The Final Call

South African students protest British colonialist statue

By AP | Last updated: Mar 25, 2015 - 8:50:52 AM

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Students walk past a statue of British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes at the University of Cape Town near the city center of Cape Town, South Africa, March 17, 2015. Last week, protesters at the University of Cape Town tossed excrement on the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, arguing the monument is a tribute to the White domination of the past. Since then, student demonstrators have demanded removal of the statue and organized a “Rhodes must fall” campaign on social media. Photo: AP Wide World Photo

JOHANNESBURG - One of Africa’s leading universities is in tumult over a statue.

Protesters at South Africa’s University of Cape Town recently tossed excrement on a campus statue of British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes, calling the monument a tribute to the White domination of the past. Since then, student demonstrators have demanded removal of the statue and organized a “Rhodes must fall” campaign on social media.

Memories of racial conflict are fresh in South Africa, which shed White racist rule in 1994 after all-race elections.

Mr. Rhodes, who died in 1902, was the namesake of Rhodesia, which became Zimbabwe after independence in 1980. He bequeathed land on which the University of Cape Town was built.

Student leader Ramabina Mahapa criticized the university as “Eurocentric” on March 16 during a campus meeting chaired by Crain Soudien, a deputy vice-chancellor of the university.

“We, as Black students, as African students, need to be able to identify with the institution, Mr. Mahapa said. “Whose heritage are we preserving?”

Mr. Mahapa then led a walkout of students from the meeting.

The university has said it recognizes “divergent views” over the statue and that it is important to debate the matter. The dumping of excrement on the statue was “reprehensible and regrettable” and an investigation is underway, the university said in a statement.

“Rhodes’ imperialist and racist attitude to Africa causes much controversy and resentment today,” but the university would “probably not have come into existence in 1918” without his land donation, the university website says.

The statue, unveiled in 1934, depicts Mr. Rhodes in a seated position. After the excrement incident, protesters wrapped it in black garbage bags, which were later removed.

Trudi Makhaya, who studied as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, wrote in South Africa’s Business Day newspaper that Mr. Rhodes’ will was limited by the sexism and racism of his era, but its scholarship endowments revealed a man who recognized some universal virtues.

Ms. Makhaya wrote: “These contradictions, Rhodes the pillager and Rhodes the benefactor, are a symbol of our country’s evolution towards a yet to be attained just and inclusive order.”