Some University of Cape Town (UCT) students are rushing to retrieve their personal belongings following a fire which spread to campus from Table Mountain.
Students who reside at Fuller and Smuts Hall residences will have to collect their belongings and will be moved to another temporary accommodation as the fire has affected their residences.
First-year student, Siyabonga Nhlapo, says the experience has been traumatic.
“I don’t know the state of my personal belongings and the thing that I am most worried about is all my belongings that have sentimental value to me, something like my mothers pictures and my father’s pictures something that is very close to my heart because it’s just those little things that you can’t replace,” Nhlapo says.
Evacuated UCT students begin returning to their residences:
The fire gutted buildings and the library on campus. The students are receiving meals three times a day, thanks to donations which have been pouring in from the public.
Yesterday, the SRC also urged South Africans to donate laptops, toiletries and stationery.
The university’s academic programme is expected to resume next week. It was suspended in the wake of the fire.
Gallery of the fire and destruction below:
