Cape Town - The student who sparked the Rhodes Must Fall movement by throwing human excrement on the statue of Cecil John Rhodes at UCT has been suspended from the institution for allegedly intimidating a staff member.
While a UCT statement released on Thursday didn’t identify Chumani Maxwele as the suspended student, he told the Cape Argus that he had received a suspension letter during a march organised by the movement on upper campus on Thursday.
“The University of Cape Town confirms that a student was suspended today and will face disciplinary charges following an incident that occurred in an academic department on Friday, May 1, 2015. The student is alleged to have intimidated, harassed, threatened and racially abused a member of staff. The student has been summoned to appear before a disciplinary tribunal on Monday, May 11, 2015,” said Gerda Kruger, UCT’s executive director: communications and marketing department.
“UCT regards disciplinary matters as confidential. It is our practice not to reveal the names of those facing disciplinary charges, nor to reveal any detail relating to the case.
“We presume innocence until proven guilty. Due process will be followed. We ask the media to respect the right of all parties involved to fair process, by not revealing their names to the public.”
Maxwele has denied the allegations against him and said it was a move by the institution to intimidate him and others.
He said this was exactly what on Thursday’s decriminalise black march wanted to highlight.
“This is exactly the issues we have been raising. Black students are being criminalised and it is nothing but intimidation.”
The march, supported by student activists from Open Stellenbosch, started at the place where the statue once stood.
In a statement, Rhodes Must Fall Movement said the removal of Mcebo Dlamini, as a member and president of the Wits student representative council and the treatment of the movement by vice chancellor, Dr Max Price, and UCT management “highlights many issues and raises several questions about the so-called new democratic dispensation”.
“These incidents highlight the ongoing criminalisation and victimisation of black students who challenge the status quo and dominant paradigm that exists.
“The vice chancellors and management of these elitist institutions act as colonial administrators, who are not interested in the education and success of black students.”
Cape Argus