By Charmaine Ndlela
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday unveiled two giant bronze statues of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo in eThekwini, saying they were living reminders of the country’s struggle.
Delivering the keynote address at the event, Ramaphosa said the statues were meant to “anchor the collective memory of a nation” and keep the liberation story “embedded in the landscape of daily life, not confined to textbooks”.
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The R11 million-each statues, standing nine metres tall, have been dogged by a fierce local debate over cost and priorities in a metro that has faced persistent service-delivery failures and financial strain.
As reported by Inside Metros last week, the municipality only had about 17 days’ cash on hand, which was dismissed by Mayor Cyril Xaba as a “snapshot” in time.
Ramaphosa mentioned none of that in his prepared speech.
“The challenge is to market these statues not only as tourist attractions but as part of the story of our struggle for freedom,” he said.
Xaba again defended the price tag at the unveiling, saying money had not been diverted from service delivery projects to fund the statues.
He said council approved the project in 2018 and it was funded from the municipality’s tourism budget.
Durban had to “put [our] money where our mouth is” as it sought to increase visitor numbers and lengthen tourist stays, he said.
Opposition parties have accused the city of splurging on symbolism while residents grapple with failing infrastructure and water and electricity outages, and steep increases in rates.
The Democratic Alliance’s eThekwini mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen – who staged a small protest with party members near the unveiling — has previously described the statues as a “vanity project”.
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But Ramaphosa said they were promises by a free people “that they will not forget what it cost to be free”.
The president invoked Mandela and Tambo’s commitment to dialogue in his speech.
He said both men would have been concerned by the war in the Middle East and would have urged respect for the United Nations Charter.
Xaba said the statues were part of a heritage transformation and beachfront revitalisation push.
That push included other projects designed to strengthen tourism, he said, such as the R5 million 1860 Indentured Workers Monument at South Beach. The city also planned to move a statue of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa to the Durban Botanic Gardens, he said.
He also cited private-sector commitments aimed at upgrading beachfront infrastructure, including a R1 billion refurbishment plan by hotel group Southern Sun and a separate R1 billion development for the new Durban Fun World.
Ramaphosa announced that eThekwini will host the Southern African Development Community’s summit in August, which he said was a vote of confidence in the city’s recovery efforts.
