WWI black soldiers return

2002-06-24 07:59

London - The remains of the black South African soldiers, who perished with the sunken SS Mendi war ship in France during the First World War 85 years ago, will soon be brought home, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told the Mendi Memorial Ceremony in London at the weekend.

The black volunteers died when the ship sunk on February 20, 1917 on its way to Le Harve on the French north coast.

Addressing the audience, which included members of the British royalty, religious leaders and politicians gathered to pay homage to the men, Dlamini-Zuma said taking their bones back home was in line with the demands of their customs and culture.

"We do this, which might be misunderstood by others, as demanded by our customs and culture, so that the souls of these fearless and brave men can indeed rest in peace.

"As South Africans, we are proud of the efforts made by these and many sons of Africa who did not stand by when the British Empire needed help," she said.

Volunteered

Dlamini-Zuma lamented that it had taken almost nine decades for these men to be acknowledged and honoured for having paid the supreme sacrifice in pursuit of the war efforts of the British Empire.

She said the Africans had volunteered their services in the war despite an agreement between the British Empire and the Boer Republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State resulting in the Union of South Africa, which excluded Africans from any political and economic power.

"Despite the disappointment of the 1910 Agreement, these warriors volunteered to go and fight the war among the Europeans motivated by their loyalty to the Union Jack and the British Empire.

"These African warriors were driven by their own national experience of resistance, subjugation and land dispossession, and they thought they could ally with the British Empire to regain their freedom and their land."

Still counting on British

Dlamini-Zuma said that, however, as oppressed South Africans continued to struggle "in the true tradition of these warriors" for freedom and independence, the masses of Britain readily gave them the support they needed.

"Those of us who have been benefactors of the generosity of the British people can attest to this selflessness of the British people," she said.

South Africans hoped they could still count on British assistance to defeat the legacies of slavery, colonialism and apartheid that pervade the entire African continent.

"These legacies manifest themselves in conditions of absolute poverty, of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids as well as the lack of access to education," she said.

The reburial of the soldiers' remains is scheduled to coincide with the erection of a memorial stone at Nyandeni in the Eastern Cape at a date to be announced.

- SAPA