5/17/2023 0 Comments Vox walkout![]() ![]() This dialogue was meant to be a way for the university to do just that. Over the past week, students have said that the university has not engaged with them on transformation. It had been planned last year in order to address issues of transformation on campus. It would be sending the signal to students as if they didn’t do what they did here, that we’re not hearing them and we’re not engaging with them,†she said. €œWe can’t proceed because the very people who we are wanting to engage with have left. Judy Favish, UCT’s director of institutional planning, agreed. €œIt would be incredibly disrespectful to a major body of people to attempt to continue right now,†said Titlestad. Those who were left in the room were asked to come up with a consensus. Once they were gone, Soudien calmly revealed that the university had expected a demonstration from students, but was now unsure of whether or not to continue the seminar. On their way out, the students brushed past vice chancellor Max Price, who stood rubbing at his forehead until it turned red. At the front of the lecture theatre, Soudien could only stand and watch as they left. Effectively, the SRC and its #RhodesMustFall followers were gatvol. The walkout had been an orchestrated move, designed to show UCT’s management that the students would not engage with them on transformation and heritage until a date has been set for the removal of Rhodes’s statue. With a final shout of “Amandla!†he led students out. Mahapa concluded his speech, saying that he would not participate in the dialogue, owing to the university’s refusal to acknowledge the issues students had raised. “Sons and daughters of Africa, who are the keepers of your memory, the guardians of your souls?†€œFor too long the narrative of this institution has silenced the voices of the non-white student,†Mahapa said, as he read from a prepared speech. ![]() Soudien, who balked at the hands that were raised in front of him, consulting the panel and it was agreed that Mahapa could take the lead. But Titlestad never got to speak.Ĭrain Soudien, the deputy vice-chancellor of transformation and chair of the meeting, was barely halfway through his welcome address when students interrupted him and demanded that Mahapa be allowed to speak first. ![]() Nick Shepherd from UCT’s Centre of African Studies and historian Owen Kinahan rounded out the panel. Mahapa had been scheduled to speak after Sally Titlestad, a heritage consultant. Those who remained all seemed to be asking: “What now?†RA’EESA PATHER reports. The students took their protest outside, leaving surprised staff and management behind. Ramabina Mahapa, the president of the University of Cape Town’s Student Representative Council, had just led a walkout from a seminar that was meant to unite the SRC and university management in a dialogue about heritage, symbolism, and signage on campus. It was the moment when everything fell apart. ![]()
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