Rhodes Scholar
Battle for Public Space | They’re the images of those who shaped our world. Now they’re no longer welcome in it
Chumani Maxwele stands yesterday on the concrete block where the statue of Cecil John Rhodes resided for decades. The University of Cape Town student, who triggered a fierce debate over SA’s monuments when he threw faeces at the statue several weeks ago, says he has no regrets
FROM a storeroom at the Voortrekker Monument HF Verwoerd, DF Malan and even FW de Klerk stare out across Pretoria at the Union Buildings.
Occasionally they are let out to visit places like Orania, where they are still celebrated.
But mostly these busts and portraits of apartheid-era leaders deemed “no longer significant” remain here. And they are about to be joined by a few more old faces. Like Paul Kruger.
The senior manager at the Heritage Foundation, Cecilia Kruger, said plans were already under way for the Church Square, Pretoria, landmark.
Recently the statue was defaced with green paint by EFF members as weeks of heated debate about colonial and apartheid statues in public spaces gripped the nation after University of Cape Town student Chumani Maxwele flung human excrement at a campus statue of Cecil John Rhodes early last month.
“As black students,” he said at the time, “we are disgusted by the fact that this statue still stands here today as it is a symbol of white supremacy.
“How can we be living in a time of transformation when this statue still stands and our hall is named after [Leander Starr] Jameson, who was a brutal lieutenant under Rhodes?”
On Thursday, UCT removed the statue — an event broadcast live on national television.
Meanwhile, other sculptures, including that of Louis Botha in the parliamentary precinct, and Queen Victoria in Port Elizabeth, have become the subject of protests and vandalism.
Also on Thursday, at the Uni- versity of KwaZulu-Natal, where a statue of King George V was recently defaced, Advocate George Bizos — friend and lawyer of the late Nelson Mandela — criticised the defacing of statues.
Bizos told a public lecture the statues were an important part of the country’s history and should not be destroyed.
He pointed out the difference between Rhodes and Kruger.
“Kruger and his people regarded themselves as the sons of the soil, not imperialists,” Bi- zos reportedly said.
The Heritage Foundation received most of its pieces for storage in the early 2000s after they were removed from the Union Buildings and other public places.
According to Kruger, the pieces were not just buried in a storeroom, but “from time to time” were used in exhibitions relating to the eras of any of the former presidents and prime ministers.
Two such pieces were out on loan to an Orania exhibition.
Kruger said the lack of statues celebrating an African history may be due to “culture”.
“It might not have been an intrinsic characteristic of the African culture to produce likenesses of leaders or to memorialise events in this manner,” she said.
“They would rather remember events and people by telling stories or creating dances and songs around it [with] oral history and tradition.”
There are about 3 600 statues and monuments scattered around the country — most of them representing or commemorating South Africa’s predemocracy history.
“Apart from the obvious point that this was a result of where power lay in the pre-1994 era, the massive imbalance was also attributed to the fact that African societies followed commemorative practices that did not take the form of permanently built structures,” said Cynthia Kros, a research associate at the University of the Witwatersrand’s history workshop.
According to academics, there are only about 200 statues and monuments that commemorate and celebrate the liberation struggle and its heroes.
However, Professor Sabine Marschall from the University of KwaZulu-Natal said that “wherever you do see statues of black chiefs, kings and struggle heroes, there’s no real evidence that people identify with them”.
“Some look terribly neglected,” Marschall said.
Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa said he would convene a special conference on heritage transformation this month.
“The issue that confronts the country is much bigger than the statues. We need to have an honest discussion about the stumbling blocks to nationbuilding and social cohesion,” he said.
Mthethwa said gains had been made in the last 20 years with “new statues and monuments erected to transform the heritage landscape”.
Freedom Park’s acting CEO, Jane Mufamadi, said there remained a “compelling reason” to commemorate those who had sacrificed their lives in the struggle for a free South Africa.
The issue that confronts the country is much bigger than statues. It’s about nation-building