. For activist Bradley Sitters the event was “very significant” but for others like Ron Martin, the chief curator at SA First Peoples Museum, the bench belittled the heroine’s legacy. Tania Kleinhans-Cedras co-founder of the Institute for the Restoration of the Aborigine of SA posted on Facebook, “KROTOA was DISGRACED with another BENCH being erected in her ‘Honour’”.
Secondly, is what was used to commemorate Havgard’s memory represents a complete failure of imagination. The bench is an uninspired piece especially for someone who holds the status of “the founder of a nation”. Granted the previous regime had Why not have commissioned a sculptor such as Willie Bester to make a statue as he did of Saartjie Baartman instead of this inane bench?