Phakeng: Rhodes Must Fall movement triggered important discussions on colonialism
As the University of Cape Town (UCT) commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Rhodes Must Fall student movement, a former UCT vice-chancellor has likened the movement to the uprising of 1976.
FILE: A statue of British coloniser Cecil John Rhodes is covered in plastic bags as part of a protest by students and staff of the University of Cape Town (UCT) on 20 March 2015. Picture: Rodger BOSCH/AFP
CAPE TOWN - As the University of Cape Town (UCT) commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Rhodes Must Fall student movement, a former UCT vice-chancellor has likened the movement to the uprising of 1976.
On 9 March 2015, Chumani Mxwele, a UCT student at the time, threw human excrement at the Cecil John Rhodes statue at UCT's campus as an act of protest against institutionalised racism and lack of transformation since apartheid.
His actions sparked a watershed moment in the country's student politics, giving birth to similar nationwide movements like Fees Must Fall, which called for the decolonisation of the country's higher education and free education.
After a month of protest, the university decided to remove the statue from its campus.
Former UCT vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said student movements like the Rhodes Must Fall movement not only triggered important discussions, but also worldwide protests against colonialism.
Phakeng, who was instrumental in launching the #RhodesMustFall Scholarship Fund and lecture, said the aim was to promote dialogue around issues raised by the students, and to support postgraduate students doing research in the analysis of the movement.
"I felt that was important to open up because shouting at each other across the picket lines is not productive and it led to divisions in the university, in the country, that still stand today. So, I felt that the #RhodesMustFall annual lecture and the #RhodesMustFall Scholarship was a moment where we can start finding each other again."
Phakeng said Wednesday’s commemoration should serve as a reminder of how future leaders and new ideas were born.