The City of Joburg will be hosting the National Remembrance Sunday Service and Wreath-Laying Ceremony on 12 November 2017 from 14h30. Happening at the Cenotaph on Beyers Naude Square. See press release below the image.

Remembrance Sunday Johannesburg 2017.jpeg

Press Release - Issued 7 November 2017

Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Herman Mashaba will join with the Dean of Johannesburg to lead a national service honouring military veterans who lost their lives in war and conflicts. The annual National Civic Remembrance Sunday service will be held on Sunday 12 November 2017, at the Cenotaph on Beyers Naudé Square in Harrison Street.  

The Remembrance Sunday commemoration in Johannesburg is the largest of its kind in South Africa, and links with so-called “Poppy Day” events held in many countries around the world.  The poppy is an international symbol for all those who died in wars and conflicts, irrespective of which side they were on.  

The event will open with a march-past the Cenotaph war monument, with hundreds of civic marchers in the parade, along with military bands, veterans’ organisations and youth groups, and supported by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).  

An inter-faith religious service will be led by the Very Revd, Xolani Dlwathi.  Born and raised in Soweto, he has been Dean of Johannesburg, based at St. Mary’s Cathedral, since 2015.  

Then comes a wreath-laying ceremony, with the first wreath to be laid by Mayor Mashaba, followed by other civic dignitaries, senior SANDF officials, ex-service organizations, diplomatic representatives and youth groups. Members of the public will be given the opportunity to lay a flower as well.

Mendi centenary 

Each year a different theme is chosen for the National Remembrance Sunday Service.  This year marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking in 1917 of the troopship SS Mendi off the Isle of Wight.  The sinking of the ship led to a tragic loss of life, with the death of 628 men who drowned at sea.  The majority of those who died were black soldiers of the South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC) on their way to serve in France during World War 1. 

As the ship went down, the best-known legend of the story of the SS Mendi is said to have occurred.  No survivor or official account has confirmed the legend, but it has been preserved in oral tradition.  The Reverend Issac Wauchope Dobha is said to have cried out to the men:

“Be quiet and calm my countrymen, for what is taking place is exactly what you came to do.  You are going to die … Brothers, we are drilling the death drill.  I, a Xhosa say you are my brothers, Swazis, Pondos, Basutos, we die like brothers.  We are the sons of Africa.  Raise your war cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the Kraal, our voices are left with our bodies”.

The doomed men sang and stamped the death dance together as the Mendi sank, taking with her all still on board, and many who leapt into the freezing waters.  

This year’s annual National Civic Remembrance Sunday Service will be held on Sunday 12 November 2017, starting at 14h00.  The event is open to members of the media and the community at large.  

For more information:

Nthatisi Modingoane: 011 407 7354 | 082 467 9228 | nthatisem@joburg.org.za