The naked hugging of Mandela statues could become a craze

THE photograph of a naked woman resting her head against the knee of the giant statue of Nelson Mandela in Sandton is probably the most moving act of homage to Madiba that I have seen.

It has aroused a flurry of comments on social media, mainly uncomplimentary, but even to an old cynic like myself it is clear that she felt she was best able to bare her soul by baring her body.

Were the spirit of Mandela to inhabit his statue, I have no doubt he would console her: “There, there, thank you, but now get your kit back on.” Or words to that effect. Patrons at a nearby restaurant on Monday afternoon couldn’t believe their eyes.

Male waiters got their orders wrong, and a wife hit her husband over the head when he rose from their table to take a closer look.

Apparently the woman arrived fully dressed, saluted the statue, then undressed and put her arms around the bronze legs.

Well, you can’t have that sort of thing going on public, can you? As a managerial woman put it: “This was an unauthorised incident conducted by a private citizen in her personal capacity on our property.”

I couldn’t have described it better myself. A security guard was dispatched to order her to put on her clothes, which she did and then left. But her unauthorised private and personal act in full public view has become a social talking point.

At least she didn’t prostrate herself before the statue, in the way that nuns and others sometimes do before statues of the crucified Christ, though usually they are dressed when they do so. Madiba would have been the first to deny his sainthood, and embarrassed by any sign of idolatry.

But being naked in the open air is a liberating experience, as all who have done it can testify.

Most of us have skinny dipped and when I was young I even mountainhiked naked, other than wearing a hat and boots. Obviously we took care not to frighten the horses, and would never go kaalgat in a place where our presence might provoke waiters into getting their orders wrong.

The only harm that the anonymous woman might have done is start a craze for the naked hugging of Mandela statues. There are so many of them about, some so huge that it would be difficult to get your arms round even a leg. The one in front of the Union Buildings, Pretoria, for instance, is 9m high and weighs 3.5 tons. That’s quite an armful. The one outside the old Victor Verster prison in Paarl where Mandela was incarcerated (it’s now called the Groot Drakenstein Correctional Centre) is a lot smaller, but it’s on a plinth, so you would have to be careful climbing on to it in your naked state and not injure yourself where it hurts most.

The sculptor was Jean Doyle, by the way, who grew up in the house in Plumstead across the street from me as a boy.

Mandela’s statue in London’s Parliament Square is smaller still, if you’re prepared to brave English weather to give it a hug in the altogether.

So far no one has tried to smooch the bust of Madiba on Stalplein in front of the National Assembly, though a police minibus reversed into it two days after it was unveiled.

That, too, was an unauthorised incident in full public view. Personally I would prefer to see a naked lady entwining herself around it.