The late academic, Prof PW Grobbelaar, once defined culture as “al material and immaterial things created by the human being, under obligation of his spirit, that impacts on the natural state around him and whereby the supernatural is also involved.”
This is clearly a concept hugely misunderstood by the greater majority of South Africans, as was made clear once again over this weekend when the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, called for the immediate removal of the statue of former president Paul Kruger, from Church Square in Pretoria. Over the weekend the statue was vandalised with bright green spraypaint. Hopefully nobody intends to fall for the next weak excuse that will be cooked up: “We need to remove it to protect it.” What needs to be done is that Julius Malema and his vandalising mob of savages should be arrested for this act of desecration of the heritage of an entire nation, which, in itself is a Human Rights Violation and will be reported by us as such to the United Nations today still.
It seems mister Malema and his followers, like those of the ANC government, does not master the art of creation, much rather falling victim to the art of destruction, for which one needs no particular skill. And, seeing as that the definition of culture would be night on impossible to explain to Malema, Zuma et al, let us speak on their level:
1) Destroying symbols of Afrikaner history will change nothing. YOU CANNOT CHANGE HISTORY, YOU HAVE TO INFLUENCE THE FUTURE! Why in God’s great humour is this is so difficult to understand? Future can only be created on building and creating, not on tearing down and destroying. It is pitiful enough that you persist in living a lie (that of the successful New South Africa). Do not force the rest of our society into that lie as well.
2) Speaking of the society: It is rather tedious listening to the expressions of “nation building” and “reconciliation” and “forgiveness” coming from the ANC, Zuma, Malema and all the rest, while in action the minority groups are insulted and oppressed and their symbols and culture destroyed. The statue of Paul Kruger and that of the Boer War memorial in Uitenhage which was set on fire by the EFF – those were monuments to freedom fighters. Yes, WE also had a struggle against a foreign oppressor. Yes, WE also took up arms as a small minority against a mighty empire and engaged them in a war which made them the pariah of the world and kept them occupied for 3 years. And if needs to, we will do so again. Because, misters Malema and Zuma et al, you were not the only people to struggle for freedom and your post struggle conduct now turns your freedom struggle into a shameful spectacle.
3) You have erected monuments all over the country. Several to Mandela, to Shaka, to chief Tshwane and we hear of many others. We accept that Paul Kruger and others monuments does not reflect your culture and heritage and may even remind you of times you would not want to remember. Therefore nobody objected to you erecting monuments that does. Are you prepared to accept that the statue of Shaka mind remind the Khoisan and other groups of his murderous genocide and savage massacre of entire tribes? Are you prepared to accept that the statues of “struggle heroes” remind us of a Christian nation’s struggle against Communism and of the sacrifice of thousands of the young men of our nation on the borders of our country? And if not, mr Malema, WE NOW CALL FOR THE REMOVAL OF ALL POST 1994 MONUMENTS WHICH IS AN INSULT TO US AS WELL. You see, if we want to be a democracy with equality, then we cannot simply do as the majority wishes, because then our democracy is a typical Africa dictatorship.
4) That monument which you set alight in Uitenhage…with a tyre around it…Does it not remind you of the barbarity of the necklacing of people which the ANC made themselves guilty of in the 80’s and 90’s in the townships? You remember how many people had a motor car tyre put around their necks, filled with gasoline and set alight while they were still alive? Why then did the world believe that we reached an agreement in 1994 that we will stop such savage behaviour? Maybe you can now understand why this New South Africa can never work – because there are people in this country, people called the Afrikaner or Boer or Englishman or European or whatever, who is not capable of descending to that level of behaviour. Oh, we noticed the ominous sign of that tyre around the statue…and so will the civilised world, of which you have no concept at all.
5) Lastly, you succeeded in having the statue of Rhodes removed from the campus of the University of Cape Town. The same mr Rhodes created, in his estate, the Rhodes Scholarships, enabling South Africans to study at one of the very most renowned and respected institutions in the world: Oxford University. In 2002 the Rhodes Trust partnered and formed the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship which enabled students from a previously disadvantaged background to study at Oxford. Front National wrote a letter to Oxford University last week (you might remember the press release) insisting that the Rhodes Scholarship be stopped. If Rhodes is not welcome in black South Africa, black South Africans should not benefit from his estate either – fair is fair. We are delighted to learn that the bursary and other Rhodes Trust charities will now be moved to the UK. So what, exactly, have you achieved with that senseless piece of vandalism? Or are you going to burn down the British Embassy now?
It remains mindboggling how the previously disadvantaged South African, after two decades of unprecedented advantage, still manages to “advance” themselves (and all of us in this maelstrom) into ever greater disadvantage…
Department of Information: Front National
South Africa Today – South Africa News
