The Daily Vox
On the morning of 18 April 2021, a fire started near Rhodes Memorial, Devil’s Peak in Table Mountain National Park. Driven by strong winds, it reached the University of Cape Town?s (UCT) Rondebosch campus. The building worst affected by the fire was the Jagger Reading Room, which was home to the significant African Studies Collection, which was started in 1953.
The full extent of the loss is not known. The images weâve seen give us some idea of the devastation. The executive director of the UCT Libraries, Ujala Satgoor has confirmed that the reading room of the Jagger Library is âguttedâ but luckily the fire detection system in place triggered the fire shutters which prevented the spread of the fire to other parts of the library.Â