Activist Gumede to be honoured with statue

A “MORE-THAN-LIFE-SIZE” statue of anti-apartheid activist Archie Gumede is to go up in Durban.

LEE RONDGANGER

A “MORE-THAN-LIFE-SIZE” statue of anti-apartheid activist Archie Gumede is to go up in Durban.

eThekwini councillors gave city officials the nod to erect the statue next to the International Convention Centre, near the old Durban Central Prison wall, where the United Democratic Front (UDF) leader was incarcerated in 1985.

According to a report presented to the city’s community and services committee, the statue would not cost the city anything, as all costs would be covered by the national Department of Arts and Culture.

The report, compiled by Guy Redman, deputy head of the libraries and heritage department at the eThekwini Municipality, said the statue would be a noticeable heritage landmark that “would fit well in the site”.

Redman said the statue would be located at the site where a Good Friday service procession gathered in April 1985 to pray for 16 treason triallists, including Gumede, Frank Chikane, Albertina Sisulu and Sam Kikine, who were being held.

Gumede, a lawyer by training, was a founding member and one of three presidents of the UDF when it was launched in 1983.

Gumede, who led the Natal delegates at the 1955 Congress of the People in Kliptown, during which the Freedom Charter was written, died in 1998.