Ijusi#14 by Ijusi Magazine

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MONUMENT

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SENTIMENTAL

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standing near to one another in a protecting manner reflect the way the Voortrekkers pulled their oxwagons together in a laager. This symbol instead of using static concrete oxen and wagons is a remarkable achievement. The curve at the top of the soaring columns not only suggests the ox but also the pull to the hinterland and a higher civilisation. The dynamic idea of conflict and restlessness of the Great Trek are symbolised in the striving of the columns and the spatial placing of the columns symbolise the orderly Voortrekker community. The creation of an enclosed inside space with, as focus, a bronze plate underneath the circular roof opening emphasises the concept of ‘Light from Above’. This enclosed and sheltered area between the columns reflects the position of the women during the Great Trek. The columns are connected with a water trough about 3 meters above ground level out of which run 5 concrete gutters into an ornamental pool. This trough forms the roof to the enclosed area and symbolises the faith of the Voortrekkers. The flow of the water to the 5 hollow shaped basins is not only symbolic of the Great Trek, but also typical of their restlessness and their influence which pored into the different inland areas. The concept of using rain water as the life giving source at the beginning and the end of the water feature emphasise the Voortrekkers’ connection to the soil of Africa.

riving through the Freestate on holiday, I passed the small rural town of Winburg when Mr. Nostalgia came to pay me a visit. In the distance I could see a huge and jagged vertical shape in a landscape of rolling hills; it stood out like an sore thumb. My ancestors surely made their mark on the soil of South Africa... Winburg is in the heartland of the Freestate. Apart from the dusty main street with a few shops, the grain silos and the township on the outskirts, there is nothing much else going on in Winburg. That is, if you are not a sweet ass puppy of an Afrikaans speaking white male who was brought up by the Nasional Party’s school system, the infamous Christelike Nasionale Onderwys. I was an enrolled member from 1982 to 1993. During my studies I was lectured about the importance of remembering the glorious past of our great “volk”. The past is something you must not dwell on for too long, for it can make you mad as it reduces one’s capacity of clear thought on things of the present and future. But the past of our ancestors was very important back then.

The roots of the Voortrekker monument at Winburg lies in the the seminal year of 1838. In that year the Afrikaans speaking settlers decide to leave the British ruled Cape colony in search of their own heartland north of the Vaal river, this was called the Groot Trek (Great Trek). Winburg was the place were the Voortrekkers, as the textbooks descibe it, “reached the most unity”. From Winburg and onwards, the Voortrekkers divided into different factions to occupy the vast corners of South Africa and start settlements of self-rule. God would show them the way and unite them, or so we were told. They were led by great Afrikaner leaders like Piet Retief, Andries Potgieter, Louis Trichardt and others. These treks gave birth to Afrikaner myths and legends of how they overcame insurmountable obstacles in search of their own place on God’s green earth. To commemorate the Great Trek the “Sentrale Volksmonumentekomitee” (Central Monument Committee) decided to build a smaller Voortrekker monument at Winburg, the “big one” is in Pretoria. The municipality donated 85 hectares of land to the Vrystaatse Voortrekkermonumentkomitee (Freestate Monument Committee ) for the erection of the monument. It would be built on the farm Rietfontein where a former president of the Orange Freestate M.T. Steyn was born in 1857. President Steyn has been described as a person who had the spirit of The Great Trek pumping through his veins. Architects were invited through a competition to put forward designs for the new monument. The most important criteria was the use of the terrain and the effective use of symbolism. Thirty-six entries were received and the winner was Hans Hallen and M. Dibb from Durban. To describe the symbolism of the monument as complex is an understatement. A symbolic meaning referring to The Great Trek was given to every little detail. But a heavy dose of symbolism does not guarantee an aesthetically pleasing design. The winning design rationale was described as follows: The architect designed a monument that was different. A shell like reinforced concrete structure was used to express the design. This structural style was in vogue during the twentieth century. The movement of the sun during the day heighten the dynamic changes between the relationship of the structural elements. Shades of lighting and focus points escalate with the onlooker's changing of time and space. These gigantic concrete columns have a complicated symbolism. They symbolise the journey (Great Trek) of the Voortrekkers namely, Trichardt, Potgieter, Maritz, Retief and Uys from the Cape. The half-rounded shape of the concrete columns,

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The monument was officially opened on 10 October 1968 by the former state president J.J. Fouché. The ceremony reached a climax at 16h04 when Mr Fouché revealed the bronze plaque and upon calling out the names of the 5 treks, ribbons attached to the concrete columns were released and water flowed from the 5 concrete gutters. A 9000 seater amphitheater and a Voortrekker museum was built next to the monument.

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Arriving at the monument I was greeted by an eerie silence, there were no people around. Apart from a few stolen spotlights the Winburg monument is in a pristine condition and it felt as if nothing had changed there since the opening ceremony in 1968. I tried to imagine people milling around the monument impressed by its size and complexity, but it did not feel right. The monument is an empty shell that represents an old and useless value system. The patriotism and national pride that the monument was designed to instill in the hearts and minds of the God-fearing Afrikaners is not relevant anymore. I felt angry looking at it, I could not believe I was taught all the false values it represented. But the monument also represents my history in South Africa. I can not deny the fact that my ancestors trekked through South Africa and settled here, the monument confirms my existence, but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. I walked to the adjacent Voortrekker museum which contained the standard issue historical artifacts of Africana. This meant there was an ox wagon, some kitchen utensils and a few yarns of clothing. The museum was managed by two black women, with not a white person around. How ironic to see, a holy place of Afrikanerdom in the care of blacks. As I left a bizarre thing happened, they asked me to take a picture of them at an ANC Woman’s League monument/ tombstone at the entrance of the museum. They obviously had pride in having something of historical significance to them in a “museum environment”. I found it interesting to see that by attaching a new monument to the existing one, the museum was appropriated by a different culture and thus opened up different possibilities of interpreting it’s meaning. Maybe the Winburg monument can have a new significance, I don’t know.

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