De Klerk defends Rhodes because he wants a statue of himself: EFF

28 December 2015 - 09:36 By TMG Digital

FW de Klerk's call for a statue of Cecil John Rhodes not to be removed from Oxford University “demonstrates that he does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize he received alongside Nelson Mandela”. That’s according to the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi‚ who said De Klerk's views on the statue at Oriel College “must be considered as a withdrawal of his apology for apartheid since‚ for him‚ it was politically correct”.The former president had said in a letter asking the college to reconsider the removal: “We do not commemorate historic figures for their ability to measure up to current conceptions of political correctness‚ but because of their actual impact on history.”“By extension‚” Ndlozi argued‚ “it means De Klerk thinks there was a time when apartheid or colonisation was politically correct‚ which renders his apologies for it futile.”Ndlozi suggested that De Klerk’s comments belied those of man intent on being immotalised in effigy form.He urged “all students in Oxford University” not to “listen to De Klerk whose recent views represent his private ambitions to become a statue”.“De Klerk knows that if Rhodes can fall‚ then he as an apartheid leader and a person who thinks colonisation was politically correct then he will not be rewarded with a status of being a public statue. Therefore‚ like the statue of Rhodes‚ he must go to the apartheid museum.”Ndlozi added that the EFF called “on the Nobel Peace Prize committee to recall De Klerk's award completely and re-issue it to Nelson Mandela posthumously as it is clear he should have never shared it with De Klerk in the first place”.De Klerk and the late Madiba were jointly awarded the prize in 1993 "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime‚ and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa"...

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