Apartheid-era statues spark debate, but their presence reminds us of past injustice and why race-based oppression must never return.
History is written by the winners.
And, more often than not, at the end of a war – or after a revolutionary change of government – all the symbols of the previous regime are tossed, literally and figuratively, into the dustbin of history.
It has happened since the days of the ancient Egyptians and Romans – statues are toppled with joyous regularity.
More recently, in Libya, rebels kicked the head off a statue of Muammar Gaddafi, while a Saddam Hussein effigy was similarly brought low in Iraq.
So, it’s not unexpected that, 31 years after a new order descended on South Africa, there should be a clamour for the removal of statues from the apartheid era.
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While we do not underestimate the pain caused by the policy of separate development and the oppression that went with it, there are some points which need to be made.
Firstly, the latest outcry is being orchestrated by the EFF, an organisation which thrives on populism and not on building a better South Africa.
Secondly – surely poverty, unemployment, corruption and crime are more pressing issues?
Remove the statues by all means, but preserve them, as part of our history.
If nothing else, they are reminders that raced-based discrimination is wrong.
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