I was pleased and enjoyed to read the letter written by Thabile Mange Statues symbolise white power in the 24 April issue of the News.
If our government really is serious about transformation in deeds and actions, gloves must be off, and pressing issues must be dealt with honestly and speedily without fear or favour.
The facts Thabile mentioned are breathtaking; how do you justify 200 professors with only five blacks in over two decades since we were freed?
No one can stand and say we don’t have educated blacks who are capable to be academic brains like our counterparts. It is clear to everyone in our society that this snail pace the government is taking is brewing anger and widening racial lines.
Defacing statues is the least of what masses are not happy about! From nationalisation of key sectors of the economy, land redistribution and transformation in our institutions all seem to be standing still, with little progress if any.
A sculpture near Key West was defaced with red paint poured over it. It was declared a crime scene with Mogale City officials guarding it, now it is cleaned and continued to be looked after on the other side of town. In Krugersdorp CBD we have a library without a toilet, which was neglected by our council without cleaning or maintaining until street kids took over and made it they’re home. They cleaned it and now we pay to relieve ourselves.
Remember the majority who uses the library are school children who don’t always have income so service delivery is provided for the statue not for the people? We condemn the vandalism of sculptures but the government must engage its people in all walks of life vigorously. How does a pre-colonial sculpture help a man in the street, museum or theme park? I doubt it will be for any use to the black masses.
As Thabile put it the ball is in government’s court.
