JAN SMUTS BUST FALLS AT UCT
IN ANOTHER historic moment for the decolonial project at UCT, the Jan Smuts bust has been removed from campus.
UCT student activists have hailed the removal of the bust, saying they will continue to ensure that colonial heritage was not “celebrated and shoved in their faces”.
Resembling the events leading to the removal of the Rhodes statue from UCT six years ago, students belonging to the EFF Student Command (EFFSC) defaced and covered the Smuts bust with plastic bags on Monday, saying black students could no longer be made to see the face of their oppressor.
This after the council deliberated and approved a recommendation of the Naming of Buildings Committee to change the name of the Smuts Hall residence.
The interim name for the men's residence would be changed to Upper Campus Residence until the process of determining a new name was formally concluded, council said.
Students, however, said the university was taking its time on the issue, and took matters into their own hands by covering the bust. A day later, the statue was removed from campus on Wednesday.
UCT EFFSC chairperson Mila Zibi said they could not have a situation in a transformative university, where “racist colonial” figures like Jan Smuts were honoured.
“The student's are happy that UCT no longer venerates a racist man like Jan Smuts, this goes some way toward decolonisation and transformation. This may not change the economic plight of black people and black students, but symbolically, it has a lot of positive effects on us black students.
“As the EFFSC, we are proud and will continue to ensure that colonial heritage is not celebrated and shoved in our faces by the so-called number one university in Africa,” he said.
UCT student representative council (SRC) president Declan Dyer echoed the same sentiments, saying Smuts was a racist and a strong advocate for segregation who had no place being honoured on their campus.
“Jan Smuts, a racist and strong advocate for segregation, believed that black people of South Africa are ‘child-like' with ‘no desire to improve themselves'.
“Such an individual has no place being honoured on our campus. Equally, we must be very clear that the renaming of Smuts Hall is not a rewriting of history, but is staying true to a history that showed us that Jan Smuts was an unashamed racist,” Dyer said.
UCT referred the Cape Times to a statement on Monday, where council chairperson, Babalwa Ngonyama, said the utter pain and anguish at the time
of the decision to remove the Rhodes statue from campus was “significant”.
“We have as a campus moved closer to a community that can speak with one another, can acknowledge the complexities of the past but honour its gifts, can engage each
other to come to new names of campus spaces that we feel is more representative of our current values and who we are as an inclusive collective. While we have varied perspectives and diverse backgrounds and opinions, we are able to see and collectively forge a more inclusive future and shared identity,” she said.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said the fall of the statue was symbolic and part of a deeper conversation about the meaning of the statues, and the significant way the country was navigating the history behind it.
Good party secretary-general Brett Herron said landscapes, including campuses, were overwhelmingly dominated by names and memorials that tell a “distorted and one-sided story” of history.
“We must embrace a memorialisation culture that removes offensive icons and diversifies those who are honoured. Building an inclusive society, including an inclusive university community, is priceless,” he said.