The way forward to completing the 2016 academic year
Released: 15:45, 6 October 2016
6 October 2016
Dear colleagues and students
As you are all no doubt aware, the University of Cape Town is closed for the remainder of this week. This is an unfortunate decision that the university executive took in light of an environment that clearly is not conducive to teaching and learning. The executive had hoped to keep the university open by increasing the presence of security. It is clear, however, that this was having the opposite effect. Conflict intensified, resulting in an increasingly polarised university community.
We reported to the community on the situation at the Steve Biko Students’ Union building on Tuesday evening, 4 October 2016. Since that communication, reports have reached us that the behaviour by some members of the private security company who were present that evening escalated the violence or added to the conflict, or that they acted with unnecessary force. I have arranged for this to be investigated immediately.
With the prevailing conditions on campus, not only is the academic project itself seriously compromised but we also risk creating scars, which will imperil healing in the future. We must find a way out of this impasse and we must strive to overcome the deep divisions that presently characterise our institution.
The overwhelming consensus emerging is that we need to embark immediately on a process of mediation through an Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission (IRTC).