Cape Town - UCT alumnus and Independent Media executive chairman Dr Iqbal Survé has called on Cape Town residents to open their homes to students who have not been placed in residences, to alleviate an accommodation crisis that has plunged UCT in particular into chaos and violence.
He also appealed to hotels, guesthouses, churches and other organisations to help.
Survé holds three degrees from UCT, is a past chairperson of the advisory board of its Graduate School of Business and is a former governor of the UCT Foundation.
On Wednesday he called on UCT alumni, academics, management and student bodies to join him in mediating the impasse between management and students.
“Leadership is needed to help resolve this crisis. I am prepared to mediate and lead discussions involving the alumni, the student body, academics and UCT’s management,” said Survé.
“My intervention is not about blaming anybody, or trying to cast aspersions on any particular side. I am a South African and an alumnus of UCT. We all have to come together to help resolve the crisis.”
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UCT spokesperson Pat Lucas said: “UCT alumni form a most important constituent within the wider campus community and UCT welcomes all engagement with our alumni.”
UCT SRC president Rorisang Moseli said they would be willing to participate in think tanks, on condition engagements resulted in solutions adopted by university management.
“If UCT management fails to attend to a crisis created by their over-allocation, academic and financial exclusion policies, all tools will be downed. We will cease all SRC operations on university structures.
“The SRC will render committees ungovernable and actively prevent the normal decision-making process from taking place through a filibuster campaign. We refuse to remain in a system that seeks to operate normally and continue to exclude and dehumanise black bodies,” Moseli said.
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Brian Kamanzi, of Rhodes Must Fall, said the movement would be interested in coming to the table.
“We are definitely not committed to anything in so far as partnerships but are eager for a balanced dialogue where we will have a voice,” he said.
Survé said at a media briefing South Africa in the early 1990s had been able to negotiate a peaceful constitutional change through the all-party Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa).
“We were able to find solutions for our country with a Codesa approach,” he said.
“The time has come for a similar approach at UCT.
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“We have to hear all sides and work out how we can help students deal with real fundamental issues such as housing, accommodation, food, textbooks and fees.
“We have a collective responsibility to find a solution to this crisis.
“Our society is one in transition, and we need youth to contribute to the development of our country and to reach their full potential.”
@lisa_isaacs
Cape Times