The statue of Nelson Mandela was unveiled at the Moses Mabhida stadium on Tuesday.
Image: SABC News
The DA in KwaZulu-Natal staged a protest against the unveiling of two multi-million rand statues of struggle icons in Durban on Tuesday.
The statues of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo were unveiled on Tuesday by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The 9-metre-tall bronze statues, which cost R22 million, have become the centre of much debate due to questions over the cost involved and the lengthy wait for their unveiling.
The statue of Mandela is at the Moses Mabhida Stadium and the Tambo statue is on the Durban beachfront promenade at North Beach.
DA supporters staged a protest during a unveiling of the statues at the Durban beachfront on Tuesday.
Image: Screengrab from video
A small group of DA members demonstrated during the unveiling where they argued that the statues should not have been a priority in light of the myriad of challenges faced by the municipality.
DA mayoral candidate for eThekwini, Haniff Hoosen, seen in the video above, said, "We are here to raise our voice in hope that our president will listen to us, we have written a letter, he has not responded.
“In the state of the nation address Cyril Ramaphosa said he is going to hold responsible those municipalities that are not providing water but two weeks laterr he is here in Durban to unveil a statue of shame, because this is what this is to us, R22 million has been spent on statues in the city where people do not have water.”
He added that this was a serious failure on behalf of the government and pointed out that there are people that have been waiting for the last 30 years to be provided with services.”
The Mercury has previously reported that Hoosen had written to the Public Protector to ask for an investigation into the decision to spend R22 million on statues while the city faces an uncontrollable water and sanitation crisis.
In response, eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba told the president on Tuesday that the City had not diverted funds from service delivery to build the statues.
The City has said the statues form a key part of the City's tourism strategy and are linked to the country's heritage.
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