Kruger integral to SA history

THE PAINT attack on the Paul Kruger statue in Pretoria was despicable, illegal and immoral. Kruger is regarded by the Afrikaner nation as its spiritual leader. An attack on his statue strikes at the heart of the Afrikaner nation.

Besides ruffling feathers, acts like this cause a laager mentality in Afrikaner minds as well as their sympathisers, which is hardly conducive to good relations with other population groups.

Kruger was neither an imperialist nor a colonialist. He was a founding father of this country. He fought for South Africa’s freedom from British imperialism in the same spirit that the ANC fought for its own freedom.

Furthermore it is a historical fact that apartheid was imported into South Africa by the British and was never an invention of the early Afrikaner settlers. When the British burned South Africa to the ground in the early 1900s and placed Afrikaners into concentration camps, black South Africans were placed into separate concentration camps with the blessing of the crown. Thousands of black men, women and children perished in these camps. Over 20 000 children also died in white concentration camps. Afrikaners and black South Africans shared a common enemy: British imperialism .

It is disappointing to read that the EFF is claiming responsibility for defacing the Kruger statue. Julius Malema is better than this. Kruger was an integral part of South African history and respect should be afforded to his memory.

COLIN BOSMAN Newlands