It’s official. Cacadu District Municipality will become Sarah Baartman District Municipality from 1 September, although the use of the name will be phased in over time.
It’s official. Cacadu District Municipality will become Sarah Baartman District Municipality from 1 September, although the use of the name will be phased in over time.
Baartman, of Khoikhoi descent, was born in 1789, raised within the Gamtoos Valley. She was only laid to rest near her home in Hankey, along the banks of the Gamtoos River, in 2002 after late President Nelson Mandela petitioned the French government in 1996 to return her remains.
She had been on display in the Musee de l’Homme in Paris.
“It is an immense honour for the District to be officially named after an icon such as Sarah Baartman. It is our intention to uphold what she represents and through initiatives such as the Moral Regeneration Movement we will continue to endeavour to restore the dignity of the people of this District,” said Executive Mayor of the Cacadu District Municipality, Khunjuzwa Eunice Kekana.
The Council took the decision in 2012 to change the name to Sarah Baartman to recognise both the woman and the role of coloured people in the fight against apartheid.
The process included lengthy consultations between the municipality and all the stake holders, including the Khoi and the San, which were of the opinion that the name change was a welcome opportunity to rewrite history and rectify the heritage of their people.
The application to change the name was thereafter submitted to the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs for consideration and subsequent approval.
Baartman was orphaned when her family was attacked in a commando raid and was subsequently taken to Cape Town as a slave. At the age of 20, in 1810, she was taken to London by William Dunlop, a British ship’s doctor. There she was put on display as a human novelty, due to the fascination of the Europeans with her body shape.
Her inhumane treatment was exposed and a court case was brought in her defence by the African Association, an anti-slavery group in London. She was then sold to an animal trainer in France.
She died of a respiratory illness in Paris in 1815 and her body was dissected by Napoleon’s surgeon-general.
A body cast was made of her corpse and her body parts were put on display until 1974.
