Built to Honour Heroines, Left to Decay: Inside the R200 Million Failure of the Women’s Living Heritage Monument

In the heart of Tshwane’s CBD stands what should have been a national treasure, a museum dedicated to the four women leaders who spearheaded the 1956 anti-pass march of 20,000 women to the Union Buildings.

Instead, it has become a silent symbol of state failure.

The Women’s Living Heritage Monument, completed in 2018 at a reported cost exceeding R200 million, was meant to immortalise the courage of South African women. It was supposed to be a living classroom for schoolchildren, a tourist landmark, a place of pride.

Today, it is locked, dusty and peeling, literally. Paint is flaking off its walls, walkways are deserted, and not a single visitor is allowed inside.

Six Years Later, Still “Not Ready”

This week, DA Gauteng spokesperson for sport, arts and culture Leanne De Jager attempted to conduct an oversight visit, only to be denied entry again.

Her frustration echoes that of many South Africans:

“R200 million was spent. The museum is built. Yet it remains closed. Now the new excuse is that there’s no fire compliance certificate. How many more excuses will there be?”

The Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation had previously promised to make the site fully operational by October 2024. That deadline has clearly passed, with nothing but bureaucratic red tape to show for it.

A Monument to Neglect, Not Heritage

What makes this debacle more infuriating is the contrast with monuments maintained outside government hands.

AfriForum’s district coordinator for Pretoria South, Arno Roodt, drew the comparison plainly:

• The National Women’s Monument in Bloemfontein, built over a century ago, still stands proud, community preserved, community run.

• The Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria thrives without relying on the state, supported by active public engagement and private stewardship.

Meanwhile, the Women’s Living Heritage Monument only six years old is already falling apart.

“Through neglect and incompetence, this monument has become a tribute not to women’s courage, but to government failure,” Roodt said.

Heritage Month, But What Are We Celebrating?

It’s Heritage Month, a time when South Africans are urged to celebrate their history. But how does one celebrate heritage when even monuments meant to honour our heroines are left abandoned behind locked gates?

On social media, frustration is mounting. One comment summed it up perfectly:

“They built it for the ribbon-cutting photo op, not for the people.”

A Call for Community Power Over Political Promises

Perhaps there’s a lesson here: heritage cannot survive on government promises alone.

Where communities own, protect and participate, monuments live. Where the state builds without commitment they decay.

The Women’s Living Heritage Monument deserves to be more than another costly embarrassment. It deserves to be handed over to people who will actually use it.

Until then, the message it sends is painfully clear:

South African women marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 demanding dignity.

In 2025, their memory is still waiting outside, behind a locked door.

{Source: The Citizen}

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