The statue of former Transvaal president Paul Kruger is to be removed from the Kruger National Park, park authorities said on Monday.
It said two apartheid-era busts — of Piet Grobler and Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Hamilton — would also be relocated.
”The statues themselves do not really add any value to conservation,” said Mavuso Msimang, chief executive of South African National Parks (SANParks).
He said the decision to relocate them was taken in line with the government’s policy on the removal of apartheid monuments.
Kruger’s statue was erected at the Kruger Gate in 1975. He is seen as the driving force behind setting aside land for the national park in 1898.
Grobler played a central role in the early management of the park, while Hamilton was the first curator.
Their busts have been placed in Skukuza rest camp as a part of a structure that includes a bronze of Kruger.
Msimang said: ”We appreciate the role played by these gentlemen in the establishment and early days of the park.”
The Kruger park was a great national heritage and asset.
”We are doing our very best to manage and conserve it for the benefit of present and future generations of all South Africans, indeed of humankind,” Msimang said.
The statues would be kept in a safe place at Skukuza.
”If there are any expressions of interest by authorised entities or individuals to acquire the statues, SANParks will be willing to discuss these,” Msimang said.
The decision to remove the statues was petty and amounted to a denial of the park’s history, New National Party leader in KwaZulu-Natal Renier Schoeman said.
”This reflects a misplaced obsession with political correctness,” he told Sapa.
Schoeman, also deputy minister of health, urged the park authorities to reconsider.
”Relocating the statues will only be a waste of money,” he said. – Sapa