Pretoria - The bronze sentries around the statue of Boer republic president Paul Kruger in central Pretoria have again been defaced with green paint.
Several Tshwane metro police were at the scene in Church Square on Tuesday. The statue has been protected inside a high perimeter fence since April when Kruger’s likeness became one of the first to be targeted in a nationwide campaign against symbols of white rule. However, a huge gap has been forced in the fence. The officers cordoned it up with tape on Tuesday afternoon.
Spokesman for the right-wing party Front National, Francois Cloete was at the scene, assessing the damage.
“It is a cultural genocide again against one of the statues of my people. I want to know what’s happening because this statue is part of the Afrikaner tradition,” said Cloete.
“I have been trying to speak to the metro police but they are not cooperating. They don’t want to talk to me at the moment.”
Cloete said he suspected that the “defacement warriors from last time” were at it again.
“There has been ongoing rumours that there will be another defacement again because of Paul Kruger’s birthday coming up on the 10th (October). On Saturday we have an event,commemorating his birthday, so this (defacement) might be linked to that,” he said.
“Defacement is wrong. It’s a crime. If people don’t agree (with the statue), they must talk to the Afrikaner standing here right now.”
In April, the Economic Freedom Fighters gave the Tshwane municipality seven days to remove the controversial Paul Kruger statue.
“(Tshwane Mayor Kgosientso) Ramokgopa must understand that this statue is frustrating our people everyday. Our people don’t have jobs and they relax in this park,” said EFF Tshwane chairperson Benjamin Disoloane at the time.
“When they look at this statue of Paul Kruger, it frustrates them. We are offering to remove the statue because the city doesn’t have the budget.”
He said the EFF was offering manpower and transport for the removal of the statue.
The Kruger statue, including two of the four sentries around it, was cleaned in April, after it had been defaced with lime green paint.
ANA