Oncampus 8th edition

on Campus Issue 8 • September 2013 • For daily updates visit www.uwc.ac.za

Inside UWC scientists discover new pesticide from Kraalbos page 4

UWC women scoop two L’Oreal awards page 13

UWC welcomes new EMS Dean page17

UWC volleyball champs page 19

Your Source for University News

Youth must have courage to fight injustice

Speaker Kevin Chaplin says young people have an obligation to assist the country’s development in community-building.

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outh Africans must ask themselves what they are prepared to commit to make the country a better place for all.

This was the message of Minister in the Presidency and head of the National Planning Commission, Trevor Manuel, when he delivered the Annual Amy Biehl Memorial Lecture and presented the Youth Spirit Awards at the University of the Western Cape in August.

Commemorating the death of Amy Biehl – an American student who worked at UWC’s Community Law Centre and who was brutally murdered in Gugulethu 20 years ago – Manuel said the spirit of service and sacrifice that Biehl had exemplified must serve as an inspiration to young people in South Africa today.

“The work Amy did at the Community Law Centre speaks to what “youth spirit” is about,” he noted. “Young people must be inspired by the work Amy did.”

Manuel added that, in celebrating Amy’s life and spirit, young people must re-engage with social issues and devote time towards the full implementation of the Constitution so that it manifests in a practical fashion in society.

“When and why did we stop caring?”

Biehl’s mother, Linda, told the crowd that her family has a deep appreciation for the efforts to keep Amy’s legacy alive. Biehl was a Stanford University graduate who had come to UWC to advance her studies. She worked with UWC’s Community Law Centre, and in 1993 was killed by some who thought her to

be a spy for the Nationalist government. Four people were convicted of her murder.

“My family is deeply thankful to the South African government and South African people in general for their part in ensuring that Amy’s memory never diminishes from our hearts,” said her mother.

Echoing Manuel’s words, Biehl told the crowd that, everywhere in the world, young people have an obligation to correct the wrongs they perceive, so as to strengthen democracy and encourage inclusive community building endeavours.

CEO of the Amy Biehl Foundation, Kevin Chaplin, also urged young people to be bold in the face of injustices and tribulations.

“With courage you will go a long way,” Chaplin said.

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Women with maths fire up Cape school girls

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UWC’s Dr Roger Field introduces the film Dear Mandela to the audience.

Film festival inspires future film maker

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tudents were left speechless, inspired and thought-provoked after watching Dear Mandela at the Africa World Film Documentary Festival, held at the University of the Western Cape in

August.

Dear Mandela is a multi-award-winning documentary about activism in the Kennedy Road Informal Settlement in Durban. The film questions political legacies and the historical burdens on the younger generation. Focusing on three young community leaders, the film also dares to document the rising bitterness against the African National Congress (ANC), and its figurehead – Nelson Mandela – by a generation of young people who feel let down by their government.

In the film, the young people of Kennedy Road organise themselves into a protest movement to fight against forced evictions, relocations and their impoverished conditions in the area.

Dear Mandela, said one reviewer, “is the best kind of expression of what these promises mean to a young generation who were probably too young to vote in the first election of 1994, but are old enough to understand the Constitution and the rights enshrined in it.”

In the very last sequence of the film, a central character in this documentary says: “You don’t need to be old to be wise. That is why we need to show our character while we are still young.”

igh school girls from across the Cape were inspired when the University of the Western Cape hosted its Women in Mathematics Mini-Convention at the Capetonian Hotel during the month of August.

The event was hosted by UWC’s Science Learning Centre for Africa (UWCSLCA), based within the Faculty of Education, as part of the University’s celebration of Women’s Month.

Professor Shaheed Hartley, director of the UWC-SLCA, explained that the aim of the event was to bring together successful female role models who hail from the same communities and disadvantaged schools as the young women attending the miniconvention. These women would then provide learners with a real-world perspective of the importance of mathematics and the crucial role that this subject plays in different careers, thereby demystifying the perception that mathematics is a difficult subject and that it is only for a select few.

The mini-convention saw five successful women – all who have used mathematics in their jobs – address girls from 25 high schools in the Western Cape.

Speakers included Naadiya Moosajee, civil engineer, CEO of South African Women in Engineering (SAWomEng) and fashion designer; Dr Nonyameko Sincadu, research and development officer at PetroSA; Dr Nasiema Allie, an immunologist at UWC; Fatima Jakoet, SAA pilot and CEO of the Sakhikamva Foundation; and Kgetente Legodi, an aspiring actuary at Ernst & Young.

UWC’s Dean of Education, Professor Zubeida Desai, started proceedings by welcoming guests and encouraging girls to do well in school, especially in mathematics. “It opens doors for you, and it is important that you work hard now,” Desai said.

Moosajee of SAWomEng also underlined the value of mathematics in the working world.

“Anything is possible with mathematics, it opened many doors for me, and it can do so for you,” she said.

PetroSA’s Sincadu explained that growing up in impoverished areas, as she did, does not determine success or failure later in life. “We want to see you as the leaders of tomorrow.”

UWC’s Dr Nasiema Allie noted that immunology, as a discipline, is dominated by men, and that more young women need to make inroads into this field.

Pilot Jakoet explained that with hard work and excellence in mathematics, the sky’s the limit. “As a woman in the workplace and at university, you are faced with challenges at times, but this should not stand in your way,” she urged.

Rocklands High School mathematics teacher Thabisa Gotywa, who brought four of her brightest pupils to the event, said this convention was important because it made the pupils understand that anything is possible with hard work. “Women need to be empowered in fields dominated by men,” Gotywa said.

Liberty Mpala, a Langa High School teacher, said this convention was the perfect place for young women to be inspired to do their best. “Many girls in our areas are often influenced by bad elements, but this convention showed them that they can reach their goals,” he said.

Dean of Education, Zubeida Desai, pictured (back row, centre) with the speakers and some of the learners who attended the mini convention.

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Breastfeeding is still best for babies

Dr Lesley Bamford speaks of the dramatic impact breastfeeding can have on children’s nutrition and health.

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reastfeeding could save the lives of millions of infants every year.

This was the message coming out of a conference hosted by the University of the Western Cape’s Department of Dietetics and the Western Cape Government’s Department of Health (Nutrition) at UWC’s School of Public Health.

At the conference, themed Restoring Breastfeeding as the Optimal Feeding Choice for Infants, it was reported that South Africa has low exclusive-breastfeeding rates and poor child-feeding practices.

While breastfeeding is common in the country, the majority of infants aged 0-6 months are not given breast milk exclusively. This early introduction of other fluids and foods, called mixed feeding, is responsible for high rates of diarrhoea and contributes significantly to infant malnutrition and death.

The conference was divided into three plenary sessions. The first covered evidence in support of breastfeeding as the optimal feeding choice; the second summarised relevant policies of the Department of Health to create an enabling environment for women to breastfeed; while the third focused on sharing free scientific communications related to breastfeeding practices and the perceptions of women, communities and health care workers.

Dr Lesley Bamford, a senior paediatric specialist at the Child and Youth Health Directorate of the National Department of Health, delivered the keynote address.

In her talk, Bamford noted the worldwide decline in infant mortality over the past few decades. The number of deaths for children aged 0-4 worldwide declined from nearly 12 million in 1990 to 6.9 million in 2011, and the rate of the decline has accelerated – from 1.8% per year during the 1990s to 3.2% per year in 2000 and 2010.

However, South Africa has failed to achieve its Millennium Development Goals (MDG), lamented Bamford. Too many children still

die unnecessarily, she said, with 19,000 children under five years of age passing away daily in 2011. As such, the country will not reach its targets for MDG4, which aimed to reduce child deaths by twothirds by 2015. It is here where breastfeeding could make a dramatic difference.

“One of the key findings of the Lancet 2008 series,” said Bamford, “was that the critical periods are that of pregnancy and the first two years of life, referred to as the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, in which good nutrition and healthy growth have lasting benefits throughout life.”

Another key finding was that optimal breastfeeding practices, identified as exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, followed by continued breastfeeding for as long as possible, preferably for 24 months, has potentially the single largest impact on child survival of all preventative interventions. It has been said that it could conceivably prevent 12-13% of all deaths among children under five years of age in the developing world, or 1.4 million deaths a year.

“New data has highlighted the linkages between maternal and child health, and between nutrition, survival and long-term developmental outcomes,” continued Bamford. “The improvement of maternal and child survival is regarded as a national priority, and strengthening exclusive breastfeeding as a practice is understood to be a key component.”

Lastly, the challenge is to ensure that every mother and child receives a comprehensive integrated package of health and nutrition interventions, which includes breastfeeding information and support.

“The key to best breastfeeding practices is continued day-to-day support for the breastfeeding mother within her home and community.

This support can and should be provided by family and social networks, workplaces, health care systems, and through relevant legislation, she said.”

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French

UWC scientists discover new pesticide from Kraalbos

President

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group of scientists at the University of the Western Cape, led by Associate Professor Jeremy Klaasen of the Department of Medical Biosciences, has for a number of years been studying the potential pharmaceutical uses and greeneconomy commercial applications of the shrub known as kraalbos. Promising discoveries have already been made regarding its many medicinal uses.

For centuries, the Khoisan people used kraalbos (Galenia africana) to treat various diseases and conditions, including toothaches, skin ailments, inflammation, dandruff and venereal diseases.

Now Klaasen and his team have developed a product, derived from kraalbos, that when applied in combination with conventional pesticides can reverse the resistance that crop pathogens have built up to such pesticides.

“This is an important discovery, as pesticides tend to become vulnerable to resistance after prolonged and extensive periods of use, resulting in the spreading of pesticide-resistant superbugs,” said Klaasen, who holds an MSc in microbiology from UWC, as well as a PhD in plant pathology from Pennsylvania State University in the US. “Preventing super-resistance of pathogens to pesticides (fungicides and bactericides) is always a serious challenge in agricultural pest-management strategies.”

Aside from being a natural adjuvant, this kraalbos product, developed as part of UWC’s Indigenous Botanical Adjuvant Technology (iBATECH) Project, reduces the dose of pesticide needed to spray crops, thereby decreasing environmental contamination by commercial pesticides.

The iBATECH product, which has been patented by UWC, has undergone field testing on tomatoes, grapes, apples, pears and peaches, and is registered for use on tunnel tomatoes (tomatoes grown in undercover ‘tunnels’, similar but not identical to greenhouses).

UWC is involved in discussions with agrochemical companies on the possibility of licensing the pesticide, and registering the product for use in South Africa and internationally. The project was funded by the Technology Innovation Agency, an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology.

Associate Prof Jeremy Klaasen is part of a team of scientists that developed a kraalbos-based organic pesticide.

honours UWC alumna and cultural activist Marlene Le Roux.

UWC Alumna

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WC alumna and cultural activist Marlene Le Roux earned another international accolade earlier this year when the French government presented her with the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, aka the tittle of Knight of the French National Order of Merit.

The award was founded in 1963 by General Charles de Gaulle. Every year, the French president nominates French citizens and foreign nationals for the award, made in recognition of distinguished civil or military achievements.

Le Roux, who holds a degree in education from UWC, has worked tirelessly to transform the lives of many people in the Western Cape through the power of art, and has led campaigns for the acceptance of people with disabilities. She currently holds the position of director of audience development and education at Artscape Theatre. Le Roux has won numerous other accolades, including the Desmond Tutu Legendary Award in 2001, and the German-Africa Award by the German-Africa Foundation in 2012.

Presenting the medal to Le Roux at a reception in the Residence of the French ambassador, in Newslands, Ambassador Elisabeth Barbier, traced Le Roux’s success back to UWC. “You really started to fly when you went to university,” said Barbier. “Your alma mater, the place that nourished you, is the great University of the Western Cape.

There, as a young student in music in the mid 1980s, at the height of apartheid, you discovered many things that are still with you today: a passion for education, as a way to grow yourself and to transform reality and people’s lives around you; love, and in particular the love of your husband, Simeon; and politics, to become not a politician, but the activist you have remained to this day.”

The award honours a freedom fighter who shares the values of the French Republic, added Barbier.

“What makes you such a close friend of France is that you share the values that define and guide our Republic. The trilogy: equality, liberty and fraternity, resonates perfectly with who you are, what you believe in and what you stand for,” she commented.

Barbier highlighted, among other achievements, Le Roux’s involvement in the management of the Alliance Française in Mitchell’s Plain, a French-language training centre in the community, and its Certificate for Young Trainers programme, as well as her work at Artscape.

“So today with this award we honour the activist, the freedom fighter, and also the passer-on,” said Barbier, “the one who shows the way and carries the values of the struggle to pass them on to the next generation.”

In her acceptance speech, Le Roux reflected on the relationship between South Africa and France, the lessons they can learn from one another, the challenges facing South Africa, and her own work at Artscape. She also commended the Alliance Française initiative in Mitchell’s Plain.

“This exchange programme happened between volunteers from France doing youth camps with youth from different cultural and language backgrounds, creating a platform to get to know each other,” she said. “These efforts help in deconstructing the legacy of Apartheid of divide and rule.”

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UWC hosts first Howard students

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he University of the Western Cape this year welcomed the first cohort of undergraduate engineering students from Howard University, thanks to a new agreement with the US university.

The American students visited UWC over May and June as part of Howard’s Global Education and Awareness Research Undergraduate Programme (GEAR-UP), following an agreement proposed

by Professor Wayne Patterson, senior fellow for international programmes and programme review at Howard’s Graduate School, and supported by UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian O’Connell.

The students were accompanied by faculty members from Howard University.

A short welcome programme was arranged by UWC’s International Relations Office (IRO). This included a separate meeting between the Howard faculty and representatives of UWC to briefly discuss this study-abroad initiative and the registering of the students.

Dr Salam Titinchi of UWC’s Department of Chemistry coordinated the academic aspects of the programme, and ensured that each student was

placed in an academic department with a mentor.

The students were assigned to departments in the Faculty of Natural Science.

The visit included a seminar presented by Dr Lorraine Fleming, professor of civil engineering and principal investigator of Howard’s GEAR-UP, and Dr LaWanda Peace, assistant dean for student services in Howard’s College of Engineering, Architecture & Computer Science. They discussed the Howard’s Global Education of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Students programme.

Through this initiative, sponsored by the US government, Howard has established successful partnerships with institutions in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. Opportunities for continued collaborations will be explored.

“UWC is very pleased at the outcome of this first cohort of students on the short-term study abroad and hope that the expectations of colleagues at Howard University have been fully met,” said Debra Lamson of the IRO. “The University also thanks the professors and support staff involved on both campuses in realising this engagement. We look forward to the next cohort of study-abroad students, and hopefully also an exchange, in the future.”

Dr Lorraine Fleming facilitates one of the Howard Gear-Up programme seminars.

Exchange programmes enrich academic output

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ooking back, Dr Marcel Londt can only rave about the three weeks she spent on exchange in the US in 2012.

Londt, a lecturer in the Department of Social Work at the University of the Western Cape, spent her exchange at the University of Missouri (UM) as part of the University of Missouri/South African Education Programme (UMSAEP), the oldest of the such programmes between UWC and UM. The visit helped the lecturer complete an article, submitted to the journal Social Work Practitioner/Researcher.

While at UM, Londt worked with academic and practitioner experts on topics such as sexual violence against children, and conducted joint research activities on sexual recidivism. She also consulted with prospective graduate students, and delivered lectures and seminars on the management of sex offenders in South Africa.

Londt, who obtained her PhD from UWC in 2006, says the seminars, site visits and engagement with both practitioners and fellow

Dr Marcel Londt in a research consultation with Lucie Leblound, a NOHA student from Paul Cézanne University in France. academics provided good opportunities to “highlight” achievements in work with juvenile and adult sex offenders, and on South Africa’s child protection legislation. An important outcome was that she could show, from an evidence-based perspective, the articulation of South African legislation and other remedies to address sexual violence.

In addition to the paper she has submitted, Londt has moved on to the second phase of her study. In this data analysis stage, she sets out to identify those recidivist factors that are prevalent in South Africa. Students from UM have showed an interest in this area of research, as well as the linkage to the South African child protection initiatives, she says.

“This interchange provided me with opportunities to retrieve, access and explore resources that would not be possible at my home university because of several factors, teaching activities, administration and related demands,” Londt comments. “However, more importantly, it provided me with a platform to showcase our local initiatives to remedy the problem of sexual violence against women and children.”

For more information on these and other programmes, please email iro@uwc. ac.za or call 021 959 2487/2884.

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Guest speaker Xolisa Peter of the NSFAS shares words of encouragement with women at UWC.

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Extra special day for ‘ordinary extraordinary women’ at UWC

o close Women’s Month and to commemorate the ordinary women who led the 1956 anti-pass protests, the Residential Services of the University of the Western Cape held “Celebrating Ordinary Extraordinary Women” on 30 August, an event designed to honour the ordinary women who work at the University.

Guest speaker Xolisa Peter, chief information officer at the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), told the group of approximately 80 women who took part in the celebration that behind every successful woman there’s another woman, guiding and protecting them.

“The canteen lady, the lady at reception, my helper at home and other women with whom I have made contact in my life have played a pivotal role in raising me up to be the woman I am today,” Peter said.

She urged the women to treat the students with love, as though they were their own kids.

“I was once a student, too, and I know how difficult they can be. I know how disrespectful some may be, but nurture them. Love them.

Be very strict with them if you have to.

Your role in the lives of these students will someday be evident.”

Peter told the women that they must make use of the opportunities they have as staff at

UWC. “You guys work at a university and there should be some courses that you can study for further development. You have everything it takes to become a success, even when you start out as a cleaner or a security guard.”

Pfaliso Negovha, secretary-general of the Central House Committee – the body of students who were instrumental in organising the event – showered her guests with praise, and invited them to enjoy the day “because it comes once”.

Also among those who attended was head of the Gender Equity Unit, Mary Hames, whose unit has lobbied for the rights and proper recognition of women’s efforts at UWC.

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New Golden Key recruits herald a new era Current members of the Golden Key International Honour Society are there to welcome new members.

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niversity students must consistently develop themselves and work with the communities they come from in order to address the social problems facing societies today, UWC’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lullu Tshiwula, told the Golden Key International Honour Society New Member Ceremony, held at the University of the Western Cape on 20 August 2013.

Some 50 students were inducted as Golden Key members on the night.

The Golden Key International Honour Society has chapters in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Bahamas and the United States. Chapters provide members with a range of services and connections, ranging from leadership and volunteer opportunities to internships and training programmes. The chapters are said to be part of a continuum – an esteemed legacy of accomplished and like-minded people.

Tshiwula, an honorary member of the Society herself, told the students that they will now be part of a very old and successful society that dates back to 1977, one that enjoys the support of luminaries like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Minister Trevor Manuel, Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok captain Francois Pienaar, and many others. She said association with Golden Key would yield great personal benefits for its members.

“You are bright, you are all talented and the Golden Key Society seeks people like you to take up leadership positions in our societies,” said Tshiwula. She said she hoped the new members will live up to the vision of the Society.

In welcoming the new recruits, UWC Chapter president Bianca Marinus told them to make the most of the opportunities that come with membership to Golden Key. “We have 15 university chapters in South Africa and today you join those people,” Marinus said.

“We have partnerships with the corporate sector, and it will be important that you keep your profile so that you may benefit from the opportunities presented to you.”

She told the new recruits that by joining the Society they were making a resolution to advance the organisation’s values and engaging in programmes aimed at developing the communities from which they come.

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Action through Knowledge: Brightest Young Minds

I Delphino Machikicho and Palesa Mohale have fun at the Brightest Young Minds Summit earlier this year.

t’s been said that universities are meant to produce new knowledge and shape the future through innovative and relevant social or entrepreneurial programmes; two students at the University of the Western Cape are taking those words to heart.

Delphino Machikicho runs an egg-producing project in Kraaifontein, in which he employs two people. But after taking part in the national Brightest Young Minds (BYM) Summit, held in Johannesburg in July this year, the finalyear BCom (Finance) student is looking at his business differently.

“From that summit, I have realised that I have the ability to grow my business to a new height,” says the 22-year-old Machikicho. “I have learnt so much and I am trying to do my best to address some of the social challenges the society faces, like youth unemployment and poverty.”

Named the 2012 Achiever of the Year at UWC, Machikicho has also co-founded the Wawumbe Schools Project (Wawumbe is KiSwahili for ‘Equip Them’), an extracurricular project that seeks to assist high school learners with skills and personal development. A pilot programme is being conducted at Maitland High School.

Another bright young mind from UWC, Palesa Mohale, also 22, volunteers at UWC’s HIV/AIDS Unit as a peer educator, and works at Help-to-Read, a Cape Town-based NGO that helps children from previously disadvantaged areas with their reading and writing. She also champions the Hillsong Africa Foundation, a charity unit at her church.

Mohale says she is happiest when she does things that benefit others, especially young people, and she wants them to be more ambitious in their outlook.

“Young people need to be passionate about something bigger than themselves,” she observes. “We must have a goal that is bigger than us.”

Mohale believes there are many opportunities for young people to play meaningful roles in their communities, but that they must start caring about their communities and about life in general.

“You will never see opportunities if you don’t look.

And you will never be able to know where to look for opportunities if you don’t care about the state of your community.”

What both these young people have in common is their drive to make a meaningful contribution to their communities, and thereby validate the work of universities in terms of skilling them and exposing them to opportunities.

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Open Access Talk: The benefits of setting information free

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niversity of the Western Cape (UWC) academics from several faculties met in the new Life Sciences building to catch a lunchtime talk on open access and its benefits, presented live from London by Dr Alma Swan, a UK-based consultant working in scholarly communications.

The talk, titled Transition to an Open Access Policy, was one of a series of discussions regarding open access (OA) at the University, ahead of the signing of the Berlin Declaration by UWC’s Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian O’Connell, in October this year.

The Declaration, finalised in October 2003 and signed by several universities, research councils, libraries, archives and museums across the world, has been described as a benchmark signal of institutional support for open access as an enabler of the global sharing of knowledge for scientific discovery, innovation and socio-economic development.

Professor Michael Davies-Coleman, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, reminded the attendees of the importance of OA, and explained that the office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic would be sending an Open Access Policy document for discussion.

He then welcomed Swan, director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, aka SPARC, an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication. She is also convener for Enabling Open Scholarship, the global organisation of universities promoting the principles of open scholarship in the academic community. Swan joined the meeting via Skype.

Swan (enjoying, she noted, one of London’s rare beautiful summers), began by delving into what open access is (the free release and access of peer-reviewed scholarly information) and what it isn’t (an excuse for vanity publishing, or just “sticking anything up on the web”).

Open access journals publish content – almost always online – and make it available for viewing by anyone, free of charge. Open access repositories host articles from a university or other institutes and make them available in the same way. They are indexed, searchable, and can be found via Google – open and visible to all.

Swan explored data, discussed interesting research on OA, and presented multiple graphs and slides crammed with statistics. She pointed out, for example, that 25% of new peer-reviewed literature is open access. There are over 2,500 OA repositories at present, with about one new open access repository created every day. That the centralised OA repository, PubMed Central, contains two million articles and receives 420,000 unique visits every day. Of this, only 25% are from universities, and 40% from the unaffiliated public at large.

For researchers, there is always an increase in research visibility, impact and usability when going the open access route. At the University of Liege’s repository, single papers have been downloaded more than 4,000 times, she showed. The most-downloaded author from the Queensland University of Technology repository has received over 225,000 downloads. MIT’s Open Access programme is even more successful – many of those downloads take place in China and developing nations, with a large portion also coming from the US. “These are enormous numbers,” Swan said, “and those downloading

Prof Michael Davies-Coleman, Dean of UWC’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, speaks about the importance of open access at UWC. from repositories are usually those who do not have access through their institutional library subscriptions. These are entirely new, additional audiences – this is the whole point of open access.”

Institutions benefit from open access as well – as the aggregate of researcher benefit, but also in other ways. Most importantly, it aids universities in outreach to the wider public, be it interested nonacademics, independent researchers not affiliated with an institution, and the practitioner community (civil engineering firms, for example).

“The public funds research,” Swan contended, “and the public should have access to that research.”

But for OA to take hold at an institution, she said, it must be mandatory. A voluntary process all too often results in low levels of research being made available to the public, as could be seen in UWC’s Open Access Repository, which is a good first step but is sadly underutilised, with only nine articles posted for 2013.

“I hope this talk convinces you to take more notice of the UWC Repository,” said Swan. “What goes on in this university is very important, but what we do outside the university is equally important.

Open access allows us to extend our reach outside our usual academic avenues.”

Dr Alma Swan’s talk was the second of three Open Access talks leading up to the signing of the Berlin Declaration by UWC’s Rector, Prof Brian O’Connell, in October – itself the occasion for another discussion, as well as a celebration.

The next talk is scheduled for Wednesday, 18 September 2013, when Prof Laura Czierniewicz, director of the University of Cape Town’s OpenUCT Initiative, will discuss New Possibilities Through Open Scholarship.

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Developing good practices of leadership

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he paperless course can be more than just a pipe dream – and it can have significant effects on teaching and learning at universities. So said Professor Jenni Case of the University of Cape Town (UCT) when she spoke at the School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) on 4 September 2013.

Case is the resident specialist on academic development and student affairs in UCT’s Department of Chemical Engineering.

Her talk, hosted by UWC’s Directorate of Teaching and Learning and titled Pushing the Boundaries for Student Learning with Sustainable Development, Online Technology and Innovative Pedagogy, covered a range of teaching and learning innovations employed in a new first-year course in chemical engineering at UCT. The course was launched in 2013, forming part of a pilot project at UCT in using laptops in classrooms. For this suitably named Laptop Project, all students are required to obtain a laptop for classroom use. (Students on financial aid receive assistance with the purchase.) The class environment uses online ‘clicker’-like software, and a range of other online resources. In addition, many lectures take place in venues that have automatic video-recording and projection, allowing problems to be worked through on a blackboard and students to follow along at their own pace.

Other pedagogical innovations go beyond the technological issues. Project work runs through the course as a whole, with one group project per semester. There are writing courses available for those who need them.

And the course does away with the old lengthy post-lecture tutorial system, which is replaced with an alternating lecture and tutorial model, both just 45 minutes long. “Don’t underestimate the value of a shorter tutorial focusing on one or two major issues,” Case noted.

Case used the course to place chemical engineering more explicitly in a specific sociopolitical and environmental context, she said, inspiring the students to think more deeply about their studies and the world.

“This really felt more like a university

UCT’s Prof Jenni Case discusses teaching and learning innovations employed in a new first year Chemical Engineering course. course,” she noted. “We tackled big conceptual questions, like the biofuels challenge, and it was a challenge for me to begin thinking this way. At the start of the course it was like the students thought I had all the answers. But they quickly learned to find answers for themselves.”

Tutors are a particularly important in this strategy. Postgraduate tutors run the tutorial sessions, sit in on lectures, attend meetings about marking and moderation, and run

intensive ‘boot camps’ that give the students opportunities to redo tests and relearn concepts, among other things.

“Usually we don’t get maximum value from our tutors; they’re much more valuable than we give them credit for,” Case said. “But in this course we really put them to work.”

The tutors also benefit from the relationship.

They get paid well (especially for the boot camps), get to list the work on their CVs, they receive on-the-job training and learn new things; in so doing furthering their careers.

“Think of them as academics in training, and treat them accordingly,” explained Case.

There’s also the Email an Engineer project, where students have to have an email conversation with someone working as an engineer. “We spam our alumni lists and industry contacts,” said Case. “We receive a lot of positive responses, and it’s also a good way of keeping involved with engineering outside the university.”

It’s all part of the bigger project of overhauling the whole undergraduate chemical engineering experience, Case explained. “It’s part of our continued ambition to improve the quality of learning at the university. And engineering itself, as with any profession, is always evolving. Sustainable development is a massive part of the agenda.”

UCT’s Prof Jenni Case tries out some of her teaching techniques on UWC lecturers.

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11

News

Revisiting the forgotten Khoisan history

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King Johannes in ceremonial dress at the 2nd Khoisan Reflection gathering, urging the meeting to remember the country’s “foundation people”.

he government must recognise the chiefs and kings of the Khoisan clans and tribes so that the general public and international communities can respect and recognise them as “the foundation people”, argued King David Johannes of the CocHoqua tribe of the Khoisan.

Johannes was addressing the 2nd Khoisan Reflection gathering, a heritage ceremony organised by the students of the University of the Western Cape, on 13 September.

He expressed his delight that it was students at UWC who initiated the series, and that he hoped that it would be academics who would act as vanguard in resurrecting the identity of his people.

“Academics have learned of the identity which was stolen from us by the colonialists and now they are leading the charge,” he said.

Johannes further argued that South Africa is not free yet because “the foundation people are not free”.

Students Representative Council (SRC) president, Lwando Mdleleni, told the congregation of students, academics and traditional leaders that the Khoisan continues to be marginalised and their history distorted because the perpetrators want to keep secret the atrocities committed in the past.

“So this gathering is the continuation of the resistance struggle against forces of oppression and imperialism,” Mdleleni said.

He urged the SRC to ensure that all peoples and their cultures are respected and upheld so that history does not forget them.

Among the speakers on the day was the director of UWC’s School of Natural Medicine, Dr James Campbell. He said the vast knowledge of the Khoisan about their environment is unparalleled.

“It is vital that science validates the knowledge of the Khoisan in relation to the environment,” Campbell said.

A chief of the Khoisan, John Jansen, commended UWC’s role in the struggle against oppression and told the crowd that the event could define his people’s struggles.

“The essence of any being is freedom and South African governments have excluded us from the freedoms enjoyed by many,” said Jansen. “We are not Coloureds. This identity was imposed upon us and we don’t want it. We are Khoisan, the foundation people.”

He told the crowd that all Khoisan must stand up and be counted. “Restoration is necessary in our case because we need to reverse these things and become god-created beings we once were.”.

He added that it was up to the Khoisan communities to seek and implement the change they speak of.

12

News

Visiting scholar shares insights on bird flu

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nfluenza researcher Associate Professor Yee-Joo Tan, delivered a gripping seminar on the topic of the H5N1 Influenza A virus at the University of the Western Cape in early September.

Tan, of the National University of Singapore and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) in Singapore, flew into Cape Town for Options for the Control of Influenza VIII, a major international conference on Influenza that ran from 6 to 9 September. On the eve of the conference, Tan visited the Department of Medical Bioscience as a guest of UWC’s Professor Burtram Fielding, with whom she had worked at the IMCB some years ago.

For the packed seminar, Tan gave a potted introduction to the studies she and her colleagues in the Monoclonal Antibody Unit at the IMCB are conducting on bird flu, aka the H5N1 influenza A virus. There they are hoping to come up with a monoclonal antibody that can potentially be employed as a therapeutic drug.

These antibodies are so named because they are produced from identical clones of a single immune cell, and are designed to aid the body’s natural immune system.

They do so by targeting and detecting those foreign bodies – such as the HIV virus and some cancer cells – that have the ability to elude the body’s defence systems, each monoclonal antibody tailored for a specific foreign body.

In the case of H5N1, it is hoped that a monoclonal antibody can be developed that will seek out and bind to particles of the H5N1 virus, making it easier for the immune system to recognise the virus and trigger a defence response.

Although rare, there are concerns that H5N1, with a mortality rate of over 50%, could still become a global health issue.

Since 2003, some 630 infections have been confirmed in 15 countries, causing 375 deaths. “It is a threat because the virus is evolving,” said Tan. “The virus is not able to efficiently transmit from human to human now, but we think that this may happen one day.”

Associate Prof Yee-Joo Tan (right), here with UWC’s Prof Burtram Fielding, visits UWC briefly to speak on her work in Singapore.

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13

News

UWC women scoop two L’Oreal fellowships

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line Simo and Sekai Tombe, both doctoral researchers at the University of the Western Cape, beat the odds when in September they were named among the 10 happy winners – from an original pool of 158 applicants – of the annual L’Oreal-UNESCO Regional Fellowships for Women in Science (FWIS) in Sub-Saharan Africa.

These fellowships have become prized research awards. They are targeted at young women scientists, up to age 40, who are working towards their PhDs in any field of science, and come with a handsome purse of €15,000. This year’s winners include women doing research in nanotechnology, computer science, hydrology, genetics and quantum perspectives.

To have two fellows from one university is a special achievement. On top of that, Simo and Tombe both happen to work in the area of sustainable energy, albeit taking different approaches.

Materials scientist Simo could be called a true citizen of Africa. She was born in Morocco in North Africa, raised in Cameroon in Central Africa (she is listed by the FWIS as a Cameroonian), and is now completing her PhD in nanotechnology/materials science way down south, in South Africa. She is involved in a number of outreach programmes, and wants to be a role model for young female learners.

Simo’s PhD research deals with nano-scaled intelligent materials and their application in ‘smart windows’. When covered in intelligent nanophotonic materials – which apply light at the nanometre scale – such smart windows are able to reflect solar heat when it’s hot, and transmit it when it’s cold. In that way, it can regulate the temperatures in cars and buildings and reduce the use of air conditioners, major carbon emitters.

Simo is also involved in hydrogen gas sensing for the hydrogen economy. Her research demonstrated that vanadium oxide, a mineral of which South Africa is the second largest producer in the world, makes excellent sensors at room temperature, able to detect NOx gases – nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, the latter a major pollutant.

UWC’s Sekai Tombe does research on developing cheap and efficient solar cells.

UWC’s Aline Simo is a celebrated nanoscientist who also works in hydrogen gas sensing.

For Simo, the FWIS fellowship is recognition of her work, and a major boon to her studies. “It also allows me to broaden my scientific knowledge, and enables me access to the facilities and equipment I need to engineer and increase my scientific research output.”

Fellow winner Tombe was born in Zimbabwe, the first of eight children. Now a chemistry student at UWC, she, like Simo, is also involved in several community engagement projects.

Her doctoral research focuses on developing high-energy conservation hybrid photovoltaic cells from cheap silicon substrates – which would reduce the cost of solar cells, perhaps making them more affordable to poor communities, especially those in Zimbabwe, she says.

“In developing communities such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Tombe notes, “there are millions of economically disadvantaged rural communities living without access to

electricity. Solar energy is a particularly attractive renewable option for them, because it is naturally decentralised, available in excessive supply, and falls steadily in cost as technology advances.”

Tombe believes her FWIS fellowship will help her further these ideals. On a more personal level, it will certainly go a long way towards covering her study fees. She had to work three jobs – as sub-warden, tutor and demonstrator – just to fund her undergrad studies.

Bertrand de Lalu, managing director of L’Oreal South Africa, explains that the chief objective of the regional fellowships is to increase the participation of women in science. “Women face a number of challenges in this still heavily male-dominated sector,” he explains. “L’Oreal seeks to assist by removing one of these hurdles, which is access to finance. We believe the women we assist have the potential to make great strides in the field of science.”

This year, 158 accomplished scientists applied for the L’Oreal-UNESCO Regional Fellowships for Women in Science in Sub-Saharan Africa. The 10 winners were Fortune Amah-Tariah (Nigeria), Mercy Badu (Ghana), Fiona Baine (Uganda), Adriana Marais (South Africa), Joyce Mwangama (Tanzania), Aline Okello (Mozambique), Mpho Raborife (South Africa), Aline Simo (Cameroon), Sekai Tombe (Zimbabwe), and Chika Yinka-Banjo (Nigeria).

14

Science

Astronomy prof showcases city’s skies

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Prof Jarita Holbrook is hosting a series of web videos on the culture of astronomy around Cape Town.

Prof Jarita Holbrook, UWC’s cultural astronomer (middle), with astrophysicist Prof Catherine Cress (left) and Brian Kirk (right), of Stellenbosch University’s journalism department.

ape Town has beautiful night skies, as many who live or have visited here already know. That’s partly why it’s home to several major astronomy facilities, astrophysics departments and (of course) astronomers – a fact that most citizens of the Cape are unfortunately unaware of.

Now UWC Extraordinary Professor Jarita Holbrook has set out to shine a light on stargazing in the city.

Her new web series, Astronomy in Cape Town, is a set of video blog interviews with astronomers and overviews of the many astronomical facilities in Cape Town. Her first few videos covered her visit to Wynberg Girls Junior School to give a talk on the sun; an interview with Kim McAlpine, a UWC Astrophysics postdoctoral researcher who uses current and future radio continuum surveys to probe the star formation and accretion histories of the universe; a chat with Dr Martin Kunz of the African Institute of Mathematical Science in Muizenberg about the lecture he gave at the South African Astronomical Observatory; and a visit to the Astronomy Town Hall meeting at iThemba Labs, where the great and wise of astronomy gathered to talk about what’s new and interesting in the field.

Holbrook is on a journey to understand the relationship between humanity and the night sky. This quest has taken her through a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics (from the University of California, Santa Cruz), master’s studies in astronomy (San Diego State University) and an undergraduate in physics (from Caltech). Her academic research bridges astronomy, anthropology and Africana studies.

“I’m most fascinated with indigenous astronomy and the way that astronomy is entwined in the lives of everyday people, rather than astronomers,” says Holbrook. However, when speaking of astronomy, she says, “The culture of astronomy and how it transcends borders is amazing.”

Her travels have taken her to exotic places such as Fiji – to study navigation by the stars – and to astronomy departments to show how professional networks of astronomers function. And finally here to the University of the Western Cape. Along the way she has taken a leading role in the cultural astronomy community by co-founding the African Cultural Astronomy Network and starting the African Cultural Astronomy Conferences.

“I am a documentary filmmaker focused on astronomy and astronomers,” says Holbrook. “So it made sense to start a video blog as I get to know the astronomy culture of Cape Town. In a way, my audience is learning about the astronomy here along with me.”

The Astronomy in Cape Town series, she says, will probably keep going as long as she lives in Cape Town, with updates every week or so. In the meantime she is completing a few other documentaries, including one about the Square Kilometre Array project, which is taking her all across South Africa. And her recently completed documentary film, Hubble’s Diverse Universe, focusing on the Hubble Space Telescope that transformed our view of the cosmos, is currently doing a well-reviewed festival run.

Expect it to be screened at UWC very soon.

The videos can be viewed on Holbrook’s Cultural Astronomy Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/ user/astroholbrook?feature=watch.

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15

Science

UWC physics students excel at SAIP Conference

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he Annual Conference of the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) is a headline event for South African physicists, attracting the country’s leading physics students, academics and professionals.

At this year’s conference, the 58th, held from 8 to 12 July at the University of Zululand, attendees excitedly discussed cutting-edge technology and leading research, and presented posters and papers that covered a wide range of fields, including the biosciences, computational physics, nanotechnology, nuclear and applied physics, particle physics, photonics and more. And five students either based at or supervised from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) proved their mettle by bringing home prizes for their research and presentations.

Vusi Masondo, who is doing his postgraduate studies under the supervision of UWC’s Dr Mark Herbert, won a prize for his work on improving the measurement of neutrons with high energies – useful in basic research and applications such as neutron radiotherapy.

Siyambonga Matshawule was recognised for his work on the national MeerKAT and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) projects, investigating how the growth of structure in the universe evolves over cosmic time. Siyambonga, who completed his BSc degree at UWC before graduating with an astrophysics honours degree (NASSP course), is one of a growing number of UWC astrophysics postgraduates. His research is led by Professor Roy Maartens, who holds the national SKA Chair in Astrophysics at UWC, and Dr Russell Johnston, postdoctoral fellow in the University’s Department of Physics.

Lifa Mbuli won a prize for his work on space plasmas, a fourth state of matter found more commonly in stars and interstellar space.

Mbuli is working under the supervision of UWC’s Professor Ramesh Bharuthram and Dr Shimul Maharaj of the Space Science Programme of the South African National Space Agency. (Bharuthram is still supervising students despite his busy schedule as deputy vice-chancellor at UWC.) Sive Noncolela, who is working on his PhD in nuclear physics at iThemba LABS (ie, the

Sive Noncolela (middle) receiving his prize from Prof John Carter (left) and the president of the SAIP, Prof Simon Connell. iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator-Based Science), won a prize for his talk on the new detector systems at iThemba, and how he used simulations to investigate ways to improve the effectiveness of these detectors.

Sive was also involved in other work presented by iThemba researchers.

Nontobeko Khumalo earned herself a prize for her work on the research of two-photon octupole excitation. Nontobeko is registered at the University of Zululand for an MSc degree, but is supervised by Dr Nico Orce of the Department of Physics at UWC as part of the MANuS/MatSci collaboration between UWC, the University of Zululand and iThemba LABS.

Lifa Mbuli wins a prize for his work on space plasmas.

The South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) was established in 1955 to promote study and research in physics, further the exchange of knowledge, and ensure a high standard of professional conduct among physicists. Among other things, SAIP solicits and implements projects that promote the role of physics in education, research, technology, health, the environment, and sustainable economic development. Over 600 professionals, academics and students have joined as members in South Africa, other African countries and further abroad. To find out more, visit http://www.saip.org.za.

16

Community Health Sciences

Occupational therapists get sneak peek ahead of congress

O Fourth-year Nursing students gather in front of the UWC Student Centre to protest gender-based violence.

Nursing students stand up against gender-based violence

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ourth-year nursing students at the University of the Western Cape took a stand against gender-based violence on 8 August, when they provided a lunchtime poster demonstration outside the Student Centre.

Twenty-four groups of nursing students (six from each of four classes) had produced posters for the Gender-Based Violence module of their studies. The basic theme was Breaking the Silence, but students were open to interpret that in any way they chose.

So posters were varied, exploring the way gender-based violence affects South Africa, explaining how to go about reporting and escaping spousal abuse, and discussing the perceptions of women and men in society, among other things.

“I was actually very impressed that they were all so different,” said Enid Fortuin, the fourth-year coordinator who had assigned the project. “The topic was the same, but they took different aspects, and adopted different approaches, and covered a wide range of important matters.”

The students presented their posters for evaluation that same morning – it contributed towards their Gender-Based Violence marks – and then took their acts to the wider UWC community, engaging students in conversations and skits, or otherwise informing them about the topic. Hundreds of students stopped by for the energised presentations.

“It’s important to make people understand that no means no,” said nursing student Alwah Laura. “And if someone can’t say no, that doesn’t mean yes. Just because someone is drunk, that’s no excuse for forcing yourself on them.”

“We must educate the youth out there,” said Paul Matthews. “We must raise awareness to stop domestic violence and women abuse.

We’re teaching the men and informing the women, and hopefully that can make a difference.”

Fortuin believes the presentations made for good practice for the students. “They are health care workers, and we want to sensitise them to getting out there. And with this being Women’s Month, they need to make an impact and start standing up – because if they don’t stand up for battered women, then who will?”

ccupational therapy is growing swiftly in Africa, and the Occupational Therapy Africa Regional Group (OTARG) congress plays an important part in the profession’s burgeoning reputation and ranks, providing a meeting space for clinicians and academics interested in occupational therapy in the region.

To celebrate this, the University of the Western Cape hosted an OTARG Teaser Symposium in August 2013. As its intriguing name suggests, the Teaser Symposium served as a preview, in this case for the 8th OTARG Congress – the congresses take place every two years – held in Harare, Zimbabwe, later that month. In Zimbabwe, occupational therapist would meet to discuss occupational therapy in Africa, and the role that OTARG members could play in supporting its growth.

The UWC gathering was an opportunity to get a sneak peek at what lay ahead in Zimbabwe, especially for those who had to give it a miss.

“I met with my colleagues at Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town, and we decided we wanted to create an opportunity for occupational therapists and students who can’t make the journey north to Harare to be able to enjoy just a little bit of the conference,” explained Professor Lisa Wegner, head of UWC’s Department of Occupational Therapy. “So we have invited people who are going to be presenting at the conference who are from Cape Town to come by and give brief talks about their work.”

Dozens of interested students and academics from UWC, UCT and Stellenbosch University, clinicians, as well as representatives from the Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa, (OTASA) attended the mini-conference.

Occupational therapists from all over Cape Town spoke on such matters as the occupational trajectories of young men on the Cape Flats, occupational choice and occupational consciousness, and the way employers and employees experience an asymmetric balance of power in their relationships.

Professor Clare Hocking of the Auckland University of Technology came from New Zealand to present her talk, Trends in Occupational Therapy: Is its relevance in Africa increasing? Her answer to that question was a resounding yes, and she explained how a better understanding of different occupational therapy needs in different African nations was leading to improved outcomes for the region.

Hocking is well-known for her work to promote occupational science and the human rights agenda. She later also delivered a talk on Occupational Justice, Human Rights and Ethics in Occupational Therapy, delving into a discussion about occupational justice and incorporating human rights into occupational therapy education.

Plans are afoot to make the Teaser Symposium a fixture ahead of the OTARG congresses. “So Prof Clare Hocking discusses the hopefully in two years time we’ll be relevance of occupational science doing this again,” said Wegner. for Africa.

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17

Economic Management Sciences

In conversation with the new Dean of EMS, Kobus Visser

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rofessor Kobus Visser, the newly of schooling and rapid urbanisation. These are appointed Dean of the Faculty national problems for which there is no quickof Economic and Management fix solution, but these factors do influence the Sciences at UWC, feels strongly environment within which the EMS Faculty has that education should be closely linked to to forge its vision and raison d’être. the needs of the world of work if it is to Deans today face intense pressure on a be relevant. Here he reflects on his new number of fronts, and as such university position, and the role that the University leaders operate in environments of and the faculty can play in shaping the increasing complexity in which they are country’s future. required to strategically manage diverse Historically our university has not had stakeholders, politics, service delivery strong linkages with the world of work. systems, scarce resources, advances in During that period of developing and technology, competition, and new avenues for nurturing its identity, despite external collaboration. interpolations of isolating and alienating Within a progressively more competitive the University from its stakeholders, it university environment from both a national stood steadfast in its quest for a new and and international perspective, the Faculty of democratic order which gained us national Economic and Management Sciences is a place Prof Kobus Visser is the new Dean of UWC’s Faculty of and international recognition. of quality where capable students work closely As an engaged university we now need to Economic and Management Sciences. with a dedicated group of academic faculty re-establish closer relations and partnerships and administrative staff to equip our leaders of with commerce and industry and the public sector to ensure that we supply tomorrow with tools and concepts on value. the required and appropriate knowledge and skills of the kinds that will UWC stood fast, worked hard, and is now a thriving institution which make our economy grow. In a sense, we need to do serious ‘catching-up’. has become one of the top universities in South Africa. The leadership of We all know that (tertiary) education in South Africa is in trouble and the University has done an exceptional job in steering this organisation in careful thought is required on how best we need to make our intellectual the right direction. It is up to people like me and my team to say: “you’ve investments. One of our challenges is to navigate around these obstacles, brought us up to here, now it is our job to take this national asset into its keeping in mind those constantly-shifting factors that (may) change the next phase of growth”. landscape of universities, which include the prevailing awareness and It is a challenge I am looking forward to. attitudes to knowledge in the society, social deprivation, the varying quality (This is a condensed version of a contribution by Prof Visser.)

Auditor-General spurs on accounting students

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ind role models to help you succeed,” said Terence Nombembe, the AuditorGeneral of South Africa, when he addressed students in the Department of Accounting during a visit to the University of the Western Cape in August.

Nombembe explained to a packed lecture hall that the country needs greater professional expertise in the accounting disciplines, and that students will one day provide that. “I am pleased to see how full this lecture hall is,” he said. “To see this many students gives me hope that we can reach still greater heights in accounting and auditing.”

Nombembe shared the secret for his success.

“You need to work hard from the start. I am a strong believer in mathematics, and excelling in this subject. I struggled because I did not have the subject at school – I know how

beneficial maths would have been to me in this field.”

He urged students to have courage, remain focused throughout their studies, and be determined to accomplish their dreams.

“Having good role models is very important.

You need to find a person that can mentor you, a person that you are in contact with on a daily basis,” he noted.

“UWC students are fortunate to have the opportunity to interact with their alumni peers who are in industry, good lecturers and so much more here at this institution.”

He mentioned that it was a privilege to speak at UWC and to interact with many of the lecturers. Nombembe said the lecturers at UWC are dedicated to helping students succeed, and students need to take advantage of this.

“You will become the role models of the future. Students in the future will fill lecture halls five times this size, so take advantage of

Terence Nombembe tells students that finding good role models is one of the keys to success. your opportunities and become the good role model you can look up too.”

Lisa Luvo Ngcolomba, who graduated in 2012 and now works for the Auditor-General, told students that identifying their purpose in life is important. “You need to know where you are going, be honest with yourself, remain focused during your studies – and you will reap the rewards,” Ngcolomba said.

18

Arts

UWC Rector inspires students to bring about change

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Samuel Kalule, a master’s student in sociology at UWC, is on a mission to contribute to society.

he University of the Western Cape’s Rector and ViceChancellor, Professor Brian O’Connell, has inspired the Unity for Tertiary Refugees Students (UTRS) organisation to bring about change in Gugulethu.

O’Connell was speaking at a career workshop hosted by the UTRS, with the Thembalethu Seventh Day Adventist Church Education Department, in Gugulethu.

Samuel Kalule, a master’s in sociology student at UWC and member of the UTRS, spoke to the matric pupils, unemployed youth and parents, saying that it is their mission to contribute to society, and especially the community of Gugulethu.

“We want to encourage youngsters to take education seriously,” Kalule said. “I see myself as an ambassador for UWC, and we want to make it our duty for children in our communities to know this as well.”

Kalule explained that the UTRS is inspired by UWC. “The Rector encourages students to be the agents of change, by starting in our own communities. It is very important for us to take up this task”.

He also encouraged UWC students to succeed in their studies, no matter how tough it might seem.

The career workshop included topics such as choosing a career, the influence of school results on admission to institutions of higher learning, the life of a student at a tertiary institution, the role of extracurricular and community activities, and how education and career-related decisions can shape a person’s future.

It’s not easy being women of faith

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he Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians Conference took place at the University of the Western Cape on 16 August 2013, hosted by the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians in partnership with the Ecumenical Foundation of South Africa.

The Circle is a community of African theologians who come together to reflect on and raise questions about what it means to be women of faith within their experiences of religion, culture, politics and the social-economic structures in the country. Their main focus is to share skills and insights with each other while exploring the complex relationship between gender, religion and culture.

“In the Circle, questions are articulated out of the lived experiences of women in the context of their faith and culture,” explained Dr Miranda Pillay of the Department of Religion and Theology of UWC. “They seek to understand the resistance to addressing sexism in the church, and they seek to communicate with those conducting the dominant discourses in the church that women’s perceptions and insights ought to be taken seriously and not dismissed as irrelevant.”

Keynote speaker at the conference, Anglican Bishop Margaret Vertue, gave an inspiring speech about her life and how she helps others in her community. She shared her journey to self-discovery, and what it feels like to be a female bishop in an ocean of male bishops.

Feedback about the meeting has been very positive. One woman mentioned that she found the day’s proceedings to be encouraging

(From left) Lutasha Ndesi of UWC; Bishop Margaret Vertue; Dr Miranda Pillay of UWC; and Prof Julie Claassens of the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University enjoy a photo-op at the conference. and that it was refreshing to know that many women are grappling with the same challenges. A male delegate said that he was mindful of being complicit, and felt encouraged to challenge androcentrism imbued in the way people speak and act.

For more information, visit www.thecircleawt.org.

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19

Sport

Athlete of the month

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Jerome Fredericks helps UWC win its third consecutive title at the Geness Consulting Volleyball South Africa Championship.

UWC rules volleyball

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he University of the Western Cape’s men’s volleyball team has for a third successive year been crowned champions of the Geness Consulting National Inter-Club Championship.

This after the defending champions fended off a tenacious challenge from Gauteng outfit Delfos in the tournament final, held at the Westville Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Heritage Day. A straight-sets win of 25-20, 25-19 and 25-23 earned UWC the R100,000 prize money and cemented their hold on the tournament title.

UWC’s attacking duo of Leo Williams and Jerome Fredericks made things very difficult for the Gauteng side, and Delfos eventually succumbed to the relentless attacks UWC showered on them.

Delfos played without their influential captain, Andile Masinga, but made UWC fight for every set.

Williams was named as Attacker of the Tournament, while Fredericks was rated the tournament’s Most Valued Player. The two are teammates in the South African national team, as was clear from the class and understanding they displayed alongside each other.

UWC coach, Loet Groenewald, stuck to his match strategy, even as Delfos piled on the pressure and setter Grant Goldschmidt troubled the Gauteng team throughout with his near-flawless set-ups for teammates.

WC rugby star Mthetheleli “Tazz” Fuzani’s, whose sterling performances this season saw him drafted into the Western Province Currie Cup team, has been named as UWC’s Athlete of the Month for August.

The award was introduced by the Department of Sports Administration this year to honour the achievements of outstanding sports people, and as part of the Athlete Support Programme. Each sport administrator nominates an athlete who has excelled during a specific month, and nominations are then collated and assessed.

Fuzani, a burly lock, produced several stand-out performances in the FNB Varsity Shield this year, playing a substantial part in getting UWC to the final of the competition. He has since played six games for the Western Province Vodacom side, and made his Currie Cup debut when Western Province beat the Blue Bulls 29-18 at Newlands on 14 September.

UWC director of rugby and sport development, Peter De Villiers, said that Fuzani is one of many players from the University who can get to the top of the game.

“We are very excited to see players like him reach the heights they want in life,” De Villiers commented. “We are proud of them and we know that many more such players will come from here.”

The first Athlete of the Month award had been made in April, to Vuyo Mkhabela, Jermaine Seoponsewe and Kaylin Swart of the UWC Ladies Football Club. The three represented the national student team, Banyana Banyana, in this year’s Cyprus Cup, and were also part of the national team that reached the semi-finals of the football event in the 2013 World Student Games in Kazan, Russia.

Fuzani’s teammate Freddie Muller, who also took part in the Summer Universiade, got the nod in May for his showings in the Varsity Shield, for which he had received the Player that Rocks award.

Athlete of the Month in June was Rodwell Ndlovu, who grabbed the spotlight in the inaugural Varsity Athletic competition and had also represented Team South Africa in this year’s World Student Games.

UWC swimming sensation Robyn Ferguson, another Summer Universiade selection, won the award in July.

Mthetheleli “Tazz” Fuzani has been named UWC’s Athlete of the Month for August 2013.

UWC MEDIA OFFICE

Do you have any important UWC stories to share? Do you know of an event on campus that you’d like to see featured? Have you heard of UWC alumni who’ve done amazing things, which you think the world should know about? Or maybe you have a few suggestions, comments or questions about something in this newsletter? Whatever the case may be, the UWC Media Office would really like to hear from you.

Just email us on ia@uwc.ac.za , call us on 021 959 9566, or drop by our offices.

CONTRIBUTORS Matthews Mfubu Nastasha Crow Notukela Mzilikazi

Aidan Van Den Heever Myolisi Gophe Yolanda Makosi

Nicklaus Kruger Fatima Saib Luthando Tyhalibongo

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