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President Cyril Ramaphosa.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa said that monuments glorifying racism have no place in South Africa.
- He said the government has worked hard to transform the heritage landscape.
- He said that monuments glorifying South Africa’s divisive past must be repositioned.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says that any symbol, monument or activity that glorifies racism and “represents our ugly past” has no place in South Africa.
In his prepared Heritage Day speech on Thursday, Ramaphosa said the government had worked hard to transform the country’s heritage landscape from democracy, stemming from a history of prejudice and exclusion.
“The naming and renaming of towns and cities is part of this, as well as the construction of new statues and monuments,” he said in his speech.
“Monuments that glorify our divisive past must be repositioned and relocated.”
He said this had generated controversy, with some accusing the government of trying to erase history.
ANALYSIS | Race and memory: what to do with the statue of Paul Kruger in Tshwane
“Building a truly non-racial society means being sensitive to the experiences of all the people of this country,” he said.
“We do not apologize for this because our goal is to build a united nation. Any symbol, monument or activity that glorifies racism, that represents our ugly past, has no place in democratic South Africa.”
Ramaphosa said that restoring dignity was the concern of the current administration.
The Department of Art and Culture recently confirmed to Arts24 that the national audit of monuments had not yet been carried out and that statues had not yet been assigned for relocation.
He reported that the Cabinet had decided that these statues should be moved to “Cultural nation-building parks”, rather than “theme parks.”
Ramaphosa said Thursday that the apartheid government had denigrated cultures and tried to make people ashamed of who they were, including their appearances.
“It is disheartening to see that, in democratic South Africa, there are still stark stereotypes of black women on public display.
In apparent reference to an offensive TRESemme hair ad that ran on the Clicks website, he said:
An offensive hair ad that ran recently shows that we still have a long way to go.
Ramaphosa also referred to sustained violence against women and children.
He said that citizens cannot consider themselves totally free as long as women and children live in fear.
“As long as women are harassed, abused, beaten, raped and murdered, we cannot say that we are a civilized society.
“Abusing women is not our tradition, nor is it our custom. It is not, and never will be, our heritage.”
– Compiled by Jenna Etheridge
