Chumani Maxwele emptied a bucket of excrement over the Rhodes’ sculpture on the UCT campus, South Africa. Picture: David Ritchie
On March 09, 2015, a student named Chumani Maxwele staged a political protest on the campus of the University of Cape Town in South Africa. His choice of protest site – the statue of Cecil John Rhodes at the foot of the Jameson stairs – and his medium – human excrement – were meant to cause maximum offense. They were meant to inflame university authorities, confront students, and incite the public.
The sculpture of Rhodes is a monument embodying the colonial dispossession and oppression of Africans. A representation of white supremacy, racism and imperialism. An anachronism from a past era.
Very few South Africans will have any sympathy for Rhodes – a British Victorian mining magnate and ardent advocate of colonialism, who gave his name to Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) and who was responsible for the beginnings of enforced racial segregation policies in South Africa.
In his 1877 "confession of faith", Rhodes wrote: "I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race".
Still, Rhodes donated his fortune to establish UCT. Aware of this history, protesters called for the statue’s removal with a well-organized #Rhodesmustfall campaign, arguing that the tertiary institution should become “more African”. Some even called for his remains to be exhumed and sent back to the UK.
A student wears a sticker calling for the removal of a statue of Cecil John Rhodes from the campus of the University of Cape Town. Photograph: Mike Hutchings/Reuters
Sure, South Africa have a responsibility to redress previous injustices, but must we edit and distort history?
Couldn’t Rhodes serve as a useful reminder that the past belongs to the past? And that he is no longer relevant in today’s world? Like it or not, he is a part of South African history – and removing a symbol of the past is not going to change the present nor the future.
But it is not just about getting rid of Rhodes’ statue.
The poo protest may be staged by one student but his aggrievement was not misplaced. There was a deep-seated dissatisfaction. It suggests the university has not transformed enough. It suggests unhappiness about student admissions, the university curriculum, academic appointments, little or no focus on African philosophies and perspectives and I suspect, many other equally pertinent issues. And I am sure the discontentment is shared by many others.
And because the University of Cape Town is South Africa's – and Africa's – highest-rated university in global rankings, Maxwele’s act of protest and the subsequent calls for change will have implications across the higher education system as a whole. And why limit to only academic institutions?
The same amount of energy that has been used to campaign for #Rhodesmustfall can be put into championing real change and faster transformation. The country would be better off if South Africans demonstrate the courage to confront the critical issues facing the country: poverty, crime, corruption, education.
In this respect, South Africa is not very much different from Malaysia.
Last evening, I was at the Malaysian Insititute of Accountants office in Jalan Tun Sambanthan 3 in KL’s Brickfields to deliver my CC speech #9 at the MIA Toastmasters meeting. My dedicated evaluator, Haji Hashim Adnan was there for me and he gave me good feedback. I was similarly pleased with my speech and no doubt, I shouldn’t be surprised that I was voted Best Speaker.
Having said that, yesterday’s meeting was really excellent – the Table Topics, the speeches and the evaluations were all exceptional. Unfortunately, we started twenty-two minutes late although we did make a supreme effort to make up for lost time. I am giving this meeting a 5.5 over 10 score.
