EDITOR – In the Daily News of 24 November 2016, UKZN Campus Management Service responded to a complaint I made about the vandalised state of the statue of King George V outside the Howard College building. The response was positive and indicated that the statue would be cleaned up and restored as soon as possible.
Significantly, the Campus Management remarked that the statue “forms an important part of the history of the university.”
Over three years have passed since then yet the statue remains vandalised and disfigured. So, on 21 January I enquired of the Vice Chancellor and Principal, Professor Poku, as to when King George V’s statue would be cleaned up. That email was copied to the Alumni Association. On 29 January Poku’s office responded to the effect that the issue was enjoying attention. The Alumni Association has yet to respond.
A month later, the statue remains crudely disfigured, as the accompanying photograph indicates.
I find it unacceptable and reprehensible that the collective brainstrust of UKZN is unable or unwilling to have that statue restored to a respectable state. In its present condition it conveys a message that vandalism is condoned and that it is fine to trash relics of the past.
If trashing the past is officially condoned, then the statue should be removed along with the bust of DG Shepstone which is located in the Shepstone Building together with other symbols and references to the past.
Dr Duncan Du Bois
Honorary Research Fellow, UKZN
