A man takes a cellphone picture of the vandalised bust of Cecil John Rhodes with his head removed at the Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town, South Africa, 15 July 2020. Picture: EPA-EFE/NIC BOTHMA
Western Cape police are investigating a case of malicious damage to property after the head of a Cecil John Rhodes statue was chopped off in Cape Town this week.
According to the police, the case was opened at the Rondebosch police station on Tuesday.
Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said the police are still investigating and that no one has been arrested.
It was discovered on Monday that the statue at Rhodes Memorial had been missing its head.
On Tuesday, SA National Park’s regional spokesperson Lauren Howard-Clayton confirmed the statue had been vandalised this week.
“We did discover the vandalism of the statue,” Howard-Clayton told News24.
“It must have happened sometime between the 12th or the 13th, either in the evening of the 12th or the morning of the 13th,” she added.
Rhodes’ statue is situated on the memorial site, in Devil’s Peak in Cape Town.
In 2015, the nose of the bust was also cut off during Rhodes Must Fall protests, which were led by UCT students calling for the decolonisation of higher education and academic institution environments.
In 2018, the nose was restored by a local artist and historian.
– News24 Wire
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