A brave memorial...

Statues and memorials are the quiet adjuncts to our lives. We walk past them, sometimes casting a glance to see what they commemorate but often ignoring them... famous generals from yesteryear, scientific pioneers, great statesman...
But recently they've been at the centre of a growing trend.


Take them down, shout those who believe that old heroes should be judged by modern standards. While many of these fierce-looking individuals did indeed hold beliefs we now abhore, should we erase them from our consciousness - and our history - completely? Or should they stand as a reminder of how far we've come, and how careful we should be never to fall from the values we have won?

There is a simple memorial in Simon's Town, setting of my latest novel, The Girl from Simon's Bay, that will, I hope, last forever. It was erected by the white townsfolk after the South African government declared Simon's Town to be a white Group Area in the 1960s, under the policy of apartheid. Despite most residents of all colours being against such a move, all non-white residents were evicted from the town. The memorial was put up by the white residents who remained, and, at the time, it was a defiant statement against their rulers. Long may it last, and long may we take the lesson that we should all be equal under the sun.
It is written in both English and Afrikaans.

"To the memory of generations
of our fellow citizens who dwelt
here in peace and harmony until
removed by edict of 1967

Erected by their fellow citizens."