In the context of Statue of Paul Kruger, Church Square, discuss the The statue's return from exile of the History.
As the Treaty of Vereeniging granted generous terms to the Boers (due to their continued resistance to the British in the final years of the Boer War), Afrikaners were able to elect their own government in 1906, just four years after the end of the conflict. Kruger died in 1904, and the Transvaal Colony elected Botha, Commandant-General of Boer forces in the War and then leader of the Het Volk, as its Prime Minister, a post in which he would continue from 1910 on for South Africa at large. Botha petitioned Kitchener to return the four sentinels and the panels to South Africa to accompany the statue in Church Square, but Kitchener claimed he couldn't return those in his possession, claiming they were not spoils of war but a personal gift from Marks. The Pretoria City Council turned to Marks, Van Wouw, and finally Kitchener, but none of them could find the missing statue.
After two years of research, the city council once again asked Marks if he could release the Kruger statue, still stored in Lourenço Marques, for construction; Marks insisted he would only do so when the council agreed to complete the entire monument according to his initial design. The city council decided to simply recast the missing Boers and panels on the advice of Fanie Eloff, who said it could be done for a mere £380, but while they appropriated £500 for Van Wouw's missing material, they found the plaster casts and sketches unavailable. This left taking bronze casts of the British originals to reforge as the only remaining option, one beyond the means of the council at an estimated cost of at least £1,760. Once again reaching out to Marks, the Council finally won his agreement to put Kruger up on the pedestal in Prince's Park.
On 24 May 1913, Victoria Day, Gen. Schalk Willem Burger, President while Kruger was in Europe from 1900 to 1902, unveiled the statue to the public. Both former Orange Free State President Martinus Theunis Steyn and Botha were absent, the former due to illness and the latter to attend to urgent parliamentary matters. The unveiling coincided with an agriculture fair and was attended by 3,000 citizens. At the ceremony, Burger expressed it hope that the statue would one day take its "rightful place" in Church Square, and Andries Daniël Wynand Wolmarans proclaimed that: "I sincerely wish, from my heart and for my people, that this statue be moved to Church Square, to the center of the city, so it can take the place it deserves. There should also be an effort to bring back the missing pieces to South Africa, for one can only understand what Kruger means to his people when he is surrounded by sturdy Boers." Botha contacted Kitchener once more to return the four other figures, to which he agreed to "willingly" return the two he owned "to meet the wish of the people of South Africa," but only in return for copies; the two owned by the Royal Engineers were not his to return, but the Union of South Africa government was free to produce replicas of them at its own expense.
Botha was willing to accept this arrangement, but at a cost of £520 per statue for a total of £2,080, he let the issue go. In 1917, Botha had to visit London briefly and was asked by the mayor to try and secure the statues again, but Botha explained that he had been negotiating for four years in vain with Kitchener and did not wish to continue doing so. The council once again sought Marks' help to no avail. In August 1920, Edward P. Mathers, editor of the newspaper South Africa, began a press campaign to return the statue with the help of former President Francis William Reitz. Mathers discovered where the missing sculptures were, published the photos in his paper, and asked the Mayor of Chatham to pressure his city council to help return the two figures there to South Africa, given that  "as they remain at present they are a menace to the good relationships which I am sure Chatham as all England wishes to be established and preserved between them and the Dutch of South Africa." Mathers also pointed out that South Africa and England had fought on the same side in World War I and that "spoils of conquest" from Afrikaners should be replaced with "trophies of our enemies" there. The Mayor of Chatham replied that the statues belonged not to the council but to the Royal Engineers, who in turn said returning the artwork required the consent of the full membership. The officer corps there said that even though South Africa would volunteer to complete the task, they were unwilling to part with a memento of the "brave and honourable men" whom they fought against in 1899-1902 and fought alongside in 1914–1918; they also treasured the donation from the late Lord Kitchener (who had died in 1916), whom they held "in special regard and honour." Therefore, copies made at South Africa's expense were all the nation would get.
While the public campaign to return the statue failed, Gen. Jan Smuts also put in his efforts. Succeeding Botha after the latter's death in 1919 as Prime Minister of the Union, Smuts was popular in Britain for his contributions to the war effort and the Paris Peace Conference. Smuts enlisted Milner in November 1920, appealing to the latter's desire to mend his unpopularity post-Boer-War with a gesture of gratitude to the Afrikaners' newly proven loyalty. Milner contacted the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the King, and the executors of the Kitchener estate. On 18 January 1921, Smuts received a telegram from Milner "that His Majesty, the "Colonel-in-Chief" of the Royal Engineers, has agreed to donate the two Boer figures and the panels in Chatham as a gift to the Government of the Union of South Africa, and that Lord Kitchener's executors and His Majesty's Government will also provide the South African Government with the two other figures currently in Broome Park." The Union had to pay any transport costs, as already agreed to. On 23 August 1921, the complete monument came off the ship in Cape Town, and on 12 September of that year, it arrived at last in Pretoria. All that was missing was the monogram "K," which was lost and never returned.
Francis William Reitz Lourenço Marques Boer Andries Daniël Wynand Wolmarans Royal Engineers Lord Kitchener Commandant Cape Town Pretoria Chatham South Africa Orange Free State Afrikaners Broome Park Church Square bronze Jan Smuts Martinus Theunis Steyn Union of South Africa Paris Peace Conference Transvaal Colony World War I Fanie Eloff Schalk Willem Burger Het Volk Victoria Day Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Treaty of Vereeniging Boers