THE unveiling of a statue of Nelson Mandela at our embassy in Washington DC has been followed by announcements that yet more Madiba monuments are to be erected around the country. Here at the Mahogany Ridge we are filled with foreboding.
An R8-million bronze, for example, of Mandela with outstretched arms is to be unveiled at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Reconciliation Day, the arts minister, Paul Mashatile, has announced.
At nine metres high - more than three times the size of the work outside the Washington embassy - it seems a gesture of Ozymandian bombast, lacking the humility and generosity of spirit we associate with Madiba.
The City of Cape Town wants to erect its own statue - on the Grand Parade, where Mandela made his first public address after his release from prison. Hopefully, this will be a more fitting monument - but we are not holding our breath. Once local authorities strive to outdo one another in fawning sentimentality, good taste just rolls over and dies.
Remember Port Elizabeth? They wanted a Madiba 110 metres high - a full 17 metres taller than the Statue of Liberty. Shame, but they do try.
Mandela, of course, is worthy of commemoration. His likeness is a dominant icon of our times. Quite literally the poster boy for the democratic South Africa, he smiles out at us from walls and billboards, he's on our money and our postage stamps. He is possibly the exception to the rule that public figures should at least be dead for a few years before the sculptors are commissioned.