The University of Cape Town has reviewed and approved a recommendation of the Naming of Buildings Committee to change the name of Smuts Hall, the student residence on the upper campus.
“This decision of Council takes immediate effect in that the name Smuts Hall will be removed from the residence and in the interim the name “Upper Campus Residence” will be used until such time that the process of determining a new name is formally concluded,” the University said in a statement.
Student body representatives held demonstrations outside of the university on Monday after three months of requesting a name change.
UCT council chairperson, Babalwa Ngonyama said: “The utter pain and anguish at the time of the decision to remove the Rhodes statue from campus was significant.
“We have as a campus moved closer to a community that can speak with one another, can acknowledge the complexities of the past but honour its gifts, can engage each other to come to new names of campus spaces that we feel is more representative of our current values and who we are as an inclusive collective”, she concluded.
Smuts was a controversial political negotiator, a military leader and the former prime minister of the Union of South Africa. The UCT SRC president, Decland Dyer agreed to the decision made by the council.
“This is a decision we welcome. We of course note there was a demonstration at the residence and (which) covered the bust of Smuts and covered the former residences’ name,” he said.
Dyer sees the action as symbolic and supports the movement 100% as Smuts cannot be celebrated on the university campus at all. The renaming marks a new future and also shows how far the institution has come since the #RhodesMustFall movement.
Picture: Cape {town} Etc gallery