IN PICS | Grandeur of struggle giants met with anger on the streets

Durban’s beachfront — once reserved for whites under apartheid, with other races pushed to the margins — erupted over history and politics on Tuesday, as President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled two 9m-high bronze statues of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo.

Ramaphosa declared he had “no doubt” the statues would draw tourists from across the world.

He promised that when the SADC heads of state summit was held in Durban later this year, he would personally lead visiting leaders to lay wreaths at the feet of the struggle giants.

“These statues are more than just art. They are promises — promises made by a free people to themselves that they will not forget what it cost to be free,” he said.

The grandeur of the moment was matched by grit on the streets.

A heavy police presence ringed the beachfront as scores of mainly DA picketers gathered outside the cordoned‑off area, their placards screaming, “services not statues” and “you cannot drink statues”.

The R22m project, they argued, was a monument to misplaced priorities in a city where taps run dry and refuse piles up.

Inside the ring of police, the city’s power elite and foreign dignitaries filled the front rows: former mayor Zandile Gumede, businessman Vivian Reddy, ANC KwaZulu‑Natal co‑convenor Mike Mabuyakhulu, senior government officials, police top brass, and diplomats from India, Mozambique, China, and the US Consul General.

The statues, commissioned in 2016 by the then wholly ANC‑run eThekwini municipality, stand two kilometres apart: Mandela at the Moses Mabhida Stadium precinct, Tambo along the North Beach promenade on OR Tambo Parade.

Mayor Cyril Xaba reminded the crowd that Mandela had once held his first rally at the precinct, urging young vigilantes to throw their weapons into the sea, “thus building the first bridges of peace”.

He insisted the project was funded from tourism coffers, not diverted from service delivery budgets.

“We believe these statues will bring value to Durban and attract more tourists,” he said.

Representing the Tambo family, Andile Tambo spoke with candour. “We are happy that he’s been honoured like this. But this also gives me questions about whether he would be happy with the current status quo. Those entrusted with power have not always conducted themselves in an exemplary manner. The levels of corruption, of fraud, of maladministration — I don’t think these are in line with the legacy of OR Tambo, of Nelson Mandela and the leadership cohort of their generation.”

Veteran struggle stalwart Mac Maharaj added his own reflection: “Legacies must not be cast in stone. Each generation must revisit the lives of our leaders, take away from them the lessons that can help shape their own future.”

Civil society voices joined the chorus.

Desmond D’Sa, head of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, was blunt: “R22m spent while millions of poor people live in abject poverty and no decency and dignity is provided to them as citizens of the city and country.”

ActionSA’s KwaZulu‑Natal leader and councillor Zwakele Mncwango added his own sharp rebuke: “What is the use of opening these statues today and the next moment the beach is closed down due to E. coli after the sewers have been allowed into the rivers? With all the challenges facing the city, this is not appropriate.”