Cape Town - A statue of Nelson Mandela may soon enjoy pride of place on the Grand Parade, the site of his inaugural speech after he was released from prison in 1990.
The City of Cape Town’s naming committee heard on Wednesday that there was strong support from various departments within council to erect the statue on the Grand Parade, and not in the Company’s Garden which is already filled with “memorial clutter”.
The site was mooted when the project was proposed in February.
But the Department of Arts and Culture noted that, while the Company’s Garden is “overdone with memorials”, the Grand Parade connects to the story of Mandela’s release from prison. It was also suggested that the memorial should not be a “typical statue” as there were already plenty of these.
The environmental resource management department noted that the erection of a statue, regardless of its location, was a “major civic project” that required inter-governmental co-operation.
The tourism department agreed, saying that it could portray him giving a speech or engaging with the public. This department suggested Government Avenue as the preferred site. “It is frequented by a number of people and will be more visible.”
It was noted that the Cenotaph in front of Cape Town station might need to move to make space for a MyCiTi bus station, and that this memorial would probably be relocated to the Company’s Garden.
Spatial planning said the Grand Parade was a more “central” location for the statue. Station Square was also offered as an option. The department said that, given the significance of the project, there needed to be a thorough and considered approach to the process.
Freedom Front Plus councillor Andre Fourie agreed that the city should not act as “fools who rush in where angels fear to tread” when it came to placing the statue. While he agreed about the need to honour the former statesman, he said there had to be support from national government.
He urged the city’s naming committee to refer the matter to mayor Patricia de Lille, so that she could engage with the provincial and national government about the viability, location and cost of erecting the statue.
The city needed to know, for example, whether there were plans to erect a similar statue in the Parliament precinct.
It’s not clear yet whether the city would have to make a budgetary allocation for the project, or whether funds would be donated.
The statue alone could cost anything from R500 000. Funds would also be used to pay a heritage consultant to liaise with the Mandela family, as well as to cover other costs associated with a project of this scale.
Cape Argus