Durban wants to honour two of South Africa's greatest stalwarts, Nelson Mandela and OR Tambo by erecting statues of them in the city.
On Tuesday, the city's executive committee accepted a report seeking project authority to erect the statues.
One of the key strategic objectives of the project is to honour and pay tribute to the fallen heroes for the role they played in the fight for freedom and to transform the heritage landscape of the city and boost local economy.
As one of the biggest cities in the country eThekwini has no memorable or significant statue honouring the contribution made by both Tambo and Mandela except that there is a Nelson Mandela School of Medicine and Mandela statue in Ohlange.
No location for where the statues would be erected was submitted and neither was a time frame given as to when they would be erected.
Giving background to the idea, a report tabled at exco stated that monuments and symbols were used in Africa as cultural tools to foster the project of imperialism.
“However, following the achievement of independence by most African countries in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, most of these symbols were removed and replaced with new monuments to reflect the iconography of the new dispensation,” reads the report.
The democratic South Africa inherited a heritage landscape that was “very much skewed” and designed to preserve the history and heritage of the white minority.
“Most statues which existed only celebrated the bravery and history of the colonialists and apartheid architects,” reads the report.
Various organisations and individuals were consulted with the view of soliciting views on the proposed statues.
The opposition Democratic Alliance and Inkatha Freedom Party had their reservations on the erection of the statues, with both parties seeking clarity on where the statues would be situated and whether leaders of other political parties would also be commemorated in this fashion.
Daily News