Editor – What is the story with people wanting to tear down Cecil John Rhodes memorials all over the world?
Let’s face facts, whether you like or dislike an individual who has gone down in history as making some sort of a contribution, that contribution is there to stay.
Pulling down statues and changing street names doesn’t change the course of history or the actions that have gone before us.
Recently, there were demands to remove a statue of Cecil John Rhodes at Cape Town University and a university in the United Kingdom, as well as change the name of Rhodes University in Port Elizabeth.
Now the facts are that the man founded Rhodes University and provided the land on which Cape Town University is situated. And just because some elements dislike him for his colonial leanings or whatever the case may be, they think it’s time to remove all reminders of his efforts on this planet and in this country, good or bad.
It appears that in this country, the general consensus seems to be that if you change a street name or the name of a city / town, all the past wrongs will be righted and everything will be just great. How naive can we all be?
This is just window-dressing and does nothing to address the problems at hand, which abound in this new democracy of ours.
It also appears that one of the main instigators of the ‘anti Cecil John Rhodes’ campaign was awarded a Rhodes scholarship and is currently studying abroad because of the said scholarship. If Mr Rhodes was so bad, why did he not turn down the scholarship?
Now the time is convenient to do some history-bashing.
How long are we going to harp on the past and blame present blunders on the actions of people who are long gone? Is it not time to take responsibility?
