F.W. de Klerk criticizes campaign to remove Rhodes statue

If the political correctness of today were applied consistently, very few of Oxford’s great figures would pass scrutiny.

The #RhodesMustFall movement began in South Africa, where students succeeded in having a statue of Rhodes removed from the University of Cape Town.

Ntokozo Qwabe, 24, a law graduate who won a Rhodes scholarship to the university, defended his efforts to remove what he described as a “disgusting” statue of the Victorian tycoon.

Referring to a comment by Nelson Mandela that a different statue of Rhodes should remain on display at Westminster Abbey, Qwabe said: “Mandela is not the god of black people…”

“Yet the National Party government never thought of removing his name from our history”, he added, referring to his former party. Rhodes is also known as a philanthropist who lent his name to the prestigious Rhodes scholarship.

In a statement released on its website, Oriel College said it is starting the process of consultation with Oxford City Council in advance of submitting a formal application for consent to “remove the Rhodes plaque on No. 6 King Edward Street, an Oriel-owned property”.

In a media statement, Oriel College said that it would launch a structured six-month listening exercise on the statue, running from early February 2016, to hear various views on the matter. An imperialist, Rhodes was instrumental in helping to colonize large sections of southern Africa into the British empire.

The backlash against De Klerk follows a report by the Agence France-Presse on a wrote a letter to The Times in the United Kingdom calling the student movement against colonialist Cecil John Rhodes “folly”.

A South African opposition party says de Klerk is unworthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, which he was awarded jointly with Nelson Mandela in 1993 for their work to dismantle apartheid.

Ndlozi said De Klerk’s defence of Rhodes’ effectively meant he was saying it was right for Rhodes to be recognised for being a colonialist. De Klerk said while there is reason to disapprove of Rhodes, De Klerk “never thought of removing his name from our history”. Therefore, like the statue of Rhodes, he must go to the apartheid museum.