Pretoria - The leadership of the Economic Freedom Fighters in Tshwane has denied defacing the statue of Paul Kruger after parts of it were covered in green paint following political calls for its removal.
“It wasn’t us who did it but we do commend the attack,” Moafrika Mabongwana, the EFF’s deputy chairman for Tshwane, told ANA on Monday afternoon.
Confusion arose after EFF national spokesman and MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi was quoted as telling reporters EFF members in Gauteng had claimed responsibility for the attack on the Transvaal Republic president’s likeness on Sunday.
It was condemned by Tshwane mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale who said the city had posted a police guards around the statue and would clean it on Tuesday
“We think we will start on Tuesday morning. We don’t want to use chemicals that will affect the actual material underneath.”
Manale said 10 policemen had been stationed around the statue after vandals covered two of the four bronze sentries surrounding Kruger in bright green paint as passers-by captured video footage late on Sunday. The raised figure of Kruger, which was moved to the square in 1954 and unveiled by then Prime Minister DF Malan, escaped with a few paint splatters.
“Private citizens have video footage and we have already handed it over to the police,” Manale said.
The EFF, who last week vowed to tear down all statues of white minority leaders in Pretoria, said the call was met with enthusiasm but they were not sure who had targeted the statue.
“I know there are community members who have embarked on an action to deface these symbols and I think we should commend them,” said Mandisa Mashego, the party’s acting chairwoman in Gauteng.
“We must deface anything that represents colonialism in a physical, tangible way. I think people can accept that Jews will have a problem with Hitler being glorified. As Africans we have a very serious problem with the representation of colonialism.”
On Monday morning, Ndlozi posted a call on his Twitter account to remove the statue of Jan van Riebeeck in Cape Town, reading: “Jan van Riebeeck must fall: he is situated in Adderley Street, Cape Town.”
ANA