Statue of Colonialist Cecil John Rhodes Found Beheaded

A statue of British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes has recently been beheaded, according to an EWN report. Table Mountain National Parks rangers reportedly discovered the beheaded statue while patrolling the area around Rhodes Memorial this past Monday. What remains unclear is who exactly is responsible for the act although it is believed to be a part of the continued protest action targeting remaining legacies of colonialism and imperialism.

See: Rhodes Has Fallen [Photos]

The Rhodes statue is situated within a memorial site in Devil's Peak, Cape Town––an area considered to have been the colonialist's "favourite spot", according to News24. Naturally, the British coloniser's racist treatment of Black South Africans makes his statue an appropriate target of protest action at a time when systemic racism and its many symbols are being confronted directly.

Similarly, statues have either been defaced or removed altogether from public view in the US and European countries such as Belgium amid ongoing Black Lives Matterprotests all over the world. Back in 2015, another statue of Rhodes was removed from the University of Cape Town's main campus after students protested for consecutive weeks during what became known as the Rhodes Must Fall movement.

Additionally, the statue of former Apartheid President of the Free State province, Martinus Theunis Steyn, wasquietly removed from the University of the Free State's main campus last month. The statue will reportedly be kept at the War Museum, according to reports by Bloemfontein Courant.