PRETORIA : A Clash of Holidays
South Africa’s past and future hold opposing holidays on Thursday.
Thousands of conservative white Afrikaners will gather for religious services, political speeches, barbecues--and a political show of strength--at the Voortreker Monument outside Pretoria to remember the “Day of the Vow,” which commemorates the killing by several hundred Afrikaners of about 3,000 Zulu warriors in an 1838 battle.
Zulus, meanwhile, will gather at Isandhlwana in the Natal region, where their forebears annihilated an invading British regiment in 1879.
Finally, the black-led African National Congress will hold “Hero’s Day” rallies honoring those who fought or died in the anti-apartheid struggle.
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