Students support the appointment of Archie Mafeje

Date: 14 Aug 1968
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Students support the appointment of Archie Mafeje

More than 200 students at the University of Cape Town (UCT) embarked on a "sit in" to protest against government intervention that forced the university to rescind on its appointment of Archie Mafeje (a Black academic) as senior lecturer in the Department of African Studies at the UCT. Over 1000 students and staff later joined this protest and demanded cessation of government intervention regarding university appointments. Students at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Rhodes and Natal also joined the protests. Wits students took the matter further by marching to the Union Buildings to hand in their letter of protest. University of Pretoria students attacked Wits marchers, preventing them from reaching the Union Buildings.

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How we know this

01Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds)(1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood. South African History Online, Archie Mafeje, [online], Available at www.sahistory.org.za,[Accessed: 20 August 2013]
02University of Cape Town, The Mafeje Affair, [online], Available at www.uct.ac.za, [Accessed: 20 August 2013] Hirson, S.B. Year of Fire, Year of Ash, p. 69

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Students support the appointment of Archie Mafeje. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012106

South African History Online (2011) 'Students support the appointment of Archie Mafeje', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012106 (Accessed: 21 July 2026).

South African History Online, Students support the appointment of Archie Mafeje [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012106, (accessed 21 July 2026).

"Students support the appointment of Archie Mafeje." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012106. Accessed 21 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Students support the appointment of Archie Mafeje." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012106.