"Colonial" Freemason Rhodes has fallen at the University of Cape Town - what next?

The statue of Freemason, mining magnate and philanthropist Cecil John Rhodes has been removed from its prominent position at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa.

It's left us with a rather empty sky.



During a campaign by self-styled Africanists (although the liberal administration was hardly unreasonable or opposed to the idea) Rhodes was equated to everything from a Nazi, a slaver and a rapist.

Following the campaign historical statues have been under attack across South Africa, and some minority white campaigners have also chained themselves to statues in order to protect them.

Although I suspect the campaign is politically motivated and funded at its core to detract from serious economic and social failures, racial tensions in SA are high.

www.bbc.com...

www.timeslive.co.za...

Twenty years since apartheid ended, and they've built nothing substantial.
Now they are attacking statues.



It wasn't up to myself, and I'm not directly related, but I'll miss you Mr. Rhodes.



And then they still accept Rhodes scholarships.

Not a Nazi, but slaver & rapist, ya I have no problem believing that.
They should dig up his bones & throw them back out to sea from whence they came.

K~

a reply to: aethertek
There's no evidence he raped anybody or kept slaves.
In fact, the British stopped slavery, and even ransomed back slaves from the Arabs.
The British campaign to stop slavery came at a great cost to their navy and the British taxpayer.
The African population of southern Africa also increased manifold under British colonialism.

That doesn't mean Rhodes wasn't problematic, but the entire era is problematic by our modern standards.

Even the South African Communist Party had the slogan: "Workers of the World Unite for a White South Africa" until 1924.

So if "transformation" means erasing the past, there's a lot of work to be done.

But, it also cannot be denied that universities, infrastructure and entire buildings were the legacy of colonialism.

There were only grass huts before that.

originally posted by: aethertek
Not a Nazi, but slaver & rapist, ya I have no problem believing that.
They should dig up his bones & throw them back out to sea from whence they came.

K~

funny how no one bitched when saddams statue was toppled
or stalins.

the ignorance spouted about Africa and Africans is straight out of the East India Co. manual: white mans burden and all that rot.
Africans were smelting iron and trading with china whilst europeans were still picking lice out of each others hair.

a reply to: AdamuBureido

that is debatable. The actual source to Iron smelting is not even known as far as origin. You might want to refrain from rewriting history all on your own. Europe had plenty of metallurgy and traded with China as well, right along with Africa and the rest. Its like you havent even read up on the subject before throwing bias into the mix with nothing but your ill informed opinion as the source...curious.

Also what does Iraq toppling Saddam's statue have to do with this? Did you just throw that in because it upset you?