The decision by the eThekwini Municipality to spend millions erecting landmark statues of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Reginald Tambo in Durban has once again ignited a painful but necessary debate: What should be the true priorities of a government entrusted with scarce public resources?
No one can dispute the towering historic contributions of Mandela and Tambo. They sacrificed their freedom and dedicated their lives to the liberation of South Africa. Their names are etched into the moral foundation of our democracy. But honouring history cannot come at the expense of confronting the harsh realities of the present.
Today, millions of South Africans remain unemployed. Young people, in particular, face a future clouded by limited opportunities and broken promises. In many communities, infrastructure is crumbling. Roads are riddled with potholes. Clinics are under-resourced. Schools lack basic facilities. In some areas, taps run dry for days or even weeks. For families struggling to survive, statues do not create jobs. Bronze and granite do not fix burst pipes.
The uncomfortable truth is that symbolic gestures, however noble, cannot outweigh or justify the economic cost when urgent developmental needs go unmet. A landmark statue may attract tourists and serve as a site of remembrance, but its impact is marginal when compared to what the same funds could achieve if invested in youth employment programmes, small business support, water infrastructure or housing projects.
We must ask: what would Mandela and Tambo prioritise if they were alive today? Would they choose monuments in their likeness, or would they demand that every cent of public money be directed toward restoring dignity to the poor and expanding opportunity for the marginalised?
Their legacy was not about personal glorification. It was about justice, equality, and improving the material conditions of the people.
There is also a deeper issue at play: the politics of symbolism over substance. Across the country, we have seen grand announcements, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and memorial projects, while the lived experience of ordinary citizens continues to deteriorate. When infrastructure collapses and service delivery falters, citizens begin to question whether the government truly understands their daily struggles.
Public spending is about choices. In a context of constrained budgets and rising debt, every rand allocated to a statue is a rand not spent elsewhere. Leadership requires discipline, foresight, and a clear moral compass about what constitutes urgent versus desirable expenditure.
Honouring struggle icons is important. Their stories must be preserved, taught, and celebrated. But remembrance does not have to be extravagant or financially burdensome. There are more cost-effective ways to educate future generations through scholarships, community programmes, museums, and investments in education that embody the very ideals these leaders fought for.
South Africa does not suffer from a lack of monuments. It suffers from a lack of economic inclusion, service delivery efficiency, and accountable governance.
True tribute to Mandela and Tambo would be a nation where young people are employed, municipalities function effectively, and no household goes without water or basic services.
History deserves respect. But the present demands responsibility. Thulani Dasa | Khayelitsha
I refer to the letter from Ebrahim Essa, “Why should we worry? This new war does not affect us.”
In the letter, Essa refers to an “Undemocratic Israel.” Essa is either deliberately putting out disinformation or is ignorant of democracy in the Middle East. It is a well-known fact that Israel is probably the most democratic country in that part of the World, although it does face challenges regarding systemic disparities for Arab minorities and intense political polarisation.
Essa does not mention democracy in Iran, maybe for obvious reasons. It functions mainly as an autocracy with, at best, constrained democratic elements. Ultimate power rests with the unelected Supreme Leader and clerical bodies, which vet candidates and control the political system. While elections do take place, only candidates loyal to the system are allowed to stand and rights for women are often violently suppressed to manage dissent. In essence, Iran uses electoral mechanisms to maintain the power of the clerical elite.
Why do writers want to distort or bend the truth?
In our world today, where, sadly, truth is being replaced or diluted with subjective truth, even biased writers should at least give credit where credit is due. Kevin Meineke | Summerveld
Arab countries that were bombed out of their brains by Iran be like: “We can’t understand why Iran would attack us. All we did was to exercise our normal, usual, friendly, traditional Arab culture, and welcome anybody, especially the United States, to come and park here on our shores, build air, naval and other military bases at Iran’s doorstep. What’s wrong with that?” Ebkoybie
We pay while that gormless, overgrown, orange baby Trump plays god and dances to Bibi Netanyahu’s tune. In the process, Trump, who never listens to good advice blunders around, thinks he know better and ruins the global economy, including South Africa’s! But why should the thin-skinned Orange Man care because the war with Iran has pushed the potentially-incriminating Jeffrey Epstein files out of the news headlines (have a crisis at home? Start a war! Just ask Bibi, who had a real crisis on his hands with his major judicial reforms, then came October 7, 2023, and everyone forgot about that, came together and threw their support behind the Israeli PM). With the Straits of Hormuz closed, the cost of everything is going to go up, hurting the ordinary man who just wants to provide for his family. Add to that, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a press briefing on Tuesday that it was convenient for the US to attack Iran because Israel was going to do it anyway. Will the real superpower please stand up? A van der Voort | Queensburgh
DAILY NEWS
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