Rhodes ghost raises debate:

THERE are clearly no easy answers to the furore that has raged over heritage sites, monuments and statues which remain constant reminders of this country’s dark apartheid past and beyond.

At its heart the argument may be about a lack of transformation – particularly at universities where it could be expected it would be initiated and stir vigorous debate – but it nonetheless has highlighted an altogether separate thorn in the flesh of many citizens.

Anyone who imagined that what has, for over two decades, remained such a hot potato would eventually begin to cool through the passage of time, is underestimating just how deep emotions around such issues continue to run and why they arouse such fierce exchanges.

It is, after all, unsurprising that, with a history as remarkably multi-layered, turbulent and so often re-invented as ours, any memorial to any particular part of it would be subject to the most robust scrutiny.

But it is essentially the reminders of rampant colonialism and the road it paved which ultimately brought about severe social imbalances and divisions, that has again presented the nation with a familiar quandary: preserve or destroy?

The countrywide Rhodes Must Fall campaign, initiated at the University of Cape Town, was the shot across the bow which quickly ricocheted in Grahamstown and in turn triggered vibrant appraisal across media platforms of Cecil John Rhodes as anything from villainous white supremacist to generous philanthropist.

While the demand for the removal of his statue at UCT actually carries the more significant gravitas of underscoring what students say is the absence of transformation at the university, it has also understandably re-ignited what the fate of contentious heritage sites, symbols and names should be.

There can be no doubt some do serve a tourism purpose, with foreign visitors specifically asking about certain aspects of our colonial history. But there should also be a concerted effort to eradicate offensive symbols and names while retaining those which are innocuous.

At the same time, we need to see far more of the country’s unrecognised struggle heroes and those who went before them commemorated in this fashion to create a more balanced and accurate historical landscape. Finding middle ground and consensus on the issue through consultation with the broader community is ultimately the only way to bury these ghosts for good.