The battle of statues in South Africa continues.
Cape Town University decided on Wednesday to remove a statue of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes which has triggered protests from students over the past month.
The university students claimed the statue symbolizes an institutional racism that prevails in South Africa many years after the apartheid regime.
The statue of a seated Rhodes was unveiled in 1934. Cecil Rhodes was born in 1853. He was a British businessman who mined magnate and a South African politician.
He founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia which was named after him.
Cape town University students have been marching around his statue demanding its removal.
The protests against the statue have triggered similar reaction at other institutions of higher learning in South Africa and other symbols, with a statue of Afrikaner Paul Kruger in the capital Pretoria vandalized with green paint recently.
Afrikaners and right wing organizations gathered around the statue of Paul Kruger in Pretoria to protect it from further vandalisation and removal.
A special council set up by the university said the Rhodes statue would be taken down from Thursday to protect it, and kept in storage pending a decision from heritage authorities on its final resting place.
A special council set up by the university to decide on the issue said the statue may suggest that the university adheres to Rhodes and his values, which are inconsistent with the university’s commitment to providing an inclusive environment for all its members.
