Cape Town - Students occupying an administration building at UCT could stay put until Friday, SRC head Ramabina Mahapa said on Saturday.
Dozens of students from the “Rhodes Must Fall” movement occupied UCT’s Bremner Building on Friday afternoon, in protest against the the university’s decision to not immediately take down a statue of Cecil John Rhodes.
While some students argued that they should stay for a week or longer, others thought they could leave earlier, as their point had been made. Mahapa said that the group had not yet taken a decision when they would leave, but they would certainly remain in place until this evening.
After initially gathering on the ground floor, the students moved to the large Mafeje room on the first floor, where the university council meets, just after midnight on Friday.
They said more supporters were expected to join them on Saturday night.
Mahapa said the group’s focus would now shift from its campaign to have the statue of Rhodes removed, to broader issues of transformation at the university.
It was in the process of drawing up a discussion document that would deal with issues of transformation, discrimination and what it termed the institutional racism at the university.
He said the document would be published before Wednesday, when a meeting with university administration is set to take place.
“We are going to look at who is being taught, what is being taught… the curriculum is going to be a big focus,” he said.
Weekend Argus