A precious African-studies collection burns in Cape Town

THE VIEW from the steps of Sarah Baartman Hall at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is a reminder of the city’s natural beauty and difficult history. The shadow of Table Mountain looms over the neoclassical building, renamed in 2018 to commemorate Baartman, a Khoisan woman who in 1810 was shipped to Europe to appear in freak shows. She replaced Leander Starr Jameson, a lackey of Cecil Rhodes who staged a calamitous attempt to start a war on behalf of his patron. Until 2015 a statue of Rhodes stood at the bottom of the steps, gazing out at the Atlantic Ocean and the city he made his own, the headquarters of his southern African empire.