Did an arch imperialist “donate” the land upon which Africa’s top-rated university was built?
Prof Howard Phillips‚ an emeritus professor of history at the University of Cape Town (UCT)‚ says Cecil John Rhodes did not directly donate the prime land on which the institution stands.
Much has been said about Rhodes’s estate in light of the successful student-led campaign to have his statue removed from the university’s campus.
Prof Phillips‚ who has written a history of UCT from 1918 to 1948‚ says Rhodes wanted the land on his Groote Schuur Estate to be used for a South African university that would be established to serve the country-to-be.
“It was to be an institution where the young men of both ‘races’ — in Rhodes’s time this meant the English and Afrikaner ‘races’ — would get to know each other and so form a foundation for a united‚ white SA‚” he says.
The existing university colleges refused to give up their independence and be absorbed into this single university on Rhodes’s estate for £500‚000‚ which was donated by two of his former partners. Eventually the SA College in Orange Street offered to take the money and land‚ and move to the Groote Schuur Estate‚ where it would become a university in its own right.
“In the absence of any other takers‚ its offer was accepted and it became UCT in 1918. It moved from Orange Street to the Groote Schuur Estate in 1928-29‚ though not without sharp criticism from the then Transvaal that ‘Cape Town got the boodle‚ or in other words‚ it got away with the swag’‚” Prof Phillips says.
Rhodes wanted his estate to be used only for education and any buildings constructed there had to be in keeping with the style of his Groote Schuur homestead‚ the professor says.
On how the controversial Rhodes statue came about‚ Prof Phillips says that‚ drawing on funds left over from the construction of the Rhodes Memorial in 1911‚ a number of Rhodes’s friends and admirers offered to donate a statue of him to UCT in 1931.
Although the university’s council readily accepted the offer‚ its senate said the council “should consider fully whether it was advisable to erect statues in the university grounds“.
“However‚ the council ignored the suggestion and the … statue was erected just above the Summer House in 1934. There it remained until 1962‚ when road widening caused it to be moved higher up campus … where it stood until … (its removal)‚” Prof Phillips says.
Rhodes’s role in starting UCT traced
Did an arch imperialist “donate” the land upon which Africa’s top-rated university was built?
Prof Howard Phillips‚ an emeritus professor of history at the University of Cape Town (UCT)‚ says Cecil John Rhodes did not directly donate the prime land on which the institution stands.
Much has been said about Rhodes’s estate in light of the successful student-led campaign to have his statue removed from the university’s campus.
Prof Phillips‚ who has written a history of UCT from 1918 to 1948‚ says Rhodes wanted the land on his Groote Schuur Estate to be used for a South African university that would be established to serve the country-to-be.
“It was to be an institution where the young men of both ‘races’ — in Rhodes’s time this meant the English and Afrikaner ‘races’ — would get to know each other and so form a foundation for a united‚ white SA‚” he says.
The existing university colleges refused to give up their independence and be absorbed into this single university on Rhodes’s estate for £500‚000‚ which was donated by two of his former partners. Eventually the SA College in Orange Street offered to take the money and land‚ and move to the Groote Schuur Estate‚ where it would become a university in its own right.
“In the absence of any other takers‚ its offer was accepted and it became UCT in 1918. It moved from Orange Street to the Groote Schuur Estate in 1928-29‚ though not without sharp criticism from the then Transvaal that ‘Cape Town got the boodle‚ or in other words‚ it got away with the swag’‚” Prof Phillips says.
Rhodes wanted his estate to be used only for education and any buildings constructed there had to be in keeping with the style of his Groote Schuur homestead‚ the professor says.
On how the controversial Rhodes statue came about‚ Prof Phillips says that‚ drawing on funds left over from the construction of the Rhodes Memorial in 1911‚ a number of Rhodes’s friends and admirers offered to donate a statue of him to UCT in 1931.
Although the university’s council readily accepted the offer‚ its senate said the council “should consider fully whether it was advisable to erect statues in the university grounds“.
“However‚ the council ignored the suggestion and the … statue was erected just above the Summer House in 1934. There it remained until 1962‚ when road widening caused it to be moved higher up campus … where it stood until … (its removal)‚” Prof Phillips says.
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