Kimberley municipal workers and a contract cleaning team were left speechless on Wednesday morning (28/09) when they found one of the statues of the Diggers’ Memorial in Ernest Oppenheimer Gardens missing.
The statue, with its arms and hands chopped off, was found in the moat of the fountain around the memorial.
This incident comes during Heritage Month. In the same week Steve Lunderstedt, local historian, lamented the loss of Kimberley’s heritage through theft and vandalism in an opinion piece published in NoordkaapBulletin.
Workers of the Sol Plaatje Municipal Parks and Recreation Department have since locked the heavy bronze statue away.
The statue was one of five life-sized miners holding up a diamond sieve high above their heads. According to a description on the SA History website “their strength and power are seen as they work hard under the weight of the sieve.” The fountain was established to honour the miners, both past and present, who work hard in keeping this important industry alive.
The sieve has already been stolen in October 2020.
Alfred Bassie, acting supervisor of the parks department, says his workers, together with contract cleaners from Phoebe Loff’s Phoebe’s Green Team, found the statue in the empty moat of the fountain. The moat was cleaned on Monday and Tuesday.
“It seems as if the hands were hammered off. The statue itself could have been manoeuvred off its plinth by constant rocking and swaying, loosening the bolts underneath.
“We have reported the matter to the police. The arms have probably been sold to an unscrupulous scrapyard owner.”
Bassie says a witness claims the statue was removed by three men. They have laid criminal charges with the police over the past few years, but there have not been many convictions thus far.
“We are very despondent.”
The fountain is also non-functional because of cable theft. As is the case in Queens Park, the lawn cannot be irrigated as electric cables have been stolen.
The park has been invaded by vandals. Lamp poles have been cut to steal electric cables inside, parts of the devil’s fork fence have been removed, stones removed from the stone walls and fires made, blackening the walls. The park is littered with empty beer bottles and other waste left by revellers.
The Sir David Harris bust on the corner of Park Road and Regiment Way was stolen in the past three months, and the plaque a few years ago. Municipal workers searched for the bust after the theft was discovered, but only found parts of it.
The Diggers’ Memorial was designed by Herman Wald, a South African sculptor who was born in Hungary in 1906.
Source: https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/oppenheimer-gardens-kimberley
