Cape Town - The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Council on Wednesday said the Cecil John Rhodes statue would be temporarily moved, pending a decision by the province’s heritage council.
“The Council has voted unanimously in favour of moving the Cecil John Rhodes statue from its current position on upper campus,” said Council Chairperson Reverend Njongonkulu Ndugane. “Now, the University will submit its application to Heritage Western Cape (HWC) who will make the final decision.”
Ndugane said that in wanting to keep the statue safe, the statue would be temporarily moved off campus entirely until HWC made their decision.
The decision by the Council, UCT’s highest authority, followed more than a month of student protests against what they said was institutional racism.
“This is exactly how a university should work. The University can now be an example to the rest of the country on how to deal with heritage,” said Ndugane.
Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price said the decision by Council was a momentous one for the university.
“This marks a new life for UCT. As a university we must look into the future and see how to better it,” he said.
Student Representative Council (SRC) President Ramabina Mahapa, who confirmed the move of the statue earlier in the evening, said it was good to see all their hard work taking shape.
“This is just the start. The statue will be moved on Thursday at 5pm. The fruits of our long, long labour is beginning to show,” he said.
Second year law student Leila Khan said students had argued against being excluded from the Council meeting before a large nu,mber of them entered the meeting venue.
“For us, as the #Rhodesmustfall movement it is a victory, but at the same time we do not believe that these decisions must be taken by a room full of white men,” she said.
ANA