Colonialist statues are a mote in varsity students’ eyes

By Victoria John, Kwanele Sosibo —

Waves of pickets, protest marches and sleep-ins have swept the campuses of South African universities since the beginning of March.

Students at universities, such as Cape Town (UCT) and Rhodes, want transformation in higher education. They want Eurocentrism to be wiped off campuses.

They are demanding that the names of physical structures and their curriculum reflect black African culture. 

They have had public debates, meetings with university management and have fervently used traditional and social media to promote their cause. Their demands have spread to city streets where regular citizens in Port Elizabeth and Pretoria also want colonial-era statues there removed.

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