From the Chair of Council
IRTC final report released
20 March 2019 | From the Chair’s Desk
Dear members of the campus community
On Monday night, 18 March 2019, the Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission (IRTC) met with the IRTC Steering Committee and released its final report.
The IRTC was set up following student protests of 2015 and 2016 and formed part of the 6 November 2016 agreement. The commission was mandated to look into “institutional culture and practices, including decolonisation and any that entail unjust discrimination, domination or violence including sexual violence” and to make relevant recommendations in this regard, in particular in relation to “institutional culture, transformation, disability and any other matters which the university community has raised over the years or may wish to raise”.
The IRTC was also requested to deal with the issue of amnesty for those students who were granted clemency by the university, and to make recommendations on how to deal with the outstanding cases in the spirit of restorative justice. The commission commenced its work in February 2018.
A second IRTC Steering Committee meeting will be held on Friday, 22 March, during which members of the committee will discuss the report’s recommendations and develop initial consensus on which of these the committee will recommend to Council. The IRTC Steering Committee will, over the next three months, continue to engage with its constituencies and make a final recommendation to the June meeting of UCT’s Council.
Sincerely
Sipho M Pityana
Chair of UCT Council
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Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission (IRTC)
The Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission (IRTC) Steering Committee was established as a result of a period of unprecedented tension at the University of Cape Town (UCT) at the end of 2016. The creation of the multi-stakeholder steering committee that will oversee the proposed IRTC was one of the resolutions made in the 6 November 2016 agreement, which effectively brought the waves of continuing protest at the university to a halt.
The agreement, which was signed between the UCT executive and protesting student groups, paved the way for the establishment of the IRTC, whose aims are to
- consider all Shackville-related protests of 2016, including disciplinary procedures and interdicts
- invite submissions from all constituencies on clemencies that were granted and decide whether clemency should be turned into amnesty
- make recommendations on how the university should deal with pending cases and other such matters in the future
- make recommendations on institutional culture, transformation, decolonisation, discrimination, identity, disability and any other matters that the university community has raised over the past 18 months, or may wish to raise in the future.
The IRTC’s objective is to map an inclusive and fair course for the university as it tackles the legacy of the so-called Shackville protests and to focus on the issues that have caused division on our university campus.
Read IRTC documents:
- Read the 6 November agreement
- Read the declaration by students seeking clemency
- Read the FAQ about the agreement
- Read the criteria and process for nominating commissioners - List of Steering Committee Members
- Names of the IRTC Steering Committee members
- Email addresses of the IRTC Steering Committee members
- See the announcement of the IRTC Commissioners
- IRTC Final Report
A summary and analysis of the Terms of Reference are given in Chapter 2, starting on page 7
Feedback and responses to the IRTC report:
IRTC Final Report
Statements by the IRTC
Latest news
Reports from the Steering Committee Chair
2018 IRTC Steering Committee meetings
2017 IRTC Steering Committee meetings