WATCH | Malema suggests Rhodes University should be renamed to honour Steve Biko

Rhodes University

Cape Town — Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Julius Malema, has urged students at Rhodes University to fight to rename the institution after renowned anti-Apartheid Activist, Steve Biko.

Malema delivered a public lecture during Rhodes University’s Leadership Week on Security and Good Governance on Monday.

While the EFF leader touched on several current affairs issues throughout the country, he was also passionate about renaming Rhodes University to no longer be associated with Cecil John Rhodes, whom he described as the “most brutal coloniser”.

Malema said Rhodes was a racist and imperialist who would not have wanted black students at the university. He said many institutions were still named after brutal individuals who made lives difficult for African people.

He asked the learners if Grahamstown could change its name to Makhanda, then the university could do the same and pinpointed Biko as the perfect option.

“One of the people who has been a part of this institution is Steve Biko. Biko, who came to advance, during those NUSAS [National Union of South African Students] days, the argument of why certain white liberals cannot determine our destination, and argued that point from this Rhodes University,” he said.

“When you’ve got a figure like that not only associated with the struggles of the students at that time but equally having an association with the best part of our country, the Eastern Cape, what hesitates you from changing this university from Rhodes to Steve Biko University?” he said, to a round of applause.

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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