UCT campaign victory in sight + a personal take on the long haul

There are no quick victories but today we feel victorious!

Dear friends, 

Tuesday was a special day for the #FossilFreeUCT campaign! Led by UCT students from the Green Campus Initiative and Climate Justice Charter movement, we staged a protest to put pressure on the recently launched UPRI – the university’s panel on responsible investment – to make a strong case to the UCT council in favour of divestment. Our memorandum of demands was received by UPRI chair, Professor Tom Moultrie. UCT students then staged a die-in before making their way up to upper campus where they engaged with the Vice-Chancellor and other students. You can read all about that in the Daily Maverick, and may even have heard us being interviewed later on Cape Talk. James Granelli, one of the GCI students, had an oped on UCT and divestment published in the Mail & Guardian.

But that’s not all that happened yesterday. Two years ago, when we won our second vote in favour of divestment at Convocation, it felt like our cause was of little interest to the university. But now, we believe we have their full attention. It is to the credit of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, that we also had the opportunity on Tuesday to make an in-depth presentation on climate and divestment to members of UCT’s leadership corps, including some members of Council, and she gave us full credit during that event for holding UCT accountable on this issue. 

The fundamental argument we made in that presentation (pdf) is that South Africa, a country that is facing the full brunt of the climate crisis with a confused, contradictory and inadequate policy response, is desperately short of high-profile leadership on climate, a void we believe UCT can and must help fill with an unequivocally science- and human rights-based approach: comprehensive divestment from fossil fuels, while advocating for a just transition for the workers and communities who are being betrayed by their mostly unprincipled corporate masters in the SA coal and gas industries.
 

"Today I am happy to say that I think we will eventually win this campaign, and that the victory will run far deeper than if it had come sooner."

It’s now eight years since we started lobbying the University of Cape Town to divest from fossil fuels. To be honest, I don’t know if I would have helped kick off this campaign if I’d known just how long a haul it would be. But today, I am happy to say that I think we will eventually win this campaign, and that the victory will run far deeper than if it had come sooner. 

We are excited at the prospects of divestment at UCT gaining momentum, but we will not stop until UCT has fully divested from climate breaking fossil fuels! The true measure of success will be when the money starts moving. Frustratingly, the UPRI will only make recommendations on divestment to the UCT Council in September. We are considering how to keep up the pressure. The students are impatient, rightly so.

I am sure we still face setback and disappointments. And, we know, divestment is by no means a universal panacea. We’re now getting to the paradoxically brilliant moment where people no longer say “divestment: that’s crazy”, but “that’s not enough”. And they’re right. But divestment, we believe, leads to conversations and commitments that open up many more possibilities. It’s not just about the money. It never has been.
 

If you would like to show your support for our UCT campaign, please email the UPRI at upri-group@uct.ac.za by THIS FRIDAY, 14 May, latest, to state your support for UCT divesting from fossil fuels.

Please stay with us on this journey, long and hard as it is. If you would like to show your support for our UCT campaign, please email the UPRI at upri-group@uct.ac.za by THIS FRIDAY, 14 May, latest, to state your support for UCT divesting from fossil fuels.

Also, please don’t forget our other ongoing campaign to get SA asset managers to offer fossil-free funds. Share it now with your friends.

I’d really also like to thank Sarah Robyn Farrell, our quietly passionate, persistent and amazing communications officer, who did much of the coordination for Tuesday's event and ensured we got the public’s attention. We’re very fortunate indeed to have her on our team. 

As always, get in touch at any time.

best wishes,

David, Sarah, and the Fossil Free SA team