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The Free State MEC for Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation Mrs. Mathabo Leeto would like to join many South Africans to observe the centenary commemoration of the SS Mendi troopship as part of honoring our national heritage.

On 16 January 1917, the SS Mendi troopship sailed from Cape Town en-route to Le Havre in France, carrying the last contingent of the South African Native Labour Corps, comprising eight hundred and five Africans, five white officers, seventeen non-commissioned officers and thirty three crew members. Unfortunately, on 21 February 1917 the SS Mendi collided with SS Darro in the icy waters of Southampton.

It is reported that of the full complement, only four were washed ashore in the Netherlands, one is interred in Hastings, one in France and in the Hollybrook cemetery. This means 960 of those who set sail from Cape Town have not been accounted for.

MEC Mathabo would like to pay tribute to the families of those brave soldiers who selflessly gave their lives for the good of all South Africans and served our country with distinction.

“In constructing a united, non-sexist, non-racial, and prosperous South Africa, we should draw lessons from our past so as to inform our present and help guide us to our future. As a nation that is proud of its heritage, we have to pay homage to the descendants of the brave soldiers of the SS Mendi.

The task of nation building and fostering social cohesion has never been so urgent like now. It is our firm view that through the arts, the project of nation building, social cohesion and reconciliation can be realised.

Days of National Significance and other Calendar Days will continue to be celebrated as a mobilising force that should pull all our citizens in the Free State and South Africa together” said MEC Mathabo Leeto.

Issued by Free State Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation