The Mafeking [now Mahikeng] camp occupied at least two adjacent areas. There is a large and imposing Gedentuin on the main road into the town which has on a number of occasions been ‘restored’ to look like a cemetery of its kind should. There is also a much smaller, peaceful and well-tended cemetery on Baralong land. The latest restoration of the Gedenktuin is dated on a dedicatory memorial as 2001, preceded by a 1987 memorial. ‘The names of the dead’ are set into a winding brick wall, complete with ‘original’ gravestones but which local dignitaries paid to have made as part of the 2001 restoration project. ‘Graves’ are given white markers placed with precision, mimicking a military cemetery. These are a later invention, with the actual remains of the dead encased within or beneath the brick walls. The cemetery on Baralong land is in considerable contrast domestic and peaceful, with flowers and trees. Its dedicated monuments and verses of poetry nonetheless stem from nationalist sentiment.
View Mafeking Gedenktuin gallery here
View Mefeking Baralong Cemetery gallery here
View Mafeking Soldiers in Town Cemetery gallery here
