EFF and the destruction of history

When Britain declared war on the Boer republics, one of the founders of the ANC thought it would result in black people in the Boer colonies having the right to vote.

Sol Plaatjie thus argued in favour of the empire, and many black people fought on the side of the British during that war.

The British leadership, when ending the war, betrayed this trust, laying the groundwork for the Apartheid state.

Rather than black people gaining the right to vote in the Transvaal, they eventually lost it in the Western Cape, as Britain claimed the issue of the black vote would be settled on South Africa's independence.

@julius_S_Malema the statue of the Anglo Boer War fell in uitenhage. When the Leadership speaks fighters respond pic.twitter.com/pOHmwYAu6U

— Lux (@Luxolo_Jacobs) April 2, 2015

But here is the thing – the monument in Uitenhage the EFF recently defaced, mourning the deaths of the British soldiers who died in that war, that wasn't a monument to the politicians and the leaders who stabbed the black South African in the back.

That was a monument to the soldiers, many of whom would have thought they were fighting for the way Britain ruled the colonies, which included a qualified franchise that allowed people to vote regardless of race.

Why? Because that was one of the issues raised by the British at the outset of the war.

During the war, the British stuck the Afrikaner farmers into concentration camps, something which resulted in accusations of genocide against the British. After South Africa gained its independence from the British empire, that monument remained.

The Nationalist Party, which had every reason to despise the British left the monument alone.

The EFF stuck a tyre round its neck and set fire to it, with every intention of destroying it.

With Cecil Rhodes, I could sort of agree with that one because he was a leader who did things that were shameful, he was one of the voices agitating for racism. Paul Kruger the same.

But a distinction must be made between the leadership and the led.

And sure a lot of those soldiers on the British side were racists, Britain had repeatedly attempted to exclude the black vote in its colonies by raising the requirements to vote, but they would also include people who believed in equality.

Those dead would also include people who Sol Plaatjie would have called his allies.

That monument was to all of them.

Of course maybe I am expecting a bit much, considering the EFF seems incapable of distinguishing between people and horses.

Now aside from all of this – there is another aspect to this, how is the EFF different to ISIS destroying ancient religious art?

We criticise Isis for destroying ancient monuments because they're destroying history. They are trying to erase the existence of pre-Islamic culture, in a bid to show off what great Muslims they are.

They do so because they disagree with the actions and the beliefs of the people who left those statues behind.

And it isn't their decision to make. ISIS did not win a political election in the areas it is active in, it does not have the legitimacy required to do this.

If it was the will of the people we would still disagree given how wasteful it is, but it would not be considered an atrocity on the same level.

Now the same thing went for America pulling down that statue of Saddam Hussein, America did not have the legitimacy required to make that decision. That should have been left to the Iraqi people, not the American propaganda corps.

With the destruction of South African monuments, the EFF does not have the legitimacy to do it. It is not their decision to make, they are not the ruling party.

The legitimacy to take that decision lies with the ANC – and the ANC has not done so. These monuments are public property, they are your stuff.

I disagree with the ANC on a lot of issues, but it is the political party elected by the people to, amongst other things, administer the people's property. The EFF has usurped that role, without regard to the democratic process.

It may not be stuff you like, it may not be stuff you asked for, but if you want it taken down it should be a matter of voting for that. Even with the statues that I personally agree should come down, they should come down as the result of a political process.

Because otherwise it isn't the will of the people, and it certainly isn't empowerment, it is criminal action that should be prosecuted as such.

By destroying statues the way the EFF has done it, it has removed your right to have a say in it. It has taken its personal ideology and imposed it upon you, without consulting you, in order to grandstand.