University still assessing destruction after devastating fire

Volumes of African literature, including archives of the liberation struggle history and the mid-19th century Cape San people, hosted at the iconic African Studies Library, as well as several historical buildings have been destroyed by raging fires which engulfed the University of Cape Town (UCT) and parts of Table Mountain in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

About 4,000 students were evacuated from residences on 18 April and placed at temporary accommodation sites across the city as the fire, which is believed to have started on the slopes of Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak, spread rapidly to the Rhodes Memorial before reaching UCT’s upper campus in Rondebosch.

While the full extent of the damage to the affected UCT buildings and their content is still being determined, environmental group Parkscape told the news channel eNCA that authorities were warned repeatedly about the significant fire risk in Cape Town.

South Africa’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr Blade Nzimande, expressed dismay at the destruction of the material associated with the country’s history during the blaze.

Assessing the destruction

Nzimande said he was saddened by the fact that the fire destroyed, among others, the iconic African Studies Library and UCT’s upper campus where boarding students reside.

Of particular concern, he said, was the destruction of the African National Congress archives and record of the underground publications which formed part of the most extensive library collection on the liberation movement (and now the ruling party in South Africa) in the world.

“This library is also the repository of the Bleek and Lloyd collection of recorded stories and notebooks of their engagement with the /Xam and !Kun Cape San people of the mid-19th century, as well as original copies of pioneering isiXhosa newspapers like Imvo ZabaNtsundu, among others,” said Nzimande.

The university also spelled out the importance of the collection of material destroyed. One of the buildings gutted was the Jagger Reading Room which, it said, formed part of the UCT Libraries’ Special Collections made up of printed and audiovisual material on African studies and a wide range of specialised subjects.

This includes more than 1,300 sub-collections of unique manuscripts and personal papers. The collection of books and pamphlets exceeds 85,000 items on African studies alone, and the collection on African film is among the most extensive in the world, with more than 3,000 films available for viewing and research.

The Jagger Reading Room (previously the JW Jagger Library) was built in the 1930s and named after one of UCT Libraries’ main benefactors. Initially, the building served as the university’s main library, and later as a short-loans centre, before officially becoming the African Studies Library’s reading room.

While a mapping exercise has identified destroyed materials, UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola told University World News that a full assessment of this destruction will take place once the building is declared safe and staff are permitted on site.

A list will eventually be made available once donors and owners of collections entrusted to UCT Libraries are informed.

Classes to resume

Mop-up operations began after the devastating blaze was extinguished.

UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said that, due to the damage, the process to reopen buildings affected would take longer.

“The special collections, the Biological Sciences facilities housed in the Pearson Building and the upper campus residences are particular areas of concern. But we are looking for ways to mitigate the impact of these losses on the academic project,” said Phakeng.

On 18 April Phakeng suspended the academic programme until Friday 23 April to allow for an assessment of the damage and to clean residences and academic buildings.

The academic programme will resume on Monday 26 April. The faculties will each manage the lost week in terms of the curriculum and will communicate with their students about scheduled tests and assignments, said the vice-chancellor.

As the effects of the fire emerged, the humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers prepared meals for students from financial services company Old Mutual’s offices in Pinelands.

Once meals had been prepared, they were distributed to the various accommodation sites. The necessary arrangements have also been made to cater for Muslim students, observing the month-long fast of Ramadan.

UCT said it was grateful to all the donors who have supplied food and other essential items for students and everyone who has come forward so generously to provide support and assistance.

Nzimande also asked Higher Health, a branch of the department of higher education and training involved in health, wellness and development agencies, to work with other emergency relief agencies to offer students debriefing support and that Higher Health’s mobile clinic and psychologists support the UCT in-house team for psychosocial services in order to further support students.

Professor Tawana Kupe, the vice-chancellor of the University of Pretoria (UP), said: “On behalf of UP, I would like to remind the UCT community that you are not alone in your efforts to recover from this disaster.”

He called on all UP alumni, especially those who are in the vicinity of UCT, to offer their support.