Slave set to replace colonial warrior at the heart of UCT

After humiliation that lasted for almost two centuries‚ Sarah Bartmann could soon be honoured by the University of Cape Town.

The university’s prominent Jameson Memorial Hall could be named after the so-called “Hottentot Venus” by the end of the year.

Royston Pillay‚ secretary to the UCT council‚ said in a statement that the renaming initiative started in 2015‚ and in the interim the building — scene of graduations and other large communal events — is called simply Memorial Hall.

The motivation submitted to the naming of buildings committee hinges on the inhumane treatment of the enslaved Khoi woman when she was taken to Europe in 1814 for exhibition.

“Sarah’s story is a victory over colonialism‚ is a reminder that she suffered as black woman‚ a poor woman and because she was a woman‚” the motivation reads.

“The story of Sarah Bartmann needs to be told over and over again because there are so many lessons in it. Having a building named after her‚ especially a university building‚ can enhance our truth and reconciliation.

“Slave history in Cape Town is characterised by a multiplicity of silences‚ erasures and contradictions in how certain narratives are made visible or hypervisible. The various monuments and statues at the campus and in UCT generally reflect contradictions.”

Jameson Hall is named after Cecil Rhodes’ right-hand man‚ Leander Starr Jameson‚ after whom the infamous Jameson Raid is named. In 1895‚ Jameson assembled a private army in an attempt to overthrow the Boer government‚ but was forced to surrender just short of Johannesburg.

The motivation says: “As a victim of colonial science exploits‚ Sarah Bartmann’s is a good counter position to the mercenary and perpetrator of colonial crimes‚ Jameson.

“Older names of buildings on UCT campuses are those of men who were involved in colonial exploits. New names have also often been those of men. It has become part of the South African landscape to come [across] buildings‚ streets and townships named after Mandela‚ Biko and Joe Slovo.”

Bartmann‚ 20 at the time‚ was taken to London by British ship surgeon William Dunlop‚ and paraded as a sexual freak. Her owner moved her to France in 1814 and sold her to an animal trainer‚ but she died of disease and homesickness a year later.

She was dissected and a plaster cast made of her body was displayed in the Musée de l’Homme from 1816 until 1986.

Baartman’s remains were returned to South Africa in 2006 after a series of interventions‚ including one by Nelson Mandela‚ and buried in the Gamtoos Valley near Hankey‚ in the Eastern Cape‚ where she was born.

The UCT council has called on members of the university community to comment on the new name by November 10.

“It is hoped that council will be in a position to decide the matter by the end of this year‚” said Pillay.