Erecting a monument to Jacob Zuma now is as absurd as Americans nominating US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, writes Dennis Pather.
Ask many Americans about building statues to immortalise prominent figures in society and they will warn you, never erect a statue when the person you are honouring is still alive.
Their reasoning is that no matter how well you think you know someone, as long as they’re alive they have an opportunity to prove you wrong.
To amplify their point, some tell the story about Joe Paterno, the famous football coach who most sports fans in the US regarded as an unimpeachable man of integrity and honesty.
They built a statue to honour him. When he was disgraced in a sordid child-sex abuse scandal, his fans wanted to tear down the monument.
Golfer Tiger Woods was an amazing role model until they found he wasn’t; OJ Simpson was a model citizen until they discovered corpses in his cupboard; disgraced champion cyclist Lance Armstrong could do no wrong, until the world discovered he was in fact Mr Dope.
Which brings me to the plan to erect a 6m bronze statue of President Jacob Zuma in Groot Marico.
By no stretch of the imagination can Zuma be regarded as a unifier of people. People tend to either love or loathe him.
Any attempt to immortalise him will only serve to evoke strong feelings on both sides - and attract political rivals and vandals who will smear paint, colour dust or even the stuff from bowels to desecrate his image.
Also, how will Zuma be depicted considering that when he has featured in art forms it invariably has been with his pants down?
Erecting a monument to Zuma now is as absurd as Americans nominating US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.