Zulu battle

Zulus hold a reenactment. Remembrance of Afrikaner killing seeks to promote harmony

By Associated Press, 12/17/98

ARYHEID, South Africa - Thousands of Zulus commemorated an 1838 battle against whites yesterday, in a spirit of racial reconciliation in South Africa. The Battle of Blood River, in which a small force of Dutch Boer settlers shot down 3,000 Zulu warriors, has long been celebrated as a symbol of Afrikaner power and served as a fundamental myth to underpin apartheid.

Earlier in the day, several hundred Afrikaner descendants of Dutch Boer settlers said prayers and sang hymns on the opposite side of the river. Some Afrikaners crossed the river and spoke to the Zulus in a gesture of reconciliation. That spirit was also present among the 3,000 Zulus, despite the warrior outfits that some wore, and their mock charges. "Let us consider this the day of a new covenant which binds us to the shared commitments of building a new country," said Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, leader of the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party. Buthelezi, who also is President Nelson Mandela's home affairs minister, wore a leopard skin and clasped a shield and spear as he shared the stage with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and the Zulu king, Goodwill Zwelithini.

Alongside the river, the government is building a memorial commemorating the Zulu sacrifice. About half the size of a city block, it stands unfinished in a muddy field, and its red-brick walls still lack a roof. The government plans to place exhibits in the structure, which stands across the river from an old Afrikaner monument, a bronze reconstruction of the circled ox wagons from which the Boers fired on the Zulu army. The new monument, 240 miles southeast of Johannesburg in KwaZulu-Natal province, is one part of the government's efforts to correct what it considers the unbalanced history of South Africa, where white nationalism was celebrated and Africans often denigrated as a savage people to be subdued.

Other projects are planned. The house of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli, an early ANC president, will become a memorial. The government has also set aside $3 million for a museum celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela. A theme park exploring the struggle to overcome apartheid is planned.