Thank you for bringing truth to this. Someone knows their history 🙂

My mom studied history and had to do a practical side by working in the museums of South Africa.

Who was the Voortrekkers? To really understand this part of our history, like the pioneers that went to the West of the USA, you will have to read the individual stories. A lot of the Voortrekkers kept a diary. Old men marrying young girls. (My heart obviously feeling for the women and children) They accepted their marriage as a duty to God. To be a good wife and mother. To raise their children in a wild foreign country. They fled the English and being oppressed. (Some of these girls were orphans and was brought here for the exclusive reason to marry- like US history as well)

My mom unpacked the Voortrekker clothing. The capes with holes from where zulu spears that killed the one wearing it. Babies’ heads were bashed against wheel wagons. (Almost like being scalped)

We can’t just accept that colonists were not supposed to have been here. We have to understand the economy, politics and history of where these people came from. To emmigrate is a huge decision today but we can phone, send a mail etc. Those days when you left your parents you almost knew you were never going to see them again. Something drove these people away from home and the fear of the unknown, a wild country with malaria, natives who might want to kill you etc. were not even a detterent.

I know my mom’s roots are french. They fled from France to the Netherlands for their religion. They were Protestant and in France you were killed if you did not convert to Catholic. From the Netherlands they left for a new life in a new country free from persecution.

My great great grandfather was a wagon builder. He lived in the Paarl and never moved to the interior. My father’s family might have a different story to tell.

I do however believe in my heart that I am African. I have a mixture of blood in me. And I try to understand where I come from, try to get in the head and heart of those who brought me here.

It is intricate history and a sensitive subject.

PS you should eat steak at Spur. It is better than Outback’s steaks. 😉

The sad thing is that very few realise a few things:

1. Even with modern infantry weapons, a military victory would have been most likely impossible on that eventful day.

2. Many of the people in that laager were not Afrikaners and not all were even white.

3. God says in His Word: “Call upon Me in your day of need and I will deliver you.” And that is what had happend that day, nothing more, nothing less.

4. Today, there are more evangelical Zulu Christians in SA than there are white people.

I would so love to see people shelve their opinions, generally, and search for truth. What few people know is that, even in the 1960 Referendum, 1 in 2 whites voted against apartheid. That would imply more than half of the Afrikaners. In subsequent refernda, they repeated this but Mandela wanted war – go get the facts. It is all to easy to single out one minority for being racist while the racism of others happen on the la la shores of that African river called De Nial.

A final fact: racial segregation was first introduced after the BRITISH invasion of 1806, as soon after, the wealthy English formed the communist party and its many cells, first to write that kind of apartheid into a constitution. It were the British that removed freedom of association and told people where to live while revoking suffrage. Rather ask who the real oppressors were…………..and Apartheid ONLY came after Karl Marx mobilised the very last settlers to Cape Town, the amaXhosa of N’Dabeni, into anarchy in Cape Town. And that is what had caused apartheid to happen, so who’s to blame? Once again, get the facts.

Thanks very much for your comment, Gerhard. It’s interesting…There’s a long comment chain on my Facebook about this, with a lot of debate about the terms “Voortrekker” and “apartheid” and “Afrikaner”, debating who/what the Voortrekker Monument is about. It’s certainly difficult to separate out these three terms and figure out how to write about them sensitively and thoughtfully. But I appreciate that all Afrikaans people/language/culture can’t be put into one box and I’m sorry if my writing suggests that. It’s such a tricky topic and I still don’t know how I feel about it all either.

Oh really, the gate was open in 2020? I read that it’s been closed for many years.

I’m note sure “shared history” is a good way to characterize the story that’s currently told at the Voortrekker Monument. There are many aspects of that era in South African history that are left out. That’s exactly what I was musing about at the end of the post — I don’t know exactly WHAT should happen, but I think there are definitely ways that the monument could be made more welcoming and inclusive to all South Africans. Starting, first and foremost, with an open road between it and Freedom Park.

Two of my favorite monuments, for sure.

In this post, your references to Afrikaners and to traditional Afrikaans did not sit well with me and I’ve read it a couple of times to check whether I am being overly sensitive. I am Afrikaans speaking and the most logical thing would be to refer to me as an Afrikaner, but it is such a loaded term that I always refer to myself (somewhat awkwardly) as Afrikaans speaking. This is not about trying to shirk responsibility for the past, but there seems to a convenient assumption that responsibility for all South Africa’s past injustices can be assigned neatly based on mother tongue.

My grandparents boycotted the opening ceremony of the Voortrekker Monument and my mother was not allowed to participate with the rest of her school. I have never considered visiting the monument on 16t December, as I wouldn’t want my presence to be coopted by the far right, who have claimed the term Afrikaner. That said, the fact is that I am Afrikaans and I don’t want to lose that part of my identity. In the same way that German is not a synonym for Nazi, we should take care that Afrikaner is not used as a synonym for Apartheid or racist.

For me, the best way to preserve the Voortrekker Monument would be to integrate it with Freedom Park. Your photograph of the road sign is a great symbol of the challenge of keeping historical monuments/statues relevant. We can not change our history, but we can update the context by telling richer, more inclusive and nuanced stories of our past.

I love comb in sock photo. What a cool symbol.
These rugged men who keep combs in their socks! You don’t get more salt of the earth than that.

I think it’s a little bit unfair to only ever associate Apartheid with Afrikaaner history. Especially since their story is so rich and so full of suffering.

Here’s how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle summed up the Boer volk:
https://adventuresinhistoryland.com/2013/03/05/an-excerpt-about-the-boers-from-conan-doyles-history/