Cape Town - Students from the “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign have left the University of Cape Town’s Bremner administration building, saving the university’s administration from having to execute an eviction notice.
During the noisy and eventually successful campaign, the students occupied the administration building on March 20, were able to force the suspension of administrative duties at the building and renamed it Azania House. They vowed to stay there until the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, which they said was a remnant of colonialism which offended them, was removed.
The statue was removed on Thursday but students continued to occupy the middle campus administration building, according to SRC vice-president Zizipho Paye. They were served with an eviction notice, but remained defiant and continued to occupy the building until the weekend.
On Sunday, Paye said they were intending on moving from the building but needed time to “formulate a way forward”.
“The occupation was due to end on Friday but we just wanted at least a day to be able to come together to be able to work things out and how we would move forward.”
Paye said some students were still occupying the building on Sunday and were planning to end the occupation on Monday. “The sheriff of the court served us with an eviction notice on Friday and some students have even been charged with things like damage to property…”
Last week, UCT vice-chancellor Max Price issued a warning to the remaining protesters, even threatening legal action.
In a statement after the removal of the statue, Price said “firm action” against the group would not undermine the transformation issues brought about by the campaign.
“We will firstly create a forum where students, staff and the university leadership co-determine the agenda for action. Second, we have committed to concluding the review of symbols and names by the end of this year.
“Third, we have created a space for black academic staff, in particular those who affiliating themselves with ‘Transform UCT’, to engage with academic heads of departments to develop a programme within each academic department that addresses the issues of staff transformation,” Price said.
There would be more to follow, he added.