OnCampus Issue 3 • December 2016 • For daily updates visit www.uwc.ac.za
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Diana Ferrus - Cultural treasure at UWC
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UWC manual provides voter education
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Preserving Cape flora for the future
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Another trophy for Udubs Ladies
From anti-colonial to decolonial
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ne of the most intriguing developments to emerge from the #feesmustfall movement has been the agitation around ‘decolonising’ education. As a historically black university, the dominant student political discourse at UWC has always been anti-colonial, despite the fact that the University was created to produce a loyal ‘coloured’ intelligentsia that would help the National Party government subjugate people. The University was modelled on the conservative Calvinist culture of the Afrikaans universities from which all the founding lecturers and administrators came. It wasn’t long before reality began to slip away from the design. By the mid-1970s, the crude racism of white staff had met its match in the black consciousness ideology of radical students, a liberal-minded black rector was in office and the ranks of the lecturing staff were being filled by black lecturers. Yet demographically at least, the apartheidcolonial project of a ‘coloured’ university remained on track. And then came Jakes Gerwel. In 1982, the new Rector persuaded the University Senate to not only reject ‘race’ as a condition of admission, but to make a ‘firm commitment to the development of the Third World communities in South Africa.’ This decision emphatically destroyed the overt colonial project. By the mid-1980s, the University had been transformed demographically and intellectually into the ‘university of the
Left’ – a liberated intellectual space. By 1990, the University was openly helping the liberation movement prepare to govern. Ironically, it was at this moment – when activists and intellectuals were formulating sophisticated insights into the politics of race, class, gender, sexuality and culture – that the opportunity went begging to interrogate the deeply colonial concept of ‘university’ itself. As a result, the economic and cultural assumptions of the colonial masters remain embedded in the supposedly postcolonial university. All South African universities have retained the colonial
markers and measures of academic performance (including the un-African pedagogical notion of passing /failing), the media of ‘instruction’, the pageantry of graduation and the mediaeval hierarchies of staff and qualifications (master originally meant ‘to subjugate’, a bachelor was a young knight, tenure related to control of land). Twenty-six years have passed since that pre-liberation moment. In that time a new generation was born, and fittingly, it is this ‘born-free’ generation that is asking society to reflect on the colonial past embedded in our democratic present, and to decolonise our academic practice. NL
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HERITAGE
Basil February portrait donated
Portrait of the late Basil February which now hangs in the Basil February Residence.
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ext year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Basil Paul February. The February family recently honoured his memory by donating a portrait of the struggle hero to the Basil February residence at the University of the Western Cape. Mrs Myrtle February, a relative of Basil February and mother of political analyst Judith February, attended the portrait handover. Mrs February said that the portrait belonged at UWC since the University had honoured the memory of Basil February. Born in District Six, February matriculating at Trafalgar High with several distinctions and applied to study law at UCT. After
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Myrtle February (left) and Prof Lawack at the Basil February portrait handover.
permission was denied by the government at the time, he registered as a medical student at the University of Cape Town. He was active in politics and suffered two periods of detention. In 1964, in his second year of medical school, he dropped out to join Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) with fellow Cape Town activist James April. After completing military training, both men were selected in 1967 for the first major MK mission to attempt to infiltrate South Africa via the then Rhodesia. In what became known as the Wankie campaign, February and several other guerrillas were killed in battles with Rhodesian security forces. April survived but was eventually arrested and served a long term of
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imprisonment on Robben Island. At the official event in September to mark the handing over of the portrait to the residence, the Director of Residential Services, Mark Seale, thanked the February family for their contribution to UWC and reminded those present that, despite a short life, February had contributed to freedom for all South African citizens. The University of the Western Cape named the student residence after Basil February to honour his memory and to remind the students of the sacrifices of the men and women who fought during the apartheid struggle. Several streets and structures around South Africa have also been named after Basil February. SW
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HERITAGE
Edu-Drama celebrates 10 years
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he University of the Western Cape’s Gender Equity Unit (GEU) hosted its10th annual Edu-Drama event. The well-attended event took place on 17 September 2016 at the UWC Main Hall. Performances of the production ‘Reclaiming the P-word’ included some of the original cast members and writers. The aim of the event was to show the legacy and power of the sisterhood that
the edu-drama process created. Among the performers were the director of the Gender Equity Unit, Dr Mary Hames, and Professor Desiree Lewis of the Department of Women and Gender Studies. The original production was initiated in 2005 when students and staff at UWC workshopped the theatre production with women from the community. ‘Reclaiming the P-word’ was then used as a tool to
protest against the endemic violence against women in the country. The Edu-Drama event also featured performances of productions such as ‘Admission Reserved’ and ‘#What’sLeftOut’. All the stories are based on real-life experiences, which means that the process of creating a work was also an act of protest, agency and healing. AN
Some of the performers at the 10th annual Edu-Drama event that took place on 17 September at the UWC Main Hall.
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HERITAGE
Diana Ferrus - Cultural treasure at the University of the Western Cape
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ome 14 years ago, the world received a demonstration of the power of the written and spoken word to move people and change the world. In 2002, thanks in large part to the influence of a single poem by UWC’s Diana Ferrus, the remains of Sarah Baartman were repatriated. Sarah Baartman was born to a Khoisan family around 1790 in the Gamtoos Valley in the Eastern Cape. After spending her early years on settler farms, she made her way to Cape Town. There she was ‘discovered’ by a British man who took her to Europe where she was exhibited as a curiosity, billed as the ‘Hottentot Venus’. Ill-treated and abused, she died in 1816 in Paris. A plaster cast of her body was made and displayed in the Musée de l’Homme, while her skeleton, brain and genitalia were preserved in the museum’s collection. And there she might have remained were it not for Diana Ferrus being moved by the story to write A Poem for Sarah Baartman in 1998, while studying at Utrecht University. The poem ends with the words: I have come to take you home where the ancient mountains shout your name. I have made your bed at the foot of the hill, your blankets are covered in buchu and mint, the proteas stand in yellow and white – I have come to take you home where I will sing for you for you have brought me peace. This powerful and moving poem helped to persuade the French government to return Baartman’s remains to South Africa. A member of the French Senate, Nicola About, even read out the poem during the debate in the French parliament on the issue. In 2002, the remains were interred in a memorial site at Hankey in the Eastern Cape, the area where Baartman was born. The site was subsequently neglected and vandalised, but there are new developments planned, including the Sarah Baartman Centre of Remembrance, a R164 million multi-purpose building project that will include an auditorium, accommodation and a museum. The design includes a pond in a symbolic garden with the words of Ferrus’s poem visible on the pond bottom. A UWC alumna (BA Hons, 1999), Ferrus works as the departmental secretary at UWC’s Faculty of Economic and
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UWC staff member, Diana Ferrus, still receives international interest for her historic role in the return of the remains of Sarah Baartman. She was recently featured in a Dutch history documentary.
Management Sciences. She writes in English and Afrikaans about matters of race, gender, class and reconciliation, is a popular performance poet and has her own publishing company. Ferrus loves teaching and sharing her craft and has presented and led many writing workshops. Her publishing company, Diana Ferrus Publishers, promotes local writers in a number of languages. As a founding member of the Afrikaans Skrywersvereniging (ASV), Bush Poets and Women in Xchains, she promotes Afrikaans creative writing, women poets and grassroots women writers respectively. HB
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HERITAGE
Dentistry school simply the best
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WC’s Faculty of Dentistry is the biggest dentistry school on the African continent. The faculty is one of four dental schools in South Africa and produces a remarkable 40% of the country’s dental graduates. It helps to train dentists and oral hygienists from other African countries and provides subsidised dental services. The faculty has been acknowledged by local and international peers for consistently producing quality research. Dean Professor Yusuf Osman recalls that a commission of inquiry was set up in the early 1970s to investigate a solution to the dire shortage of black dental practitioners. At that time, only the Universities of the Witwatersrand, Pretoria and Stellenbosch offered dentistry in South Africa. Only Wits was allowed to enrol (just two) black dentistry students annually. In 1974 UWC’s dental school opened on the top floor of the building in Tygerberg Hospital where the School of Dentistry of Stellenbosch University was based. “Stellenbosch used the western entrance of this building and the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of the Western Cape used the eastern entrance, and we never talked to each other,” Prof Osman remembers. As a student, Prof Osman and his colleagues were denied access to the rest of the building, “but now I manage the entire building,” he says, smiling. There were 18 students in the first cohort of graduates the faculty produced, of which only one was female. In 1992 Stellenbosch University wanted to expand its facility and take over UWC’s school. The University, led by Rector and Vice-Chancellor Professor Jakes Gerwel, fought off the takeover and found alternative accommodation to train UWC students at the Medi-Clinic in Mitchell’s Plain, where the University took occupation of two and a half floors of the building.
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UWC’s dentistry faculty is the leading dentistry school in Africa. The Tygerberg oral health care site is depicted on the left and the Mitchell’s Plain oral health care site is depicted on the right.
“That was the first community-based dental clinic facility right in the heart of the Mitchell’s Plain community,” Prof Osman explains. “It was very good because the people of Mitchell’s Plain didn’t have comprehensive dental treatment. All they had were these white practitioners coming in the afternoon, lining up patients, doing all sorts of extractions and then leaving. “So when the faculty was there it could for the first time offer all services, not just extractions. We offered the people of Mitchell’s Plain a comprehensive oral service and, in the process, our students received good training. Every external examiner who came to Mitchell’s Plain used to be amazed by our patient pool. It was a win-win situation giving the students hands-on training and providing much-needed services to the community.” In 2003 the Minister of Education, Prof Kader Asmal, decided to merge the two dental schools (of UWC and Stellenbosch). In 2004 the merger was finalised and the UWC Faculty of Dentistry became the biggest dental school on the African continent. Prof Osman remembers that the merger had its own share of challenges. “The two schools were very different ideologically, but they had no choice but to get on well together. “It is difficult to get good dental academics because the money outside and in private practice is so good. So it’s
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special people who stay in the University. We were fortunate with the merger as we now have a good staff establishment and are well-covered in all disciplines.” The faculty offers undergraduate, postgraduate and specialist training studies and provides dental care to about 120 000 patients a year at health sites in Tygerberg, Mitchell’s Plain, Gugulethu, and the Red Cross and Groote Schuur hospitals. “Our students rotate through all the sites and that gives them a chance to see the different types of problems,” Prof Osman says. “For instance, in Mitchell’s Plain you see a lot of untreated problems because some of the patients there have never seen a dentist before. And in Tygerberg you will find patients with advanced dental problems like implants which they can’t maintain. The load on oral services is too high but it’s a good thing for our students because they get to see everything. When they are qualified and go to practice it becomes easy for them.” The faculty enjoys a high pass rate and throughput, with its staff recognised throughout the world for their impactful research and service to patients. Prof Osman says future plans include linking the Mitchell’s Plain and Tygerberg campuses through video conferencing to cut down on travelling and the repetition of lectures. MG
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HERITAGE
Know your campus: The Dullah Omar Institute
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he Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights was founded in 1990 under its former name, the Community Law Centre, with human rights lawyer Advocate Dullah Omar as the first director. Among the first staff members were activists who later played prominent roles in government, such as Bulelani Ngcuka, Dr Zola Skweyiya and Brigitte Mabandla. Working closely with Judge Albie Sachs and Prof Kader Asmal, they participated in the constitutional negotiations towards the new South Africa. In the words of Albie Sachs, “the Community Law Centre became the engine room of new democratic thinking”, hosting debates about critical questions such as what type of electoral system was needed, whether to have a Constitutional Court
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and whether to legally entrench socioeconomic rights. After the 1994 elections, Dullah Omar became the Minister of Justice in President Nelson Mandela’s cabinet and Prof Nico Steytler was appointed as the new director. During the initial fifteen years, the Centre focused on South African law reform and contributed to the 1996 Constitution, the Child Justice Act, the Children’s Act, and other national and local government laws. More recently, the focus has shifted to monitoring the implementation of laws, including the implementation of the Correctional Services Act, housing rights laws, and sexual offences and public finance legislation. In 2015, the Centre was renamed the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional
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Law, Governance and Human Rights. The Institute employs staff from twelve different countries, engaged in research, postgraduate teaching and advocacy in children’s rights, socio-economic rights, criminal justice, women’s rights, data and governance and multilevel government. Projects in more than ten African countries focus on issues such as pre-trial detention and local government. The work has expanded beyond the law to include political science, public administration and statistical analysis. The Institute is home to three NRF-rated researchers and hosts the SARChI chair in Multilevel Government, Law and Policy (held by Prof Nico Steytler). The head of the Children’s Rights Project, Prof Benyam Dawit Mezmur, chairs the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.The current Director of the Institute is Prof Jaap de Visser. JDV
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HERITAGE
UWC manual provides voter education
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he year 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the South African Constitution. An unprecedented number of young people under the age of 30 registered to vote for the first time in the local government elections this year. Having anticipated that many new voters might be uncertain about the voting process, Professors Jaap de Visser and Nico Steytler of the Dullah Omar Institute at the University of the Western Cape published a timely manual some weeks before the elections, titled “Electing Councillors - A Guide to Municipal Elections”. The manual was a collaboration between the Dullah Omar Institute, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the
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Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. Commenting on the manual, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Des van Rooyen, said it had arrived as the country celebrated 15 years of democratic local government and noted that, “the system of local government has become entrenched with citizens, government officials and others involved developing high expectations of the democratic process.” The manual, which is accompanied by an informative video, discusses the rules for voter registration, party registration, ward candidates and party lists. It explains what happens on voting day, how votes are counted and how results are
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determined. The manual also explains how vacancies are filled between general elections through by-elections. Prof De Visser says the manual was meant to assist anyone who participated in elections or assisted in organising them, including election officials, candidates, parties, observers, journalists and civil society. The manual and video can be accessed at: http://dullahomarinstitute.org.za/news/ electing-councillors-a-guide-to-municipalelections/view http://dullahomarinstitute.org.za/videos/ make-your-mark-do-you-know-what-youare-voting-for JN
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1. UWC shines in recent global assessment of Physical Science research Defying its origins as a small, historically disadvantaged university, the University of the Western Cape has become one of the continent’s top research and academic institutions. In the 2016 Nature Index, covering the period 1 June 2015 to 31 May 2016, UWC is ranked number 1 in Physical Science – not just in South Africa, but in Africa as a whole. 2. UWC SBF develops rural women entrepreneurs Professor Linda de Vries of UWC’s School of Business and Finance and a team of students have been empowering rural women around the country, teaching them financial literacy and how to start up and succeed in a business. 3. Jan Rabie and Marjorie Wallace Memorial Lecture 2016 The University of the Western Cape hosted the Jan Rabie and Marjorie Wallace Memorial Lecture on 23 August 2016, at which celebrated South African writer S.J. Naude discussed the evolution of Afrikaans and literature in an intriguingly titled address,‘Empty white spaces and the politics of nostalgia’. 4. UWC’s Entrepreneur Spring School: innovative learning for innovative earning The University of the Western Cape’s Division for Postgraduate Studies and the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation offered their inaugural Entrepreneur Spring School in August 2016, specifically designed for postgraduate students who were keen to pursue a business idea while completing their studies. 5. UWC-SLCA 10th annual Women in Mathematics conference The University of the Western Cape’s Science Learning Centre for Africa (UWC-SLCA) hosted its 10th annual Women in Mathematics Conference at the Capetonian Hotel on 24 August 2016. The event, which aims to encourage women to pursue careers in Mathematics, brought together role models and mentors who are leading women academics and mathematics researchers, teachers and high school learners.
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6. UWC partners with BattCo to develop affordable electricity The University of the Western Cape’s Energy Storage Innovation Lab (ESIL) is partnering with Cape Town-based company BattCo Storage Systems to commercialise a modular lithium-ion battery. Picture credit: [https://energycenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/large_772_300/public/field/image/energy_storage_illus_772x300. jpg?itok=loGb1LA4] 7. Access to Success: Building Student Support UWC and the SABC are joining together to respond to a national need for student financial assistance.The Access to Success campaign, launched on 25 August 2016, gives us all the opportunity to invest in tomorrow’s leaders today. 8. UWC launches Master’s in Creative Writing anthology The Faculty of Arts launched the first published UWC Master’s in Creative Writing poetry anthology entitled ‘Harvest’ on 10 August 2016. 9. New Data Analytics and Business Intelligence programme The University of the Western Cape will offer Africa’s very first Postgraduate Diploma in Data Analytics and Business Intelligence from January 2017 – a part-time course presented over 18 months. 10. UWC Centre for Performing Arts achieves significant milestone UWC’s Centre for the Performing Arts held its first certification ceremony on 26 July 2016 where some of the top students were honoured. 11. UWC hosts National Science Week 2016 National Science Week (NSW) was hosted at UWC on 6 August 2016. NSW is an annual event that highlights the roles that science, mathematics, engineering and technology play in everyday life, and encourages young people to follow careers in these fields.
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12. UWC-SLCA brings state-of-the-art science labs to Western Cape schools On 2 August 2016, the University of the Western Cape Science Learning Centre for Africa (UWC-SLCA) and the Garden Cities Archway Foundation opened new science learning centres at three Western Cape schools. 13. School of Business and Finance’s multi-university partnership empowers local entrepreneurs UWC’s School of Business and Finance is presenting a six-week Entrepreneurship and Empowerment in South Africa programme, focused on training South African and American students to work with historically disadvantaged entrepreneurs. 14. Dis-Chem assists UWC SRC The University of the Western Cape Student Representative Council (SRC) has received a donation of 1067 sanitary pads from Dis-Chem for distribution on campus. The donation formed part of the Social Makeover Project of the Western Cape Department of Social Development. 15. Ernst & Young sponsors library facility Global accounting firm Ernst & Young has sponsored a new library area at the Department of Accounting. The facility was launched on 27 July 2016 in the Old Medical Sciences building. 16. Student gets his master’s at 71 Proving the adage that one is never too old to learn, 71-year-old Anthony de la Harpe received his master’s degree in History at the University of the Western Cape on 21 July 2016.
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HERITAGE
UWC Nature Reserve: Preserving Cape flora for the future
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s a biome, the Cape Flats has the world’s highest rate of plant species extinction and is highly fragmented and isolated by urbanisation. Given this context, the Cape Flats Nature Reserve on the campus of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) is, despite its modest size, one of the most important conservation sites in the Cape lowlands. The vegetation of this 30-hectare reserve consists of endangered Cape Flats Dune Strandveld – of which only 7% is in proclaimed reserves – and critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos, of which only 15% remains in protected reserves, against a national target of 30%. The Cape Town metropole is the only area in the world where Cape Flats Sand Fynbos is found. The reserve consists of three major regions – flats, dunes and vlei – with around 220 indigenous plants species. The flats are characterised by small to medium-sized reeds, grass and few shrubs; the dunes are densely covered by tall, broad-leaved shrubs; and the vlei, which has water from mid-autumn to late spring, has an abundance of reeds, sedges and rushes. The reserve hosts a variety of animals, with a low density of mammals, as in the Western Cape in general. Fauna include Cape angulate tortoises, various other reptiles, mongooses, 86 recorded bird species and a wealth of insect life. The Cape Flats Nature Reserve is a private reserve under the administration of UWC. The concept of a reserve on campus was championed in the early 1960s by a group of academics associated with the University. It was officially proclaimed in 1977. In 1978 the reserve became a national monument, and is currently defined as a provincial heritage site. The reserve reflects the conservation efforts of the University, through its Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, to preserve a biodiverse site representing the unique environmental elements that once flourished in the surrounding area before urbanisation. Although the reserve was created to conserve Strandveld and Coastal Fynbos, it also functions as a base for ecological teaching, environmental education, research and a natural space for the public to enjoy. For more information or to arrange a visit to the reserve, please contact the reserve manager, Hestelle Melville, at 021 9592498 or email: hmelville@uwc.ac.za. NC
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UWC Cape Flats Nature Reserve
Cape Grysbok (Raphicerus melanotis)
Medusa’s Head (Euphorbia caput-medusae)
Snake-stemmed pincushion (Leucospermum hypophyllocarpodendron hypophyllocarpodendron)
Caracal (Caracal caracal)
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NEWS
School of Business and Finance marks Entrepreneurial Month
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ctober was Entrepreneurial Month and the School of Business and Finance (SBF) held a workshop on 21 September to help pave the way for developing short courses to assist small businesses. The workshop highlighted the important areas requiring development before the courses would be open for enrolment by the general public in 2017. Also in Entrepreneurial Month, Professor Linda de Vries and her research students conducted training in financial literacy for women in rural and peri-urban communities. A number of women run their own successful businesses following their participation in the programme. Prof De Vries uses Lego blocks to illustrate the materials and capital needed to run a business. Each Lego block is given a value and description based on its colour. “It’s fascinating to see these women play, while learning about costing and other aspects of financial literacy in a business,” says Prof De Vries. “The women don’t even know how to use Lego, but they play and they learn. Sceptical teachers would tell you the women can’t do maths and that teaching financial literacy would never work, because every business idea will have a financial component. But these women have successfully proved the contrary.” Prof De Vries has been supervising her students’ research projects in various fields of small business for years at the School of Business and Finance at UWC, but says female entrepreneurship support is one of her favourite areas and she is proud that her programmes have assisted the success of several rural tourism projects.
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Prof Linda de Vries with the Lego blocks she uses to teach rural women financial literacy to aid them in starting up and running their own businesses.
Facts about the SBF • The SBF’s interventions for women entrepreneurs have resulted in both international and national awards as well as the establishment of femaleheaded businesses in sectors such as beauty, health, tourism, construction, media, education and engineering. • The SBF’s Lisle Svenson, Prof De Vries and her master’s student Sihaam van der Schyff presented three papers at the 37th Graduate Women’s International Conference (23–26 August 2016) on education and gender roles within the banking sector as well as academia.
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• The SBF staff have published textbooks on Entrepreneurship and Management in English and Afrikaans that are currently prescribed at a number of South African universities. • The SBF staff have also published and presented numerous papers on women and gender, entrepreneurship development, and barriers to entry. A paper presented by Pradeep Brijlal, Visvanathan Naicker and Ricardo Peters, titled ‘Education and SMME Business Growth: A Gender Perspective from South Africa’, was voted the best paper at the International Conference on Business and Economic Development in the USA in 2013. HB
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SPORT
UWC Ladies’ Football Club has won the tough Western Cape Sasol League for the first time in the club’s history.
Another trophy for Udubs Ladies
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WC Ladies’ Football Club are the new champions of the Western Cape Sasol League – the senior women’s football league in South Africa. The Udubs Ladies fought hard to come back from a goal down to topple then log leaders Spurs Ladies 2-1 at Nyanga Stadium on 15 October 2016. After trailing by a goal in the first half, Udubs came back in the second half when Kelso Peskin’s powerful header found the net after a well-taken Thalea Smidt corner. Banyana Banyana star Leandra Smeda added another when she fired in a cracker from outside the box to ensure that the team bagged all three points. The win shot UWC to the top of the log standings.They wrapped up the league in style in their last game when they beat Ikamva Ladies 4-1, also at Nyanga Stadium. Although missing key players Thembi Kgatlana and Amogelang Motau, who were called up to the Banyana Banyana team to face Egypt in a friendly game on 22 October, the team showed that they had enough depth when a brace by Aaqilah Alfreds and a goal each by Peskin and Smidt ensured that they brought the cup home. This was not only the team’s first Sasol League title, but their third trophy in three weeks and the fourth for the year. After winning a knockout trophy in the Northern Suburbs Local Football
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Association, the team won the SAFA Cape Town-organised Coca Cola Cup, to add to the University Sport South Africa Club Championships crown won at the beginning of the year. Coach Nathan Peskin credits his players, both current and past, as well as his technical team, for the team’s successes. “We managed to win the league for the first time in the six years I have been the head coach at UWC. Being crowned Western Cape Sasol League champions is a huge honour and has further catapulted the Institution into the forefront of the development of women and women’s football.” Peskin says the success of the team did not come overnight. “Our achievements this year are the fruition of very long-term goals. It took patience, focus and continuous hard work to achieve what we have as a team this year. I am extremely proud of all the players who have helped achieve these long-term goals over the last few years. This has not been a success story of one season. It has been a work in progress and everyone that contributed over the past six years needs to be saluted,” says Peskin. The Udubs team have a chance to add another trophy to their cabinet when they represent the province in the Sasol League national play-offs scheduled to take place in December. MG
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SPORT
The renovated UWC gym has become more popular since it was re-opened in July.
Students enjoy revamped UWC gym
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ven late on a Tuesday morning when the academic project is in full swing at the University, the refurbished UWC gym is filled with students working out. “If you think this is full, come at 4.30 in the afternoon and you will see how busy this gym is. Some members have to queue to get in,” says health and fitness coordinator Andrew Wrankmore. Since it re-opened in mid-July after a two-year closure as part of the UWC Sports Stadium’s multi-million rand upgrade, the gym has seen membership almost double from the initially expected 800 to 1 400 members. The gym, in the upper level of the revamped stadium, boasts twice the space of the old gym and scenic views of the University and neighbouring communities. It operates from 5am until 8pm on weekdays, with two two-hour cleaning breaks at 9am and 3pm respectively. On UWC takes pride in...
Saturdays the gym is open from 7am until 3pm and from 7am to 12pm on Sundays and public holidays. Although 99% of members are students, the gym is also open to staff. Subject to restrictions, the general public and sports clubs also have limited access. UWC guests on campus for conferences, sporting events and other events may make use of the gym for the duration of their stay. Among the services offered are cardio, weights and functional training facilities, interval training/bootcamptype sessions, aerobic/group classes, and quarterly wellness days. Users are guided by personal instructors. Eleven floor instructors who are sports science honours students assist with operating equipment and training advice. Upon request, differently abled members are given personal support during their training by
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gym instructors. “We strive by all means to ensure that members get the best advice. At the same time we provide the students with practical experience for their studies,” Wrankmore explains. Students from academic departments such as the Department of Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science, the Interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence for Sports Science and Development, the Department of Physiotherapy and the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition can use the facility for academic research, practical work and other academicrelated activities. Wrankmore notes that although the gym is an exercise facility, it has also become a social gathering space that provides a good atmosphere for members to mix and mingle. “It is a nice alternative to academic life on campus.” MG
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SPORT
Four UWC ladies get the nod for Banyana
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our current and former UWC Ladies’ Football Club players were named in the Banyana Banyana squad for the 10th Africa Women Cup of Nations tournament that was held in Cameroon. UWC captain Amogelang Motau’s brilliant performance this season was repaid with a promotion from the national Under-20 team to her first call-up to the senior national women’s team. She joined teammates Leandra Smeda and Thembi Kgatlana, as well as former UWC striker Jermaine Seoposenwe, who plies her trade at Stamford University in the United States. The three have cemented their place in the Banyana Banyana set-up and were part of the team that travelled to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games a few months ago. The selection of the UWC players further confirmed their team’s stature among the best women’s football teams in South Africa, having won almost every competition they participated in this year. The Africa Women Cup of Nations tournament took place from 19 November to 3 December. Banyana were drawn in a tough group that included hosts Cameroon, Egypt as well as Zimbabwe, who also took part in this year’s Olympic Games in Brazil. Meanwhile, the sterling performance of individual UWC Ladies’ players was recognised when eight members of the team were honoured at the SAFA Cape Town Awards. Zelda Fransman took home the SAFA Cape Town Women’s Player of the Year award. Miche Oosthuizen received the SAFA Cape Town Provincial Certificate for Participation, while Puleng Moremi, Thalea Smidt and Amogelang Motau all got the Under-19 National Certificate for Participation. Fransman, together with Chelsea Daniels, Aaqilah Alfreds and Lauren also received the Under-19 SAFA Cape Town Regional Certificate for Participation. After winning the Western Cape Sasol League for the first time this year, UWC Ladies’ will represent the province in the Sasol League national play-offs that are scheduled to take place from 6 to 12 December in Mossel Bay. UWC will play Durban Ladies’ from KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng-based JVW (Jenine van Wyk Girls Football Development Programme) in the group stages. MG
UWC Ladies’ FC trio of Amogelang Motau, Thembi Kgatlana and Leandra Smeda were selected to play for Banyana Banyana in the Africa Women Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon.
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