WHAT ARE SOUTH AFRICA’S ‘HEROES ACRES’?
This piece has finally come together around the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s democracy and the 29th anniversary of Youth Day commemoration (16 June). At the time of writing, the national election results are out and the African National Congress (ANC) has lost its outright majority for the first time since 1994, sliding from 57.5% of the public votes in 2019 to just 40.18% in 2024. South African citizens have been through a lot over the last three decades, not to mention the three centuries preceding this modern period. Some of the profound failures of the ANC have been outed and their beleaguered legacy as the former triumphant liberators continues to be hotly debated. This timing certainly informs how I’ve been reflecting on the subject of heroes as it relates to Heroes Acres in South Africa’s cemeteries.
The tradition for commemoration through public memorials came to South Africa as a side effect of colonisation. Political mythologies were stamped across the landscape in the form of monuments and statues by the Dutch, then the British, and then the Afrikaners behind the Apartheid ideological movement. One of the most prominent monuments from the Apartheid era is the Voortrekker Monument, an imposing Art Deco structure in granite set atop a hill overlooking Pretoria. Opened to the public in 1949, it proclaims the story of the Voortrekkers who migrated north from the Cape Colony to the interior of the country to remove themselves from the yoke of British rule. In the centre of the memorial is a cenotaph - an empty grave - inscribed with the words “Ons vir jou, SuidAfrika” (Afrikaans for We for you, South Africa). The grave is dedicated to those who lost their lives along the journey north and it bullishly commands solidarity around this heroic narrative for national identity-making.
Commemorative grave sites and the physical remains of key figures are used across the globe as objects of national cultural interest and identity making. Knowing where the remains are buried is deemed to be especially important for citizens to connect and commune with the departed individual. The public funerary and burial rituals also serve to enshrine the ideas and principles that they stood for in life. Cenotaphs, while lacking remains, draw on the same rhetoric for veneration in remembrance of a life or lives lived.
Post-1994 the South African government has partially adopted the policy of the Heroes Acre in public cemeteries to give communities a way to honour those who played a significant role in local, national and international affairs, but in practice, the implementation of the Heroes Acres has been fraught with inconsistencies and shows only a narrow view of the country’s heroes. In reading and reflecting on these spaces, and considering the current political climate, I’ve attempted to summarise some of the characteristics of the South African Heroes Acre and its place in local politics and daily life.
THE MEMORY BOOM
Beyond South Africa’s borders, the historical review of the last century has seen the rise of what is now referred to as the ‘memory boom’. This trend is generally agreed to have taken off after World War II with the unravelling of the story of the Holocaust. Academic institutions and governments have taken it upon themselves to formalise the story of the past and nail down these authorised tales in the form of museums, heritage centres and public memorials. While typically applied to tales of war, the maxim of ‘Lest we forget’ can be more universally applied across these memory activation stations. It is a warning that forgetting what came before could lead to the repeat of nasty mistakes from our collective past. This expression, and similar persuasive language from those perceived to be in authority compels the public to digest and accept the simplified, shared version of the past, sometimes eschewing the more nuanced narratives that families and communities might share with each other from one generation to another. It is this top-down history that the Heroes Acres tap into, while attempting, in the post-Apartheid era, to also remind the public that these heroes are of the people.
WE CAN BE HEROES
The concept of a ‘Heroes Acre’ in South African cemeteries was first rolled out in 1867. The original Heroes Acre (Heldeakker in Afrikaans) is in Church Street Cemetery, Pretoria. It was established as the final resting place for heads of state and public figures, including those recognised as war heroes or for infamous deeds. In Church Street Cemetery visitors will find Andries Pretorius (1798-1853, a prominent Voortrekker and after whom Pretoria is named), Paul Kruger (1825-1904, former State President of the South African Republic) and Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (1901-1966, former Prime Minister of South Africa and the so-called Father of Apartheid). Other monuments include the memorial to Désiré De Villiers that shows a Boer soldier dressed in combat gear and crumpling after being struck by an enemy bullet. De Villiers was a Stellenbosch University student (Victoria College at the time) and only 18 when he lost his life in the Second Boer War/ South African War. The proverb on his grave means “Faithful until death” (Getrouw tot den dood in Dutch). This space is a snapshot of the colonial nation-building phase of South Africa’s history, from the days of the independent colonies, to the Union of South Africa, through to the establishment of the Republic of South Africa in the 1960s. It shows no sign of the dramatic shift in tack that the country underwent three decades ago.
In South Africa’s case, it is easy to see where the incitement to redefine the nation’s memory comes from. With the rise of the new, democratic South Africa in 1994, the Heroes Acre was identified by the African National Congress (ANC) as a way to recognise the heroes and heroines of the struggle for liberation and indelibly write their stories into the country’s history. Ndela Nelson Ntshangase, Zulu cultural expert and former senior lecturer at University of KwaZulu-Natal, points out that this practice is not a wholly Western practice:
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. [Under white rule it] then became practice that each traditional leader is buried in their own land.
In the example of eMakhosini, also known as the ‘Valley of the Kings’, this practice served to single out the kings for their status and highlight their explicit superiority to their people.
In contemporary South Africa, bringing noteworthy people together into designated locations aspires towards a cohesive national narrative, taking individual strengths and accomplishments and turning them into collective ones. In the case of community leaders and civil servants, burial in a Heroes Acre is also a public reward to them and their families for a career of service to the country and its people. To be clear, Heroes Acres are a phenomenon executed by government bodies within public cemeteries under their jurisdiction. None of the forthcoming examples of Heroes Acres are to be found in private, commercial cemeteries. While there might be sections dedicated to specific communities that have a large representation in the local community, South African public cemeteries are non-denominational and accommodate diverse burial needs for multi-faith communities.
The first post-Apartheid Heroes Acre was established in Avalon Cemetery in Soweto, the geographic epicentre for the political movement to overthrow the Apartheid government. As early as 1998, there is reference to its Heroes Acre in the Mail and Guardian. The former city manager for cemeteries, Alan Duff, stated that ”Nothing has been proclaimed as a Heroes Acre as far as I know… It’s just what some people call the area where Joe Slovo is buried.” Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, the local government authority responsible for this and other public cemeteries in the city, describe the political significance of the space as follows:
During the height of the struggle in the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of mourners congregated at Avalon to sing forbidden songs of freedom and chant banned slogans, until they were driven away by security forces… Some dressed in military fatigues and were armed with wooden rifles, flocking to the cemetery to demonstrate their solidarity for the struggle... Funerals for the victims became one of the most powerful expressions of defiance against the apartheid government. When there were not enough buses to drive them to the cemetery, protesters stopped motorists and forced drivers to give them a lift.
In this cemetery, Lillian Ngoyi (first president of the ANC Women’s League and the Federation of South African Women) and Helen Joseph (anti-Apartheid activist and fellow founder of the Federation of South African Women) are buried side by side. On the 9th of August 1955, they led 20,000 South African women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest the pass laws in place at the time. Women’s Day is still celebrated annually on this date. Also buried in Avalon Cemetery’s Heroes Acre are Hector Pietersen and Hastings Ndlovu, two teenage schoolboys who were shot and killed during the Soweto Uprising on 16 June 1976. Youth Day is also celebrated annually on this date in commemoration. A memorial to the South Africans who drowned on the SS Mendi steamship was completed in Avalon Cemetery in 2018. Almost 650 men lost their lives when the ship sank in 1917 off the coast of the Isle of Wight on its way to France, most of whom were black soldiers of the South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC).
In some cases, the bodies of victims of the Apartheid government, buried for a time in unmarked graves, were exhumed and given state funerals before being laid to rest in a Heroes Acre. In 1997, Lesetja Sexwale, Anthony Dali and Isaac Rakobo (members of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the paramilitary arm of the ANC) were reburied in the Avalon Cemetery Heroes Acre. Their epitaph reads, “They were born in struggle. They lived in struggle and died in struggle for the freedom of the people of South Africa.” At the bottom of the tombstone, another epitaph reads, “Their blood nourished the tree of liberty.” In 2015, Siboniso Shabalala, Corlett L. Sono, Raymond Archie Lethoko and Moses Mzwakhe (also members of MK) were buried in Westpark Cemetery, Johannesburg. These reburials brought to a close decades of uncertainty for their families who had hoped to one day find out how they had died, who was responsible for their deaths, and where they had been buried. Although represented in only a minority of cases, this inclusion of ordinary people who contributed to the struggle for liberation can be argued to be one of the Heroes Acres strengths. It took considerable effort and commitment to conduct the investigations into their murders and uncover their remains. Their commemoration is no hollow tribute. These headstones, among many others, feature the ANC and MK logos prominently in its design.
After Avalon Cemetery, Westpark Cemetery’s Heroes Acre is one of the best known in the country. While some political figures are buried here, Westpark is better known for its celebrity burials. Famous interments include the kwaito star Mduduzi ‘Mandoza’ Edmond Thembinkosi (1978-2016), the boxer Jacob ‘Baby Jake’ Matlala (1962-2013), the TV actor Joe Mafela (1942-2017), the struggle photographer Alf Khumalo (1930-2012), and the HIV and AIDS activist Nkosi Johnson (1989-2001) who passed away at the age of 12. In February 2023, the musician Kiernan Forbes, better known as AKA, was buried in the Westpark Cemetery Heroes Acre. Since its unveiling, his grave has become a pilgrimage site for grieving fans following his shocking murder in Durban.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no style guide attached to the South African Heroes Acres. Those interred, their families and/ or representatives have creative freedom to propose their own preferred design for their memorials. The jazz musician and composer Hugh Masekela has a shrine designed by Ghanaian architect Sir David Adjaye. The ceiling of the shrine has leaf cutouts to mimic the canopy of a tree, reminiscent of a traditional meeting place in African villages. The design is said to reflect Masekela’s pan-Africanist ideals. Next to Masekela is the grave of anti-Apartheid activist and politician Ahmed Kathrada (1929-2017) who spent 26 years in jail alongside Nelson Mandela and other co-accused in the Rivonia Trial. Unveiled in Westpark Cemetery in 2019, the conceptual design recalls his incarceration and commitment to the struggle movement. According to the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation:
The remembrance site is the exact size of a Robben Island cell. Its low walls hold a set of ‘prison bars’, capturing the 26 years he spent in jail for his stance against the apartheid regime. However, where the ‘doorway’ is situated, is simply an open space, symbolising freedom. The design not only captures Kathrada’s love for the Island, but also how what was once a prison, has become a symbol of the ‘triumph of the human spirit’.
WHOSE HEROES ACRE IS IT ANYWAY?
The examples thus far provide a first glance at the character profiles and effect of the Heroes Acre. With this in mind, we can begin to examine some of the prevailing issues around the conceptualisation, implementation and management of these spaces. What follows is a series of overlapping vignettes that traverse the realms of public policy, celebrity, politics, and personal preference.
I. Public Policy
From a purely practical perspective, the term ‘Heroes Acre’ does not appear to be used universally across the country. A quick comparison between the country’s Cemetery and Crematoria By-Laws (special thanks to the South African Cemeteries Association for compiling them online) reveals that while the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (2004) and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (2003) use the term ‘heroes acre’ to describe ‘an area of land set aside for the burial of a hero’, the City of Cape Town (2011) uses the term ‘memorial square’ to describe ‘a grave section in a cemetery set aside for the interment and memorialisation of heroes and celebrated persons.’ Conceptually these cemetery sections amount to the same thing. That being said, the Paarl Cemetery in the Cape Winelands holds a section designated as a ‘Heroes Acre.’ It is dedicated to members of the Azanian People's Liberation Army (also known as Poqo, the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress) who were killed during violent protest action against the pass laws in the early 1960s.
In August 2006, a Planning for Future Cape Town document was drafted and circulated to relevant portfolio committees within the City of Cape Town. Containing plans for the long term spatial development of Cape Town, it makes brief reference to the development of a new ‘Heroes Acre’ (as shown below), but almost 20 years later this has not come to fruition. The only other reference to the enhancement of burial spaces in the document is the proposal to make use of indigenous plants that require very little maintenance and help to mitigate the effect of floods, fires and droughts.
Further to this basic definition, Ekurhuleni specifies that burial in a Heroes Acre can only be executed with consent from the deceased’s family. They also allude to the fact that families must ‘accept the Municipality’s terms and conditions governing burial in a military grave or heroes acre,’ without going into further details about the terms and conditions. This may not extend to a style guide, given what we can infer from the diverse range of memorials that co-exist side by side. For their part, eThekwini’s By-Laws make no mention of heroes or celebrities, nor whether they would be interred in any designated areas. Cape Town’s By-Laws also clarify that confirmation of “the status of a hero or celebrated person [must be] confirmed by the City in writing.” They do not go so far as to explain under what criteria the status of a hero or celebrated person would be assessed.
II. Celebrity
In the realm of South African celebrities especially, it is not clear who qualifies for a grave plot on a Heroe’s Acre and how the logistics of a celebrity burial play out. When the Kwaito star Mandoza (real name Mduduzi Edmond Thembinkosi) died in 2016 from cancer, his untimely death was widely reported with reference to his game changing role in his musical genre. Music industry players and funeral service providers stepped forward to fund the star’s funeral and burial, but they were cut to the chase by the South African government that paid out a whopping R185,000. The provincial Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) contributed R90,000 that was paid out to the Grace Bible Church in Soweto and the national Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) contributed R95,000 that was paid out directly to Mandoza’s widow, Mpho Tshabalala. At the time, journalists at the Sunday World called out the double payment as both fees were earmarked to pay for the same services. Lisa Combrinck, spokesperson for the national DAC, stated that the department had used its “discretion” to pay for the funeral to mark “the immense contribution of Mandoza to South African music and in building social cohesion in particular, and specifically through kwaito.” Others close to the proceedings questioned why the government would use taxpayers money when his peers in the industry had offered to cover all areas of the funeral arrangements. An unnamed friend of Mandoza’s was quoted as saying:
They could have used the money to pay for Mandoza's children's education instead. We have pulled our resources together to bury our colleagues before and we wanted to do the same here but people were just obsessed with monies.
Given the information that is publicly available, it is unclear under what circumstances government departments can or should intervene to offer financial support for celebrity burial and funeral arrangements, to what budget limit and for whom.
III. Politics
In the same vein of who qualifies for burial in a Heroes Acre, the current Mayor of Johannesburg, Kabelo Gwamanda, has publicly stated his intention to be buried in Avalon Cemetery’s Heroes Acre. Speaking during the unveiling of a Blue Plaque on the SS Mendi Memorial in Avalon Cemetery in 2023, Gwamanda described the significance of a Heroes Acre as follows:
This is the land where our ancestors rest. Ancestors who got us to a point where we are able to enjoy the liberty of today. Anyone who is buried on this land must earn their right to (be) buried on this land.
Gwamanda took on the role of Mayor in May 2023 and in the same year an investigation of fraud was opened against him. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has been looking into accusations that he ran a funeral insurance scam targeting Soweto residents in 2012, but no further information is available regarding the proceedings. Regardless of whether Gwamamanda qualifies for a spot in this pantheon, it is clear that the prestige of the Heroes Acre holds an allure, representing a reward for an exceptional life and the promise of reputational longevity after death.
At the time of publishing, there are at least five memorials in South Africa to the sinking of the troopship SS Mendi. The memorial in Avalon Cemetery was first unveiled in 1995 by Queen Elizabeth II and Nelson Mandela. SS Mendi Memorials have also been erected in Libode, Eastern Cape (2000), in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape (date unknown), in Atteridgeville, Pretoria (date unknown) and in Rondebosch, Cape Town (1995, with an upgrade made in 2014). None of these memorials, apart from the one in Avalon Cemetery, fall within the boundaries of a cemetery’s Heroes Acre. The Avalon and Cape Town memorials centre around naming the individual victims on memorial walls. The Libode and Atteridgeville memorials take a more symbolic approach showing a sinking ship and a drowning man, respectively. The Libode memorial is also dedicated to Hendry Bokleni, a chief of Mpondoland who was amongst those who drowned in the sinking of the SS Mendi. The Gqeberha memorial is a curious, non-representational plinth with a simple plaque. Although this is unconfirmed, I would not be surprised if the memorial once had a sculptural element that has been lost over the years. In addition to these dedicated memorials, the names of the men who went down with the ship are also listed on a memorial wall to South African war casualties at Freedom Park in Pretoria.
The repeated attempts to memorialise the SS Mendi in public spaces may point to a political tug-of-war over who is the arbiter of this important story for modern audiences. In 2016, the Cape Town memorial was named a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), making it the only SS Mendi site under the agency’s direct protection. This site was deemed most significant because it is the last location that the troops were lodged before embarking from Cape Town harbour for France. The men came from all over South Africa, but this is the neighbourhood where they spent their last days on South African soil.
The total costs and funders behind these memorials are unclear, although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission play an active role in international remembrance of the event. They attend and participate in public wreath laying ceremonies annually in South Africa and at international SS Mendi memorials in the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom.
In 1990, South Africa’s Communist Party (SACP), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the ANC formed the Tripartite Alliance. Prior to this, many of these parties' prominent members had served together as MK freedom fighters. This alliance attempted to consolidate the relationship between the three entities and combine their resources and expertise towards the fulfilment of common goals for the good of all South African citizens. In the decades following, this harmonious working relationship has not transpired and the effectiveness of the alliance has been widely panned. The acrimony has been on public view and this has spilled over into commemoration spaces, including the Heroes Acres.
In January 2020, the SACP and COSATU visited the grave of Joe Slovo in the Heroes Acre at Avalon Cemetery to mark the 25th anniversary of the former SACP and MK leader’s death. Slovo’s family was also in attendance and SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande spoke to his comrade’s virtues and significant role in many of the key moments of South Africa’s recent political history, such as his contributions to South Africa’s Freedom Charter. During or shortly after this well recorded and well attended event, COSATU general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali, SACP chairman Joe Mpisi and former Mayor of Johannesburg Geoff Makhubo all made public statements against the ANC leadership for their lack of attendance at the commemorative wreath-laying ceremonies in 2018, 2019 and 2020. They went so far as to accuse the ANC of ‘lying to the dead’ with their repeated promises to attend that have not been fulfilled.
On the surface this may be viewed as a superficial oversight, but in a highly political climate like South Africa, these decisions are not typically made in error. Slovo may be a featured figure on the Heroes Acre, but there are clearly some who find it politically inconvenient to commemorate him. Falling into a similar (but more profound) grey area of to honour or not to honour is F. W. De Klerk, Mandela’s co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and former President of South Africa who died in December 2021. Although he was given a state memorial service at the Groote Kerk in Cape Town, this choice received many complaints from members of the public, and it is unclear whether he received an invitation or nomination to be buried in one of the country’s Heroes Acres. Whatever the story may have been behind the scenes, De Klerk ultimately opted to be cremated and it was reported at the time that he “was buried in a private ceremony at an undisclosed location.” Given his fraught legacy as the final Apartheid-era president, it is not impossible to imagine that some might choose to act out their frustrations on his final resting place if the location were commonly known.
A more dramatic case of snubbing against the SACP occurred in 2012 and again in 2022. Twice former SACP leader Chris Hani’s gravesite has been vandalised by unknown persons. The grave is situated in the Heroes Acre of the Thomas Nkobi Memorial Park Cemetery (formerly South Park) in Boksburg, a cemetery that falls under the jurisdiction of the Ekurhuleni Municipality. In 2012, the cost to repair the damage to the gravestone was said to be R23,000 and the SACP declared it to be a “calculated act to target former SACP leaders.” The grave is now linked to a Chris Hani Memorial and 50m long ‘Walk of Remembrance’ that was unveiled by former President Jacob Zuma in 2015 when the grave was also officially designated as a National Heritage Site.
In 2022, Hani’s memorial was under attack again, and the cemetery’s information centre was also burgled and vandalised. Zweli Dlamini, spokesperson for the City of Ekurhuleni, remarked on the unfortunate timing of the vandalism, falling within close proximity to the release of Hani’s assassin Janusz Waluś who spent 30 years in prison for his murder. At the time, Dlamini stated that:
The city wants to make it clear that no amount of sabotage, theft or vandalism can erase the contribution [of] stalwarts like Chris Hani… Our people should take pride in such facilities instead of destroying them.
A report in The Citizen from the time challenged the claim that it was politically motivated, instead reading it as a continuation of the general trend of vandalism across many cemeteries.
IV. Personal Preference
In 2001, the journalist Mark Gevisser attended the public funeral of Govan Mbeki (former Secretary of MK, an SACP member and father of former President Thabo Mbeki) in “the dilapidated old cemetery in Zwide, one of Port Elizabeth's most abject townships.” While the funeral boasted public endorsements of a life well lived and a guaranteed legacy in the story of his country by former President Nelson Mandela, former President Jacob Zuma and others, the nonagenarian eschewed joining any Heroes Acre, instead opting to be “buried among paupers.” It was reported that his eternal presence might guarantee the cemetery’s upkeep for all. Gevisser’s report for the Sunday Independent paints a remarkable scene that underlines the disparities between ordinary South Africans and their so-called ‘Heroes’:
The scores of VIPs - government elite, new black moguls and the diplomatic corps, who came to bid farewell to "Oom Gov" and to pay their respects to the president had to drive their air-conditioned cars along a dirt road past a squatter camp, through a tight human avenue of very poor people.
Most onlookers cheered rousingly for the dignitaries they spotted (Trevor Manuel and Kenneth Kaunda are particularly big in Zwide) but some made no bones about their feelings. "Look at your fancy cars!" yelled one woman. "We don't even have the money to take a taxi!"
"Go back to Pretoria," added another, "and only return when you have some houses to give us."
There is no doubting that Govan Mbeki deserves a big, grand tombstone, but its ostentation is striking amid the tin notices stuck onto metal staves that are his neighbours in the rest of the cemetery.
And so his grave becomes a symbol not only of his (and his family's) status, but of the rareness of the status, and of the fact that so many of his people do not come anywhere close to sharing it.
In less than a year, Mbeki’s grave was “desecrated”, as reported by News24 in July 2002. Specifically, an enclosure around the grave was stolen and trees planted near the grave were taken as well. Zelda le Grange, spokesperson for Nelson Mandela, revealed that Madiba “was quiet and visibly upset” when he heard the news.
Madiba’s funeral in 2013 was certainly one of the most high profile news items in the post-Apartheid era, but 11 years after the fact, many South Africans would not be able to say where he was laid to rest. Foregoing a reunion with his political fellows in one of the nation’s Heroes Acres, Madiba and the Mandela family opted for a burial in his remote home village of Qunu, Eastern Cape. While this choice reflects the personal desire to be returned home in death, Madiba’s physical remains and their custody have led to a number of high profile disputes before and following his burial. As Madiba lay in a critical condition in hospital, his oldest daughter Makaziwe and other family members entered a legal battle against his grandson, Mandla Mandela, over the return of family remains from Mvezo to Qunu. In 2011, Mandla had exhumed, without permission, three of Madiba’s deceased children in Qunu for reburial in Mvezo, about 30 km away, where he is the local chief. At the time, he openly stated his intention to establish a Mandela family shrine, along with other property developments, that could drive paid tourism to the area. A court order issued in July 2013 forced Mandla to return the remains to their original resting place and when his time came, Madiba's burial wishes were also honoured.
The simple grave marker reflects none of the ostentation and grandeur that might affirm Madiba’s significant life and work. Instead, it says something about the individual behind the legend. It isn't much of a stretch to imagine that the man who gave so much of himself towards societal reform, under the public eye, would want a private burial plot, away from the spectacle of any national identity politics around the establishment of heroes. Or indeed, safe from the commodification of his remains by his own family. For her part, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (activist, politician and former wife of Madiba) was buried in 2018 in Fourways Memorial Park (a private cemetery), next to her great-grandchildren Zenawe and Zenani Mandela.
WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER HERO
So what can we really say about Heroes Acres in contemporary South Africa? In 2004, Ciraj Rassool (History professor, University of the Western Cape) insisted that the Heroes Acre was never adopted by the Democratic government. Twenty years on, the Heroes Acre is certainly represented in local government literature, where the seeds of future policies have already been sown. It has also become a site of ideological conflict over who does and who does not belong in a universal South African pantheon of heroic elders.
Coming back to the Apartheid-era Voortrekker Monument, the monument is circled by a wall of ox wagons in the traditional laager formation that kept travellers safe in dangerous territories. The laager still stands as a powerful metaphor in some corners of the country, where being within the laager is to be part of the community and to be outside of it is to be excluded or cut off from the clique. Stemming from the original Heldeakker, the contemporary Heroes Acre certainly holds the same in-crowd exclusivity for some, but for others, their familial ties outweigh the draw of posthumous affiliation to any political system.
None of South Africa’s Heroes Acres are entirely designated as National Heritage Sites, although some individual grave sites within these spaces are represented in the list of National Heritage Sites, such as the dual grave of Lillian Ngoyi and Helen Joseph in Avalon Cemetery, Soweto, and Chris Hani’s grave in Thomas Nkobi Memorial Park Cemetery, Boksburg. For the most part, the narrative of The Struggle for Liberation in South Africa dominates these spaces, securing the status of South Africa’s recent ruling elite in death. However, the fact that even our heroes' graves are not safe from material damage is telling about where the country is on a psychosocial level. The desecration of graves is considered a particularly heinous act across all of South Africa’s diverse communities for personal, spiritual and historical reasons, yet cases of vandalism and illegal exhumation still persist and continue to rise in frequency.
Writing for The Walrus in May 2024, Zanele Mji (investigative journalist) recalled the state funeral she attended for the photojournalist Peter Magubane, a member of her mother’s extended family. Magubane’s images play a significant role in how the country remembers its past. In 1960, he photographed the mass burial for the 69 victims of the Sharpeville Uprising in Phelindaba Cemetery, Vereeniging. For the sake of this article’s theme, I will say that these graves do not fall within a designated Heroes Acre, but their burial together certainly reflects a hero status.
In reflecting on the heroes she’s encountered as part of the ‘born-free’ generation, Mji remarks on her national pride in Naledi Pandor’s delegation to the International Court of Justice to defend Palestine in the world’s highest court. But she also dwells on the insufficiency of South Africa’s other living heroes to address the dysfunction across public services and the conspicuous rise in violent crime. As Mji puts it, “...the ANC’s repeated hearkening back to the past, when they were the clear heroes, shows how unable they are to handle what the party has become.” She describes them as “weak and immovable—gripping tightly to power out of sheer desperation and myopic egos.” In the question of who needs these heroes, we could say that the ruling elite needs them most, not ordinary citizens. With the country’s current leadership feeling the backlash of their own corruption and hubris, it is unclear how these spaces will continue to grow and remain relevant over the next 30 to 50 years.
Do you have anything you’d like to add about South Africa’s Heroes Acres? Let me know in the comments or feel free to email me! 💀
Sources
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GOVERNMENT GAZETTE No. 34421, 8 JULY 2011. South African Department of Arts and Culture; South African Heritage Resources Agency. https://sahris.sahra.org.za/sites/default/files/gazettes/8-7-2011%20549.pdf
A Visit to Church Street Cemetery – Hero’s Acre. 28 October 2023. Francois van der Merwe, for the Gunners’ Association of South Africa. https://www.gunners.org.za/a-visit-to-church-street-cemetery-heros-acre/
When the cemetery comes to life. 29 May 1998. Lizeka Mda, for Mail and Guardian. https://mg.co.za/article/1998-05-29-when-the-cemetery-comes-to-life/
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Bra Hugh gets an African shrine. 2 June 2019. Charl Blignaut, for City Press. https://www.news24.com/citypress/trending/bra-hughs-african-shrine-20190601
Kathrada – a man who drew people towards his ideals. 21 August 2017. Zinzile Mavuso, for Kathrada Foundation. https://www.kathradafoundation.org/2017/08/21/kathrada-a-man-who-drew-people-towards-his-ideals/
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HEROES ACRE POLICY. 2021. STEVE TSHWETE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY. https://stlm.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/HEROES-ACRES-POLICY.pdf
State pays 'double' for Mandoza burial whopping R185000. 2016. Sunday World. https://www.theedgesearch.com/2016/10/state-pays-double-for-mandoza-burial.html
Avalon cemetery’s 50th anniversary. 30 September 2022. Jacob Mawela, for Soweto Life Mag. https://sowetolifemag.co.za/avalon-cemeterys-50th-anniversary/
Mayor: I want to be buried at Avalon. 19 September 2023. Nhlanhla Khomola, for Daily Sun. https://www.snl24.com/dailysun/news/joburg-mayor-kabelo-gwamanda-proposed-to-be-buried-at-avalon-cemetery-20230919
THE COMMEMORATION OF 105 YEARS’ CENTENARY OF THE SINKING OF THE SS MENDI TROOPSHIP AND THE ARMED FORCES DAY. 2 March 2022. DITSONG: Museums of South Africa. https://ditsong.org.za/en/the-commemoration-of-105-years-centenary-of-the-sinking-of-the-ss-mendi-troopship-and-the-armed-forces-day/
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ANC SNUBS SLOVO! 7 JANUARY 2020. Zamokuhle Mdluli, for Daily Sun. https://www.snl24.com/dailysun/news/anc-snubs-slovo-20200106
Nehawu condemns Hani grave vandalism. 29 February 2012. Sapa, for iol.com. https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/nehawu-condemns-hani-grave-vandalism-1245840
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Govan Mbeki grave desecrated. 8 July 2002. Jason Lloyd, for News24.com. https://www.news24.com/news24/govan-mbeki-grave-desecrated-20020708
As Mandela clings to life, family fight over his final resting place. 29 June 2013. Jeff Mason, for Irish Independent. https://www.independent.ie/regionals/herald/as-mandela-clings-to-life-family-fight-over-his-final-resting-place/29382385.html
Mandela Children Reburied After Court Order. 4 July 2013. Sky News. https://news.sky.com/story/mandela-children-reburied-after-court-order-10441180
Former president FW de Klerk to have state memorial service. 7 December 2021. Jenna Etheridge, for News24.com. https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/just-in-former-president-fw-de-klerk-to-have-state-memorial-service-20211207
The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa. PhD Dissertation. May 2004. Ciraj Shahid Rassool. https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/The%20Individual,%20Auto-biography%20and%20History%20by%20Ciraj%20Rasool.pdf
A nation in 66 places: the national heritage sites of South Africa. 13 September 2018. Jacques Stoltz, for The Heritage Portal. https://www.theheritageportal.co.za/article/nation-66-places-national-heritage-sites-south-africa
South Africa Doesn’t Need More Heroes. 28 May 2024. Zanele Mji, for The Walrus. https://thewalrus.ca/south-africa-doesnt-need-more-heroes/