legacies in the SADC

84% of the population” in South Africa. With democracy and independence in the SADC, these legacies have become outdated and must be recontextualised.

Societies and communities have begun to comprehend that not all monuments were created equal. Some were erected for cynical reasons that have little to do with history or heritage. History is a complex and ever-changing process and not a single position. Therefore, history is not best written in bronze, stone, and marble. History is all things that statues and monuments are not, as they only represent what designers and patrons wanted (Olusoga 2017).

However, efforts should be applied to disassemble these artefacts, and in the process, to propose new meanings. Maré (2007:36) reminds us that although “memorials and statues inevitably cast a specific memory in stone and the structure cannot be modified; but unfortunately, meanings can be reinterpreted”. Erasing colonial and historical structures does not change the history of a community or nation and does not automatically address the current challenges that SADC countries and the world face.

As Meents (2009) asserted, the consequence of a monument’s unyielding fixedness usually results in some demise over time. The fixed and rigid impression created by monuments and statues in establishing certain ideologies are passed to new periods, sometimes appearing outmoded, strange, and irrelevant to a contemporary society's values and thoughts. Buildings and infrastructures should remain open and flexible to the present and future needs and interpretations.

Alternatively, in the initial stages of planning and designs, competition rules that require memorials to be apolitical should be enforced and adhered to. These initiatives must also be privately funded with pure and genuine intentions and motives. This follows after the procedures on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial establishment in Washington DC. (Spreiregen,2008).

4.2.2 Significance of artefacts, details and materials in analysing colonial traces and legacies in the SADC

The hidden meanings in the designs and layouts of these legacies should not be overlooked as they carry the language and coding of the designers and patrons. They have a wealth of meaning, symbols, and metaphors. Statues and memorials