1 reviews | Active since Oct 2013
LIBERTY GROUP ABANDONS CAPE TOWN'S MONUMENT TO 'THE ARCH'
About seven years ago, according to an article in 'Archello' (a magazine for architects), 'generously supported by Liberty' a monument to the late former archbishop Desmond Tutu was unveiled in Cape Town, near St George's Cathedral. Not long afterwards, several of the monument's bronze plaques inscribed with the Bill of Rights were ****** - along with a number of stainless-steel bolts securing the wooden arches. These were eventually replaced. Unfortunately, however, several more plaques are now missing.
Two emails alerting The Liberty Group's corporate social investment (CSI) department to this sad state of affairs have been met with a standard response rejecting what was apparently assumed to be a request for financial assistance/sponsorship.
Clearly, nobody in the department bothered to read either email, each of which simply reminded the group of its responsibilities in maintaining a monument from which the group has probably received considerable promotional mileage.
I look forward to receiving a response clarifying the situation. If The Liberty Group did indeed pay for the monument's construction, surely its CSI department is capable of motivating for a small annual grant enabling the cathedral or the city council to maintain it? Not only do the missing plaques need to be replaced; the wooden arches could do with a coat of varnish.
Tourists visit the monument daily and must surely wonder why the monument to such an international icon could have been allowed to fall into such an appalling state of disrepair.
Who is supposed to maintain it? We need to establish if this was indeed a CSI project or if it was a special project handled by another department.
Given Cape Town's climate and the prevalence of homelessness in that area, to have sponsored a wooden monument with bronze plaques glued to the pavement without providing for adequate maintenance is a blunder I would not have expected from the Liberty Group - especially given the vast resources at the group's disposal.
Unless I receive a carefully thought through, personalised reply within 24 hours, the matter will be taken to another level and possibly exposed in the local media.
The latest email from your CSI is copied below, with the first standard response (which was repeated 24 hours later).
Latest repsonse
First response (repeated)
Dear Sir/Madam,
Who is supposed to maintain it? We need to establish if this was indeed a CSI project or if it was a special project handled by another department.
Given Cape Town's climate and the prevalence of homelessness in that area, to have sponsored a wooden monument with bronze plaques glued to the pavement without providing for adequate maintenance is a blunder I would not have expected from the Liberty Group - especially given the vast resources at the group's disposal.
Unless I receive a carefully thought through, personalised reply within 24 hours, the matter will be taken to another level and possibly exposed in the local media.
The latest email from your CSI is copied below, with the first standard response (which was repeated 24 hours later).
Latest repsonse
First response (repeated)
Dear Sir/Madam,