WHILE lectures continued on Thursday morning, tensions ran high at Durban’s UKZN Howard College campus after a statue of King George V was defaced by vandals outside Howard College.
Scores of students gathered around the statue in heated debates discussing the defaced statue, which had been painted over with white paint and dressed in a black t-shirt with the words “End White Privilege” inscribed along with other messages on paper which were stuck to the statue.
When Berea Mail tried to ascertain who was responsible for the vandalism, defensive students asked if the journalist was doing a police investigation.
Students who refused to divulge their identity for fear of reprisal, told Berea Mail many people had a clear view of why the statue was vandalised. “It doesn’t matter who did it (painted over the statue), but why it was done,” said one student.
“The statue is defaced because it represents colonialism, inequality and does not fit in with the democratic South Africa that we are building!”
Another student agreed, saying, “The crux is that many students see this statue as a symbol of oppression and exploitation, which continues to this day. Many youth are unemployed -even though its 21 years after democracy – as a direct result of this gentleman.”
Another student said she could relate to why the statue was defaced. “Its not about white supremacy and I do think that if I was a white person I would feel horrible seeing this, but I believe it is a movement of change and has nothing to do with racism, but rather colonialism. If they want to kick him out that’s fine because he’s in the past and he must go,” she said.
Other students felt the vandalism was very unnecessary and offensive. “I don’t understand the reasoning behind it because if there is so much inequality how then is Jacob Zuma our president?”
“What students don’t get is that the message passed by the “artist” concerned is that the statue must be moved to a place like a museum where it represents history. The statue shows him with a sword, representative of white domination over blacks,” added a student passionate about why the statue should be removed.
“It isn’t about race and skin colour but the conscious mind. Everyone needs to be united in removing this statue and creating a platform for engagement,” he added.
A student who was glad something was being done about the statue. “It is not a mere statue of a colonial guy who plundered SA, but a symbolic representation of tension between blacks and whites and the oppression extended by white people against black people.
“We are not speaking of it (the statue) as an entity, but a huge reminder of colonial discourse. Its sad that some students don’t have a sense of history,” the student added.
Other students just laughed the statue debacle off, saying it was, “just done because of what was happening at UCT.”
Acknowledging the “paint and grafitti”, Lesiba Seshoka, of UKZN’s Corporate Relations Division said UKZN is recognised as the most transformed institution in South Africa. “We are therefore saddened and disappointed that the protestors chose not to raise any concerns through the proper channels established within UKZN. The University has procedures in place to allow students to hold peaceful and safe protests on issues that concern them.”
Seshoka said the university supported the students’ rights to exercise lawful freedom of expression and encouraged open debate and discussion, however, it did not condone any form of unlawful behaviour on the part of students or staff members.
“The university will convene an urgent naming committee meeting to review the status-quo of all statues on all our campuses.”
Meanwhile in Cape Town, the University of Cape Town hasagreed to take down the statue of Cecil John Rhodes after weeks of student protest.
