OH dear, but the situation at the University of Cape Town is apparently far worse than previously supposed. This week it was reported that bouts of severe respiratory problems were further bedevilling a campus already deep in turmoil.
"We can no longer breathe," students' representative council president Ramabina Mahapa declared as he stormed out a seminar on transformation on Monday. "The winds of change are blowing through UCT."
That may well be, but as far as we're concerned, here at the Mahogany Ridge, it is not the South-Easter or even the North-Wester that is the problem, but - obviously - that sculpture at the bottom of the Jameson steps overlooking the sports fields.
It has, as we all well know, been smeared with human faeces. Then it was covered in black plastic bags. But all to no avail. The statue of Cecil John Rhodes continues to exert a powerful malevolence over staff and students alike and seemingly squeeze the very life from their lungs.
Clearly something must be done. But what?
The clamour to have it removed grows ever more shrill. The Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande, has now joined the fray. Like many others, he believes it should be carted away and "stored in a museum". Yet others, like UCT vice-chancellor Max Price, believe it should be relocated on campus.