War Memorial is a haven for the homeless
They leave their washing on the pavement to dry
The War Memorial, a landmark in Springs CBD, is a haven for vagrants who leave their wet washing lying on the pavement and hang their clothing over the fence.
This shocking discovery of eight sets of men’s undies and some pairs of socks on a cardboard box was made when the Advertiser and Dean Stone, ward councillor of the area, visited the memorial on Thursday morning.
Although all the gates were bolted, a small group huddled under the dome with their meager possessions by their side.
In front of the closed entrance were the undies left for drying in the dim sunlight.
The gate had pieces of toilet paper stuck into it and next to it were pieces of men’s clothing dangling in the air on the fence.
There were also tins of food, plastic bags and plastic bottles on the pavement close to the clothing.
On the inside of the wall it looked like a rubbish heap where refuse of all types was tossed.
This memorial which had a copper dome, was put up years ago to remember the people of Springs who had fought in several wars, like World War One and Two and the Border War. It used to have several copper plaques on which the war heroes’ names were engraved, as well as other copper memorabilia.
Stone was shocked about the deterioration of this monument.
He also wondered that the gates to the memorial was closed without consulting the ward councillor.
He explained that the copper plaques and memorabilia were stolen a few years ago.
Thieves “discovered” the dome’s copper overlay at the end of last year, but had stolen only part of it, making the dome looking tatty.
Bob Gillies, a businessman of Springs who regularly cleans up the area around the memorial, said it seemed the copper thieves had gone for now, as there was no more missing copper sheets on the dome since January.
“But it looks terrible,” he said.
Gillies felt the people of Springs, as well as business had to contribute to make this war memorial a place everyone would be proud of.
He said he suggested to Springs Customer Care manager Ace Phiri, that the metro should strip off the remaining copper, sell it and use the money to clean the dome and repaint it. “There was no action yet.”
He contacted the History Society in Cape Town about the memorial , requesting photos of how it was before it was vandalised. He felt the place needed a paint job, as well as replacing the missing plaques with names of the war heroes. He said this must definitely be done on sheets that would have no scrap value.
“It’s terrible to drive past this historic area and see it as it is today,” he said.
The Advertiser did ask Ekurhuleni Metro if they had plans to upgrade the memorial, but no answer was received at the time of going to press.
