‘He is ignorant’: Ramaphosa’s

President Ramaphosa unveiling a statue during the official opening of the New Cecelia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape – Photo: GCIS / Flickr

‘He is ignorant’: Ramaphosa’s plan to remove statues riles political opponents

Cyril Ramaphosa’s controversial comments on statue removals have reached the benches of his opposition – needless to say, they are far from pleased.

‘He is ignorant’: Ramaphosa’s

President Ramaphosa unveiling a statue during the official opening of the New Cecelia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape – Photo: GCIS / Flickr

President Ramaphosa has been slammed for having a ‘warped view of South African history’ by some of his political opponents on Friday, a day after he suggested some ‘offensive statues’ should be removed from points across the country.

Cyril Ramaphosa cops heat for statue removal plans

His Heritage Day message acknowledged the divisiveness of his comments, and Cyril stated he ‘would never apologise’ for removing symbols or monuments that glorify racism. However, the FF Plus has a polarising view on this matter. Party leader Pieter Groenewald has slammed Ramaphosa for being ‘ignorant towards the facts’.

“The sad truth is that the President has a warped view of the country’s history. It is clear that he is ignorant of the correct facts regarding the Afrikaner’s history and it is also clear that his latest statements about symbols were aimed at Afrikaner symbols. He should rather focus on removing the corrupt individuals from the ANC and his Cabinet.”

“I am challenging the President so say exactly which statutes and monuments he wants to have removed and where he plans to relocate them to. He must refrain from making sweeping statements without providing more details seeing as this is an emotionally charged matter and people want more clarity.”

Pieter Groenewald

“Those who forget their history…”

Shortly after Groenewald’s reaction, the DA also shared a statement on the matter. Deputy Shadow Minister for Sports, Arts and Culture, Veronica van Dyk, condemned Ramaphosa’s ‘blanket approach’. Instead, van Dyk has suggested engaging with local communities before making any decisions on which statues should be removed:

“Every statue or monument must also be dealt with individually – there is no ‘one size fits all’ blanket approach that can be adopted. Decisions of this nature have to take into consideration the views of the community in which a particular statue or monument is located, as well as alternative solutions to outright removal.”

“These may include erecting a plaque to provide historical context to, or more information about, a statue or monument; or allowing for the statue to be removed to a museum or to private property. The history of South Africa – as tragic and violent as it is – cannot be sanitised. It must be faced and learned from so that those mistakes will never be repeated.”

Veronica van Dyk