Hearings on fate of apartheid statues at UFS soon

The University of Free State will hold public hearings on the fate of the Marthinus Theunis Steyn statue following calls by #FeesMustFall students to remove it from the main campus.

Steyn was the president of the then independent Orange Free State between 1896 and 1902.

University spokesperson Lacea Loader said process of submissions and verbal public participapropensity tion would start next week at its three campuses.

“The process specifically addresses the removal, relocation, reinterpretation and retaining of the statue and is part of the Heritage Impact Assessment required by the Free State Provincial Heritage Resources Authority.

“The review process includes opportunities for members of the university community and the public to make verbal submissions on the position of the statue.”

In 2016, protesting students demanded the university be decolonised and that figures of apartheid-era leaders be removed.

The institution installed security guards to protect the statue after students vandalised it with spray paint. Another statue, that of Charles Robberts Swart on the same campus was pulled down. Swart was president of the Republic of South Africa between 1961 and 1967.

Several buildings and streets in Bloemfontein are named after Steyn and Swart.

In 2015, the Free State government renamed its provincial head office, the CR Swart Building, the Fidel Castro Building, to honour the late Cuban leader. – ANA