Port Elizabeth - The soldier giving his horse water from his helmet, forcefully removed then discarded next to the Horse Memorial by members of the Economic Freedom Fighters, has been moved to a secure location.
Nelson Mandela Bay Director of Communications Roland Williams said the soldier half of the statue, which had been removed by EFF members on Monday, had been collected and would be stored in a secure location.
“We have also arranged with the police to step up patrols in precincts where memorials are located,” he said.
Williams said it was the municipality’s responsibility to ensure that heritage sites are protected and that any acts to damage such sites were considered criminal acts and would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance has called for sensible political leadership on the back of what it described as the “wanton destruction” of monuments and memorials.
“We cannot erase history, nor should it be desirable to do so in a South Africa with so much to learn from the past,” said leader of the DA in the Eastern Cape provincial legislature, Athol Trollip.
Trollip said the vandalisation of the horse memorial statue was an illustration of a society “that is moved by anger and political opportunism, and that is ignorant of the facts behind the erection of these statues and memorials”.
Trollip also pointed out that vandalism did not just extend to colonial statues.
“Upon visiting the Langa memorial in Uitenhage today [Tuesday], my colleagues and I witnessed that this site too had been vandalised and desecrated. The memories of those commemorated at this memorial have been defiled by the wanton vandalisation of this historic site.”
“This speaks of a general disrespect by certain elements in society that are only going to be encouraged to cause more destruction by political opportunists,” he said.
Trollip said the attacks on monuments and memorials were nothing more than political opportunism.
“The build up to the 2016 election will see more of this kind of political opportunism from desperate fringe political parties and from the governing party that is determined to avert the ever more critical glare of public scrutiny and unhappiness over issues of poor service delivery, maladministration and corruption.”
“No political party should be allowed to destroy the record of our history nor to compromise our ongoing process of national reconciliation,” he said.