The Princess Royal has described the first memorial to recognise the sacrifices of black South Africans who died while First World War labourers as a reminder of a “sometimes difficult past”.
Anne laid a wreath at the new Cape Town Labour Corps Memorial, which commemorates the long-forgotten contribution of more than 1,700 non-combatants who died while helping Britain’s war effort in east and south-west Africa.
The memorial comprises a field of slim posts made from African Iroko hardwood – one for every life lost – and the princess left her floral tribute in the middle of the markers, which are engraved with the men’s names, service numbers and dates of death.
Anne, president of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which created the monument, told invited guests at the ceremony: “This memorial is a reminder of a shared but sometimes difficult past and it is also a demonstration that, with honesty, openness and working together, we can make a difference.”
The sacrifice of the labourers went unrecognised during South Africa’s apartheid years and the monument is the product of an ongoing project by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to find and commemorate similar cases.
Anne continued: “And it is important to recognise that those we have come to pay tribute to have gone unacknowledged for too long.
“They were the men at the South African military labour corps who served with valour in campaigns during the First World War.
“They gave their all in the most challenging of circumstances. Their courage and dedication were essential to the Allied efforts, and their legacy deserves the lasting recognition that this memorial provides.”
A handful of descendants of the military labourers attended the service where the last post was played and two minutes of silence observed, and among the wreaths left was one on behalf of the families.
Retired history teacher Elliot Malunga Delihlazo said there had always been questions in his family about what happened to his great uncle Bhesengile Delihlazo, who died in January 1917.
Mr Delihlazo said: “It was like he had disappeared like a mist. Nobody know where he went, all they were told wrongly was he was going to Germany.
“But we want to say thank you to the people who came up with this information, because it has been haunting us – what happened, where is he buried? And he left a lot of poverty behind because he had two wives and four children.”
The memorial honours a group of mainly black, but also mixed race and Indian men who served in non-combat roles supporting British and imperial forces, as the troops fought for former colonial territories across the continent of Africa.
Recruited in major settlements such as Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg, South African military labourers carried food and ammunition, managed logistics, maintained roads and railways, and built defences to keep the campaigns supplied.
Many were volunteers but some were pressured to serve with local authorities leaning on magistrates and chiefs to raise the strongest men in villages and towns who would work in harsh conditions with many dying from diseases such as malaria and dysentery.
