Black servicemen memorialised in Company’s Garden
THIS morning marks the official ceremonial sod-turning for the Cape Town Labour Corps Memorial that is set to be situated in the Delville Wood Memorial Garden in Cape Town's Company's Garden.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, together with a delegation from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and various stakeholders, are expected to attend the event which marks the commencement of construction of the memorial. The memorial aims to commemorate the lives of more than 1 700 black South African servicemen who served in non-combat roles and perished without a known grave or previous commemoration during the First World War. The men served with the Cape Coloured Labour Regiment, the Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport, the Military Labour Bureau and the Military Labour Corps of South Africa.
On the sidelines of this ceremonial event is a multidisciplinary art exhibition that commemorates the lives of over 600 black South African servicemen who perished in a British 4 230 GRT passenger steamship called SS Mendi in 1917. The exhibition is titled Sibebanye noSS Mendi [to become one with the SS Mendi]- and is currently showing at the Michaelis Gallery in Cape Town until tomorrow (Tues).
The exhibition, curated by Mud and Fire Parables director, Mandla Mbothwe, and UCT drama department's Rob Keith, brings together artists such as Lungile Cindi, Leigh Bishop, Sanjin Muftic, Lwanda Sindaphi, Nomakrestu Xakathugaga, Lonwabo Sotana and Fezekisa Wulana.
The “Sibebanye noSS Mendi” exhibition features pictorial metaphors of the sinking of SS Mendi; and tells the story of how the deaths affected widows in villages and how their men died at sea.
Although the “Sibebanye noSS Mendi” exhibition is not directly related to the Cape Town Labour Corps Memorial, theatre-maker and director Mbothwe was able to narrate a part of the history of the black servicemen that will be honoured by the City.
"The last time those servicemen touched the land was on 16 January 1917, here in Rosebank Cape Town. They were kept and trained in Rosebank to be a supportive system; under the pretence that some of them would be soldiers and that some of them would be given guns. They never got to carry guns,” said Mbothwe.
"The black servicemen who were made non-militant people were actually respected warriors in their villages.
“They were instructed to leave their assegais at home. Upon boarding those warships it became clear that their roles were not to fight; they were given buckets to scrub decks, became assistant chefs, dug trenches, erected tents and carried wounded soldiers. These were strong respected village men who now found themselves stuck in kitchens peeling potatoes on ships, far from home. It was the belief that they would get their land back or would be compensated in some form that made them stay aboard," Mbothwe said.
Similar to the pictorial metaphors exhibited at the exhibition at the Michaelis Gallery, that also list names of the servicemen and their service numbers, the planned Cape Labour Corps Memorial will feature African hardwood posts that represent each life lost. These posts will bear the service number, first and last name and date of death of the deceased. The posts will vary in height and individual characteristic finishes will be brought about by the environment over time. Each post will be set into an individually numbered South African Rustenburg granite base – a material used in the Commission's cemeteries across South Africa.
The completed Cape Town Labour Corps Memorial, at the Company's Garden, will be unveiled in November.