The current wave of protests against the statute of Cecil John Rhodes in South Africa could spill into Zimbabwe, African Sun hotel boss Shingi Munyeza has hinted.
Students, staff and members of the public at the University of Capetown in the neighbouring country are demanding the statue be taken down because they believe “it is offensive”.
The development has seen Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) leader Julius Malema entering into the fray demanding that this should not only apply to the University of Cape Town (UCT) alone, but to all other tertiary institutions in that country.
Commenting from his social networking portal on Monday evening, Shingi Munyeza said he has been watching the developments closely. “Observing with interest the debacle involving the Rhodes statue and UCT students. Wait till they realize his remains are in Zimbabwe,” he said.

Already Rhodes’ grave has been variously vandalised as local war vets threatened to remove Rhodes’ remains and throw them into the ocean. [READ MORE -Rhodes’ Grave Desecrated By War Vets, They Plan To Dump Skeleton In Indian Ocean ]
Meanwhile, Julius Malema has fired shots saying the statue is a symbol of colonialism and must be taken down. He addressed a Human Rights Day rally in Langa at the weekend calling for the statue of Cecil John Rhodes at UCT’s Cape Town campus to be removed.
“It is this EFF which will remove the Rhodes statue at UCT. Rhodes must fall,” he said.
Adding to the controversial statements, the Associate Professor of Sociology, Xolela Mangcu, has told South African media that the statue should have come down a long time ago.
“What is one of the first things that happen in an oppressed society? It happened in Iraq, it happened in the Soviet Union. The symbols of those systems come down, they should have come down a long time ago,” he said.
Cecil John Rhodes a rich businessman who persoanlly carved present Zimbabwe’s borders, was the architect of the colonisation of several nations including Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe while also being involved in controversial politics in neighbouring South Africa.