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The statue of King Shaka Zulu, recently erected at the new King Shaka International Airport, will be removed after the Zulu king expressed concerns about it.
"The sculpture will be removed from the current site and once all the processes have been finalised, it will be erected on another site which is more prominent at the new airport,” said the KwaZulu-Natal premier's spokesman Ndabezinhle Sibiya.
The statue was situated between the arrivals terminal and the pick-up zone near the entrance at the airport, in La Mercy outside Durban.
The statue's new location still had to be decided.
King Goodwill Zwelithini and the KwaZulu-Natal government were reportedly unhappy about the work and ordered it to be removed, saying it made Shaka look like a herd boy, rather than the hunter and warrior he was.
Sibiya said the statue had not been completed. “The government put the statue up knowing it was not completed. We asked the king to put his opinion before the finalisation of the statue. This is an ongoing thing.”
Zulu royal household spokesman Prince Mboniso Zulu said although they were consulted before the statute was erected, the king was "shocked" when he saw it for the first time at its unveiling.”
The R3 million statue, which depicts Shaka surrounded by Nguni cattle, was unveiled during the airport's opening ceremony, attended by President Jacob Zuma, in May.
