THIRTEEN years have passed and a service provider has been finalised to construct a monument that will pay homage to the 1860 indentured labourers.
The announcement was made on Tuesday by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
The monument will be erected at uShaka Beach (next to the uShaka Marine World parking lot).
This week, Vusi Shongwe, director at the department, said they were happy the process had been transparently concluded in line with the department’s regulations.
He said there were various factors that delayed the project, including historical differences of opinions on the form of the design for the monument.
The 1860 monument had been in the making since 2010 when Zweli Mkhize, then ANC Premier, budgeted R10m for the project. It was the year in which South Africa was commemorating 150 years since of the arrival of indentured Indian labourers to Natal.
A sod-turning ceremony was held at South Beach, near uShaka Marine World, in 2016 after it was decided that the monument be built there, near where the first Indian labourers and settlers landed.
Last year, Mxolisi Kaunda, eThekwini mayor, reportedly said there was no consensus reached about the design of the monument. Kaunda said the issue was the dispute regarding the design of the monument committee.
“Attempts were made to bring the relevant parties together to agree on a design, which did not materialise,” said Kaunda.
Construction is expected to commence in three weeks.