Remembering the disappeared: the Siyanikhumbula exhibition opens at Constitution Hill at the end of August

RELATED LINKS: Dome offers new room at Con Hill A temporary venue at Constitution Hill - the Dome - will stand a little longer. It makes a fetching place to hold corporate functions and cocktail parties. Read more Visitors flock to Constitution Hill Visitors are streaming to Constitution Hill, the home of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Read more Visitors' head for Constitution Hill The three days after the opening of the new Constitution Hill complex saw close to 1 000 visitors, and tourists and investors are streaming in. Read more The Fort turns into the Court One of Johannesburg's most restricted and hated buildings has become one of its most open and people-friendly buildings - The Fort and prison. Read more Constitution Hill tour captures essence of SA A tour of Constitution Hill this week gave a group of education officials and schoolchildren from all over South Africa a harrowing insight into what it was like to be a prisoner during the dark days of apartheid. Read more

Exhibits in Siyanikhumbula include memory boxes and interactive panels

Exhibition looks at the missing Constitution Hill hosts an exhibition focusing on people who went missing during the apartheid years and who have never been found - their families search for them still. August 23, 2007 By Lesego Madumo THE plight of the disappeared is the focus of an exhibition at Constitution Hill, held to help those families who lost loved ones during the apartheid years to find closure. It will also commemorate International Day of the Disappeared, marked around the world on 30 August. Siyanikhumbula - roughly translated as "we are missing you" - will take visitors on a reflective and poignant journey into the lives of the families of the missing. Launched on International Day of the Disappeared, it will run until Friday, 28 September at Constitution Square and the Number Four temporary exhibition space at Constitution Hill. A candle-lighting ceremony during the launch will be attended by a Constitutional Court judge, representatives of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and delegates from the Khulumani Support Group. The exhibition has been organised by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), Khulumani and Constitution Hill. Working with the Art Therapy Centre, the CSVR and families of the disappeared, the exhibits in Siyanikhumbula include memory boxes and interactive panels. "This … exhibition aim[s] to remind the public of the unfinished work of the TRC and keep the urgent issue of disappearances alive on the political agenda," says Oupa Makhalemele, a project manager at CSVR. The exhibition is designed to address the plight of those families, which is often ignored by the government. "We want to highlight the impact of the dilemma and provide support for those who have loved ones missing." International Day of the Disappeared International Day of the Disappeared is marked annually and is recognised around the world. It is designed for families to draw attention to the fates of their loved ones who have been subjected to clandestine imprisonment and detention without trial. Some of them have been murdered by state forces, and their bodies have not been found; others remain in prison. This form of incarceration is practiced in many countries worldwide. The idea behind the day was sparked by the Federation of Association for Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared, an NGO founded in Costa Rica in 1981 to unite local and regional groups that fought against secret imprisonment. At the launch, families of people who are still missing will share their experiences and highlight the effects that the disappearances have had on their lives. There will be a presentation on the history of International Day of the Disappeared. Civil society organisations will conduct workshops on dealing with the trauma of losing a loved one. The struggle "This exhibition pays homage to those missing people and the roles they played in the struggle for freedom. We want to honour them," explains Mxolisi Dlamuka, the programme manager at Constitution Hill. Makhalemele says that a memorandum will be handed to the TRC. "The memorandum states that the work already done by the [authority] in trying to find these people is not enough. We want a probe to be launched and we urge people to come forth with information, in the spirit of reconciliation. "We want to remember and honour those who went missing during the apartheid era violence and disappeared from South Africa. It is our hope that the exhibition becomes a platform for raising public awareness," he notes. Siyanikhumbula is "an intimate and emotional expression of the journeys those families have taken and continue to take in an effort to find answers to … questions which haunt them [even today]". A panel will gather and share information from the families of the disappeared. Dumisane Khumalo, the brother of Casswell Tunu Khumalo who was killed by the security police in 1989, is one of the panellists. Siyanikhumbula is on at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein from Thursday, 30 August to 28 September. For more information, contact Oupa Makhalemele at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation on 011 403 5650 or by email on omakhalemele@csvr.org.za. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za