A kaleidoscopic mural of Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been defaced with the k-word over the weekend, and now the City of Cape Town has launched an urgent probe to deface the mural of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the city centre.
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According to News24, mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith confirmed that the city is urgently seeing to the matter as well as investigating CCTV footage with an aim to identify the culprits.
“I have requested the footage of that area so that we can see whether it can assist an investigation. As far as I know, this is not a city asset,” he said.
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The City’s mayoral committee member for community services and health, Zahid Badroodien stated that this has caused a lot of devastation, reports The Wall.FYI.
“The work was not commissioned by the city. We are working to identify the artist. The artist will be asked to repair the damaged mural and or to open a case for the matter to be investigated. The city will support the investigation however possible,” he stated.
The artist behind the mural, Brian Rolfe said that he doubts he will be lodging a complaint with the police following the defacement.
Rolfe also painted murals of the late president, Nelson Mandela and freedom stalwart, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, alongside the Archbishop’s mural.
Brian told News24 that he plans to repair the Tutu mural this week.
“I don’t believe that the person or group of people who did this should be given media attention because if they wanted to deface the whole thing, they would have spray-painted over it or something, but it is horrible and derogatory to write something like that on the face of the Tutu,” he stated.
“Obviously it being on Tutu’s face is horrible. I will not be laying a complaint because I don’t want to make a thing about this, we don’t need to see more of this,” he concluded.
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Picture: Screenshot from video / Wesley Fester