The unveiling of two Nelson Mandela statues by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday has proved controversial, with some saying the money would have been better spent on schools, roads or other desperately needed infrastructure in Mandela’s home province.
, celebrated on July 18 annually. This year would have been Mandela’s 105th birthday.
“Yes, Tata [Nelson Mandela] should always be celebrated for his contribution to the struggle but I think doing other things like building bridges, schools and roads in the Eastern Cape would have made sense,” he said. The teacher added: “I have heard people say this will boost the tourism in this place, but who exactly will benefit from that?”said it was difficult to strike a balance between the reason for erecting statues and dealing with the problems faced by the province.
“We must not only focus on one thing and dismiss statues, as they are meant to unify people. But there are some people that say some statues we must get rid of because they are symbols of oppression. But statues are meant to celebrate people and their contribution to democracy or wars.”
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