Black South Africans cheer as new Mandela statue unveiled
Many white Afrikaners worried about future without former leader
PRETORIA — Joyous crowds of black South Africans celebrated the unveiling of a new Nelson Mandela statue in Pretoria on Monday, while many white Afrikaners on the other side of town expressed their worries about the country’s future as they marked the 175th anniversary of a bloody victory over the indigenous Zulus.
A new nine-metre statue of Mandela was unveiled in the heart of Pretoria in front of the Union Buildings that used to be the seat of the apartheid government, where Mandela was sworn in as the country’s first democratically elected president 19 years ago.
“One of the things he taught us was to actually talk to our enemies and learn to appreciate things that they’ve done that didn’t directly affect us in a bad way,” Thando Silimela, 28, said, expressing appreciation for the impressive hilltop government complex.
“We don’t see it as a hostile building or a building of apartheid; it’s a beautiful building. It’s part of our heritage. We’ve come to peace with a lot of things that have been done. I’m quite proud of South Africa.”
There was a less celebratory mood across town, where more than 1,000 Afrikaner people gathered to mark the anniversary of the battlefield victory over the Zulus.
Dec. 16 used to be a public holiday under the apartheid regime to commemorate the battle against the Zulus, but it has since been renamed the National Day of Reconciliation.
Most Afrikaners, who dominated the racist minority rule that ended in 1994, have now embraced the end of discrimination. But a minority of the Dutch-descended group re- mains harshly critical.
The event at the Afrikaner monument attracted many white critics who condemned corruption and expressed the fear the black majority might eventually turn on them. They saw Mandela, who died Dec. 5, as a guarantor of moderate and non-discriminatory policies.
“If the new black leaders were to act like him, would build the society that he envisioned, it would all be good,” said Elizabeth Neethling, 65, a mother of five from Pretoria.
“Nelson Mandela was a good person, but nowadays they are all corrupt. I don’t see any future here for my children and grandchildren.”