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A new memorial honouring the contribution of South African military labourers in the First World War has been inaugurated in Cape Town.
The monument, which was funded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and is called the Labour Corps Memorial, was officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal at a ceremony in January.
Thousands of South Africans were recruited for non-combatant service in Africa during the First World War, through labour units such as the Cape Coloured Labour Regiment and the Cape Auxiliary Horse Transport.
However, the service of these men has been largely forgotten, with no known grave or commemoration for the 1,700 individuals in the units who died – until now.
The culmination of years of work by the CWGC, beginning with research that led to the identification of the casualties, construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony last March, as MHM reported at the time. Designed by Dean Jay Architects of Durban, the monument represents each of the 1,700 lives lost with a post made of African iroko hardwood and set in locally sourced Rustenburg granite.
The memorial is situated in the city’s historic Company’s Garden, near to the Iziko South African Museum and the Delville Wood memorial garden.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Claire Horton CBE, Director General of the CWGC, described the Labour Corps Memorial as a ‘poignant tribute to the predominantly black South Africans who fought in Africa during the First World War and who were not commemorated at the time.’
The ceremony was attended by descendants of the servicemen. Zweletu Hlakula, from Port St Johns in Eastern Cape, said he was ‘very proud’ of his great grandfather Job Hlakula, who served with the Corps. ‘For Job to be remembered, for him to be in the history of our South Africa, that makes us very humble,’ Hlakula said.
