Rhodes must stay: Statue of Cecil Rhodes will not be pulled down by Oxford college until next year at the earliest
- Oriel College said last month they wanted the statue to be removed
- It set up Independent Commission of Inquiry to look into the monument
- Now commission says it will take until 2021 to complete findings
- It means the statue will stay there until then in move sure to anger campaigners
A statue of Cecil Rhodes an Oxford college said they wanted to remove say it will stay there until at least 2021.
The governing body of Oriel College “expressed their wish” to take down the statue of the British imperialist last month following a reignited campaign for it to be taken down.
But an Independent Commission of Inquiry, set up by the college, say it will take at least five months to finish it’s findings.
Oxford University’s Independent Commission of Inquiry says the statue will stay until 2021
It says until then no further action will be taken.
Carole Souter, Master of St Cross College and chairwoman of the Commission, said: “I would like to express my personal gratitude, and that of the governing body of Oriel College, to all of the new commissioners for agreeing to undertake this timely and important work.
“Each of them has already made a significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge, access and diversity within their relevant sphere of expertise, and I look forward to chairing their discussions on how the Rhodes legacy can best inform the future of Oriel College.”
Broadcaster Zeinab Badawi, former Conservative shadow culture secretary Peter Ainsworth and Oriel College’s alumni advisory committee chairman Geoffrey Austin will sit on the inquiry group into the statue and associated issues.
The board had wanted to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes and King Edward Street Plaque
A statue of Cecil Rhodes, top centre stands mounted on the facade of Oriel College in Oxford
The Independent Commission, while noting the governing body’s wish to see the Rhodes statue removed, has licence to consider a full range of options.
A public notice will be posted near the statue with details of the Commission and how people can contribute their views.
Written and oral submissions will be requested, and it is intended that some oral evidence sessions will be held in public.
It comes after a long-running campaign demanding the removal of the Rhodes statue gained renewed attention amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
In 2016, Oriel College decided to keep the controversial statue in place following a consultation despite protests from campaigners.
Critics argue Rhodes paved the way for the apartheid in southern Africa, and raise issue with his time as leader of the Cape Colony, from 1890 to 1896, when government restricted black Africans’ rights by increasing the financial criteria people required in order to vote.
Demonstrators marched through the streets of Oxford last month as senior administrators met to discuss the future of the Rhodes sculpture.
The board decided they want to remove the statue, along with the King Edward Street Plaque, but said the independent commission into the statue had to be set up before any action is taken.
The college said in a statement in June: ‘The Governing Body of Oriel College has today voted to launch an independent Commission of Inquiry into the key issues surrounding the Rhodes statue.
Protesters in Oxford for the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes yesterday. Oriel College opened its Rhodes Building in 1911 after receiving a £100,000 from the former student, who died in 1902
‘They also expressed their wish to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes and the King Edward Street Plaque. This is what they intend to convey to the Independent Commission of Inquiry.
‘Both of these decisions were reached after a thoughtful period of debate and reflection and with the full awareness of the impact these decisions are likely to have in Britain and around the world.
‘The Commission will deal with the issue of the Rhodes legacy and how to improve access and attendance of BAME undergraduate, graduate students and faculty, together with a review of how the college’s 21st Century commitment to diversity can sit more easily with its past.’
Oriel College opened its Rhodes Building in 1911 after receiving a £100,000 from the former student, who died in 1902.
Who was Cecil Rhodes and why is he so controversial?
Cecil Rhodes, pictured, who died in 1902, was the founder of the De Beers diamond company who was accused of exploiting his black miners. He was also a proponent of racial segregation which led to the Apartheid strategy in South Africa
Cecil Rhodes was born in Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire in 1853. He was the son of a vicar.
Rhodes left England in 1870 for South Africa to work on his brother’s cotton farm. Though he later moved into the diamond business – co-founding De Beers – which at one stage controlled more than 90 per cent of the world’s supply.
The tycoon had wanted to build a railway from Cairo to Cape Town in order to colonise much of the continent of Africa.
He had even plans to bring the United States back under Crown control.
It wasn’t until the 1880s that he attended Oriel College, Oxford, which he left a substantial fund upon his death in 1902.
He was supported by Queen Victoria in expanding British territory in southern Africa, colonising Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia – now Zambia and Zimbabwe.
He once claimed: ‘Why should we not form a secret society with but one object, the furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the whole world under British rule, for the recovery of the United States, for making the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire?’
He was the Prime Minister of Cape Colony – now South Africa – between 1890 and 1896 and is credited with creating the conditions for the second Boer War.
In 1895, Rhodes sent British troops into Transvaal, which was an independent Republic, in order to overthrow it’s prime minister Paul Kruger and seize the area’s gold mines.
The Jameson Raid failed miserably.
Though, the battle over gold rights in the region led to war in 1899, which lasted for more than three years.
British troops operated a scorched earth policy, burning farms and placing women and children into concentration camps where thousands died.
Some 500,000 troops – including soldiers from Australia, New Zealand and Canada were involved in the conflict.
The conflict claimed the lives of 25,000 Afrikaners – many of them in concentration camps.
Some 22,000 British troops as well as a further 12,000 Africans died in the conflict.