Reports from South Africa are saying that one man has been taken to court for defacing a statue of Mahtma Gandhi in Johannesburg.
The suspect who was part of group of demonstrators who were chanting slogans allegedly threw buckets of white paint on the statue of Gandhi claiming that the global icon was a racist.
“The incident occurred on Sunday when the group came in a car at about noon and threw buckets of white paint on the statue and surrounding plaques detailing Gandhi’s history in South Africa,” security guard Ntandzo Khwepe told reporters.
This is the latest in a series of protests in South Africa calling for the removal of historic statues.
Last week, a statue of British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes was removed from the University of Cape Town, following protests by students there.
Gandhi who led India to independence is widely regarded as a man who stood for peace.
But some South Africans have accused Gandhi of working with the British colonial government to promote racial segregation.
African National Congress spokesman Keith Khoza condemned the incident and denied the ruling party’s involvement, saying that they could have been posing as ANC members to discredit the party.
The suspect Molese Maile, 21, was ordered to return to court on 8 May to answer to the charge of malicious damage to property.
Gandhi’s South Africa connection
Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1893. He moved to Johannesburg in 1903 and stayed there till 1914. Gandhi spent the early stage of his stay in Johannesburg with establishing his legal firm.
From 1906 Gandhi became actively involved in politics; this helped formulate his ideas on passive resistance.
Since the first democratic elections in 1994, a number of statues of Gandhi have been erected across South Africa.
One is at the at the railway station in Pietermaritzburg, where he was kicked off a train compartment reserved for whites, prompting the start of his Satyagraha movement in South Africa and later in India.
