Isandlwana cultural centre

Its not over yet.

Its with a sense of deep satisfaction that I can report that the African National Congress has lost the local election at Nquthu to the Inkatha Freedom party. As the driving force behind the centre was a rather radical ANC member we can but hope that she will now move onto greener pastures as I am lead to believe that finances will be better used and channeled.
We can but hope.

Yes we can hope! and hope that the IFP don't turn out to be another
side of the same coin.. JY kindly sent me the report.. i have come
to hate the phrase..' noted '.. i had not realised just how HUGE the
project is. a very major re development which will impact the area
and alter the landscape forever. and if it turns out to be a white
elephant..........

I have received notification that the specific appeals made by Ian Knight & Paul Marais have been rejected in a recent judgement that now permits the building of the cultural centre.

JY

Cultural l Vandalism.. and how so very ironic it's the Zulu
doing it! shameful s..t . altered forever...

The Fat Lady hasn't sung yet !

Frank... as I live and breath I hope you're right !
90th

Frank... as I live and breath I hope you're right !
90th

Will have to wait and see Gary. But there are still a lot of people doing a lot of things.

Some fresh photos of the preparations for building the palace from Frank.
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Steve Reinstadtler

I'll be there in 10 days time , will also take some pics , might be interesting to compare these with them ? .
90th

Gary,

It is KZN, I imagine little will have changed.

JY

Frank

In the second picture, are we looking toward the Notch with Conical Hill on the far right? And is the line of stakes on the near side of the road the edge of the protected battlefield area?


Steve Reinstadtler

Hi Steve
Exactly. That's how close it is to the battlefield.
JY
As I mentioned to you the builders wont start because they haven't been paid. As an aside they have a front end loader on site that spends its time giving the local kids rides up and down the road.

When I spoke to the guys on site and asked them what they were doing about the graves they shrugged and knew nothing about them Knowing the history I gave them chapter and verse and warned them that when they du into the ground the 'TOKOLOSH' would be released. That tended to unsettle them a tad. In fact when I popped back around thirty minutes later there was nobody there, strange

Sorry, for the benefit of the forum a TOKOLOSH is a very malevolent spirit that does massive damage whilst you sleep.

Hi Frank

Bricks under each bed leg I remember them

Still happens today Andy. Its a very real issue so maybe Ive unwittingly put a spoke in the development. Possibly I need to find a local Sangome that likes solid cash in his back pocket?

Hmmmmm, poor old Rodriuqe is suffering there......

I had to Google 'magosha'.......we'll I did not have to but I just wanted to make sure......

50 per month? that is some malevolent spook.....

It would appear SA Daily Sun, has the same standard of story as our Sun.....'Freddie ate my Hamster'

cheers

Sime

It's a true shame people nowadays have so little respect for battlefields and the fallen. I visited Chickamauga several weeks back on Easter Sunday... the field was littered with trash and people out playing frisbee, easter egg hunts, etc. No sense of reverence.

Just had a six hour meeting with members of the Royal House and their representatives.

To say that they are unhappy about the project would be an understatement.

There is a further meeting planned in London with a very senior member of the Royal House in attendance.

JY

John a concern that should be addressed at least is that there is a digger/loader on site ready to start digging but nobody I spoke to has the slightest idea about the grave conservation area.
As usual half cocked start up big funds paid out in terms of 'up front payments' then a slow down of epic proportion with an unsightly mess left for the enjoyment of the ever increasing tourism industry. That industries increase can be measured by the Rorkes Drift Hotel adding on 12 additional rooms to handle the extra flow.
As it is the bridge at Durnfords Donga is still unfinished and is an unsightly mess after two years.
Regards

Hi Frank and others
I can tell you the digging has started , there are several places where it's commenced inside the blue ' security ' ( I use that word loosely ! ) perimeter , good news is it's already 2 months behind schedule ! . I knew where it was going to built but I was very surprised to see it in the flesh , there are two cairns on hits edge !
90th

Gary,

Did you let the tyres down on the Volvo?

JY

Latest news out of iSandlwana is that there isn't any progress at all on building its exactly as you mentioned in May Gary. Seems the likelyhood of completion by January is very remote, if at all!!!!

Hi Frank
Yes , no work on the site since I was there in May , I hear the money earmarked for the work has gone missing !
90th

Gary,

What are you insinuating there? Aren’t you aware of the phenomenon of disappearing money? Or was the money actually there in the first place?

JY

hahahahahahaha JY , who bloody knows , sure as hell those in the know don't ! . I know that phenomenon , I deal with it on a fortnightly basis ! .
90th

Smoke and Mirrors

On a LARGE SCALE Frank !
90th

I was asked to contribute to an article about the building works at iSandlwana by one of the local English rags. I thought the forum may be interested, I would emphasize that these are my personal views.

iSandlwana is a battlefield with an ambience like no other, It’s this uniqueness that draws people from all over the world. Its local population invites comparisons with the luxury trade in tourism contrasting sharply with the poverty of the area. The local people need work, they need infrastructure they need hope.
I have a fear that the promised hope of the proposed center will collapse as it has done for the other cultural centers built at Blood River and Ondini, both constructed at great cost and have both become white elephants. The promises of employment have not been met with both of those centers employing less than a handful of people. The current visitors center employs two with a further two in the snack shop.
Nothing in the performance record of the department of Arts and Culture inspires confidence in their ability to meet the target of employing close to 50 people on a permanent basis. During construction skilled labor will be imported with a minimum of local unskilled people employed.
I have concerns that in spite of a guarantee to iSandlwana Lodge that there will be no competition allowed, that guarantee has been dismissed in the Environmental study. Dismissed contemptuously as have all the objections to the location of the structure based on the history of this great Zulu victory. A structure that is to be built over the path of the charging Zulu impi that overwhelmed the defending British. A structure that could conceivably be erected over graves of the Zulu warriors cut down by the British guns. A structure built over the last resting place of those brave men that charged the massed British troops for no other reason than their loyalty to their King and their ancestral home.
This poor and blighted area needs infrastructure, roads and services, to entice more development it needs an overall plan to uplift the community. It doesn’t need a monument to the egos of the Department of Arts and Culture, it doesn’t need multi millions spent on a perceived need that will only attract substantial use for 2 or three days a year around the 22nd of January when the King visits. It doesn’t need false promises, and the projection of hope that my personal opinion deems to be false.
I visit this battlefield three to four times a year, I walk around and mix with the local population I see and hear their frustrations and hopelessness. It doesn’t need the dilatants making a mockery of their proud history, the outstanding bravery of their ancestors and the futures for their families.

Excellently put Frank .
90th

Frank,

I didn’t realise that you were an American? Or is it just your keyboard?

A Zulu friend of mine put it so well when he declared, “We do not dance on the bones of our ancestors, it is a sacrilege.”

In my opinion there is no better memorial to the fallen of iSandlwana than the mountain itself.

JY

American keyboard John, did have an English one but the bugger was always on strike !

Nicely put Frank.

Good piece Frank. white elephant... cultural vandalism.

Very well done Frank.

Excellent Frank! Thank you for trying so hard to inject some sanity in an otherwise tragic situation.
Regards
Brett

Not to sure how much will squeeze past the editor as they have some quotes from Ian K that will undoubtedly take preference. But hopefully the gist will come through.
Kate I had a European key board but it had troubles with certain letters B.R.E.and X amongst them.
Even though they are digging ( half heartedly ) there is still no guarantee that the whole complex will be built.

As a matter of interest I am laying a formal complaint with Nqutu municipality against the contractors. A key condition of approval was that the 'Graveyard' area had to fenced with a lockable gate before construction began. That hasn't been done. Wont amount to much overall but it will at least show that there are people watching.

Kate,

I have a meeting on Tuesday in central London with the driving force behind the cultural centre. I anticipate that three very senior members of the Zulu Royal House will also be present. I will again voice my concerns regarding the iSandlwana project, but sadly I expect they to fall on deaf ears.

I have already challenged KwaCulture both in writing and verbally. When I raised the subject of showing the due respect to the fallen of iSandlwana at the end of one of my lectures In Brecon last year, I was told by a representative of South African National Government’s Arts & Culture department, that I had no right to have a say in what goes on in KwaZulu-Natal. Another voice came to my support, a middle-aged Zulu casually-dressed in denim, who I had never seen before. He stated that the graves of the fallen found on the site needed to be correctly honoured, with due deference and respect given accorded to them. He used the expression, “In the way that the British honour their dead in the World Wars.”

I subsequently discovered that only days before the man had attended the Passchendaele event in Ypres, representing South Africa. Not only that he had been a member of uMkhonto we Sizwe, and a former inmate of Robben Island. He is not a lone voice, either, other Zulu are less than impressed with the development and have expressed their opinions only to berated as disloyal.

JY

Kate pm me your e mail and I will forward a copy of the final submission and report of 'GREENDOOR' the EIA contractor.
The objections and objectors were valid comment.
Les
I hear your sentiments and have empathy for them. As JY has pointed out however the dealings with the Department of Arts and Culture is only concerned with their own agenda. In the article that should be published tomorrow the representatives makes the point that they want to return the history of the Zulus to before there were whites.
Its been made very clear in my meetings with the Nqutu municipality that I (And by extension the forum, I objected originally with Petes permission on behalf of the forum) have no say in the matter being of a different ethnic group.

Sorry I didn't see your request for an address Kate.
We are actually a long way down that line. When this whole thing broke IK, Paul Marais, Ken Gillings and many others went public with considerable media coverage.
I managed to get radio time which generated a TV interview. Julian Whybra, Frederic Bomy (YMOB) addressed some really wonderful articals to local papers. IK used his friendship with local reporters to get exposure.
But as my Aussie mate likes to point out " The fat lady hasn't sung yet"

Hi Frank
I believe the Lady in Question has a case of Laryngitis !! .
90th

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JY

Kate,

Check your e-mail I have sent you a copy of the report.

JY

In today's Times, quotes from IK and Frank.
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Steve

Steve,

Who are you Little Sir Echo? I posted that information at 09:20hrs.

JY

Far too early on a Saturday John!

Steve,

I thought that would be your excuse...

JY