#RhodesMustFall

If you never saw or heard of #RhodesMustFall on Social Media or Newspapers or the grapevine then your only excuse is that you were not born until 2015. It was literally in your face, everywhere you go like MTN. When the campaign started in March 2015 at UCT, it went so viral that Oxford University joined the movement. Because of social media the movement that started as just UCT students trying to eliminate an element of the constitutional racism became an international battle against racism. The campaign for the removal of the statue received global attention and triggered a wider movement to decolonizeeducation in all of South Africa.

This in my opinion presents a very successful campaign but on UCT’s part it presents failure to contain a situation. Had UCT addressed the issue the moment it started, and opened dialogue with the protesting students, the issue wouldn’t have lingered for so long and it wouldn’t have had such a catastrophic impact.

The most interesting argument on this matter is the idea that the #RhodesMustFall campaign is an attempt to erase history, the same history that made us who we are today. The Rhodes statue is simply a symbol of where we come from. Why take town the monument instead of putting up a new one to symbolise where we are now? Years from now, someone may want to take down a statue of Nelson Mandela, goodluck stopping that because we took down Rhodes. The controversy surrounding this issue was quite thrilling.

Maybe UCT should have used social media to counter all the negative publicity by using the hashtag on twitter to provide information about its plans. This way, when people search for #RhodesMustFall they won’t only find the negative public opinion but also UCT’s side of the story which gives UCT some sort of control over the situation.

When journalists started covering the #RhodesMustFall story, UCT should’ve also given interviews so that media coverage is not only dependent on public opinion but rather a balanced view of both facts and opinions. Now that all of this information is out there, black people will be skeptical when applying to UCT because they fear being enrolled in an institution where they will fall victim to racism. In as much as it may be over now but people cannot take back or erase their statements therefore the dent on UCT’s reputation remains.