A podcast produced by the BBC has declared Cecil Rhodes, founder of diamond mining company De Beers, to be ‘evil’.
All three guests on Russell Kane’s Evil Genius podcast declared Rhodes ‘evil’ when asked to determine him evil or genius.
The set up of the podcast series sees Kane regale his comedian guests with some of the darker tales from famous historical figures’ lives, before asking them to judge the individual in question.
Past subjects have been Adolf Hitler, Amy Winehouse and Elizabeth I, as well as fictional characters like James Bond.
The 38-minute episode on Rhodes, released on 20 January, sees Kane and his guests focus on Rhodes life and career, as well as the discussion around removing statues of controversial historical figures.
The episode description on Apple Podcasts reads: “Johnny Cochrane, Thanyia Moore and Olga Koch knock down the man behind the big statues controversy currently raging – should statues of evil geniuses from history stay up?”
The guests discuss Rhodes’ links to imperialism, apartheid, conservatism, racism and slavery, and ultimately determine him evil by a unanimous vote of 3-0.
De Beers is quick to distance itself from some of the more controversial aspects of Rhodes’ life today.
In the ‘history’ section of its website, De Beers describes Rhodes and the founding of the company thus: “Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato, who had been running two competing diamond operations, decide to join forces and consolidate their companies.
“De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited is established on 12 March. Cecil Rhodes is named chairman and continues in this role until 1902.
“Although Rhodes is part of our early history, he does not represent the company we are today. While we cannot rewrite history, we can bear the responsibility of history to build a better legacy, and we put tremendous resource and energy behind this every day.
“The women and men of De Beers, the majority of whom are citizen-owners of the company in southern Africa, have worked for decades to create meaningful, tangible and lasting benefits for the people and places where we operate.
“We are very proud of the fact that Cecil Rhodes would not recognise the De Beers of today.”
As well as his involvement in the mining industry, the British Rhodes was a politician, serving as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in the 1890s. He died of heart failure in 1902 aged 48.
