EFF steps up effort to remove Paul Kruger statue
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has vowed to intensify efforts to remove Paul Kruger's statue from Church Square in Pretoria.
The red berets have been calling for the removal of the statue since 2015 and want it to be replaced with a memorial for the late struggle icon, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
"You know what apartheid did to our people. We don't want these memories there if they want to keep it, they must keep it somewhere not in a public domain where we can see it," says EFF's Tshwane regional chairperson, Benjamin Disoloane.
Renovation work is ongoing at the iconic square in the Pretoria CBD with an aim to eventually display "a shared history of the country," according to the City of Tshwane.
Kruger was president of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900.
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According to Disoloane, the city council refused to hear a motion to have the statue removed as it falls outside of its ambit.
The EFF then requested the MMC for Sport and Recreation, Ntsiki Mokhotho, to write to Mayor Solly Msimanga.
But the mayor's spokesperson Samkelo Mgobozi says they are yet to receive the notification.
"The statute is governing by the Church Square Act which places the statue squarely in the purview of the Minister of Public Works Thulas Nxesi. So any discussions on this regard will need discussions with the minister."