Madiba’s view on statues

[caption id="attachment_78021" align="alignright" width="300"] UNDERSTANDING THE PAST: According to Zelda le Grange's autobiography, Nelson Mandela was in favour of keeping pre-1994 images -[/caption]

PEOPLE who wish to remove or destroy statues of historical figures in South Africa might be interested to read what Zelda le Grange, former president Nelson Mandela’s personal assistant, wrote in her book, Good Morning, Mr Mandela.

On Page 32 she writes: “... in Tuynhuys, the president’s office in Cape Town, situated next to Parliament, the pictures of the old presidents and prime ministers continue to hang on the walls. Again, I’d found it strange that he wouldn’t erase the past, seeing as how these people had spearheaded the oppression of his people and imprisoned him.

“But I was told that president Mandela insisted that those not be removed. That they were part of South Africa’s history, no matter how unpleasant the memories were.”

-Keith Dimbleby, Port Elizabeth