Statement issued by Mbongi Majija – On behalf of the UDMYV NATIONAL TASK TEAM
The United Democratic Movement Youth Vanguard has noted, with utter disappointment, the recent uproar against the previous regime that resulted in a number of statues being defaced and demolished throughout the country.
The UDMYV feels that destroying these colonial symbols won’t change the current struggles the country is dealing with such as high unemployment rate, health care system that is in shambles, the education crisis, high number of crime, corruption by government officials, etc. This uproar against these structures does not change who or what we have been through as a country.
By destroying these sculptures we are attempting to hold our own history ransom. We cannot rewrite history. Apartheid is and will always remain part of our history, painful as it was. History will deal with us harshly if we now start behaving in the very same manner that we demonstrated and fought against during that very same apartheid era.
These apartheid symbols are an indication of the history of our country. They are part of our heritage therefore we all need to defend this heritage for future generations. We cannot distort where we come from as a nation. A family without roots is not a proper family.
What need to be fought are the systems of apartheid that are still in place in various institutions. Let us not create our own apartheid as the black nation.
