UCT hopes students will be permanently back at residences by next week

The University of Cape Town aims to see the permanent return of students to their respective residences by late next week. About 4000 students were evacuated due to the devastating fire on Table Mountain earlier this week which spread and affected parts of the campus.

The students are currently being accommodated in nearly 30 hotels in the Mother City. They are also receiving meals three times a day thanks to donations which have been pouring in from the public.

Several thousand students who were evacuated from the University of Cape Town (UCT) due to a raging mountain fire are…

Posted by SABC News Western Cape on Wednesday, 21 April 2021

Some students were able to return to their residences on Thursday while those at Fuller and Smuts Hall residences could only collect more of their belongings and will then be moved to another temporary accommodation as their residences were affected by the fire.

First-year student, Siyabonga Nhlapo, says the whole experience has been quite traumatic and is concerned about his sentimental belongings which he might not be able to replace.

“I don’t know the state of my personal belongings and what I’m most worried about is all my belongings that have sentimental value to me, something like my mother’s pictures and my father’s pictures, something that is very close to heart for me because it’s just those little things that you can’t replace.”

The rush for some UCT students to retrieve their personal belongings following a fire which spread to campus from Table…

Posted by SABC News Western Cape on Thursday, 22 April 2021

Cape Town fires | Evacuated UCT students begin returning to their residences: