17-year-old heritage plaque destroyed
The Zoo Lake Users Committee has said that it will be costly to replace the vandalised centenary plaque.
The community of Zoo Lake woke up to a sad sight of a vandalised heritage blue plaque. The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation (JHF) posted on its Facebook page, “We are saddened to have been alerted to the vandalism of another blue plaque.”
The Zoo Lake Centenary Plaque was vandalised on June 1.
Vice-chairperson of the JHF, Flo Bird said the blue plaques programme aims to identify and recognise diverse sites of heritage importance in Johannesburg. “This is done to raise public awareness of our heritage, foster pride, and encourage the protection and preservation of historical landmarks for future generations,” Bird said.
The Zoo Lake Centenary Plaque (erected in 2006 by City Parks) shared the following message, “In 1980 Eduard Lippert established a forest, known as the Sachsenwald, on part of the farm Braamfontein. Part of this was given to the people of Johannesburg in 1904 for the specific use as a public park and named Herman Eckstein Park after a leading mining pioneer. In 1906 the City Council built a lake on this section, which was marshland. It immediately became a major attraction and has continued, particularly throughout the apartheid years, to be a source of great pleasure to all the people of Johannesburg.”
Head of the Heritage Department at the City of Johannesburg, Eric Itzkin said it was sad to know that something so special to the community had been vandalised. However, there was comfort in that in December 2021, the department installed a duplicate plaque near the boat house at Zoo Lake. He said that even though the duplicate one was made of material that doesn’t attract recycling, people are encouraged to celebrate and protect it.
Chairperson of the Zoo Lake Users Committee Fran Haslam said it was sad and concerning that there are people who go around vandalising Zoo Lake property. She added that replacing the blue plaque is costly and hoped that a sponsor would be willing to help out.
Itzkin said the committee had cleaned up the concrete stand where the vandalised plaque had been. The head of heritage proposed the concrete stand now be used as a mosaic rather.
The JHF encouraged the community to continue to report if they come across any vandalised plaques or heritage sites.
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