Birth of a movement that felled a statue

Published Apr 10, 2015

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Carlo Petersen

WHEN Chumani Maxwele flung human excrement onto a statue of Cecil John Rhodes at UCT a month ago, he had no idea that his actions would spark a nationwide campaign to tackle slow transformation at institutions of higher learning.

Maxwele, 30, has since been labelled a “barbarian” by certain quarters, but the fourth-year politics student has remained unapologetic.

Asked if he regretted the action, Maxwele told the Cape Times: “No I do not,” before quoting Struggle hero Steve Biko: “They kick us and tell us how to respond to the kick.”

Maxwele’s actions to highlight “poor transformation” at UCT also gave birth to Rhodes Must Fall (RMF), a movement that describes itself as an independent collective of students, workers and staff who have come together “to end institutionalised racism and patriarchy at UCT”.

RMF members have occupied the Bremner Building – which houses the university’s senior management’s offices – for the past three weeks, calling for transformation of the university’s management and infrastructure, the renaming of campus roads and buildings, an even ratio of black and white lecturers and that issues around outsourcing of staff be addressed.

In less than a month, calls for transformation, expressed through student protests for the statue to be removed, have inspired students at Rhodes University, University of the Witwatersrand, Stellenbosch University and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

RMF has also garnered international support from Oxford University, Yale University, Chapman University in California, New York University, Columbia University, The New School for Social Research and the City University of New York.

What follows is a timeline of the Rhodes statue issue.

l March 9: Maxwele flings human excrement over Cecil John Rhodes’ statue at UCT. His action leads to protests for transformation at UCT.

l March 27: UCT’s senior leadership group, namely the deans, executive directors, deputy vice-chancellors, and directors of institutional planning and the transformation office back vice-chancellor Max Price’s proposal to move the statue from its current location.

l March 30: UCT senate members, including Price, his deputies and heads of academic departments, vote overwhelmingly in favour of moving the statue from its location. Pending a final decision from the UCT council and Heritage Western Cape, an amendment is accepted to board up the statue.

l April 7: The matter is discussed by UCT’s convocation – a gathering of alumni, academic staff and emeritus professors.

l April 8: The UCT council meets to take a final decision. The 30-member council includes executive officers, students, and non-members of staff or students of the institution.

l April 9: The statue is removed.

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