An ironical repeat of history
THE SLICING off of the nose of the Cecil John Rhodes statue at Rhodes Memorial last week has been likened to what could have happened to the faces of ancient sphinxes in Egypt.
According to historians, European colonialists were believed to have defaced structures bearing a resemblance to Africans.
French historian Constantine de Volney, who embarked on a journey to Egypt in 1782, described all Egyptians as having bloated faces, puffed-up eyes, flat noses and thick lips.
“In other words, the ancient Egyptians were true negroes of the same type as all native-born Africans,” De Volney wrote.
“Just think that this race of black men, today our slave and the object of our scorn, is the very race to which we owe our arts, sciences and even the use of speech!”
A local historian and university professor, who asked not to be named, said it was ironic that a statue of a colonialist had been defaced in a similar manner.
South African National Parks (SANParks) officials presume the statue’s nose was sliced off with an angle grinder on Friday.
Asked if noses and lips on ancient Egyptian statues had been removed during the 17th and 18th century due to racist intent, the professor said: “Perhaps. We will probably never know for sure, but it would be ironic if whoever removed the nose of the statue of Rhodes had that in mind.”
Meanwhile, Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) are celebrating the removal of the statue’s nose.
“While we are not aware of who took this action, as the RMF movement, it would be arbitrary for us to do anything but celebrate such a visceral disruption to South Africa’s colonial history, which continues to be regarded as an essential part of ‘our’ heritage,” RMF spokesman Brian Kamanzi said.
He said the value of visual, tangible intervention couldn’t be ignored and still held power.
“How is it possible that Cape Town is still littered with these colonial figures of anti-black patriarchal violence, secured in time by concrete and bronze?” Kamanzi said.
“In removing Rhodes’s nose, the so-called ‘vandals’ begin to chip away at Rhodes’s sensibilities; his predisposition to killing black people, and to stealing our land – which still dominates Cape Town and larger South Africa today.
“This revolutionary act embodies decolonisation.”