ABSTRACT
The establishment of African colonies by European countries was not a benevolent exercise; neither was it a benign act. Colonies were established through violence, often resulting in the massacre of those that resisted. This was followed by a Europeanisation of African landscapes. New trees were imported from Europe while European names were imprinted onto African mountains, rivers and towns among others for example the Victoria Falls, Lake Victoria, the Drakensberg Mountain and the Vaal River. The idea was to recreate the European landscapes on the African continent. Africans too, were given western names, this was largely perpetrated through the Christian missionaries who baptised Africans with European names. Statues were also erected to celebrate pioneer missionaries, founders of the colonies and colonial administrators such as Cecil John Rhodes, Paul Kruger, David Livingstone, Leopold of Belgium and many others. Yet, no African names were exported to colonial centres; neither were statues built to celebrate heroic efforts of African leaders that resisted colonialism to produce a balanced narrative. Even today many museums in Africa continue to exhibit and glorify colonial exploits on the African continent and very few narrate the African stories of liberation (exception being Angola museums). Decades after independence, many statues of former colonialists continue to sit on brooding positions in various African countries prompting calls to take them down. This contribution engages with the merits of taking statues down and/or keeping them in place. While it cannot be denied that statues and the figures, they represent are part of history, there is need to counterbalance narratives by building statues of Africans and in cases removing and replace statues of controversial figures to remove the weight and violence of colonialism from the shoulders of generations of Africans. To ensure that the heritage of Africans is also celebrated as part of the current continent heritage there is need to also have statues which reflect the rich history of Africans. Surely Africa can not only be represented by only the hundred years of colonial history.
