After years of debate, the design of the monument to honour the arrival of indentured Indians to South Africa, on November 16, 1860, has been given the green light.
R10 million had been allocated for the 150th anniversary commemoration by the KZN government in 2010. This year marks the 165th anniversary commemoration.
In August last year, the process to erect the monument – an arch of unity with a bell tower – was underway. However, at the time there were numerous objections to the design, specifically the inclusion of a bell.
Last Thursday, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) held a public meeting at the 1860 Heritage Centre, to discuss the progress of the monument and to find a resolution to the objections raised to the bell tower.
The meeting was chaired by Dr Thobile Sifunda, the head of department for the Departments of Sport, Arts and Culture in KZN, and was attended by various stakeholders, including civic and religious organisations, political parties and community activists.
After a heated debate, a vote was taken – by a show of hands – that the bell would not be included in the design.
Instead, a bronze sculpture of an indentured couple with a child would be placed on a plinth and included as part of the original arch of unity design concept.
Selvan Naidoo, director and curator at the 1860 Heritage Centre, who designed the original arch of unity concept, presented a progress report to the meeting. He compiled the report together with Dr Vusi Shongwe, the chief director of heritage resources services at the KZN Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
Naidoo said at the time, the 1860 Legacy Foundation set a specific goal for the 2010 commemorations, which included the building of a monument. He said a committee would be formed to ensure the construction of the monument.
During this time, plaques were placed in KwaDukuza, Port Shepstone and Ladysmith, among others, to commemorate the 150th anniversary.
Naidoo said the eThekwini Municipality appointed an architect in September 2015 to supervise the implementation of the monument.
“The process concluded with the winning design which was rejected by the committee. This issue was not resolved by the municipality with the monument stalled for several years.”
He said in April 2021 the monument committee advertised for expression of design concept. In addition, the KZN Department of Sport, Arts and Culture was tasked to manage the implementation process. Naidoo said there were several submissions, including the arch of unity with a bell tower.
Naidoo’s design was selected and was part of the pro-bono public interest process.
He said the concept design was endorsed by the committee and a report finalising their mandate was submitted to the KZN Provincial Executive Council.
The executive council ratified and accepted the report from the monument committee appointing the KZN Department of Sport, Arts and Culture to manage the public tender process to appoint a service provider to complete the monument. However, due to community objections, a resolution meeting was held in August last year.
During the meeting, it was agreed that the design (indentured bronze couple) would be incorporated into the overall aesthetic of the agreed final design. However, the debate on whether a bell should be included continued.
At the meeting, the various stakeholders shared their views on what the monument should reflect.
Seelan Achary, who chaired the initial monument committee, said he was only made aware that the bell tower was going to be part of the monument, in August last year.
“For 11 years we submitted the same proposal – a man, woman and child on a plinth. We wanted a monument, that when you walk past it, you would not have to guess what it was. This monument with a bell tower doesn’t speak to us.
“We were told that this idea of the bell came from various sugar mill towns. Sugar mill bells were there to control us. Some Indian people are shy to say we were products of slaves. Our forefathers came here as slaves. You may as well put a white man on a horse with a whip in his hand on a plinth. We are very hurt by how the money was transferred to allow construction to start,” he said.
Prince Ishwar Ramlutchman Mabheka Zulu, who was also part of the initial committee, said the design should have been finalised before construction started.
“However, we now have to come to a compromise. The indentured labourers’ monument should stand out. A steering committee should be formed to ensure what has been agreed to is done.”
Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi, leader of the Minority Front, said she did not disagree with the entire concept, only the inclusion of the bell.
“People don’t want to remember pain. They want a monument that is more informative.”
Ravi Pillay, the former KZN MEC of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, said the pain endured by the indentured Indians was part of history.
“Everyone should be reminded of the history that we came from, that suffering. We were treated like slaves, but the bigger message is how resilient the community was to be able to transform that adversity into relative success. I feel that is a very powerful message. The tragedy in all of this is that an overwhelming majority of our young people don’t know this. The monument has to be educational and interactive.”
Pradeep Ramlall, secretary of the Global Girmitiya Centre of South Africa, said: “We don’t have a problem with the bell. But the very next day it would be stolen because of its metal value and sold in a scrapyard. This is the plight of our people in the country. We don’t want wasted expenditure.”
After the community meeting, it was concluded that the arch of unity in its original context, which included the indentured bronze couple, with the exclusion of the bell, would be the final concept.