"Cecil John Rhodes Statue must fall", SACP Brian Bunting District
The SACP Brian Bunting District is proud of student action at the University of Cape Town (UCT), in particular the campaign to achieve transformation at the university. The SACP supports this struggle and will seek ways to broaden it to its zenith. The students have certainly made the country talking on the persisting issues of racial discrimination and institutionalised racism at some of our universities.
We also commend a section of the white students on campus who have shown a deep understanding of the National Democratic Revolution by creating a forum for the discussion of white privilege. We commend the academic staff who have brought to the fore the sharp contradictions in their working lives.
We are, however, not surprised by the apologetic statements made by recently-elected convocation president Professor Barney Pityana. Pityana behaves like a de facto Vice Chancellor of UCT when he says "The university authorities cannot be faulted for addressing the unlawful actions of the protesters. But it must never end there. A more intelligent engagement within the academic community (our emphasis) must wrestle with the issues."
We echo the words by the Minister of higher education Dr Blade Nzimande when he said "History cannot be swept under the carpet, but this does not mean that we should celebrate its most dubious and anti-democratic characters who used their ill-gotten power to promote bigotry and the subjugation of Africa's indigenous people".
Indeed the pace of transformation within the higher education sector has generally been slow. However, it is clear that UCT has been the hub of a hybrid of conservatism and neoliberalism, and continues to promote policies which seek to undermine the current democratically elected government policies - an example being the proposed amendment of its admission policies.
Statement issued by Masonwabe Sokoyi, SACP Brian Bunting District (Cape Town), March 24 2015
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