By Nangamso Mabindla
13 October 2006

A CELEBRATION of the Eastern Cape's ancient cultures is on the cards for Heroes' Park.

The Heroes' Park Foundation board is preparing to set up a garden of heritage at the park, which is on the East London beachfront. The garden will celebrate and highlight the importance of the region's old Khoisan and the Xhosa cultures.

Daya Appavoo, the chairman of the board, said the foundation had decided to create a heritage garden because the province's people did not have much respect for pre-colonial African society; that is why they decided to promote these ancient cultures.

"This garden of heritage will have a ringing stone [as] a central feature. The beauty of the stone is that it will be what the Khoisan people called a 'Gerang Klip' and the Xhosa 'iNyengane'."

It is one of the hardest stones in the province and is linked to Xhosa culture and beliefs. During drought, the Nyengane stone was rung during rain dances as it was believed that the gods could hear the ring and would make it rain. "Now this stone will be here at the Heroes' Park garden of heritage. It will be a big tourist attraction," Appavoo said.

This central feature would be surrounded by indigenous plants, with special emphasis on those with a ceremonial or medicinal value. "One of these plants is 'Umhlonyana' in Xhosa or 'Perdepis' in Khoisan," he said, adding that the horticulture would cost R15 000. The 'Umhlonyana', or Artemisia afra is used primarily for bronchial and respiratory complaints.

Another exciting feature the board planned was a wall, nine metres long and 1,5 metres wide, with information on African people in the Eastern Cape. It would focus on Khoisan hunters and pastoral Xhosa people. "On this graphic-edged, exciting feature we will also show the music of these people, their body language and oral tradition – the 'intsomi' or Xhosa fairy tales – where people of that time learned their values. We really want to use the Heroes' Park to show off our rich province," Appavoo added.

The board was running a competition for art staff and students at Walter Sisulu University to design the graphics for the R32 000 feature. "This garden of heritage will also tie in nicely with the multicultural man donated to us by the Italian consul on behalf of the Nereto municipality, and the German monument that is overlooking the beachfront," Appavoo concluded.