Cape Town - University of Cape Town students, belonging to the Rhodes Must Fall Movement, on Tuesday called on President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to admit they were complicit in the killing of miners during the Marikana massacre in 2012.
“Our position has always been clear,” said movement member Alex Hotz, “Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa, you have blood on your hands.”
Hotz added that it was an “abomination” that Zuma and Ramaphosa had not been implicated in the massacre at the Lonmin mine. Hotz said Zuma, Ramaphosa, and UCT, as investors at the mine, were all equally to blame.
The movement - which gained recognition through its successful lobbying for the removal of the Cecil John Rhodes statue on UCT’s upper campus - had called a press briefing on Tuesday to announce its latest campaign to call on the university to cut ties with mining company Lonmin. The briefing came after art collective, Tokolos Stencils, chose UCT as its latest location for “Remember Marikana” protest art, alleging the university was an investor in the mining company and was thus complicit in the deaths of the miners.
The Rhodes Must Fall Movement echoed Tokolos’ call for university management to explain why they chose to invest in Lonmin. They further demanded that the university make its financial records public and commit to a transparent investment process.
On Monday, UCT spokeswoman Pat Lucas confirmed that Lonmin - previously called Lonrho for London Rhodes - was one the university’s investments into the resource sector
She also confirmed Judge Ian Farlam, who chaired the commission of inquiry into the Marikana massacre, sat on the council. Lucas insisted it was not a conflict of interest as Farlam did not oversee investments.
ANA