For many years this monument was one of the features, with the Dick King Statue, of Durban’s Esplanade.
This area of the Bay in the background of the Vasco da Gama monument was cleaned up the day before by volunteers, but as may be seen mismanagement enabled the recent floods to fill it with rubbish again on the very next tide.
This was not where this monument was meant to be.
On our latest visit to the Royal Natal Yacht Club I was reminded of the steady conversion of the now hated legacy of Colonialism into a new legacy of foolhardiness, short-sightedness and ineptitude by the present regime. The monument to Vasco da Gama, who discovered and named Natal on Christmas Day, 1497, had rested on Durban’s Esplanade since 1969 when suddenly it was no longer wanted. Fortunately the Yacht Club adopted it. As they occupy leased land, one just hopes this part of history won’t have to move again in due course. There has been talk of them (and Point Yacht Club) being booted off their present sites.
While the local administrations cannot be blamed for the severity of climate-change rainfall that has caused devastation along river banks, they are certainly at fault — criminally, in view of the loss of life — in allowing polluting settlements to be established there. Also, in offering no anti-littering education to large sectors of the population. This ultimately exacerbates the worldwide threat to marine life. It was saddening to see one lone pelican striving to find food through the rubbish.
Lots to eat if you like plastic.
‘Bother’ is putting it mildly. It infuriates me!
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What you’ve shared here is so upsetting. Not at all unlike certain situations I could comment on here in the USA, but when we stop thinking of ourselves as all part of one human family rather than our geographical borders, we truly are doomed. I can so easily understand why this bothers you. It really should bother us all. (Among your readers, I know we are in agreement on that!)
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I think the new regime itself needs the education on pollution.
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Given the intelligence to absorb it, that is!
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…….and we are the dominant species, the earth deserves better
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The earth would be much improved by the removal of the human race.
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Aliens will erect a monument to us at the entrance to our arm of the galaxy – ‘Herewith lay the ruins of a sentient species of Sol 3 before the other sophonts booted them off-world’, – and it will be a pile of plastic garbage.
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With an education centre to warn against the myriad mistakes made by the species.
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If it gets into the oceans, it will eventually circle around and to knock on shores a world away. Plastic is a curse…doesn’t have to be except many humans/countries seem so disinterested in cleaning the outdoor rooms.
Even here monuments are targets – move the physical object and the actual historical event poof never happened? Insane and stupid. People used to say things like “opportunity for discussions” or “teachable moments” and move on. Emotional children’s temper tantrums without learning anything
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People do lose sight of the fact that their own waste may wash away, but without changing the behaviour someone else’s waste is going to arrive in its place to haunt them.
Shortsighted tantrums is right. If there is a monument, it means that enough was thought of the person/event at one time to warrant it. If a contrary view comes into vogue, that should be reflected in ways other than to remove or deface the historical artefact.
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Not really much to like – but that’s the button to press
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Taken as support for the writer, rather than as applause for conduct.
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Yes
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Dis hartseer dat geskiedenis uitgewis word…elke era moet sy plek hê, al is it hoe aanstootlik vir die volgende geslag. As jy Duitsland toe gaan, is al daardie geskiedenis van die Nazis en Jodesterftes oral bewaar en mens bly heeltyd bewus daarvan. Sonder geskiedenis, leer mens niks uit die verlede nie.
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Dis vir my so onnosel dat mense wat deur Universiteit gegaan het stem saam dat niks van goed vanaf Kolonialisme ens. gekom het nie. Toe is hulle nog gereed om vir ‘helde’ soos Shaka monumente te bou al het in die soort mense ook kwaliteite van leierskap met wreed en onmenslike gedrag saamgeloop het.
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So sad…
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But, unfortunately, now typical.
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