On Friday 25 May 2018, Africa Day 2018, the new optical robotic 0.65-m telescope MeerLICHT was inaugurated in Sutherland by the Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology, Dr Phil Mjwara. UCT Astronomy is a founding member of the MeerLICHT consortium.

The MeerLICHT consortium is a partnership between Radboud University Nijmegen, the University of Cape Town, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), the University of Oxford, the University of Manchester and the University of Amsterdam, in association with the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), the European Research Council and the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA).