Cape Town - The City is checking its CCTV footage to see if it can identify who was responsible for defacing the mural of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Longmarket Street in the Cape Town CBD, Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith has said.
Smith was responding to calls from outraged citizens urging the authorities to identify and arrest the person who scrawled the k-word on Archbishop Tutu’s face (just above his glasses).
Mayco member for community services and health Zahid Badroodien said: “The City is devastated to see the destruction of an iconic mural celebrating the life of the archbishop.
“The work was not commissioned by the City. We are working to identify the owner. The owner will be urged to repair the damaged mural and/or open up a case for the matter to be investigated. The City will support the investigation, however possible.”
Good Party Cape Town mayoral candidate Brett Herron called on authorities to identify and prosecute the culprits and said to denigrate the archbishop with South Africa’s most vile racist epithet denigrates all South Africans.
“The person responsible for writing, ’Ek is ‘n k*ff*r’ , on a mural of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in central Cape Town will have been filmed in the act by the City’s security cameras.
“The City must work with police to track the perpetrator down, and the criminal justice system must do its work to send a clear message to other racists that there are serious consequences for acts of racism and hate speech,” said Herron.
Cameron Dugmore, leader of the opposition (ANC) in the legislature, said: “Racists, sexists and the intolerant must have no place to hide.
“I will ask the police to launch an intensive investigation so that those responsible are arrested, charged and punished. Every South African must act against racism and call it out wherever it rears its ugly head.
“I know our Archbishop Emeritus will no doubt forgive those who committed this shameful act. Our task as a province and country is to intensify our fight for non- racialism as the bedrock of our society, but in addition must embark on an intensive anti racism campaign.”
Acting Tutu Trust chairperson Dr Mamphela Ramphele recalled that in the 1980s, at the height of the anti-apartheid Struggle, Archbishop Tutu was regularly threatened by hate-mongers, including the security police.
“For this hatred to be repeated, decades later, casts a slur on our democracy. Racism is a curse South Africa must escape. We have enough problems on our plate, including radical inequality in wealth and living standards still largely tracking the social, economic and environmental hierarchies of the past,” said Dr Ramphele.
Archbishop Tutu will be celebrating his 90th birthday on October 7.
Cape Town videographer Wesley Fester, who discovered the graffiti on Saturday and took to social media to share a video he made, Tweeted: “I’ve always believed Cape Town is the most racist and backward place in SA. Today it was confirmed.”