Thanks to a TV shoot I recently worked on,
I got to see a part of Pretoria that I have never visited before.
Having time to kill before the event started,
I decided to investigate the immediate area.
I was surprised by what I found...
I have heard of graves for the "Unknown Soldier",
But I had never heard of this initiative.
Taken at face value, it seems like a worthy cause.
But it is "hidden" at the bottom of the road that leads to Freedom Park.
Probably one of the least visited "tourist" destinations,
for a variety of reasons...
What really made me sad/angry is the condition of the images
on the walls that surround the monument.
This one had graffiti all over it.
And for some reason, it looks like someone had tried to remove the picture
It looks like the thieves succeeded in getting this one.
Could it not have been replaced by the Municipality?
It seems such a pity that such a good idea might not be around for much longer
This is the actual monument.
I wonder how many of the locals even know that it exists?
"Teach your children",
Crosby, Stills and Nash...with Young in the original recording
I mentioned that Freedom Park was at the top of the road.
Costing millions, it recognizes only a certain segment of our population,
who fought for freedom and democracy.
The park represents the following:
The Seven Epochs
Epoch 1: Earth – this era explores an African perspective on the origins of the universe, life on Earth and our role and responsibility towards the environment and each other.
Epoch 2: Ancestors – this era explores how Africans deal with death and the afterlife, and explains the concept of ancestors from the physical and spiritual perspectives. It also documents early technological innovations.
Epoch 3: Peopling – this era showcases African innovations and the many vibrant civilisations and ideas from the continent that have influenced developments in the modern world.
Epoch 4: Resistance and Colonisations – this era shows how indigenous people used their own systems to resist the social, economic and political challenges of colonialism, and highlights how colonisation changed the relationship of African people to their land and cultures.
Epoch 5: Industrialisation and Urbanisation – this era highlights how indigenous people resisted, and adapted to, the social and economic changes and challenges that colonial industrialisation – especially large-scale minerals exploitation – brought to their lives.
Epoch 6: Nationalisms and Struggle – this era looks at the struggle for democracy as a backdrop to the birth of the new South Africa. It charts the movement to establish inclusive nationalism as the preferred model for a unified nation.
Epoch 7: National Building and Continent Building – this era begins in the last decade of the 20th century and explores South Africa's transition from the tyranny of apartheid to a constitutional democracy. It looks at how we create unity and promote development in South Africa and on the continent in general.
Information from the Freedom Park website:
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