“The story of Sarah Bartmann is the story of the African people of our country in all their echelons…We need to cast our eyes back to a period less than ten years ago…. Then the state ideology, whatever the garments in which it was clothed, was firmly based on the criminal notion that some had been called upon to enlighten and tame the hordes of barbarians, just as Sarah Bartmann was enlightened and tamed.

The legacy of those centuries remains. This means that we still have an important task ahead of us – to carry out the historic mission of restoring the human dignity of Sarah Bartmann, of transforming ours into a truly non-racial, non-racist and prosperous country, providing a better life for all our people.

A troubled and painful history has presented us with the challenge and possibility to translate into reality the noble vision that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. When that is done, then it will be possible for us to say that Sarah Bartmann has truly come home. The changing times tell us that she did not suffer and die in vain. Our presence at her gravesite demands that we act to ensure that what happened to her should never be repeated.”

President Thabo Mbeki, Past President of the Republic of
South Africa
(excerpt from the speech made at the internment ceremony of Sarah Bartmann at Hankey on 9 August 2002)

These words serve as the foundation on which the project for the development of the Sarah Bartmann Centre of Remembrance will be based. It is envisaged that the Centre will serve as a reminder to the people of South Africa, the continent of Africa and the rest of the world of the atrocities that have been perpetrated against indigenous people in earlier times.

It is not intended that this should be an invitation to vengeful and retributive sentiment, nor to instill perpetual perceptions of victimhood, but rather to state that never in our lifetime and never among future generations will the oppression and dehumanisation of any people be allowed to occur across the racial, gender, ethnic and creedal spectrum.

The story of Sarah Bartmann has become the touchstone of the marginalization and dehumanisation of women and indigenous people in South Africa, and it is therefore fitting that the envisaged development on which this competition is based, be known as the Sarah Bartmann Centre of Remembrance.

Her story can assist the South African nation in undergoing an emotional catharsis, which is a prerequisite for healing the wounds and scars the nation bears. Such healing will provide the atmosphere in which nation-building, national reconciliation and social cohesion can occur.