Fresh calls for ‘Oom Paul’ to fall
RENEWED calls by the EFF for the removal of the “Oom Paul” Kruger statue, standing tall in Tshwane, has placed the party on a collision course with the DA.
On Heritage Day on Friday, EFF members picketed in Church Square, where the statue is located, calling for its removal because, they said, it symbolised a “white racist”.
Kruger was the president of the former Republic from 1883 to 1902, and the international face of the then Boer republic’s cause. He died in 1904.
A call by EFF Tshwane regional chairperson Obakeng Ramabodu for the removal of “white racist statues” as well as for the renaming of some areas in Pretoria was rejected by DA mayoral candidate Randall Williams.
Williams, who is also the sitting mayor, warned that the EFF’s call could potentially sow hatred between different cultures and races.
He said it was unacceptable for the EFF to use Heritage Day to “call for destruction and racial division within our country instead of bringing our people together”.
Speaking during the picket, Ramabodu was adamant the statue should go, saying Kruger was a murderer and his statue deserved to be thrown away.
EFF MP Reneiloe Mashabela vowed her party would remove “racist” statues – which served as a reminder of the country's painful past – should it be voted into power in the November 1 local government election.
In the past, efforts by the EFF to remove or damage the statue have been prevented by the City of Tshwane, which placed a special fence around it.
Two years ago, the EFF tabled a motion in council to demolish the statue and have it replaced with a statue of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. The ANC rejected the motion, saying it would be “against the party policies on statues and heritage”.
In 2018, the SA Geographic Names Council said the brass statue of Kruger and his burghers would remain in Church Square.
Williams said the DA championed the preservation of all cultures and their heritage in South Africa.
He said South Africa belonged to all who lived in it.
Last November, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa warned against recklessness in taking decisions about historical symbols.
He, however, said the relocation of apartheid and colonial-era statues and the renaming of streets named after apartheid rulers should be decided by the public in local municipalities and metro councils.