Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr today added his voice to the group of protesters gathered on Church Square in Pretoria‚ saying that all south Africans need to be the custodians of one another’s history.

“Be a good neighbour‚ not a Siamese twin‚” he said. “The other way of doing it will be to go out and deface‚ destroy and remove everything and pretend that history did not happen because you don’t see the monuments.”

Hofmeyr firmly placed his support for the statue of Paul Kruger to remain in Church Square saying that it has context where it is.

“I think we should add monuments‚ add streets — you can name them whatever you want. I like more monuments‚ more history. I like a wide vision of South African history‚ but please don’t narrow it down and don’t erase it.”

Earlier controversial Afrikaans singer Sunette Bridges‚ who “symbolically chained herself” to the statue‚ said government should not be acting unilaterally on the rising issue of statue defacing.

“It’s not about being an Afrikaner or a right-wing person. It is about caring about the cultural heritage of this country. History is what it is. The very same Paul Kruger said take from history what is good and use that to build a future.”

Protesters sang and clapped along to the old Afrikaans songs Sarie Maree‚ De la Rey and Suikerbos.

A petition drafted by her was received by the presidency and the City of Tshwane this morning at 6am.

 A strong presence of Tshwane Metro Police officers posted at Church Square ensured that the atmosphere has been calm.

The Freedom Front Plus’s Pieter Mulder‚ who addressed the protesters in the square‚ said that neither the ANC nor the EFF would ever make him ashamed of who he was.

“We are not barbarians that run in the streets and plunder…We are a people who are proud of our heritage‚” he said.