UNESCO Regional Director Visits Cape Town fire’s affected areas

 On Tuesday, 11 May 2021, the UNESCO Regional Director for Southern Africa, Professor Hubert Gijzen visited the University of Cape Town to access the damage that the Table Mountain fire that broke out last month has caused. He was joined by the chairperson of the South African commission of UNESCO Professor Ihron Rendsburg and UCT Vice Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng.

The fires that started on the slopes of Table Mountain affected and destroyed several buildings on the campus of the University of Cape Town these included the African Studies department of the Jagger Library.

The university has made lots of progress on restoring the historical pieces and collections damaged in the fire and along with UNESCO, they will aim to digitize all of the collections. According to Professor Ihron Rendsburg, the digitization process has 2 strands, the contemporary strand and the historical strand. He noted that contemporary pieces/collections (pieces 50 years and younger), will be quicker and easier to digitize than the older, more historical collections.

Professor Hubert Gijzen noted that in digitizing these collections, it would make it easier to share with the world and would be made accessible to more people.

According to UCT Vice chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, the construction on the buildings affected by the fire is aimed at being completed by the end of July. The construction on some of the buildings are temporarily on hold so as to not disturb students preparing for exams, but will continue during the June holidays.

Prof. Phakeng says that 48% of students are still living in hotels as their rooms have been destroyed by the fire but will return as soon as construction has been completed. SanParks has provided office space made available to students and staff to separate them from the construction sites.

 

By Danielle Mentoor