Sakkie du Plooy of the FF Plus requested people not to destroy the country’s heritage during a debate on heritage and monuments.
Last week the Herald’s sister newspaper, Krugersdorp news reported on former president Paul Kruger and advocate JG Strijdom’s monuments being targeted.
Du Plooy who is a councillor in the Tshwane Metro Council said “This country has seen with sadness, the conflict, the pain and the bloodshed of her children. Today we see how people with no knowledge destroy our monuments.”
He said struggle and suffering always produce heroes.
“These are the people who inspire war- exhausted fighters to pick up the pieces of their broken lives and build it up again. They are the individuals for whom monuments are made, some monuments written up in biographies to be read, some monuments casted in films to be viewed, and some monuments carved in stone to be seen and remembered. We all need these reminders of our heroes, our forefathers, to make us strong.”
“In the past few weeks this country had to look on while some of her young, frustrated children scorned and damaged monuments, monuments that she knew were held dear by some of her other sons and daughters. She had to shake her head, knowing that these children did not really know or understand her true history.
“The frustration of these young people about their poverty, unemployment and bleak future prospects, should not be fuelled by ill advice from the elders that should know better. They should not be taught that white people are the reason for their dismal situation, or that breaking down their respected monuments, would in any way whatsoever relieve their situation.
“This country waits for its leaders to give elderly and wise council to its youth. They must be taught and shown how to build up and not to break down. Most of all, our leaders including ourselves, should demonstrate how they could, through overcoming the suffering and pain of their own situation, become the heroes for whom we shall build monuments tomorrow.
“The Afrikaner people still admire Andries Pretorius, Paul Kruger and President Steyn as they shaped a nation and governed the Boer Republics. We still admire Generals De Wet, De la Rey and Louis Botha, the military leaders of the Anglo Boer War.
“Many had suffered: the blood of Zulu sons at Bloedrivier in 1838. The cries of thousands who were killed by Shaka and Mzilikazi in their quest for power, the killing of Coloured children at Bloukrans in 1838, the carnage of Afrikaner sons and daughters in the Anglo Boer War of 1899-190, the blood of young children in Sharpeville in March 1960, the neckless murder of Maki Skosana in 1985 and the killing of foreigners in 2015. Let us lead not destroy.”
