Update on activities, Friday, 21 October 2016

Dear colleagues and students

This is an update on recent events at the University of Cape Town.

Suspicious objects found on upper campus

Yesterday a number of suspicious-looking bottles were found in a manhole on upper campus. The bottles held some liquid, and a lighter was also discovered with them. The contents of the bottles were investigated, but no evidence of flamable liquid was found.

Another suspicious-looking bottle was found overnight behind the Computer Science Building. The contents are currently being investigated.

The UCT executive treats incidents such as these very seriously and investigates them fully as the safety of staff and students is paramount.

Protest movements on campus

Today Campus Protection Services (CPS) reported that groups of students were moving from residence to residence and into a number of buildings on middle and upper campus. The groups of protesters are being monitored by both the South African Police Service (SAPS) and CPS.

Exam update

The university acknowledges the statement of the Students' Representative Council (SRC) on 20 October 2016 with regards to the academic programme and examinations. The SRC's statement is not the official position of the university.

Examinations at UCT are scheduled to commence on 7 November 2016. The exam timetable has already been released to students. It will also be possible for students to defer the 2016 exams to January 2017. This will include options to defer the full set of exams to January 2017, as well as the option to defer individual course exams. The details of the deferred exam arrangements will be released in the next few days.

Communication and Marketing Department