Oom Paul’s statue vandalised
Residents woke up to a lime green Paul Kruger statue on Monday morning.
Vandalists painted the iconic statue of Paul Kruger Church Square lime green on Sunday.
Two of the soldiers “guarding” the president of the old Transvaal republic were spoiled with the same paint.
Democratic Alliance councillor Elma Nel bemoaned this development.
“It was sad that the culprits opted to deface part of Pretoria’s heritage while the rest of the city celebrated the Easter weekend in a peaceful fashion.”
Photos taken by eyewitnesses showed members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) gathering on Sunday around the statue of Paul Kruger and his four guards.
Attempts by Rekord to obtain comment from national EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi were fruitless on Monday morning.
The civic organisation AfriForum implored authorities to strongly act against the vandals responsible for the defacing of the statues.
“The situation deteriorates daily. People are getting caught up in their emotions and this could lead to a dangerous polarisation of communities,” said Alana Bailey, deputy CEO of AfriForum.
Bailey said discussions about historical statues and symbols were currently high on the agenda and anybody with a cheap political agenda would know they would make headlines should they commit acts of vandalism.
“There must be a clear message sent to these anarchists that their actions will not be tolerated and that they would face the full might of the law in terms of existing legislation.”
The AfriForum youth league was planning to clean the statues on Monday, but had been given a guarantee by the heritage foundation that it would take care of this on Tuesday.
AfriForum last week launched a petition to ask that a moratorium would be placed on the relocation or removal of any historic symbol erected in public areas until such time that a national heritage summit had been held where these matters would be discussed in depth.
Tshwane metro spokesperson Blessing Manale told Rekord in an in-depth interview last week about the historical statues in the capital city that the metro would not allow the defacement of any of these symbols.
He however said the removal of some prominent statues including Paul Kruger was “very, very” possible.
Manale said public places should be adorned by artistic works that reflect the culture of all the citizens. He said historical statues would be relocated to a suitable place where they could be viewed by the public.
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