UCT statue protester wants more change

Published Apr 10, 2015

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Cape Town - The student who set the Rhodes Must Fall movement into action by throwing excrement on the statue of Cecil John Rhodes says the removal of the statue should be just one step in the transformation of UCT.

Thursday marked one month since Chumani Maxwele’s radical act, and the fourth-year political science student says he had not foreseen the impact it would have.

On March 9, before emptying a container of faeces on to the statue, Maxwele said he was acting on behalf of the collective pain and suffering of all black people, and was particularly protesting the “colonial dominance” still palpable at UCT. He said most black people with any political understanding detested Rhodes and the colonialism he represented. Also, black students did not want to graduate in a hall named after colonialist Dr Leander Jameson.

“This poo that we are throwing on the statue represents the shame of black people. By throwing it on the statue we are throwing our shame to whites’ affluence. As black students here we have to change our ways just to fit in, and we have to keep quiet for almost three years before we can speak in the classrooms. It is time for all of that to change.”

His actions marked the beginning of a series of events, including the occupation of UCT’s Bremner Building by a group of students.

Statues in several parts of the country have since come under the spotlight and the Rhodes statue on upper campus was temporarily removed for safekeeping yesterday. The university has indicated that it would apply to Heritage Western Cape to have it permanently removed.

“It has never been just about the statue. It is about transformation. The next thing will be the question of professorship at UCT.”

He said at least half of UCT’s professors should be black and changes to the curriculum were also needed.

In a statement last month, the Rhodes Must Fall movement said the removal of the statue “is the first condition of our campaign, from which point we will allow management to engage with us”.

In a statement issued on Wednesday night, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, chairman of the UCT council, said the university would continue with its planned review of other symbols and names over the remainder of this year.

“Furthermore the student engagement on this issue has added an energy and urgency to addressing many other aspects of transformation and has mobilised members of the university community not previously seized with the issue. The university management will partner with the students, different staff structures and the UCT community to review and refocus our transformation plans.”

Cape Argus

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