Khoi Chief Melvin Arendse speaking under the colonial statue of Jan Van Riebeeck said the statue should be removed and given to former opposition leader Helen Zille. Zille outraged South Africans in 2017 when she tweeted about the benefits of colonialism. Arendse also said the statue of Jan Smuts should be given to current Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen. Smuts was the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa.

Indigenous and former slave communities gathered around colonial statues on South Africa's Youth Day to protest against Amazon.com's plans to establish their African headquarters in a development to be built on sacred indigenous land. They also demanded the removal of colonial statues in the Cape Town CBD.