WATCH | UCT counting the cost after fire guts library

Firefighters battle flames engulfing the University of Cape Town library and the Special Collections library on Sunday. The runaway blaze, which started on Table Mountain, also engulfed the Rhodes Memorial restaurant and Mostert Mill, which was built in 1796 and was the oldest surviving working windmill in SA.
Image: REUTERS/ MIKE HUTCHINGS

University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng says it’s too early to estimate the loss the institution has suffered after a fire that gutted parts of the upper campus.

This comes after a blaze which started on Sunday around Rhodes Memorial swept through the area before reaching the UCT campus.

Cleanup operations started on Monday.

“It pains us to see what it looks like now in ashes,” Phakang said.

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The vice-chancellor was joined by Western Cape premier Alan Winde and Cape Town mayor Dan Plato to assess the damage.

“The Pearson building, the Smuts, the Fuller building and of course the Jagger library, that's where the huge damage is,” she said.

More than 4,000 students were evacuated from campus after the fires reached the university.

The campus is expected to reopen on Wednesday April 21.

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