Can we wipe out the past? I think not. Lets rather learn from our mistakes and not repeat them. Colonialism was bad, but it has also brought prosperity to the countries where it happened. Yes, there was collateral damage. Yes, people were exploited. Yes, the rulers thought that they were superior and abused other races. This happened in India, in South America, in the USA, in Canada, in Africa and almost all over the world. Just about all of those countries have gained their independence and has moved on. Most still belong to the Commonwealth and other colonialist structures, but they use those structures to good effect. Why do we South Africans want to ignore our history and not learn from it so that we can move on?

RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS AND THE CONSEQUENCES AFTER IT HAS BEEN DECIDED TO MOVE THE STATUE - HOW SHORT SIGHTED COULD YOU BE

Now that the Rhodes statue controversy is almost done and dusted, with Max Price stating that the statue must be moved, the next target by the anti-imperialist students of UCT must surely be the Rhodes Scholarship.

This Scholarship allows for 2-3 years study at Oxford University with a stipend of 13,650 pounds per year for postgraduate students. They also stay in a residential college. Students have access to Rhodes House, a 20th century mansion with public rooms, gardens, a library and study areas etc. All this provided by the Rhodes Trust.

I’m sure, however, that the UCT students, in their fanatical endeavours to remove everything connected to Rhodes , will fight tooth and nail to have the Scholarship banned, and that any student selected will vociferously decline in lieu of his conscience and warped ideology.

It is strange though that Nelson Mandela saw fit to merge the Mandela Foundation with the Rhodes Foundation to form the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in 2003, that got a whopping R142 million from the Rhodes Trust. It’s also quite ironical that the mission school Mandela attended received a grant from the Rhodes Trust, as did the University of Fort Hare where he studied. At his treason trial Mandela was defended by a Rhodes Scholar, Bram Fischer. There is no doubt that these bigoted students will fight vociferously to have the Rhodes Trust removed from the Mandela Rhodes Foundation as the Mandela name cannot be tarnished by linking it to the imperialist racist, Cecil Rhodes.

A colonial racist who has done nothing for the black people of South Africa except donate millions of Rands to worthy causes, and fund and build schools and universities that they are attending quite sanctimoniously. Statues and trusts can be removed, but never history. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.

JOHN WHITLOCK