You all remember advocate George Bizos, don’t you? He was the guy who defended Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu during the Rivonia Trial in the 60’s. He fought strongly against apartheid and once again closely advised Mandela in 2005 during a lawsuit.

Well, Bizos has an opinion about the statues and one would think he would be completely pro their removal and eradication because of his past, but no. This man has a decent thought in his head. Let’s share that with you, shall we?

Speaking at a public lecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Howard College Theatre yesterday, he said that when removing the statues “merit is acceptable, but to just say remove all the statues is unfair. Defacing the statues is also not in accordance with our Constitution”.

Thank you.

He explained that the university was the student’s environment and “they had been confronted by a man that thought his empire would start from Cape Town and spread all the way to Cairo”.

Museums are very anxious to have [the statues] of those persons that played a role in the history of our country, let’s not destroy them. There is a distinction about the removal of Cecil John Rhodes and the statue of Paul Kruger at Pretoria’s Church Square. Kruger and his people regarded themselves as the sons of the soil, not imperialists.

Here’s a bit of education for some people from Mr Bizos:

I remember one day during the Rivonia trial, Bram Fischer who was our leader at the time, called us and asked us to walk around the building because he wanted to show us a statue of Paul Kruger. There was a message on the statue written in Afrikaans which read, ‘The day will come when freedom will come to Africa.’ You see Kruger considered himself a victim of colonialism and that is why some people considered him a hero.

In his talk, Bizos also spoke about South Africa’s constitution, reminding people that it has been amended some 17 times and should it receive more changes it could have “the potential to hinder rather than advance our constitutional aims and values”.

It’s high time everyone did a bit of historical research and formed their own informed opinions instead of succumbing to Malema’s mob mentality.

[Source: News24]