Pretoria - Former President Nelson Mandela's giant statue at the Union Buildings will be dressed in traditional Voortrekker attire on the anniversary of his death – if the Front National has its way.
In a tit-for-tat response to the covering of the statue of Paul Kruger at Church Square in silver foil, Front National wants to dress Madiba's statue in honour of the Boer culture.
The bronze statue of Kruger has been wrapped until November 16 as part of the Cool Capital Biennale.
The foil will easily be removed without leaving any trace.
The Front National has applied to the City of Tshwane for permission to dress Madiba's statue in a Voortrekker dress and bonnet from December 1 to 16.
Front National spokesman Francois Cloete said dressing up Madiba would be a symbolic recognition of the customs and culture of the Voortrekkers and their descendants as part of the “so-called” Rainbow Nation.
However, Tshwane officials have described the political party's intentions as a provocation of the highest order and an insult to Madiba and South Africans.
Cloete said the application was made in the light of the new trend to misuse statues of famous Boer leaders.
He said an example was in Bloemfontein where the statue of Christiaan de Wet was made up in pink for a festival.
“We decided to challenge these double standards,” Cloete said.
“December 16 is Reconciliation Day and the Day of the Vow. We want to raise awareness of the Day of the Vow by dressing the statue of Mandela in the traditional dress of the Voortrekker.”
The statue of the late Madiba incidentally replaced that of a former Afrikaner leader, Cloete said.
The spot housed the statue of former Prime Minister JBM Hertzog, who led the government from 1924 to 1939.
He was moved with the blessing of his decedents
The statue was unveiled by President Jacob Zuma on the Day of Reconciliation last December to mark the end of the official 10-day mourning period for the much loved former state president, who died at his Johannesburg home on December 5.
Tshwane mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale said they did not consider the application to be a genuine response to the wrapping of the statue of Oom Paul.
Front National has not even engaged the metro on Afrikaner culture and heritage, Manale said.
He added Tshwane recognised the statue of Kruger as an important historical element of the city.
“We have a responsibility to promote Mandela’s statue as a tourism destination.
“Dressing it up will not be in the best interest of the city, nation and tourists.
“While the statue is not within our jurisdiction, we will not support the application and will advise the presidency and the Department of Arts and Culture not to entertain the request,” Manale said.
Cloete added the party was awaiting urgent instruction from the Tshwane municipality on how to go about arranging the planned dressing up of Madiba's stature.
“If the request is denied we would like to hear valid reasons because this will expose double standards by the City of Tshwane and definite racism towards descendants of the Voortrekker,” added Cloete.
Pretoria News Weekend