They may not see eye-to-eye in life, but in death SA's leading politicians could end up side by side if an ANC proposal for a “national heroes’ acre” is implemented.
The party’s discussion document on arts, culture and heritage, prepared for its policy conference in July, says political “stalwarts” and heroes would be buried in the proposed graveyard.
“There is a need for the ANC to pronounce on the concept of a place where struggle icons are buried or honoured in the form of a Heroes’ Acre. Linked to the above, the ANC should also develop a clear policy and guidelines on the repatriation of liberation material and cultural objects,” reads the document.
Speaking to the Sunday Times yesterday Mathole Motshekga, who is a member of the ANC’s cultural and religious affairs committee, said the heroes’ acre would provide a final resting place for icons from across the political spectrum, not just the ANC.
“The ANC is a leader of society. The ANC has got to mobilise society behind its policies, which are not ethnic policies, they are not racial policies and then they are not partisan politics. But we cannot impose our policies on other political parties who look at the situation narrowly rather than broadly,” said Motshekga.
The ANC is a leader of society. The ANC has got to mobilise society behind its policies, which are not ethnic policies, they are not racial policies and then they are not partisan politics.
— Mathole Motshekga
He said there was no intention to exhume the remains of such struggle heroes as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Chris Hani or Oliver Tambo and rebury them in the heroes' acre.
“In my view memorialisation does not necessarily include reburial of the stalwarts because some of them, during their lifetime, expressed their wishes as to where they should be buried. Their families had to respect that and the organisation as well had to respect that,” he said.
“For instance Chris Hani is buried in Boksburg, Madiba is buried in Qunu, Tambo is buried in East Rand. Now it would be wrong to try to rebury them, and also in African culture we say the wishes of the deceased have to be respected.”
Motshekga cited the example of Sefako Makgatho, the second president of the ANC, who was born in Limpopo and is buried in Mamelodi.
“We are currently working with the provincial government to establish a memorial acre in Polokwane but we are not going to rebury him in Polokwane, it will be a symbolic memorialisation. So that will be the approach that is acceptable to both the families and the organisation,” said Motshega.
Cultural expert Ndela Nelson Ntshangase, a former lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said the heroes' acre concept had a long history in KwaZulu-Natal, where traditional leaders were buried next to each other.
“We used to have this in the Zulu kingdom. Even now, if you go to Ulundi there is a place called eMakhosini, where traditional leaders would be buried. But some did not get buried there, like those who were fleeing from being killed,” said Ntshangase.
He said the practice ended with the start of white rule. “It then became practice that each traditional leader is buried in their own land.”
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