President Ramaphosa supports the removal of apartheid-era statues

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.