( CNN ) A South African university is celebrating the removal of a British colonialist 's statue after weeks of protests . University of Cape Town students took to social media to demand Cecil Rhodes ' statue come down , saying his legacy is tainted with racism . Using the hashtag # RhodesMustFall , students expressed their views in a campaign that started last month . Four weeks later , the hashtag is now # RhodesHas Fallen . The university said Wednesday the heritage authority granted it permission to remove the statue from the campus . `` These steps are being taken to ensure the safety of the statue while matters concerning its future are resolved , '' the university said in a statement . Rhodes ' statue was first unveiled in 1934 at the university , which also has a scholarship and memorial in his name . # RhodesMustFall gained attention after activists threw excrement on the statue in March . `` He represents the former colonial representation of this country -- supremacy , racism , misogyny , '' says Ramabina Mahapa , president of the students ' Representative Council , which led the fight to remove the statue . `` Students are saying these are n't the ideals that we want to have here , '' Mahapa says . `` The statue represents what is wrong with society . '' But in Pretoria , another group of protesters disagreed . `` This is n't confronting history , this is erasing it , '' says Steve Hofmeyr , a singer who participated in a campaign Thursday that involved activists chaining themselves to the Paul Kruger statue in response to # RhodesHasFallen . Days earlier , Kruger 's statue was pelted with green paint . The Afrikaner is known for his opposition to the British . Afrikaner groups also chained themselves to the statue of Dutch colonizer Jan van Riebeeck in Cape Town . `` I do n't want fewer monuments , '' Hofmeyr says . `` I want more monuments erected . But do n't defile the ones that exist -- we are the sum total of all the history , not just the fun parts . '' Mahapa said removing a statue should n't be equated with removing history . `` People down the years will be looking at the statue and at his history and what he did , '' Mahapa says . `` We need to be moving toward becoming an Afrocentric university where African thought can be appreciated . '' Hofmeyr said the statue is a race issue . `` There are huge gaping differences between people in South Africa and that is why you need dialogue , which you ca n't have without its monuments and statues , '' he says . Students marked the removal of Rhodes ' statue with a celebratory march . They held signs that said `` we 're not done yet . '' With the statue removed , some asked what 's next for the movement .
Cape Town students demand RhodesMustFall statue come down . They use the hashtag # RhodesMustFall . School takes it down .