South Africa’s oldest university is still deteriorating

Over the past decade a growing number of voices have spoken about the declining standards at the University of Cape Town (UCT), a shrinking tolerance for open debate, and a general erosion in academic and institutional quality. Or as some call it, “slop”.

In his book The Fall of the University of Cape Town, David Benatar says that UCT has shifted from academic independence to ideological conformity, characterised by racialised politics, administrative capitulation, and self-censorship. According to Benatar, affirmative-action policies and activist pressure have eroded meritocracy and incentivised managerial appeasement rather than academic leadership.

Similar concerns have been raised by Professor Timothy Crowe. He says that political activism, identity-based pressures, and ideological campaigns, particularly from groups like the Black Academic Caucus (BAC) and student activists aligned with the Economic Freedom Fighters Student Command (EFF-SC), have increasingly shaped university governance, curriculum, and research priorities.

He argues that this has undermined the traditional mechanisms of evidence-based debate and peer-reviewed academic inquiry that historically underpinned UCT’s reputation. High-profile cases, such as the forced resignation of Professor Anton Fagan, illustrate the consequences of these pressures on individual academics and the broader culture. Crowe contends that a focus on identity, ideology, and activism now often takes precedence over merit and scholarly achievement.

In December 2024, Richard Wilkinson and I visited the University of Cape Town. After our visit Richard published photographs documenting visible building decay: broken windows, shattered tiles, peeling walls, damaged ceilings, and other signs of neglect. The visit prompted a BusinessTech article titled South Africa’s oldest university deteriorating in front of everyone’s eyes, which discussed the situation. From my knowledge, UCT acknowledged the state of decay.

Yesterday I returned to assess whether conditions had improved. Aside from the removal of the broken tiles, little appears to have changed and on some buildings the decay has worsened. Much of the Upper Campus of South Africa’s oldest university remains in the same condition. The photographs below illustrate this.

The question is why this is happening, and whether the the obvious decay reveals to a deeper problem. Richard Wilkinson argues that the deterioration is a direct legacy of Fallism (think back to 2016). This point makes me consider the role that former vice-chancellor Dr. Max Price played in Fallism. For those interested in read more about the role of Price please read Richards articles Regarding the University of Cape Town: Richard Wilkinson’s response to Dr Max Price published in 2024.

How much of this is connected to the replacing of standards with so-called “transformation”? Perhaps the targets for 2026 is evidence of a university that is replacing standards with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and in the process creating slop.