By Nangamso Mabindla
31 January 2005

WORK has begun on Heroes Park - a garden of remembrance to be established in East London for the province's heroes of yesteryear.

Eastern Cape premier, Nosimo Balindlela, and Buffalo City mayor, Sindisile Maclean, attended a sod-turning ceremony on Friday, January 28, for the R40-milion park, on the Esplanade on the city's beachfront.

While the park will include the footprints of fallen and living heroes like Nelson Mandela, former Eastern Cape premier Raymond Mhlaba, and Marjorie Courtney- Latimer - who discovered the first coelacanth, and plaques of remembrance, it will be a living memorial.

"This park will be different," says convener of the board of the Heroes Park foundation, Daya Appavoo. "This will not be a dead building. We want to create a living legend. There'll be lots of activities like crafts, dance, and other things."

Heroes Park will enable future generations to better understand the path heroes walked in their efforts to bring unity to the country, Appavoo adds.

An important guest at the sod-turning ceremony was Alfred Mentele, a veteran of the struggle against apartheid, whose footprint will also be placed in the park.

Mentele said that through such parks, future generations would be able to learn about the important figures who played vital roles in the struggle against apartheid and in bringing unity to the country.

"Our grandchildren will have a chance to remember our fallen heroes; that makes me happy. Today we are creating history," he said.

In her address Balindlela called for unity among the province's people. "Without it we will never succeed. This park will ensure we achieve that," she said.

Once all the speeches had been made it was time for the premier to turn the first sod.

The park will be an important tourist attraction for the city, especially with its diverse culture. It is being built next to the German Settlers Monument in Quigney, overlooking the ocean.