Decapitating Cecil Rhodes

Activists in Cape Town, South Africa,  have beheaded a statue of the 19th-century British colonialist Cecil Rhodes, a diamond magnate who became wealthy through the labour of black miners and then limited the amount of land they could own.

Activists in South Africa have long targeted sites affiliated with Rhodes because of his role in implementing racist policies in the late 19th century. While serving as the prime minister of Cape Colony – now South Africa – he introduced legislation in 1894 that limited the amount of land black residents could own. The policy ultimately shaped racial inequities in land ownership for generations. The British South Africa Company he founded imposed white-minority rule over what are now the independent countries of Zimbabwe and Zambia.