Memorial ‘plaqued’ with a mistake
An inspirational quotation from Dr Ian Player, inset, was inscribed in a granite memorial stone and attributed to Dr Ian Prayer.
Stonemasons have been set to work to correct the spelling of one of SA’s foremost conservationists, whose name was carved into a stone memorial plaque as “Dr Ian Prayer”.
The granite memorial plaque was unveiled at the central entrance gate to the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi game reserve last month.
The reserve is the white rhino conservation cradle where Ian Player and fellow wildlife rangers helped to rescue the species from the brink of extinction during a mammoth conservation project which began in the 1960s.
Sponsored by Empangeni businessman and philanthropist Ishwar Ramlutchman, two conservation plaques and a pillar were unveiled by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, in the company of Environmental Affairs MEC Meshack Radebe and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife CEO Bandile Mkhize, on December 14.
Ramlutchman, who has also sponsored the erection of Divine Life Society “peace pillars” in several KwaZulu-Natal towns, offered to sponsor the wildlife conservation plaques, which also pay tribute to several former Ezemvelo/Natal Parks Board rangers who lost their lives in the line of duty.
According to Ezemvelo spokesman Musa Mntambo, the spelling gaffe only came to the attention of conservation authorities on the morning of the unveiling, and a decision was made to go ahead with the ceremony and correct the blunder immediately afterwards.
International conservationist Ian Player.
However, the mistake was still very much in evidence when the plaque was photographed by a visitor yesterday morning.
Asked why, after nearly a month, the problem had not been resolved, Mntambo said the builders and engravers employed by Ramlutchman’s Divine Life Society had been on holiday over the Christmas/New Year period, and the mistake would be corrected soon. Mntambo acknowledged that one of the plaques might also have omitted the names of some KwaZulu-Natal wildlife officers who died in the line of duty, and it was hoped that the list would be updated in future.
The spelling error in Player’s surname was described as a “disgrace” and an “insult” by Tim Condon, a former South African who edits the Zululand Wildlife Forum e-newsletter from Canada.
Condon suggested the mistake was an example of “incompetence” by the Ezemvelo management and called for a formal apology to Player.
Player, 84, however, made light of the mistake yesterday and said no apology was needed. “everyone can make mistakes like this. I did not take umbrage and don’t think an apology is necessary for something so trivial,” he said.
Player, who was invited to the unveiling ceremony, was not able to attend because of ill health. – the Mercury
