Leaders condemn defacing of Khoi icon's grave

Kouga Tourism and Creative Industries Portfolio Councillor Virginia Camealio-Benjamin, Local Economic Development Portfolio Councillor Noel O'Connel from the Sarah Baartman District Municipality, Kouga Executive Mayor Booi Koerat and Chief Margaret Coetzee of the Khoisan next to the defaced plaque at Sarah Bartmann's grave site.

Local and district municipality leaders and Khoisan chiefs gathered in Hankey on Monday (27 April 2015) to condemn the defacing of Sarah Bartmann's gravesite.

News of the vandalism first broke out on Saturday evening, with a picture of the defaced plaque going viral on social networks.

Ward 9 councillor Xolisile Persent was alerted on Sunday morning by members of the community and by the police. He immediately went to inspect the site, convened a meeting with the Khoisan leadership and laid a charge of destruction of public property with the police.

Speaking at a media conference held at the councillor's office yesterday, Kouga Executive Mayor Booi Koerat said the municipality condemned, with contempt, the defacing of the site.

"This abominable act has left a deep sense of shock and disappointment in our hearts. We will work hand-in-hand with the law enforcement agencies and we appeal to the community to help bring the perpetrators to book," he said.

Koerat said the municipality would work with stakeholders such as the Department of Arts and Culture, the South African Heritage Resources Agency and the Khoisan leadership towards the rehabilitation of the site. He said the municipality needed guidance from these custodians as this was a heritage site and a sensitive place.

The Mayor added that society needed to enter into an educational programme about the history of this country and the symbols that defined it.

"We cannot allow for Sarah Baartman to be humiliated once more after all the pain and suffering she had to endure while she lived. We will defend the symbols honouring her and all our heroes. Nothing these criminals or anyone does can erase the name of this global icon," said Koerat

His words were echoed by Local Development Portfolio Councillor Noel O'Connel of the Sarah Baartman District Municipality, who spoke on behalf of Executive Mayor Eunice Kekana.

"We want to commit as the district municipality that we will contribute towards the rehabilitation of the burial site. However, this alone is not enough as we need to address what now seems to be a syndrome of destruction of national symbols," he said.

Chief Margaret Coetzee, representing the Khoisan leadership, said no words could describe the pain the act caused to her nation.

"This deed is uncalled for. Did our great mother Sarah Bartmann not suffer enough physically and spiritually while she lived and in a foreign land after her death?

"This is supposed to be a place where she can rest peacefully. But she cannot rest as long as there are people who commit such acts," said Coetzee.

A procession to the burial site where a prayer was held according to Khoisan ritual followed the media conference.