Dali Tambo plans R700m park of

Life size commission by National Heritage Project – of Xhosa King Sandile astride a ‘Cape Horse’ or ‘Boer Perd’

Dali Tambo plans R700m park of Struggle hero statues (and waterslides)

The Pretoria garden of 400 to 500 sculptures will present South Africans and foreign visitors alike with their history, life-size and real. And, for those who have filled up on the ambrosia of history, simpler pleasures await…at Africa’s largest water park, on the same site.

Dali Tambo plans R700m park of

Life size commission by National Heritage Project – of Xhosa King Sandile astride a ‘Cape Horse’ or ‘Boer Perd’

Zelda Stroud, sculptor, poses with her life-size likeness of King Moshoeshoe I, which will form part of the Sculpture Park
Zelda Stroud, sculptor, poses with her life-size likeness of King Moshoeshoe I, which will form part of the Sculpture Park

Dali Tambo, well-known son of Struggle greats Oliver and Adelaide Tambo and occasionally controversial South African television personality, has a bold vision. Tambo and the National Heritage Project Company of which he is CEO are to build a monument to South Africa’s liberation from apartheid that will see 400 to 500 life-sized bronze likenesses of those who fought for liberation and human rights between the arrival of European colonists and the advent of democracy in 1994.

The initial plans sound like something that will educate and enlighten South Africans and foreign visitors alike: a meeting, at human scale, with the men and women who sacrificed their own comfort and very often their lives, for the good of all. There is to be a visitors’ centre, a craft market and a lush park-like meander within Tshwane’s Groenkloof Nature Reserve, land which has been donated by the City of Tshwane. And there will also be Africa’s biggest water amusement park.

If the link between a Heroes’ Acre of liberation and a splash park complete with log flumes is not immediately obvious, Tambo’s vision has been praised by South African Arts & Culture Minister Paul Mashatile, whose department is funding the project to the tune of between R700 and R800 million. Defending the water park, Tambo stated that people both young and old would come to learn but also to play, stating in a Weekend Argus report that “heritage is the show business of history”.

In a report by the Parliamentary Monitoring Group, Tambo is further reported to have said that “In 1993, the then National Monument Council had put out a report that at that time, 99% of South African heritage was about white experiences, white stories and white figures of history.”

Tambo said that the sculpture park project was in no way an attempt to erase white history, but to add the histories of other South Africans to the existing monumental record. This, according to Tambo and Mashatile, would considerably enrich the experience of the rising numbers of tourists who visit South Africa every year, too many of whom depart with wonderful memories of South Africa’s landscape, its game and its wines, but none of its rich culture and history. 

Life size commission by National Heritage Project - of Xhosa King Sandile astride a 'Cape Horse' or 'Boer Perd'
Life size commission by National Heritage Project – of Xhosa King Sandile astride a ‘Cape Horse’ or ‘Boer Perd’ Image: Helena Vogelzang (sculptor)

Some 48, or about 10%, of the sculptures have already been completed; only the deceased may be commemorated in the park, which means that many stalwarts and freedom fighters currently living will take up their places in bronze after their deaths.

The new park aims to become a major generator of tourism and heritage spending for its immediate environment and the broader Tshwane region. Some of the cutting-edge amenities planned for the heroes’ walk include a smartphone app that will add realistic commentary, spoken by actors. The sourcing of the statues themselves also includes an upskilling and transformation component; 25 black bronze sculptors will have been trained by completion. 

“I went to see Zwelakhe Sisulu before he died and asked him how he would want his parents (Walter and Albertina) portrayed, and he said he wanted them holding hands, because that’s how they were in life,” Tambo told the Weekend Argus. Tambo claims his own parents gave their blessing to the idea in a dream.

With a little more hard work, it looks like only a matter of time before the late Sisulus and Tambos, the Sol Plaatjes and the Olive Schreiners have a home on Earth worthy of their place in history.

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