Statues are always a good idea on such occasions, and the powers that be decided to honor the relatively new King of England. Edward VII had taken over from Victoria in 1901, and this was a nice feather in his cap. By 1905, Cape Town had put up a statue to salute the King; the foundation for it had gone up in 1901.
Edward actually received some credit for the way he handled the post-war situation in South Africa. He tried to knock down some of the communication barriers between the two sides of the racial divide. That helped in the process of creating the Union of South Africa in 1910, which is when he died after a relatively short reign.
The statue is on the Grand Parade, right across from City Hall.
