Cape Town - The African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday said the removal of divisive colonial and apartheid-era statues was necessary, but only after a process of public discourse.
“While we support these calls for accelerated transformation, we believe that any removal of statues and symbols should be the outcome of a process of engagement,” ANC media liaison officer Keith Khoza told the African News Agency.
Khoza said the ANC would not support vandalism and the unapproved removal of the statues.
His comments follow the defacing of the Paul Kruger statue in Tshwane on Tuesday and the toppling of Port Elizabeth’s 110-year-old Horse Memorial on Monday.
Khoza said if a decision is taken to remove statues they should be placed in a museum where future generations could reflect on South Africa’s history.
“These relocated statues should be accompanied by a narrative explaining what these people did, how their actions are counter to South Africa’s progress,” said Khoza.
He said the ANC wanted to promote public dialogue about finding symbols that would unite all.
In an official statement by the ruling party on Tuesday, ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said that calls for the removal of colonial and apartheid-era statues were symptomatic of “the underlying problem of a lack of transformation in the institutions and in society in general”.
“For too long, deep-seated and institutionalised resistance to transformation has been the hallmark of many sections of our society and this untenable situation must change,” said Kodwa.
He said South Africans must engage and debate how to preserve statues and symbols as not to forget history, and what they mean to different communities.
“As a nation we must find each other, in the absence of emotive racial polarisation, to build and unite around symbols that are an embodiment of the values and ethos of a democratic South Africa and the overarching principles of reconciliation and a common nationhood,” said Kodwa.
ANA