article_snippet.sent: Founding fathers of Afrikaner nationalism were also targeted.
article_snippet.sent: The government backed the move, with Sandile Memela, the spokesman for the arts and culture ministry, saying the arts and culture ministry are working to see if the country can take an 'official position' on statues and other colonial symbols. '
article_snippet.sent: It marks a significant... shift where the country deals with It ugly past in a positive and constructive way', Sandile Memela said to press agency AFP, adding The government did not encourage its removal at the University of Cape Town.
article_snippet.sent: The youth wing of white Afrikaner solidarity group AfriForum handed a memorandum to parliament in Cape Town to 'demand protection' for their heritage.
article_snippet.sent: The Afrikaner is -- from a historical perspective -- increasingly being portrayed as criminals and land thieves,' solidary group Afriforum said in a statement. '
article_snippet.sent: If the heritage of The Afrikaner is not important to Government, our youth members will preserve our own heritage.'
article_snippet.sent: But as tension grow on campuses about the statues of historical South African figures, Jonathan Jansen – the first black vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State – denied that there was a race war coming.
article_snippet.sent: Jonathan Jansen wrote in South African newspaper The Times on Thursday: 'The reason is simple: the overwhelming majority of South Africans, black and white, believe in a middle path somewhere between reconciliation and social justice.'