South Africa Debates Painful Legacy Over a Statue
The arguments echo similar ones in the United States, where some monuments to the U.S. Civil War-era Confederacy have been removed after protests and vandalism
A statue of the late Paul Kruger, top, in Church Square, Pretoria, South Africa, looms over one of four statues of men wih rifles, Thursday Dec. 13, 2018.
A hulking statue of a late 19th century white leader, with a cane and top hat, has been a flashpoint for cultural conflict in South Africa for years. Black protesters threw paint on it. White supporters rallied around it. Authorities surrounded the statue with barbed wire and then ringed it with a more permanent fence.
Nearly 25 years after the end of white minority rule, the statue of Paul Kruger still looms in Church Square in the center of Pretoria, South Africa's capital. The tussle over its fate goes to the heart of a discussion over whether relics of white domination should be scrapped or kept as reminders of a harsh past. It is also a test of Nelson Mandela's dictum that the black majority's former oppressors should be embraced, not punished — an approach viewed as too generous by some South Africans.
The arguments echo similar ones in the United States, where some monuments to the U.S. Civil War-era Confederacy have been removed after protests and vandalism.
Read more at: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/South-Africa-Debates-Painful-Legacy-Over-a-Statue-502872801.html
I'd suppose, from Paul Kruger is where we got the "Krugeraand" from. That was suppose to be a gold-backed currency and popular once upon a time.
