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Johannesburg - The statue of Graaff-Reinet born pastor Andrew Murray has been vandalised in Wellington, Western Cape police said on Monday.
Captain Frederick Charles van Wyk confirmed that the statue was vandalised on Saturday. A picture of the statue showed that it had been covered with red paint.
"A case of malicious damage to property was opened and is being investigated. No arrest has been made at this stage," he said.
Murray was the son of a Dutch Reformed Church missionary Andrew Murray Snr, who moved from Scotland to South Africa. He was ordained as a minister in the Netherlands and returned to South Africa moving to the parish of Wellington in Cape Town in 1871. He retired in 1906.
He died in Wellington at the age of 89 on January 18. There are two statues of him in the Western Cape. One in Wellington and another in Groote Kerk, Cape Town.
Chris Swart, vice chairperson of the town's chamber of commerce, told News24 that residents were "up in arms" and had contributed to a reward of R3 000 so far to whoever would bring the perpetrators forward.
"In the face of what is happening in other parts of the country, one has to take this quite seriously. Murray was a religious leader, he wasn't involved in politics," Swart said.
He said residents were shocked that such an act would take place in a small rural town such as Wellington.
"It was quite a shock to the community. We have been reading about what happened in Pretoria and in Cape Town at the University of Cape Town. The majority of the town was up in arms, right through the different cultures."
