ANC Youth League (ANCYL) Western Cape intensifies calls for University of Cape Town (UCT) to remove the statue of Cecil John Rhodes ahead of UCT Council meeting as UCT has the power to do so

7 April 2015

On Monday 6 April 2015 freedom-loving South African youth began celebrating the life and sacrifice of Solomon Mahlangu who laid down his life in the service of freedom from colonial oppression.

Fully cognisant of our responsibility to cherish the ideals that Solomon Mahlangu sacrificed for, ANCYL Western Cape have written a letter to the Chairperson of the UCT Council, correcting some of the perceptions created by the UCT management around the fate of the colonial symbol, i.e. the statue of Cecil John Rhodes.

We are well aware that the UCT Council will meet on Wednesday 8 April 2015 to determine the fate of the colonial symbol.

Accordingly, since the commencement of the campaign, the ANCYL has undertaken to conduct research on the factual underpinnings around the presence of the statue at UCT. Amongst the alarming findings, we have discovered that in fact the Statue is not part of the UCT National Monument declaration.

We therefore share the findings of our research together with attachments in our quest to indulge and urge the UCT Council to pass a resolution for the removal of the statute. 

The statue of Cecil John Rhodes is not a national monument and therefore not protected under the Heritage Act of 1999 which means UCT has the power to remove it.

It is common knowledge that the statue was erected in 1934. However it is not common knowledge that this statue was moved in 1962 to its current position during the expansion of the M3.

Furthermore the statue was never declared as part of the national monument known as UCT which was declared as such on 7 October 1983 by then Minister of National Education Gerrit Van Niekerk Viljoen. The description of the Monument is as follows:

" The University of Cape Town's historic Middle Campus, consisting of the Jameson Memorial Hall, its podium and the two flanking buildings, namely the Students' Union and the Jagger Library (excluding the extensions to the rear of the colonnades linking these buildings to the Jameson Memorial Hall); the Jameson Memorial Hall steps (from the podium to the residence mad); the two flanking buildings, namely the Arts Block and the Mathematics Block; the residence forecourt and the two residences, Smuts Hall and Fuller Hall; the open fields (at present rugby fields), together with their connection across Rhodes Drive to the Summer House; the Summer House (also known as Belvedere); the Japonica Walk; and the residence The Woolsack, together with an area of surrounding land; as shown on Drawing A: Key Plan of the Original Campus; Drawing B: Upper Campus; Drawing C: Middle Campus: Japonica Walk; Drawing D: Middle Campus: Japonica Walk-Summer House; and Drawing E: Middle Campus: The Wool- sack, filed in the Office of the Registrar of Deeds, Cape Town; the University of Cape Town; and on File 3/KJC- T/97 in the Office of the National Monuments Council, Cape Town; situate at Rondebosch, in the City of Cape Town, being the University of Cape Town Site, a portion of the Groote Schuur Estate (now known as Erf 46041 and Remainder of Erf 44201) and Erf 108992, Cape Town, situate in the Municipality of Cape Town, Administrative District of the Cape."

The above description quoted from the Government Gazette No. 2188 of 7 October 1983 does not include the statue which was in its current position at the time of the declaration made by the then Minister. As the ANCYL we therefore believe that UCT has the power to remove the statue.

We call on UCT Council to support the call for its removal and to set the date for the removal of the statue as the 27 April 2015.

UCT must desist from creating red tape around the matter and pass the buck to provincial government. UCT must accept that it is up to them to decide if the statue should go and by when. This is not a matter for provincial government institutions to handle as the statue is not a provincial monument.

The ANCYL therefore urges the Chairperson of the UCT Council to exercise the necessary leadership towards resolution of this impasse. 

Furthermore the ANCYL calls upon all UCT Alumni, including current and former members of the ANCYL who are UCT graduates to attend the special meeting of the UCT Convocation at 5pm on 7 April 2015 which is meant to give its view of the future of the Rhodes Statue. We urge UCT Alumni argue for the removal of the statue.   

We welcome the confirmation that the ANCYL Provincial Chairperson Muhammad Khalid Sayed, a member of the UCT Convocation, will attend the meeting this evening and present our concerns as raised in the letter and statement.

The ANCYL also calls upon the Western Cape public to take part in the student-led mass meeting taking place on Thursday 9 April 2015 at 3pm at UCT's Azania House (also known as UCT Bremner Administration Building). The outcomes of the UCT Council meeting will be discussed and a way forward proposed.

Statement issued by Marissa Van Rensburg, ANCYL Western Cape Provincial Deputy Secretary and Siyabulela Tom, ANCYL Western Cape PEC Member (Communications), April 7 2015

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