So, one of my weaknesses is that when I seat around idling, my ears have a strange way of listening to other people's conversations... bad habit I know... but I have discovered a lot about human beings through these listening in sessions. The highlight for me this week is a conversation I over head between two young men. One was arguing, "Since the University of Cape Town (UCT) has ceded to taking down the Cecil John Rhodes (CJR) statue, then other countries, like Britain which have erected a statue of the great Nelson Mandela must also follow suit.
I nearly jumped out of my skin at this stream of thought because to me, Rhodes and Mandela do not represent the same thing at all!! This young man was arguing that what happened at Cape Town was diplomatic suicide for South Africa. I began to ask myself a few questions: does this young passionate fella actually understand the difference between the two men he was so easily equating.
To the British during the colonial era, maybe CJR was a great man because he had a vision, you know the whole Cape to Cairo stuff we were taught during our early years in primary school. I dare say he did his country proud with all the mines, land and acquisitions he obtained in Africa. He was also, a visionary because he provided the seed money which led to the birth of the University of Cape Town (UCT). Surely a man who did all this deserves the greatest honour at the university he helped to build!
This is however not true for a continent such as Africa and South Africa in particular where the effects of apartheid are still a reality because of the inequality which exists. It could be possible that whilst the people who erected the statue put it there in honour of the gift CJR had given to South Africa, to the young South African who has lived through, read, and heard about the downside of colonialism, CJR's statue was a representation of the past he would rather forget.
So from where I am sitting, CJR fell yesterday because of people like Mandela who stood against inequality and demanded that every human being living in South Africa be allowed to enter the UCT gates regardless of their race. That Britain and other countries have chosen to honour Mandela by erecting his statue is actually the greatest victory in the fight against inequality and imperialism the world has seen in a while and should be commended!
The other side of the coin for me however is that I do think Rhodes and colonialism are a part of our history and we should erect monuments and places where we keep this part of our African history. We have seen different countries erect museums for the Rwanda Genocide, the Holocaust, the Slave Trade, and other such painful elements which make up the world's history and which have shaped policies and perceptions in the world. So we do not need to destroy the CJR statue and all other statues associated with the African colonial past, let's preserve them because they will help us in answering a lot of questions the future generations will have.
In my view, the falling of the CJR statue yesterday was very symbolic! It said let's decolonise the way we do things not only at UCT but across South Africa and the rest of the African continent. It told me that we potentially have a new breed of African leaders being born in Africa who will do things differently.... whether their approach is good or bad is a debate for another day... The erecting of the Mandela statue in different parts of the world is also a symbol of the importance of standing up for what is right (to the extent of spending 27 years in prison) and most importantly it reminds us that when the battle has been won, we need to be the better man and choose forgiveness and reconciliation rather than bitterness and revenge......
Watch out, I might be writing about your conversation next :)
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