With just more than a week until SA’s eyes will be on Kariega for Human Rights Day, where President Cyril Ramaphosa will mark 40 years since the Langa massacre, the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is rushing to spend R5m to spruce up the memorial.
According to a report tabled at a council meeting on Monday, R12m is needed for a complete project overhaul.
However, in preparation for the official commemoration, the city has allocated R5m, which has been included in the 2024/2025 adjustment budget.
The money was taken from funds allocated for the construction of the KwaNobuhle library, with its budget being deferred to the 2025/2026 financial year.
Human Rights Day commemorates the March 21 1960 Sharpeville massacre in which 69 people were killed and 180 wounded.
The Langa massacre occurred on March 21 1985, when 35 people died as police fired on mourners marching to a funeral.
They were commemorating 25 years since the Sharpeville massacre when they were gunned down in the KwaLanga township.
Many others were wounded when police opened fire on the crowd gathered in Maduna Road between Kariega and KwaLanga.
However, the Langa Memorial has suffered years of neglect, marred by vandalism.
When the Eastern Cape government hosted the 2024 Human Rights Day celebrations in Kariega, families of the victims largely snubbed the event.
Only five people represented the families.
At the time, then-mayor Gary Van Niekerk described the state of the memorial as embarrassing and said that by 2025 the site would be fixed.
According to mayor Babalwa Lobishe’s summary in the budget report, the department of sport, recreation, arts and culture informed the metro that the memorial was in a state of disrepair because of vandalism.
“According to information provided to the budget and treasury department, the total rehabilitation cost required is R12m to complete the project,” the report says.
“A request has been made by the directorate to reprioritise their capital budget and avail R5m immediately to initiate phase 1 of the rehabilitation.
“This request was made on an urgent basis before the council approved the 2024/2025 adjustment budget.
“The reconstruction of the KwaNobuhle library budget of R7m has been deferred to the 2025/2026 financial year.
“Consideration must be given in terms of security to prevent repeated theft and vandalism of this asset as this is not the first time the municipality has had to continuously identify funding to rehabilitate the site, which comes at the cost of other planned service delivery projects.”
Tabling the budget, Lobishe said the funds had been allocated to the memorial site in preparation for the commemoration.
Human Rights Day will be celebrated at the Derrick Ferreira Stadium in Rosedale.
Sports minister Gayton McKenzie and Ramaphosa are expected to attend.
At the meeting, councillors were given a chance to commemorate Human Rights Day.
Most used their time to honour activist Pamela Mabini, who was murdered in Kwazakhele on Friday.
ANC councillor Nonkuthalo Maswana called on the government to ensure Mabini’s killers were arrested.
“As we enter the month to celebrate human rights, it is with a heavy heart that I stand here having lost a person who advocated for human rights,” Maswana said.
“We call on the government to ensure that those who took her life are apprehended.”
PA councillor Gavin Jonas said that as SA celebrated human rights, the government had to make sure no racial group was forgotten.
“The fight for equality was not for one group alone,” he said.
FF+ councillor Roderick Vasensie said human rights were universal and should be protected for all people in SA.
“Let’s commit to a society where diversity is respected. Where fairness and justice are not merely ideals, but a reality.”
GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon said that before freedom was attained in the country, coloured people could not access certain areas.
“The challenges we have today are no different,” he said.
“The Equity Act states that coloureds and Indians are black people, but when it comes to job opportunities, we are not.
“Our human rights are being trampled upon.”
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom asked how they could celebrate human rights when the government violated them.
“How can we call ourselves a democracy when thousands of households are going to sit in the dark?
“Street lights are broken and the poor are punished through high tariffs.
“How can we celebrate human rights when the government mismanages our resources?”
The Herald
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