President lays wreath at SS Mendi Memorial

21 February 2019 | Story Supplied. Photo Michael Hammond. Read time 2 min.
President Cyril Ramaphosa at the SS Mendi Memorial on UCT’s lower campus on Thursday morning, 21 February 2019.
President Cyril Ramaphosa at the SS Mendi Memorial on UCT’s lower campus on Thursday morning, 21 February 2019.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, as Commander-in-Chief of the South African Armed Forces, visited the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) lower campus to lay a wreath at the SS Mendi Memorial in honour of the South African soldiers who died when the ship sank in 1917.

The event this morning kicked off Armed Forces Day, first observed in 2012, which also saw the president attend a military parade at Bloubergstrand where he presented medals to South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members in recognition of their outstanding performance in various military operations.

The SS Mendi, a military steamship, sank in dense fog in the English Channel on 21 February 1917, after being struck by the SS Darro, a much larger cargo ship. The Mendi was transporting members of the 5th battalion of the South African Native Labour Contingent to France, to support the war effort.

Before boarding the ship, the troops were encamped at what was then the Rosebank Showgrounds Oval, and which is today a field that forms part of the UCT Fitness Centre, and is the site of the memorial.

A total of 616 South Africans and 30 British crew members died in the disaster.


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Bongani Mayosi

1967–2018

The University of Cape Town mourns the passing of Professor Bongani Mayosi, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, who left us on the morning of Friday, 27 July. While this is a very difficult time for both students and staff, particularly those in the Faculty of Health Sciences, it is also a time to reflect on and celebrate the incredible life of one of the university’s finest academics and researchers.

Read #RememberingMayosi messages that have been received from the community so far.
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Letters of condolence


Justice VC Saldanha 13:13, 1 August 2018
Dr Jeremy Farrar, Wellcome 08:46, 1 August 2018

 

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