Pretoria - Oom Paul’s statue at Church Square was very much part of the city and its history, and the Tshwane Metro Municipality should ignore calls for its removal.
AfriForum and Front National have both slammed calls for the statue to be removed from its home for the past 61 years - Church Square. Removing the statue would result in a loss of an important part of South Africa’s history, they argued.
The ANC Youth League Greater Tshwane Region has initiated a campaign for the removal of the Paul Kruger statue and four accompanying statues around it.
This came hot on the heels of a campaign by AfriForum asking for a moratorium on the removal or relocation of statues.
In addition, the group wants a national heritage summit to discuss the future protection of heritage in all of its diverse forms.
Alana Bailey, of AfriForum, said existing monuments and statues should stay put as they provided South Africans with the opportunity to continuously examine their respective and mutual history.
Adding more statues and monuments would contribute to the balanced portrayal of the rich tapestry of the country’s past, she said.
It seemed traces of history and heritage in South Africa were being targeted, Bailey said, as an easy way of getting into the spotlight without actually achieving more than inciting emotions. “Anybody with an ideological agenda seems to use the opportunity to promote it by calling for the removal of another community, ideological grouping or interest group’s heritage resources like statues. The Cecil John Rhodes debate has therefore opened the proverbial can of worms,” Bailey said.
“We take note of the statement of Blessing Manale (Tshwane mayoral spokesman) with appreciation and agree that social cohesion, mutual recognition and respect hinge on the protection and promotion of the heritage of all residents.”
Bailey said they were opposed to the removal or relocation of any statues or monuments in public spaces. South Africans were the mutual custodians of total heritage, even when individuals or aspects of this heritage were commemorated that one did not personally feel comfortable with, according the Bailey.
“The removal of statues is an easy but ineffective remedy to address problems in South Africa - but it changes neither the past nor the future.
“Instead, it distorted the public portrayal of the total South African history and deepened polarisation among communities,” she said.
Front National spokesman Francois Cloete said Kruger was part of the heritage of Pretoria and the Tshwane municipality. The removal of the statue would result in a loss of that part of the history, Cloete said.
Tourists visited Pretoria and one of the attractions was the statue.
“The ANC Youth League leader thinks history would be removed from the books if the statues are gone. We live in a democratic and non-racial country where everyone’s history should be respected,” he said. “We can also call for the Nelson Mandela statue to be removed, but he is part of history. So is Kruger.”
Cloete said Kruger’s statue was the last bit of heritage that Afrikaners had left in the Pretoria CBD and that of the old Boer republics.
“We should rather see to a solution that Church Square accommodates both sides of South Africa, but removal is not the solution.”
DA leader in the Tshwane council Gert Pretorius said the official opposition supported any change that was the result of a public participation process.
“You cannot have the young wing of a ruling party that does not enjoy the majority of support in the city to decide that the statue must be removed,” he added.
Pretoria News