Poorly timed statue removal addressed

IN RESPONSE to (Tuesday’s) article about the temporary removal of (former) president Nelson Mandela’s statue from the City Hall, I would like to add that I was equally disappointed when I found out that our officials were not quick enough at returning it.

While it is important to address this matter, which I do below,

I am concerned that the Cape Argus makes a lead story about the temporary (and admittedly poorly timed) removal of the statue, instead of paying more attention to the havoc and job destroying load shedding that is being unleashed on our country, again by the failures of our national government.

Make no mistake that regular load shedding will have a catastrophic impact on our ability to address unemployment and is something I would expect would be top priority for the media to be focusing on.

The statue of our former president Nelson Mandela, unveiled in June 2018, was originally installed with the means to allow its temporary removal for safety and security reasons, as the City Hall, like many landmarks in the city, is often used for film shoots and other events. We have appointed a special service provider to manage this process.

The film industry is a valuable source of job creation and skills development for our communities, which we must continue to support.

I have spoken to my officials about being more sensitive about this matter and they have acknowledged that it was an oversight to not ensure that the statue was returned in time for the anniversary of Tata Madiba’s famous speech.

As the mayor of Cape Town I have put measures in place to ensure that this does not happen again.

DAN PLATO

Executive mayor of Cape Town