The commemoration parade of The Great Trek, marking the 175th anniversary of the historic event, passed through Dundee last week complete with ox wagons and horses.
The parade, which made its way past the Madiba statue in front of the municipality, later elicited outrage on the Courier’s Facebook page, describing it as ‘racist’, ‘insensitive’ and ‘a way of bringing back apartheid’.
Others took to lambasting the Courier for even covering the event – an event which the newspaper first covered when the idea of a commemorative trek was first mooted some months ago.
One of the organisers of the event, in his reaction, said:
“The racist attacks and comments directed at the newspaper and the 175th Groot Trek commemorations are rejected with the contempt they deserve. This only illustrates the abysmal lack of knowledge of our country’s history, and serves no one’s cause.”
Despite this the trek brought into Dundee some interesting characters, such as Andries Lombard, now from Pretoria, who schooled at Dundee High School in the early 1970s and lived on McKenzie Street.
Andries is a historian who recently produced a book ‘Die Geloftedagboke’, which is also available in English. He said he prefers to look at battles like Blood River from a purely military point of view without the political hype.
He also said some did not like his findings that ‘there were several English people and black people present when the Vow was made near the Wasbank River before the battle’.
He also highlights the role of Alexander Biggar – after whom the Biggarsberg is named – during the battle.
Barrie Burger, a missionary from the Northern Kalahari, recently made a remarkable 1 200-kilometre journey on horseback to Wasbank, where he joined the trek party. He only had a horse at that time, but was later joined by his wife who will ‘give him a lift home’.
Barrie starred in a recent movie, ‘Tornado’, detailing his life as a missionary and endurance horse rider.
His journey, which started on September 29, took him through many towns: Danielskuil, Boshoff, Bultfontein, Winburg, Senekal, Paul Roux, Bethlehem and finally to Wasbank through Collings Pass.
“I spoke to people along the way – at schools and in churches – and asked them how the Afrikaner experiences democracy in South Africa. Some are disappointed, but then you would be if you are no longer in charge. But what I found is that people are tired of fighting – they want peace. They want to work together to sort out problems.”
Barrie has been involved in the church in the Kalahari for 36 years – 29 of them as a missionary.
The parade party camped over at Talana – surviving an epic Northern KZN storm – before leaving for De Jagersdrift, where they also camped before finally arriving at Blood River in time for the December 16 programme.