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Moving statues

The controversial statue honouring Joshua Nkomo on Main Street in Bulawayo could not wait to be officially unveiled by President Robert Mugabe (AC Vol 51 No 16). One night, the black shroud enveloping it slipped off, to reveal a distinctly unheroic figure in a business suit. Bulawayans were unimpressed and the Nkomo family outraged at this treatment of their icon. Nobody had a good word for it: it was too short, it was the wrong colour, it was belittling and, above all, it was North Korean. Then it vanished again, only to reappear, this time in the museum, joining other politically incorrect statuary from the colonial era. Perhaps as a final insult, it nestles alongside a statue of Cecil John Rhodes....

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Moving statues

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