NHRA S 27 (18) Application for the permanent removal of the Statue of Cecil Rhodes and the demolition of the plinth: Erf 44201 Madiba Circle University of Cape Town.

Thank you for your interest in and contribution to the debates which have followed the University of Cape Town’s application to have the Rhodes statue permanently removed from its former position, together with the removal of the plinth in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act. You will recall that the statue was removed temporarily and is currently in storage.

We would like to provide you with information affecting the current heritage process.

A Heritage Statement and a Section 27(18) application for the removal of the Rhodes statue and the demolition of the plinth was undertaken by heritage consultant Mr Ashley Lillie and submitted to Heritage Western Cape (HWC) in November 2015. The draft Statement was circulated to I&APs for comment during a public consultation process undertaken by Chand Environmental Consultants (Chand). Comments were received and tabled.

Upon review of the Statement, HWC noted that aspects of the submission had not been adequately addressed and highlighted these recommendations in a letter to the Vice Chancellor, Dr Max Price, on 9th December 2015.

To address this concern, Melanie Attwell and Associates, assisted by Karin Strom, were commissioned by the University of Cape to undertake a Supplementary Study to address the outstanding heritage requirements. Their work, entitled Supplementary Report: Section 27(18) for the Permanent removal of the Rhodes Statue University of Cape Town was submitted to HWC on 6 th July 2016. This work does not replace the Heritage Statement and Section 27(18) Permit Application already submitted, but augments it.

It was also decided that UCT’s application would deal with the permanent removal of the statue and the demolition of the plinth only, and that the matter of a replacement site would be considered in due course, subject to the relevant statutory and policy requirements.

The matter was addressed at a meeting of the Built Environment and Landscape Committee (BELCom) on 28th September 2016. Pursuant to that meeting, on 3rd October 2016 HWC informed the University that their application would be tabled at BELCom on 31st October 2016. In terms of this, HWC requested that the University inform interested and affected parties of this decision and make available the Supplementary Report and associated documentation.

This information is available on the Chand website (click here to view) from noon on 7th October 2016.

Sincerely Prof Sandra Klopper Deputy Vice-Chancellor