The University of the Western Cape has distanced itself from a tweet posted by a student representative, stating that Rhodes Memorial must “burn to the ground”, and seemingly agreeing with another person who called on students to fan the flames with petrol.
They were commenting on the wildfire that’s been raging on Table Mountain for two days which started at the Rhodes Memorial.
The student, Bulumko Mpambani, tweeted: “Let it burn to the ground.”
He was commenting on a tweet from Zanokuhle Mayaphi, a former student taking a gap year, who posted: “Rhodes Memorial must burn to the ground. This is not just fire, but a cleansing process. Colonial rot has no place in society. Let it burn. Students must assist with petrol and paraffin to make sure the step that nature has taken is quickened.”
When approached for comment, Mayaphi remained unapologetic and said: “Cecil John Rhodes was a land invader, thug, and coloniser that deemed black people to be subhumans and not worthy of any independence and dignity.
“It cannot be that in a democratic South Africa we still have monuments of people responsible for black genocide and land dispossession of Africans.”
He said it was unfortunate the fire spread to UCT.
UWC spokesman Gasant Abarder says: “The offending post was reported to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Development and Support and it was since deleted by the member of the SRC.
“As a community of universities, UWC, UCT, University of Stellenbosch and CPUT enjoy a collaborative and cooperative relationship and assist each other whenever we can – especially in times of crisis.”
UCT spokesperson, Elijah Moholola, says the university has noted the “deeply distressing” comments and have been assured by UWC that these do not represent the views of the university.
“We are also aware that UWC is attending to the matter through their internal channels.”