Another UCT building is ‘occupied’

Although the Cecil John Rhodes statue has been removed, the Rhodes Must Fall movement and University of Cape Town (UCT) management are at loggerheads again.

The Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) movement has been occupying Avenue House, a UCT building, for the past three weeks.

According to Chumani Maxwele, the student who flung human faeces at the statue in protest, leading to the formation of RMF, they were occupying the building because university management had failed to deliver the promised assigned space for the group.

“Our activities have nothing to do with interrupting the business of this university. Our activity is about bringing change,” Maxwele said.

The Rhodes Must Fall group has renamed the building Azania House. This was after the group abandoned their occupation of UCT’s administration block, Bremner Building, because of the promise of a designated space for the RMF, its members say.

Gerda Kruger, executive director of UCT’s communications and marketing department, said: “We continue to monitor the situation and to attempt to resolve it urgently.

“We have offered the RMF movement a dedicated space. We are engaging those students and consistently trying to bring them to the table.”

According to Maxwele, the group requires a space for organisation and education.

“We are actively involved in curriculum change.”

He added that the occupation was motivated by the group’s call for more tangible transformation. “We had demands that were not met,” Maxwele said.

These include changing the names of buildings named after colonists, the appointment of black South African professors and curriculum changes.

Maxwele added that, as part of the agreement for the group to leave Bremner, management promised no disciplinary action would be taken against students in RMF. But, he said, management has threatened to take disciplinary action against students who entered the UCT Council meeting on April 8.

We have offered the RMF movement a dedicated space Gerda Kruger Executive director of UCT communication and marketing department