President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa has indicated his support for the removal of statues that glorify the country’s apartheid past.
According to Ramaphosa, “any symbol, monument or activity
that glorifies racism, that represents our ugly past, has no place in
democratic South Africa”.
“Monuments glorifying our divisive past should be
re-positioned and relocated,” he said in a virtual address on Thursday as the
country marked Heritage Day – an annual public holiday to celebrate the
country’s diverse cultures.
He clarified that the removal of the statues shouldn’t be
taken as an erasing of history, but as a way of “being sensitive to the lived
experiences of all this country’s people”.
“We make no apologies for this because our objective is to
build a united nation,” he added.
It would be recalled that the campaign to remove statues of
historical apartheid figures has been growing in the country, gaining support
mainly from blacks.
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