Relief as displaced students return to residences

30 April 2021 | Story Nadia Krige. Read time 9 min.
UCT students said that they are happy to be back on campus. <b>Photo</b> Jean Claude Nsabimana.
UCT students said that they are happy to be back on campus. Photo Jean Claude Nsabimana.

A palpable sense of relief seemed to permeate the air on Thursday, 22 April, as University of Cape Town (UCT) students who had been evacuated during last week’s wildfire returned to their residences.

Shortly after evacuation, the displaced students were taken to emergency accommodation sites. While most were put up in more than 20 hotels across the city, others were taken in by friends and family members. Following thorough safety checks and cleaning operations to remove residual ash from the rooms and communal areas, most residences were given the all-clear to welcome students back on Thursday.

Smuts Hall and Fuller Hall on upper campus were, however, damaged in the fire and have been unable to reopen. Students were allowed back inside on Thursday to collect their belongings before returning to their temporary accommodation sites.

 

“I felt like the storm was over.”

“I felt like the storm was over,” said Dr Rethabile Possa-Mogoera, the warden of Fuller Hall and the head of UCTʼs African Languages and Literatures section. “I am so happy they have been able to get their things.

“Only one room has been affected badly,” she said. “Other than that, our alarm system has burned and some of our windows are broken due to the heat. This could have been worse when you see how [badly burned] the trees and plants surrounding the building are.”

The student whose room was badly damaged lost her bedding, books, fridge, kettle and food, but fortunately her wardrobe – where she had left her laptop – was untouched. Dr Memory Muturiki, the director of the Student Wellness Service (SWS), was present to support her when she returned to her room.

Stress and worry at Fuller

Fuller Hall resident Eileen Sibanda recalled being terrified and confused when the call to evacuate came. “I did not know what to grab and what to leave behind. I was really afraid that we would not make it out in time.”

She left all her study materials in her room and didn’t know whether she would find them in one piece upon return. “As a result, I could not study the whole time, which is not good.”

Cara-Mia Bester, a first-year student, shared a similar experience: “For the past four days, I haven't been able to do any course work. I was very worried and stressed about my belongings and what the next move will be.

“There was a lot of exaggeration on social media about the degree of damage to Fuller Hall, which did not help the situation.”

Bester said that although the circumstances were terrible, she has been overwhelmed with support from friends, family members and even strangers.

Warm welcome

At other residences across campus, warm welcomes awaited returning students as they arrived by Jammie Shuttle in COVID-19 compliant groups.

Brightly coloured “Welcome home” banners decorated entrances while friendly staff members performed health checks and made sure everyone was safe and comfortable.

“This morning, my team and I painted a banner and put it up in front at the main gate,” said Carmencita Kerchhoff, the residence facilities and COVID-19 compliance officer at Forest Hill. “And when our students started arriving, we were there to welcome them and say that we’re so glad they’re safe.”

Students leaving Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! Cape Town, one of the temporary accommodation sites, to return to campus. Photos Jean Claude Nsabimana.

At Carinus, students were received by front desk assistant Luci Cupido and handyman Wilson Pieterse. While Cupido greeted each one with a “Welcome home, my dear”, Pieterse handed out complementary bottles of hand sanitiser.

“I missed them and was worried about them,” he said.

Kopano warden Associate Professor Sure Mataramvura said he was grateful the students had been evacuated and were able to return to their residence safely.

“In a disaster, things are never 100% smooth, but I really appreciate what UCT has been doing,” he said. “It was quite a challenging situation, but we did our best.”

With cheerful chatter ringing through the corridors of Carinus, groups of friends relaxing outside Kopano and an energetic group of Forest Hill residents celebrating their return with a game of basketball, it was clear that students were settling right back in.

Not, however, without a measure of wistfulness about having to leave behind the luxuries of hotel life.

Mixed feelings

“In some ways it’s quite sad, because we obviously enjoyed staying in the hotel; it was something new,” said Deepika Mabeer, a fourth-year medical student and subwarden at Carinus. “But it is a relief to get back to work.”

To the amusement of his friends, Kopano resident Siphuvuyo Mnxunyeni said: “Well, I’m not happy to be back, I won’t lie. I was living the soft life, so it’s a pity that all came to an end. But at the same time, business had to be done, because we’re here to study.”

Students from Fuller Hall and Smuts Hall residences on upper campus came back to pack their belongings as they move out to alternative accommodation. The residences will be repaired following fire and water damage as a result of the Table Mountain fire and the rescue efforts that followed. Photos Lerato Maduna.

Bongani Chauke from University House wasted no time in getting back to practising his lay-ups and dunks on the basketball court at Forest Hill.

“The hotels were great. I wouldn’t mind being there one more day, but it’s good to be back,” he said. “I can’t wait to get back to studying, because I need to finish this term successfully and I also missed playing basketball a lot. That’s why I’m back here again on the first day!”

While they had enjoyed the “soft life”, most students reported having difficulty focusing in the unfamiliar setting, which was aggravated by a general feeling of uncertainty and unease.

“It was a nice experience, but you can’t really enjoy it because you’re also worried about what happened on campus and the fire,” said Ezile Msinga, a student residing at Carinus.

Melusi Gumbi from neighbouring Clarendon House said, “It was difficult to adjust because you’re always waiting for the next announcement to find out what happens next. You’re always alert, so you can’t really focus.”

Call for re-evaluation of evacuation procedures

Overall, the students seem to have taken the upheaval in their stride and are aware of the various structures – including the SWS – that they can rely on for support.

“Chatting to the students as they returned, what stood out to me was that a lot of them focused on what to be thankful for,” said Kerchhoff.

While the students are grateful to be safe, a few felt that the evacuation process didn’t happen as smoothly as it should have.

“I feel like [it] was very disorganised,” said Kaamila Sissing, a second-year Forest Hill resident. “Fire is something that has always been a threat and [the evacuation] should have been better structured. Even though we do fire drills, there was no lining up, no checking who’s here and who’s not.”

Bester said: “The fact that I am alive is enough reason not to be negative about the situation, but I do feel that UCT should have had a better plan of action for situations like these. I also feel that they took too long before they started evacuation at Fuller and Smuts.”

Both Sissing and Bester feel that the emergency measures that are in place need to be evaluated.

In the meantime, SWS is at the ready to support students dealing with anxiety and trauma. Bookings for counselling can be made made online or via email (sws@uct.ac.za).

Following the recent wildfire that affected several UCT buildings, the university will conduct an immediate audit of all its emergency evacuation procedures and readiness policies, and guidelines and practices for each residence. This will include a representative sample of statements from directly affected students. This audit will be conducted by UCT’s Occupational Health and Safety department, and will help UCT better plan for a variety of emergencies in the future where evacuation might be required.

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Please view the republishing articles page for more information.


#UCTFire – one year later

Jagger Library Memorial Exhibition opens on 20 April 2022

The Centre for Curating the Archive, in association with Michaelis Galleries (UCT) and UCT Libraries will stage a memorial exhibition marking the one-year anniversary of the tragic Jagger Library fire at the Michaelis Galleries. The exhibition will open to the public on Wednesday, 20 April 2022.

Campus communications


 

Updates on Campus Fire

 

Campus communications



News and videos



Memories of Jagger Library – stories from the UCT community



Content submitted by members of the UCT community has been published with little to no editorial intervention from UCT News.

#UCTFire – stories from the UCT community



Content submitted by members of the UCT community has been published with little to no editorial intervention from UCT News. 

 

In an email to UCT students, Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said:
“Thank you for your patience as we seek ways to return to full academic activity at the University of Cape Town under COVID-19 regulations. Our first priority is to ensure the health and safety of everyone who needs to return to campus buildings.”

UCT is deeply grateful to all the donors who supplied food and other essential items for our students, and to everyone who has so generously offered other forms of support and assistance.

Everyone who would like to support the #UCTFire emergency relief fund is urged to please make financial donations to UCT through the UCT Alumni Ways to Give web page.

Donations can also be made by EFT using the details below:
Account name: UCT Donations Account
Bank: Standard Bank of South Africa
Branch code: Rondebosch Branch, 025009
Account number: 07 152 2387
Swift code: SBZAZAJJ
Please include your donor name if you so wish, as well as the reference for your donation, e.g. Name Surname, #UCTFire.

Messages of support


Cengage EMEA 17:00, 7 June 2021
Ricardo de Sao Joao 16:00, 17 May 2021
J.P. Morgan 10:00, 17 May 2021
Unilever Southern Africa 16:10, 6 May 2021
Iziko Museums of South Africa 16:20, 5 May 2021
Sciences Po, France 10:05, 4 May 2021
The University of Tokyo 09:00, 30 April 2021
McCall MacBain Foundation 16:00, 29 April 2021
Stephen Toope, Chair of IARU 23:50, 27 April 2021
Mazi Asset Management 21:00, 27 April 2021
The National Archives (UK) 17:40, 27 April 2021
Universiteit Antwerpen 16:20, 26 April 2021
Yale University 21:15, 23 April 2021
SOAS University of London 17:00, 23 April 2021
University of Nairobi 15:45, 23 April 2021
Zhejiang University 12:05, 23 April 2021
University of Glasgow 11:20, 23 April 2021
Durham University 18:20, 22 April 2021
Sanlam Corporate Team 16:00, 22 April 2021
MANCOSA 16:00, 22 April 2021
Mastercard Foundation 13:30, 22 April 2021
National Research Foundation 09:05, 22 April 2021
Taylor & Francis 08:20, 22 April 2021
McGill University, Canada 21:35, 21 April 2021
Wild Bean Café 19:50, 21 April 2021
Worldwide Universities Network 19:10, 21 April 2021
University of Groningen 13:35, 21 April 2021
National University of Lesotho 11:00, 21 April 2021
Google South Africa 10:35, 21 April 2021
Chinese Ambassador Chen Xiaodong 09:00, 21 April 2021
George Whitefield College 08:40, 21 April 2021
Virginia Tech 02:00, 21 April 2021
University of Southampton 18:10, 20 April 2021
University of the Free State 17:25, 20 April 2021
KU Leuven 15:45, 20 April 2021
Northwestern University 15:45, 20 April 2021
Council on Higher Education 14:00, 20 April 2021
Times Higher Education 11:45, 20 April 2021
Regent Business School 11:15, 20 April 2021
Professor Crain Soudien 09:05, 20 April 2021
University of the Western Cape 09:00, 20 April 2021
Bishop Tshalo Katshunga 07:30, 20 April 2021
National Library of France 20:50, 19 April 2021
Thabo Mbheki Foundation 20:00, 19 April 2021
Stellenbosch University 19:10, 19 April 2021
Chinese Embassy in South Africa 17:20, 19 April 2021
University of Hull 17:00, 19 April 2021
University of Copenhagen 13:25, 19 April 2021
Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies 13:10, 19 April 2021
Mastercard Foundation 10:50, 19 April 2021
Stellenbosch University 09:20, 19 April 2021
Minister Blade Nzimande 09:15, 19 April 2021
Committee on Higher Education 09:10, 19 April 2021
University of the Witwatersrand 09:05, 19 April 2021
University of Pretoria 09:00, 19 April 2021

 

TOP