Witsies dominate at South Point hosted sports day.

WITS students outshone their peers when student accommodation provider, South Point, hosted its annual sports day on August 26-27 at the Wits Digs fields on West Campus.

Sibusiso Nkosi, a Wits Varsity football player, finished the two-day tournament as the highest goal scorer on four goals and one assist. While the netball tournament was dominated by team Van Der Stel (VDS) whose players we made up of eight Witsies. The girls brushed aside all their opponents convincingly winning all their games leading to a hard-fought victory in the final against a stubborn Diamond House.

The tournament was hosted by South Point incorporating 15 student accommodation buildings in the Braamfontein area. The accommodation provider houses students from different institutions hence bragging rights were at stake for all institutions being represented.

The competition was structured as an inter-building tournament between all 15 South Point buildings in the Braamfontein area as well as an additional four South Point buildings from Pretoria, Kincora, Luxor, Fairmont and Van Der Stel Pretoria.

Kick-off was on a freezing cold Saturday morning and from the onset, Nkosi playing for Epozini made his intentions to help lift the trophy for his team known. The winger only came in as a substitute in the second half of his team’s game against Geldenhuys. He left defenders in awe of his foot work as he weaved through them to score three goals for his team helping them win 4-1.

This stellar performance from the Wits Varsity player continued as he again made the difference in their semi-final game against KSI, scoring a goal which was later judged to be offside. They went on to lose the game but Nkosi ended the tournament as the highest goal scorer.

In the netball tournament, the VDS team coached by Wits BA General student Noxolo Khabanyana, dominated the proceedings, convincingly winning all their games on their way to the final. The final was however a different affair for the dominant team as they came face to face with Diamond House who gave them a run for the R5 000 first prize. The game was decided in extra time with VDS’s eight Wits players proving that their clean sweep to the final wasn’t a fluke.

VDS was the eventual winner for the netball tournament while ReIyant won first prize in the football tournament. The winners walked away with R5 000 prizes for each team and had their team names engraved into the respective trophies.

*Juniour Khumalo is a WitsVuvuzela student and is a resident assistant at South Point.

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Meet this week’s cool kid on campus.

ZUKOLWENKOSI GORDON JR. ZIKALALA is currently completing his Master of Arts in African Literature, and boats of numerous academic achievements having graduated Cum Laude twice (both in his Bachelor of Arts undergraduate and honours studies). He is also a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and the recipient for the National Research Foundation Chair in ‘Local Histories and Present Realities’ Bursary.

Not satisfied with these accomplishments, the 23-year-old has recently added another accolade to his already illustrious profile, that being the title of author. Following in the footsteps of his mentor, gender activist and award-winning author Professor of African Literature, Pumla Gqola, Zikalala recently published his first short story My Body Remembers: A War cry.

Creating awareness on queer identities and stories, the short story was published as part of the Queer Africa 2 anthology. The collection was launched earlier this year, and is still to be launched in various countries on the continent and abroad.

Zikalala’s story in particular represents the range of human emotions and experiences that exist in the lives of Africans and those of the diaspora who identify along the line of the sexual orientation spectrum in African. Centred in these stories and in their attendant relationships is humanity. Therefore, the 23-year-old showcases his artistry in storytelling in a thought-provoking and delightful manner.

The cherry on top for Zikalala’s latest achievement has been his opportunity to get his work edited by renowned poet Makhosazana Xaba, who did her MA in Creative Writing from Wits.

Zikalala said that is latest short story is currently his most favourite, “that and knowing the lyrics to Cardi B’s Bodak Yellow”.

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There is a new cool kid on the block, so look no further. Twenty-three-year old Callan Abrahams is a third year BSc Economics and Mathematics student, activist, maths geek, and entrepreneur.

Abrahams is the founder of WakeUp ShakeUp SA, an organization that is aimed at changing negative mindsets of young people, with campaigns about maths, entrepreneurial education, and motivational speaking.

“Maths to me is a language, it allows you to look at a problem and alternative ways to solve it, while also applying critical thinking,” she said.

Working with young people and children is something close to Abraham’s heart. “I love teaching, talking, empowering young people. I also love seeing young kids learning and enjoying their childhood,” she said.

Abrahams says it is the small victories that inspire her, making reference to “seeing young kids faces light up after having assisted them” or the “oh, wow moments we get from helping others”.

She believes that confidence and fear of failure are serious issues for many young people, which prevent them from doing great things. She added that, “We need to create a platform to tell our stories, we need to assess the skills we have and what we can make out of them… there’s a lot of great things we can do.”

In her spare time she enjoys going out, hiking, reading, watching YouTube videos on start-ups, culture and psychology.

Abrahams says she hopes to employ and empower more young people. She added that WakeUp ShakeUp SA hopes to assist in providing real economic solutions to the private sector, public sector, and society at large by making use of educational and technological tools.

“We also want to create sustainable opportunities for youth employment,” she said.

Students and staff from the University of Zululand visited Wits to learn from the Disability Awareness Week.

Wits University’s reputation for catering to students with disabilities attracted students and staff from the University of Zululand to the annual Wits Disability Awareness Week, which was held from August 29 to September 1.

The four-day programme, which is designed to improve social integration of students with disabilities, was organised by the Wits Disability Rights Unit and the Disability Awareness Movement (DAM), a student-run society.

According to DAM’s vice-chairperson, Anna Chrysostomou, “Disability Awareness Week is about trying to get the message of inclusion out to the greater Wits community. The entire purpose is to get people involved and to demonstrate that people with disabilities aren’t as far removed as we are sometimes inclined to believe.

“I feel a lot of the time the greater Wits community doesn’t really interact with students with disabilities, so it’s important to get people to see the efforts students with disabilities have to make in their daily life on campus” said Chrysostomou.

According to Kwesela Chaebwa, former chairperson of the Society of Students with Disabilities at the University of Zululand, “We looked for institutions that cater well for students with disabilities and Wits was top of the list. We came to benchmark at Wits and look at how they cater for students with disabilities, so that we can introduce the strategies they have implemented.”

Dr Anlia Pretorius, head of the Disability Rights Unit, said that the unit is well-established as a department, which has been historically successful in raising awareness surrounding the issues of students with disabilities. “Wits Disability Rights Unit is known as one of the best Disability Rights Units in South Africa.

“I always say, support for students with disabilities is part of the Wits culture and fabric, but there is always room for improvement,” she said.

The week included a variety of events, such as a lecture on nutrition for individuals with disabilities and a panel discussion around integration and accessibility. The main event was a blind walk challenge hosted on September 1.

The challenge aimed to simulate the experiences of visually impaired students. Participants were blindfolded and walked from the Disability Rights Unit, on the first floor of Solomon Mahlangu House, to the piazza in front of the Great Hall.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Tawana Kupe participated in the challenge and told Wits Vuvuzela that it is important for individuals with decision-making power to participate and become aware of issues facing disabled students. “It teaches you quite a lot about what obstacles and lack of mobility people who are partially sighted or completely blind experience, something we take for granted,” said Kupe.

The programme was open to all Wits students and staff. It also included learners from high schools, such as Prinshof School for the Blind in Pretoria. According to Pretorius, “This can inspire and motivate the learners to work hard to get into university and to achieve their dreams.”

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A report accuses the pair of “inappropriate behavior” during the trip, from which “the rest of the students felt prejudiced in various ways.”

A WITS PROFESSOR from the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies is under investigation for allegedly having a romantic relationship with a student.

The alleged relationship first came to light when some students reported the matter on July 4, 2016 to the science faculty, the Gender Equity Office (GEO) and the Transformation Office. The students had noticed something amiss during a field trip between June 10 and 29 last year.

One of the students who reported the matter, but asked not to be named, told Wits Vuvuzela that, “I had also heard rumours about it [relationship]. We then spoke to her [the woman who is alleged to be in the relationship with the lecturer] casually about it because we didn’t feel comfortable,” she said.

After the alleged relationship was reported, the student said that she experienced a hostile atmosphere in the department. “He [the lecturer] was off with the class because she was there and it was extremely tense in the department,” she told Wits Vuvuzela. “I didn’t enjoy class as much as I used to, I felt scared as it was such a sticky situation.”

Head of School, Professor Fethi Ahmed would not discuss the case with Wits Vuvuzela, only saying, “The matter that you would like to discuss has been dealt with by Wits Legal Office. As the investigation is not complete. I suggest that you either wait for the outcomes/results of the investigation or speak to the investigation team [Wits Legal office],” Prof Ahmed said.

The communications office said, “The Vice-Chancellor’s Office is aware of the matter and a full investigation is currently underway. Once the investigation is concluded, the university will be in a better position to comment.”

A report was received last week by Wits Vuvuzela, alleging that the lecturer has been involved with the third-year BA general student since June 2016. That was before the university passed the Policy on Sexual and Romantic Relationships between Staff and Undergraduate and Honours Students in December 2016. The report with details – including names – about the alleged relationship, and issues of fraud in the Faculty of Science, was allegedly sent to various media houses and Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu.

The undated report was signed, “Concerned former and current staff and students of Wits University. We remain anonymous at this stage, but we will come forward and avail ourselves once an impartial legal process is commissioned.”

The report accuses the pair of “inappropriate behavior” during the trip, from which “the rest of the students felt prejudiced in various ways. On several occasions, these students were… left alone in the field for many hours while he and his girl-lover cavorted in far-away love nests”.

The report went on to allege that the student received “preferential treatment in class”. In the meantime, the accused professor is still lecturing at the university. Wits Vuvuzela has been in contact with the lecturer and his responses will be included in a follow up story.

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Temporary accommodation opened for financially constrained students.

As of next week, as many as 330 students who are currently without accommodation will be housed in a temporary facility until the end of 2017 examinations.

The Witwaters building in Parktown was officially handed over to Wits University by the Gauteng Provincial Infrastructure Department on Thursday, September 7.

Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande and Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Jacob Mamabolo, presented a certificate of temporary occupation to Wits Vice-Principal, Professor Tawana Kupe.

Mamabolo said that Wits had sent an urgent request to the provincial government two months ago requesting assistance with the provision of student accommodation. This led to the partnership in which the province financed the upgrades to the building that is being leased for free to the university until December 15.

Wits Head of Residence Life, Robert Sharman, told Wits Vuvuzela that, “This is only for students in crisis who have no funding and no accommodation. It is short term because [the MEC] did not want them to be facing the upcoming exams without decent accommodation and a decent nights’ sleep.”

The criteria being used to allocate the accommodation include students with partial or no funding as well as students that live at least 20-30 kilometres away from Wits, according to Dean of Students Affairs, Dr. Puleng Lenka-Bula. However, Lenka-Bula and Sharman acknowledged that this criteria is not fixed as there are “different challenges that students encounter” throughout their academic experience.

Sharman said that the university would only be providing security at Witwaters. Services such as Wi-Fi, cleaning and extra mural activities will not be rendered as there is no budget allocation.

Eligible students can contact Claudine Prim of the Central Accomodation Office.

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The cost of printing has increased by two cents a sheet from September 1. A black and white A4 sheet has increased from 39 cents to 41 cents, a 5.1% rise.
The A4 colour has increased by 4 cents from R2,88 to R2,92, a 1.38% rise. The average eight-page assignment will now cost R3,28 instead of R3,12.

Wits third-year BA law student, Nhlanhla Mchunu Thonte (21), said he was not aware of the increase and that he hardly uses the university’s facilities, “Mostly because it requires one to spend time in the library logging on to the computer, which takes forever. The system is unreliable and inefficient.”
Thonte says, “The university completely negates the fact that there are students that live without a cent. It’s even hard for them to print assignments. They rely on those that are privileged enough to print their work.”

BA general third-year student, Zipho Jukuju (21), said, “I don’t use labs because they are always full of students who misuse them for catching up on soapies and series. Moreover, the computers there are very slow. The use of printing facilities should be compensated for in the amount we pay in our modules.”  She added that she hopes the increase is not related to the speculations about the university fee increments.

Owner of the Wits Jetline franchise, Mario Michael, told Wits Vuvuzela that he doesn’t think the decision to increase printing charges will affect students who come to his store. Jetline charges 60 cents for a single black and white page and R5 for a colour page.
Michael added that there are about 20% of students who use Jetline for printing. “Unless the increase is very high compared to our pricing, students usually come to us as an alternative place, more so when they are pressed for time.

“Students probably come to our stores for the value adds, where they can email and just collect without having to wait,” he said.
Wits Vuvuzela reached out to the ICT department for a comment but they were unavailable.

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A Wits lecturer is resigning following a student being injured whilst under her supervision.

A Wits theatre and performance lecturer has received a final warning and resigned, following a student sustaining serious injuries during a supervised practical, which took place on May 22.

Nondumiso Msimanga formally tendered her resignation at the end of June, after 19-year-old Michela Nordmann fell through the roof of the Wits Theatre while rehearsing an in-class performance with her group.

According to Msimanga, the group of three students present on the day were rehearsing for a sight specific performance. She said that she had received authorisation from the department and the Wits Theatre to use the space.

“It was the first time we were on the roof. I went to the roof when I was a student here, so I was familiar with the space. It should have been a safe enough space for them to do what they had to do,” said Msimanga.

Nordmann told Wits Vuvuzela that, “Nondumiso had asked us to please use the objects in the space and explore, you know how drama students are? There were two dome-shaped objects and I had gotten on the bigger one, which I only found out was a skylight after I fell through it.”

The first year student fell two storeys into the men’s bathroom, landing next to the sinks. She sustained various injuries, including “breaking my pelvis on my left-hand side, I broke it in two places, and I fractured my hip. I also broke my wrist and fractured two of my vertebrae from the fall”.

Nordmann was wheel-chair bound due to the fall, but has since undergone physiotherapy and is now required to wear a back brace for the next two months. “I’m slowly starting to heal, but they think that I will have
long-term problems with my spine,” she added.

She was also forced to deregister from her BA in performing and visual arts, as she was medically unable to meet the practical requirements of the course.

The Wits Employee Relations office initiated an investigation against Msimanga that concluded last month, subsequent to her resignation.

According to Msimanga, the investigation recommended that she seek trauma counselling and provided her with “what was essentially a final warning”.

Msimanga said that her resignation was prompted both by the incident and other personal reasons, however, “my resignation kind of concluded what they were going to do anyway,” she said.

Nordmann said, “I blame Wits, they were careless. Even the fact that Nondumiso took us up there, they should have put in safety precautions to prevent things like this from happening. I feel like they robbed me of enjoying my first year of university and being able to perform and audition.”

Wits Vuvuzela was unable to get official comment from the university at the time of publication. However, Nordmann said that her family had approached the Dean of Humanities, Ruksana Osman, and that the university is helping her with psychological support and physiotherapy.

Msimanga will have served her resignation notice period at the end of September.

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WITS Computer Network Systems (CNS) has dedicated nine computers for printing stations, one in each of eight CNS computer labs on the education, east and west campuses as well as the medical school, and two in the CLM on west campus.

The printers were installed in response to claims by students that they had to queue for hours to use the computers. Some students, who just wanted to print something, had to wait for a computer to be free. Now CNS has reserved nine computers exclusively for printing purposes.

Chief Information Officer Dr Stanley Mpofu said students will be able to use the printing computers for other use if the lab is not busy, but they will need to give way to students who just want to print.

However, he said that CNS will in the future initiate a process to determine how to increase the capacity of their computer labs. “We also encourage students to be considerate of others and not to use resources for non-academic activities,” said Mpofu.

First-year BA student Ntlaletse Tseka told Wits Vuvuzela that the printing computers will save students time. “I don’t have to wait on the line to print. The process is going to be fast and easy. [The printing stations] is a good idea.”

First-year Civil Engineering student Thabo Masina, who relies on CNS computers at Solomon house, told Wits Vuvuzela that he uses the computers to study and to check his emails. “The strategy is good, however the computer labs are always full, people are going to use the printing computer for studying,” he said.

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The Wits Microbrewery team takes top prize at intervarsity microbrewing competition.

The Wits Microbrewery team won the 10th annual SAB Intervarsity Beer Brewing Champions title for the first time on Saturday, September 2.

Seventeen tertiary institutions entered this year’s competition which was hosted at SAB World of Learning in Kyalami, Johannesburg. Teams entered beers they brewed at their respective institutions, which were judged according to Beer Judging Certification Program (BJCP) standards.

Wits Microbrewery took the top prize for the lager category and the overall competition.

The categories included ciders, a winter warmer beer with a high alcohol content, and a speciality beer created using a cereal other than malted barley.

Nicholas Burman, a Wits PhD in chemical engineering candidate and Wits Microbrewery member, spoke to Wits Vuvuzela about the championship. “The competition is very competitive. This is the first time that Wits has won and the standard gets better every year,” he said.

The team won a trophy and a cash prize worth R15 000 for the lager category and another R25 000 for the overall competition. According to the team, the money they won will be going towards buying new brewing equipment.

“A lot of the beers that didn’t win are still excellent beers and we believe that in the previous years where we haven’t won, we still made excellent beers. The judging criteria makes it pretty hard sometimes,” Burman said.

All beers entered were judged by BJCP accredited judges. Wits Vuvuzela spoke to Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela, a brew master and one of the judges at the competition, about the Wits team’s winning beer.

“The Wits Lager was the highest-scoring beer, not only within its category, it was also the highest-scoring beer overall at 40 out of 50,” said Nxusani-Mawela.

Another BJCP accredited judge, Michelle Erasmus, said her highlight about the beer was the “appealing clarity”. She said the beer was “clean and the crisp hop flavours equally balanced the malt flavours”.

Nxusani-Mawela, who is a former Witsie, was proud of the brewery team for winning the trophy. “I have been part of the judging team for many years now and it always saddened me when Wits didn’t win. I was quite excited when I learned that this year the team has finally gotten the recognition it deserves,” she said.

Wits Microbrewery’s various beer bottles were labelled with different and colourful African-themed graphics. The labelling was designed by a former architect and older brother of a Wits Brewery member.

The team will now start working on improving their beers and will be participating in other microbrewing competitions for the remainder of the year.

“We’ve really been working to not just produce good beers but really exceptional beers. We have become a lot more technical in our brewing and we’ve been improving our recipe design,” said Burman.

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Despite a tough Varsity Football season, Wits ended on high by winning their final group game.

Wits lost their penultimate game of the Varsity Football season on Monday night, going down 1-0 to Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).

A second-half strike by Keabetswe Mokwena sealed the win for TUT, who will head into the semi-final stage of the tournament as the only unbeaten team in the competition. Wits, on the other hand, has won just one out of six games this season, beating Central University of Technology 2-0 in round 3.

The tournament got off to the worst possible start for Wits, losing 6-0 to the University of Western Cape on July 27, before suffering a 4-1 defeat to North West University a week later.
Wits coach, Mark Haskins, said that those games set the tone for the tournament and came as a shock to the side, which was hoping to the win the competition.

“We believed that we had a good enough team to be able to challenge the top sides in the tournament, but it’s hard to put a finger on what went wrong”, said Haskins.

Haskins added that, “We only have ourselves to blame.” He fingered a lack of desire and intensity in many of the games. Tactically, Haskins said that the team was vulnerable on the counter attack throughout the tournament and conceded too many goals from lapses in concentration.

Mahle Matabane, a midfielder with Wits FC echoed his coach’s sentiments, saying that the team could have showed a lot more hunger. “We lost to other teams, not because they were better than us, but because they wanted it more. That was the difference this year. It’s like we didn’t have the desire to win,” he said.

Haskins and Matabane both said that the morale in the team suffered as a result of their performances and that the losses definitely affected the team.

Despite having a tough campaign, Haskins said there are positive things that the team and coaching staff can take away from the tournament. “There are a lot of young players in the team, in first and second year, and the coaching staff is also relatively young , so all we can do is learn from our mistakes and try to do better next season,” said Haskins.

Wits ended their season with a 2-1 win over University of Fort Hare on Thursday, September 7.

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A Wits First-year duo competing in their first tournament as partners won the Gauteng open debating tournament which took place in Pretoria on Sunday, September 3.

Siyanda Baduza, who is studying electrical engineering, and Ntsikelelo Barnabas, a BA student, were the only first year team who participated in the interprovincial Gauteng Open debating tournament.

Barnabas said that he is excited because this was the first tournament that the pair havewon as university speakers.

The duo are originally from the Eastern Cape and Barnabas explained that debating in the province is not prestigious. “We wanted to break the glass ceiling so that people change the perception where debaters from other provinces are looked down upon,” he said.

Barnabas said that debating against people with a good reputation and experience in debating is not easy when you’re unknown as it can affect yourself-esteem and “jeopardise your performance”.

Baduza said that winning the Gauteng Open helped the duo establish a name for themselves and has encouraged them to work harder. Barnabas  said “when you win once, you want to maintain that winning spree”.

Though it is good to win, Baduza explained, “you need to learn how to take a loss and recover from it quickly because you lose and have to speak against someone 10 minutes later.”

Barnabas added that it means that you can’t let previous debating achievements go to your head.

Wits Debating Union chairperson Donavan Masawi said that he is pleased with the performance of the duo. He also added that “the hunger of first years is inspiring to the union as a whole” and brings certainty that the future of the union is in good hands.

The two are working towards taking part in continental and even international tournaments. Baduza said that winning the Gauteng Open was the first step to making that possible.

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The Wits mountain climbing club took on an epic challenge this weekend.

THE UNIVERSITY of Pretoria (UP) will host the annual Everest Challenge on Saturday, September 9 at the LC de Villiers Sports Campus.

The challenge was established in 2007 and consists of five teams. Each team is made up of 12 members or less.

This year, teams have 12 hours, rather than the traditional 24 to collectively wall climb the height of the 8 848 metre high Mount Everest.

The course is made up of five walls, ranging between 12 and 20 metres in height.

The distance climbed is measured in the number of laps that each team member does of a specific course with different levels of difficulty. The total distance climbed is then calculated at the end.
Benjamin McNally, one of the climbers and gear manager for the Wits Mountain Climbing Club, said that traditionally the stronger climbers will go first and tackle the more difficult routes.

“The toughest part of the event is when it gets to about midnight and everyone there feels tired and sore. Each person in the team tries to climb about 900 metres. By 02:30 in the morning, you get that second wind and just try push as hard as you can to finish as strong as possible,” said McNally.

At last year’s event, the Wits team finished the climb in just over 16 hours, placing them third out of the five teams that participated. “There are a lot of strong climbers that come through, but the atmosphere at the climb is very relaxed because the climbing community is very close knit and everybody really gets along well with each other,” said McNally.

The record for finishing the climb is 12 hours and 14 minutes. Since the time frame in which to complete the challenge has been halved, the winning team will now be determined by the total distance climbed by midnight.

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IT IS National Book Week, and this week’s cool kid on campus is nothing short of a book worm. Word smith, literature enthusiast, author, entrepreneur and an avid feminist. Mafule Moswane is currently doing his master’s in geography and environmental studies at Wits and is the ambassador for Club Readership, an institution created for Africans and those in the diaspora to engage with African books written by African authors.

Mafule is also an author of two books, Katrina and other untold stories and A Learner’s guide to academic success.

Determined to break and make a valuable contribution to gender and cultural barriers, Mafule penned the story of Katrina, a woman frowned upon for defying cultural norms.

Katrina and other untold stories is an anthology of African short stories. “It’s me narrating my stories about my bae Katrina who I love so much. Unfortunately, in the rural areas they don’t want her because she can’t cook. She’s an academic and a businesswoman. I’m in love with her, but at home they are like if she can’t cook she doesn’t meet the minimum requirements to be a wife,” Moswane says.

“My work is challenging old ways of thinking and introduces a new way of thinking and encourages a conversation between generations. A conversation about feminism, gender roles and patriarchy,” he says.

It’s no surprise that Moswane’s everyday crush is feminist and Nigerian author, Chimamda Ngozi Adichie.

He shares his birthday and also looks up to the Harry Potter series novelist JK Rowling for inspiration and enjoys the author’s creative writing style.

Moswane believes he is compelled, as an author, to rewrite the wrongs of oppression and fight for women. He believes that his stories are unique and finds that it is important that Africans tell their own tales. “My stories are unique, they are told by an African and for a long time African stories were being told from the outside perspective,” he says.

Being aware of one’s privilege should not be viewed as a burden or source of guilt, but an opportunity to learn and work towards building a more inclusive society.

This lesson has been engraved in me as I embark on my journey towards becoming a journalist.

The experience has come with numerous blessings.

Having started my honours studies in Journalism and Media studies, I got contracted with Media24, which meant that I had the opportunity to work at City Press for two weeks during the June holidays.

These two weeks were a roller coaster ride. The highs included having my first byline at such a reputable publication and getting to meet writers of the calibre of Mondli Makhaya and Timothy Molobi, whose writing I have revered for a while.

Personal achievements included publishing a total of 11 articles as well as shooting and editing two videos in that short amount of time spent at City Press. These were all accomplishments I would have never thought possible before setting foot in that newsroom.

However, with all this bliss I noticed a worrying fact. Being in an honours class made up of 17 students, 15 of whom are female, it came as a shock to me when I walked into a production meeting at the newspaper and found an all-male team of editors in attendance.

Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai explained this irony simply and well when she said, “The higher you go, the fewer women there are.”

I have never been oblivious of the fact that we exist in a patriarchal society, however, this incident came as a wake-up call to me. At the back of my head were the 15 female colleagues that I have had the opportunity to know on a personal basis.

Surely this imbalance could not be a result of lack of competence or the fact that females are not of the same intellectual calibre as their male counterparts, because I can attest to the exact opposite. Apart from being equally or even more qualified, creative and innovative, my female classmates have taught me time and again to overcome whatever obstacle is placed in my path.

Due to the demands of the course we do, there are numerous nights when we all have to leave the newsroom at ungodly hours of the night or early morning. As a man, I merely walk out of the newsroom and hardly think twice about what could happen to me.

However, with the rise in abductions in the last few months, one could not help but imagine the emotional strain that this has had on my female classmates.

There are other aspects of life that females have to overcome and yet still find themselves in a society where it is not the more intelligent, the more knowledgeable, the more creative, or innovative who gets ahead, but someone who merely happens to have different hormones and sexual organs.

There are no hormones that determine leadership attributes, and as men we need to stop thinking that merely having a penis renders us better than women.

A woman is as likely to be intelligent, innovative, and creative as a man, and if we are to live in a progressive world, we need to check our privilege and be aware of the disadvantaging nature of the patriarchal society we exist in. This is the first step towards bringing about tangible change.

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The university acknowledges it has been “hopelessly late in honouring” Robert Sobukwe.

Central Block has been officially renamed as Robert Sobukwe Block in honour of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, one of South Africa’s greatest anti-apartheid activists.

The Chancellor of the University, former Deputy Chief Justice, Dikgang Moseneke, and Wits Vice-Principal, Professor Tawana Kupe, presided over the ceremony and unveiled a plaque on Monday, September 18 at the Great Hall Piazza.

During his keynote address, Moseneke acknowledged that Wits has been “hopelessly late in honouring” Sobukwe.

Kupe said there had been a long history of efforts to name a building after the founder of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). “Before even the #FeesMustFall movement started there were already discussions driven by among many students, Vuyani Pambo (former chairperson of the Wits EFF), to name what we have now named Solomon Mahlangu building into Robert Sobukwe. We, however, took into account historical accounts and settled into renaming Central Block instead.”

According to Moseneke, “It is fitting that the Central Block be renamed to Robert Sobukwe Block. Sobukwe lectured at this institution and had his office in this very Block,” he said. “Despite Wits’ deeply colonial and racist setting at the time, he still wrote the newsletter known as the Africanist right here, under the noses of his employers,” he added.

Also in attendance was Sobukwe’s son, Dini Sobukwe, and members of the university community, predominantly made up of Wits Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (PASMA) members.

Dini expressed how much joy his father got from lecturing at Wits. “Letters from his former students thanking him [Sobukwe] for his work that we continue to receive express how much he was loved and he loved his students.”

Dini also brought greetings and thanks from Sobukwe’s 90-year-old widow, Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe, who lives in Graaff Reinet.

According to Moseneke, Sobukwe drafted the founding documents of the PAC during 1959 in “this very Central Block before the launch of the Pan Africanist Congress in April 1959 in Soweto”.

Moseneke concluded by saying “This was a life well lived and worth celebrating. From his life we hope to learn how to live our own lives. We call to memory his visionary and selfless action in order to gird our own loins for the difficult task of truly liberating ourselves, a task which we have not achieved yet.”

Engraved in the unveiled plaque, is one of Sobukwe’s well known quotes: “True leadership demands complete subjugation of self, absolute honesty, integrity and uprightness of character, courage and fearlessness, and above all, a consuming love for one’s people.”

Related articles: Senate House to be renamed in honour of Solomon Mahlangu, Wits Vuvuzela, April 6, 2016

“I am in a long-term relationship with a student and it has been interrogated by GEO and subsequently declared under the previous policy.” 

The Wits lecturer from the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, whose relationship with a student has sparked a university investigation has confirmed the relationship but said it was declared and cleared with the Gender Equity Office (GEO).

The issue was reported in the last edition of Wits Vuvuzela. The response from the lecturer was received after deadline, too late for publication.

In the brief statement, the lecturer said he could only respond to personal questions, other questions should be referred to the legal office. He wrote: “I was appointed as a lecturer in archaeology in 2013. Before becoming a lecturer … I had a relationship with an MA student.

“I am in a long-term relationship with a student and it has been interrogated by GEO and subsequently declared under the previous policy.” However, he did not clarify whether or not the master’s student was the same student he is currently involved with.  He did not respond to further requests for clarification.

Wits Vuvuzela wishes to correct one aspect of the previous report: the lecturer is not a professor, as previously reported. We apologise for this error.

Meanwhile, lawyers representing the couple have lodged a “take-down notice” through the hosts of the Wits Vuvuzela website demanding that the report be removed from the site as well as links to the article shared on social media platforms.

Separately, the lawyers have also demanded that Wits Vuvuzela issue an apology to the couple as the publication contains “unlawful and defamatory allegations”.

The head of Wits Journalism, Professor Franz Krüger, said a response is being formulated to these demands with the Wits Legal Office.

According to the Wits Communications Office, an investigation into the relationship is still underway.

Vice-Chancellor, Adam Habib, told Wits Vuvuzela last week: “The preliminary investigation into the sexual harassment claims suggested that a further, fuller investigation was required in the Department. “A team was then provided to undertake this investigation and is expected to report sometime next week, after which the University will make appropriate decisions,” he added.

This incident was one of several allegations which came to light when Wits Vuvuzela received a report detailing the matter mentioned in the previous article.

In response to inquiries about further developments, Wits University’s head of communications, Shirona Patel said, “The Vice-Chancellor received the report late last week and is reviewing it.”

“The Vice-Chancellor is away this week and when he returns will meet with the persons mentioned in the report before he comments publicly on the matter or makes recommendations on the way forward,” she added.

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The Wits Sports Council (WSC) has partnered up with the All Residence Council (ARC) to host a sports derby called Wits Sports challenges All Residence Council on Friday, September 22 at Diggz field on West Campus.

Speaking to Wits Vuvuzela, WSC outgoing chairperson and organiser of the derby, third-year medical student Rubina Valodia said, “The David Webster sports tournament is a long-standing tradition within the WSC. The tournament commemorates the life of Dr David Webster, who was an academic and anti-apartheid activist.”

Valodia added that the aims of the tournament are to honour the work of Webster in the struggle against apartheid and to pass on his love of sports to students. “He was a dedicated soccer fan,” she said.

The tournament last took place in 2012 with just the participation of Wits Sports. This year the outgoing sports council decided to revisit the tradition. “We wanted to revive the tournament so as to foster a sense of community and camaraderie amongst sporting students and to include the ARC,” Valodia said.

The theme is “WSC vs ARC” – there will be some friendly game competition between the two groups of students. The day will include music, snacks and drinks. Medics will be on hand for any injuries.

In an interview with Wits Vuvuzela, ARC sports and cultural officer, Emmanuel Mareme said, “Only teams in the residence are expected to participate and the council decided to partake in this initiative to encourage residence students to have fun and engage with one another through participation in the different sports.”

Mareme said the ARC is expected to organise awards for the winning teams.

Speaking to Wits Vuvuzela, third year BEd student and member of Rennie House Residence, Palesa Mofokeng, said the sports day was a good idea from the two councils. “We shouldn’t always look to parties when having fun as students. So participation in sports will contribute to our camaraderie and the health benefit is a plus.”

Some of the teams that will take part include basketball, futsal, netball and chess. With the netball and futsal teams consisting of five to eight players, basketball teams three to five players and chess being played by individuals.

Valodia said no teams were expected to train for the tournament. “It is meant as a fun warm-down from the busy 2017 sporting calendar. Most students will have been training hard this year for their University Sports South Africa (USSA) tournaments or the ARC sports day. This tournament doesn’t require any extra training and students of all fitness levels are welcome to participate.”

Teams can sign up via the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSckCHY7GDzX4pmDF6-wOQewadGwryRlEWIjpfdQ_TgagA_CoQ/viewform?c=0&w=1 or on the Wits Sports Council Facebook page. Entry is open to all students who live in residence or are members of a Wits sports club.

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Investigation underway into the alleged leaking of a memorandum at the Wits Medical School.

AN INVESTIGATION into the leaking of examination memoranda is underway at the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Medical School Council (MSC)president Tshegofatso Ubisi told Wits Vuvuzela that, “One of the students [in GEMP 1] who was sent the circulating memos came forward and disclosed that they have received the memos of the two exams that were written in the last two blocks [haematology and respiratory system].”

An ad hoc committee of the faculty that was set up recently to review exam procedures and guarantee the credibility of assessments has opened an investigation into the alleged leak. The leaks were the main topic of discussion at a faculty general assembly held on Wednesday, September 13, with the dean of the faculty, Martin Veller, and the Assistant Dean: Teaching and Learning, Professor Lionel Green-Thompson.

Professor Mkhululi Lukhele, the acting Head of School of Clinical Medicine and a member of the ad hoc committee, told Wits Vuvuzela that the matter was brought to their attention “about two weeks ago” during an urgent meeting called by the MSC. He said that the committee confirmed that the respiratory system memo was found to be a post-exam memo, which meant that it had not given an unfair advantage to the students with access to it and it did not compromise the legitimacy of the examination.

The ad hoc committee had asked the MSC for access to this paper after receiving the complaint. “The student made it available to us and we requested a copy so that we could go down to the exams room to check the processes. The way we picked that up [that it was a post review memo] was that the paper which they had had already excluded questions eliminated after the exam,” said Lukhele. The committee did not have access to the haematology memo and has not been able to verify whether it was also a post-exam memo.

Ubisi said, “The main concern is that if there are students who have had exam papers before an exam, it disadvantages the rest of the students. The pass mark could have been set by students who had memos all along and the honest hardworking student has been made to fail.”

Lukhele’s response was that it would have been highly unlikely for the leak to have occurred prior to the exam due to the extensive procedures that have been put into place to prevent this. “It can only be a maximum of four known individuals who would have seen the paper before it is written. Even the director of UUME [Unit for Undergraduate Medical Education] does not have access to the paper,” he said.

He said the leak could have been caused by a student who had gone in to review their paper and managed to print the memo. “During that review, you are just allowed to look at a computer. Most probably, because it is a PDF, someone finished early and printed it out at another location. The second possibility is that somebody could have come into the review room with a memory stick even though the rules say they are not allowed to. Even if we have one invigilator, we have many computers and it would be difficult for them to see everything.”

Leonard Muhango, a sixth-year Medicine student, raised concerns that the Ad Hoc Committee was essentially investigating itself. “The memos were leaked under the watch of this committee and therefore a logical assumption to make is that they were not doing their job.”

Ubisi concurred, saying, “We are in the middle of an inquiry that is looking into a system that was found to have elements of injustice. Again, the same system, whilst being investigated, is found to still have processes that allow students to have access to papers they are not supposed to be having.”

Lukhele acknowledged the students’ concerns about the committee but said, “It is not unfair for the committee to continue looking. In any case, there is a bigger investigation underway, but it is important that there is damage control to prevent leaks going forward because we still need a critical mass of questions for the exam bank.”
There is no indication of when the committee’s investigation will be finalised.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Wits Vuvuzela, http://witsvuvuzela.com/2017/07/28/medical-students-flag-unfairassessments/, July 28, 2017

Wits Vuvuzela, http://witsvuvuzela.com/2017/09/01/we-are-being-failed-deliberately/, September 01, 2017

Five Wits students among the country’s top 100 most employable university students under40 for the GradStar programme.

Wits University students have made South Africa’s Top 100 undergraduates list.

The GradStar programme has selected the top 100 university students based on leadership criteria and readiness for the workplace, in addition to their academic performance.

The programme aims to discover some of South Africa’s most employable students and connect them with some of the best employers.The programme organisers, BlackBark Productions, said it was critical to recognise talent across South Africa.

Over 2500 applicants from across the country went through a four-phase judging process, recognising the most talented employees under the age of 40.GradStar candidates will be connected with sister programme Rising Star mentors, who may assist them with their transition into the workplace. The GradStars will take part in workshops hosted by sponsor employers such as PwC, Comair and FNB. The workshops will cover interview presentation skills and career adaptability.

Managing director of BlackBark Productions Laura Barker said, “I am particularly proud of the GradStar programme for the way it develops our very young talent in South Africa. This is a unique and valuable opportunity for each graduate to draw upon the expertise and knowledge of those who have gone before them and start their careers on a solid foundation.

“The competition process uses behavioural testing and personal interviewing as measurement tools. It allows students to familiarise themselves with the
formal graduate programme application process,” she said.

BlackBark Productions media liaison officer Unathi Mpalo said, “I was surprised and impressed how well rounded the students are. They are community minded, academic and ambitious. They want to see and contribute to social change as well as their own personal advancement.”

Patron of the GradStar programme Dr David Molapo said, “This is a worthy programme. It is designed to uplift the student youth at this time of unrest.”

GradStar Top 100 and Wits honours psychology student Kiara Savithiri Naidoo said, “I was very surprised to have made the Top 100. All the stages were rather challenging. I believe that my hard work, persistence and dedication has helped me reach this milestone.I know that it would make my family so proud.”

The Top 100 graduates are competing for one of the top 10 spots, which will be announced at a Gala dinner on September 27.