Town’s historic treasures are safe, says Ekurhuleni
The chain of office for the mayor of Brakpan was commissioned 100 years ago.
With an eye on the recent battle for the mayoral chain in the City of Ekurhuleni, questions have been raised about the location of the actual chain of office worn by Brakpan mayors before the establishment of the Ekurhuleni municipality in 2000.
More than 80 years before the municipal amalgamation of the former East Rand towns and cities, Brakpan became independent from Benoni in 1919 and following elections the following year, the town’s first mayor was J Salters (1920/21).
According to Selby Webster’s book The Brakpan Story, the local chamber of commerce sent a deputation to the council in 1923.
They felt that the office of the mayor should be dignified with a gold chain of office and that the two local mines, Brakpan Mines and State Mines, should be approached in this respect.
The mines agreed and Messrs Mappin and Webb in London were instructed to produce a chain of office in 15 carat gold, 22 to 24 ounces in mass (around 0.62kg), 44 inches long (111.76cm) with 15 shields.
The chain was completed in 1925 and Messrs Brodigan and Marx, on behalf of the mines, handed over the chain to the mayor, RV Acton on April 28 of that year.
A mayoral gown was obtained only in 1927 and Salters (again mayor) was the first to wear it. The first mayor to be inducted with both the chain and the gown was D Fountain in November 1927.
“All the chains of the previous towns and cities became the assets of the City of Ekurhuleni and they are all kept in a safe as we speak,” said City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.
