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'Not our hero': Louis Botha statue defaced

The statue of Louis Botha‚ which stands outside of Parliament‚ has become the latest in a series of South African statues to be vandalised.

The monument to the first Prime Minister of the South African Union‚ which depicts Botha on a horse inscribed with the tribute “warrior‚ farmer‚ statesman“‚ was this morning covered in red and blue paint.

Several statues have been vandalised across the country this week including the statue of Paul Kruger in Pretoria and the Horse memorial in Port Elizabeth.

The Botha statue has been a source of controversy for some time.

In his maiden speech in Parliament last year‚ EFF commander in chief Julius Malema said “Louis Botha is not our hero and cannot be a hero of a democratic South Africa. He is a colonial warmonger‚ who fought for the exclusion of black and indigenous people from running their own country and affairs“.

Last month‚ following the call for the fall of the Cecil John Rhodes statue at the University of Cape Town‚ Malema told a rally in Langa “I’m challenging you‚ the fighters of Western Cape‚ that statue of Louis Botha at Parliament‚ it must go down and how it goes down is your business. How it goes down‚ I’m not interested. Make a plan for that statue”.

Meanwhile‚ UCT has said the Rhodes statue will be removed today.

In a statement released today‚ the EFF said: “The EFF has long held the conviction that it is these monuments that continue to inspire white people to think they are superior and have the right to celebrate their murderous and racist past even 21 years after 1994. Let all statues fall‚ together with their legacies of landlessness‚ racism and poverty“.

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