Freedom+Wall+to+be+handed+over+to+Mbeki,+SABC




 * SABC, Johannesburg, December 11, 2006, 12:30**

=Freedom Wall to be handed over to Mbeki=

The newly-constructed Freedom Park Wall of Remembrance (Sikhumbuto) is to be handed over to President Thabo Mbeki on the Day of Reconciliation this Saturday in Pretoria.

About 600 construction workers are busy putting final touches to an oval structure that will house an eternal flame to honour the men and women who sacrificed their lives for freedom and democracy.

Wally Serote, the Freedom Park Trust CEO, says the board will present to the president and the nation a complete art work with diverse names of local and international struggle heroes and heroines, including Cuban soldiers who have fallen in liberation struggle wars.

Serote says confusion around the Day of the Vow and Reconciliation Day on December 16 has been averted. He says the Freedom Park Board and the Voortrekker Monument Board have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Co-operation that will allow group representation on both events.

Before 1994, December 16 was commemorated as the Day of the Vow - which was a religious holiday commemorating the Afrikaner victory over the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838.

However, since 1994 that day is now known as the Day of Reconciliation and is a public holiday in South Africa held annually on 16 December. The intention is to foster reconciliation between different racial groups.


 * From: http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/general/0,2172,140007,00.html**

232 words