Rhodes must be discussed

IS IT the aim of some of the UCT students to remove or destroy all apartheid structures that symbolise or upset them?

If it is, then to be consistent, they must remove or destroy not only the statue of Cecil John Rhodes but all of the lecture rooms, halls, libraries, playing fields etc, because there was a time when blacks were denied by law to have access to them. If one has to go beyond UCT then Parliament and Robben Island come into focus – or are they only concentrating on convenient targets?

In March 1964 I was banned for five years by the apartheid government. In July 1964 I was arrested and detained for 92 days at Caledon Square police station, during which time I was tortured. During an awaiting-trial period an attempted escape by four other political prisoners and myself from Pollsmoor Prison was foiled. I was then again placed in detention after which I was charged with sabotage, a charge which carried the death penalty.

A leading member of my sabotage organisation, the African Resistance Movement, was the chief State witness against me. The judge, in his wisdom, sentenced me to 15 years imprisonment.

Before boarding the boat which was to take me to Robben Island, the shackles were removed from my legs but the handcuffs remained. I was placed in the dirty, stinking hold of this small boat. When the door of the hold was closed the hold was dark. I was alone, frightened and had no one to share my fears with. I could not see myself surviving Robben Island, but I did. On Robben Island I met a man who I learned to respect, to admire and to love, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

On my release from prison, 15 years later, I was placed under house arrest for five years. Only a doctor was allowed to visit me without permission from the Security Police. It was the first time that I saw my two sons who were too young to visit me on Robben Island. My wife and I also married in defiance of the Immorality and Mixed Marriages Acts. After my house arrest had expired I studied at UCT.

After my journey of discomfort, I have no bitterness or hatred towards those who tortured me, to the State witness whose evidence could have sent me to the gallows. (After my release from prison the State witness contacted me and asked me to meet him. I met him in England. When we met we embraced one another and I forgave him.)

I feel no bitterness towards the judge who sentenced me, those who promulgated the cruel apartheid laws nor the millions who, over the centuries, gloried in the power and privilege which segregation and apartheid bestowed on them.

We have won the war. We, the unknown millions, who have sacrificed so much over the centuries, have finally achieved our ultimate goal: a non-racial and democratic South Africa. We who have benefited from the suffering and sacrifices from those who made victory over apartheid possible must not now waste our energies and enthusiasm on soft targets which are of no benefit to the building of a proud, successful and prosperous South Africa.

I personally see the surviving apartheid structures such as sports fields, universities, courts of law, Parliament and Robben Island as symbols of our victory over apartheid. I can point them out to my descendants and explain to them the role they played during apartheid.

If my 86-year-old legs should carry me up to the Cecil John Rhodes statue, I will look up to it and quietly smile, because seeing the statue would evoke within me a sense of pride that I had made a small positive contribution to the defeat of colonialism, segregation and apartheid. If the statue is no longer there I’ll still smile, but I will miss it.

I end my letter with a quote from Ahmed Kathrada who spent 26 years in prison, 18 of which were on Robben Island.

“While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument of our hardship and suffering. We would want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil. A triumph of wisdom and largeness of spirit against small minds and pettiness. A triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness. A triumph of the new South Africa over the old.” EDDIE DANIELS Somerset West

WE HAVE been in discussions with multiple stakeholders on the matter of the Cecil John Rhodes statue. I have met the Senior Leadership Group of UCT, namely the deans, the executive directors, the deputy vice-chancellors and the directors of Institutional Planning, and the Transformation Office.

I am now in a position to confirm that the proposal I made earlier in my personal capacity – that the statue of Rhodes be removed from its current location – has been supported by all these constituencies, and that the Senior Leadership Group will make this proposal to the Senate on Friday; the PASS forum of professional and support staff tomorrow; the Institutional Forum; the University Assembly today; the Convocation meeting on April 7, and culminating in the special sitting of Council.

UCT is an argumentative university. This is an abiding strength: it shows our engagement with the issues of our times and our interest in ideas that matter. Undoubtedly the students are leading a national debate.

We have gone to great lengths to allow a free exchange of ideas on the issue of the statue. I urge us all to participate in this week’s programme of discussion and to remain respectful of the views of those with whom we differ. Yours sincerely, DR MAX PRICE Vice-Chancellor University of Cape Town

THE SACP Brian Bunting District is proud of student action at, in particular the campaign to achieve transformation at the university. The SACP supports this struggle and will seek ways to broaden it to its zenith. The students have certainly got the country talking about the persisting issues of racial discrimination and institutionalised racism at some of our universities.

We also commend a section of the white students on campus who have shown a deep understanding of the national democratic revolution by creating a forum for the discussion of white privilege. We commend the academic staff who have brought to the fore the sharp contradictions in their working lives.

We are, however, not surprised by the apologetic statements made by recently elected convocation president Professor Barney Pityana. Pityana behaves like a de facto vice-chancellor of UCT when he says: “The university authorities cannot be faulted for addressing the unlawful actions of the protesters. But it must never end there. A more intelligent engagement within the academic community must wrestle with the issues.”

We echo the words of Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande: “History cannot be swept under the carpet, but this does not mean that we should celebrate its most dubious and anti-democratic characters who used their ill-gotten power to promote bigotry and the subjugation of Africa’s indigenous people.”

The pace of transformation within the higher education sector has generally been slow. However, it is clear that UCT has been the hub of a hybrid of conservatism and neo-liberalism, and continues to promote policies which seek to undermine the current democratically elected government policies – an example being the proposed amendment of its admission policies. MASONWABE SOKOYI SACP Western Cape Provincial Spokesman