Students in limbo after fire

EMERGENCY: STUDIES, EXAMS ON HOLD AS UNIVERSITY STARTS COUNTING ITS LOSSES

‘At the moment the wind is too strong and it is not safe to fly the helicopters.’

University of Cape Town (UCT) students will be in limbo regarding studies and exams for some time as the university counts its losses from the devastating fire which swept through the Table Mountain National Park, burning cars and several buildings.

The fire had yet to be properly contained by last night.

Anton Bredell, the MEC for local government, environmental affairs and development planning in the Western Cape, said the South African National Defence Force was activated yesterday.

“At the moment, the wind is too strong and it is not safe to fly the helicopters. As soon as the weather permits, the Air Force will be in the air. The Oryx [helicopter] can carry a water payload of 2 000 litres,” Bredell said.

SANParks has estimated that 400 hectares of the park have been destroyed, while the City of Cape Town has reported eight structures have been damaged.

UCT spokesman Elijah Moholola confirmed all academic activities have been suspended.

He could not confirm the extent of the damage yet.

“The university has put emergency measures in place to respond to the fire on the Rondebosch campus on Sunday,” Moholola said.

He added this included the emergency accommodation arrangements for 4 000 students evacuated from their residences.

UCT student representative council president Declan Dyer has described the destroyed library as an enormous loss.

“Although it was one of the smaller in scale, it had special collections, particularly in the African Studies department,” he said.

Dyer described the library as incredibly important as it housed African history and pieces of art.

“Since the evacuation of residences on Sunday, students were moved to a central rendezvous point where they were placed on university shuttle buses and transferred to various campuses in town,” Dyer said.

Dyer said the students were then moved from the campuses to hotels, where they will be accommodated for the next few nights.

“All the compromised students were allocated in nine hotels.

“The numbers are, however, growing,” Dyer said.

“We are aware of damages. Manageable damages include a roof of one of the residences and a couple of rooms of another residence, but there is no clear indication yet.”

Dyer said students’ belongings were also damaged.