Mogale City Local Municipality woke to the disturbing news that the JG Strydom and Paul Kruger statues were defaced with red paint.
The municipality condemns this in the strongest terms possible. It is a painful reality that history cannot be defended in the theatre of ideas, but requires armed personnel to conserve and preserve it. Our service delivery kitty must now be stretched and redirected to protect ourselves from vandals, who have nothing to lose.
This is now a crime scene and in the hands of the South African Police Services. A forensic team is combing the area, after which the site will be handed over to the municipality. We will coordinate an effort to clean the statues.
We want our people to take the advice of State President Jacob Zuma to engage constructively on our heritage, build our country by taking along our historical endowment which is locked in these heritage treasures.
Anyone who seeks to persuade our people in the city about their worldview, can only gain respect when they do so given our full attention – in the full glare of the sun and our eyes as well as our ears, not in the dead of night. Only criminals work that way.
We trust our law enforcement agencies to be able to bring the perpetrators to book.We trust our law enforcement agencies to be able to bring the perpetrators to book.