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UP adds 18 to Top 200 list
Social distancing didn’t stop volunteering
By Dr Martina Jordaan Senior lecturer: Community-Based Project Module
When the lockdown linked to COVID-19 challenged students on how they were going to complete their 40 hours of compulsory community work*, many of them found creative ways to do their fieldwork.
Several students helped teachers with online teaching via Google Classroomdeveloped YouTube videos and PowerPoint presentations, and taught learners via WhatsApp. Some students developed YouTube videos focusing on specific topics in the curriculum and shared them with the learners.
Two students, David de Villiers and Kian Strydom, also helped shelters and communities across Tshwane by developing an app for the Tshwane Homelessness Forum. The app helped manage shelters’ needs and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic, so that they could optimally provide for and assist their communities.
Ongoing projects include students making masks and visors for schools, clinics and NPOs that deliver them to the communities.
Nishsai Veerappa, a second-year BCom (Informatics) student, said she had a newfound appreciation for teachers. “I did not realise how difficult a teacher’s job is, especially in the current pandemic. Learners rely on these presentations to learn the work that they should have learnt in their classroom.”
Jano Esterhuizen, a second-year Electronic Engineering student, reported “as the youth we have the power to set the standards for the future. The JCP project made me realise the great need for volunteering work in our communities. The small deeds that we as youth do which do not require much of us can make a massive impact on other people in need”.
Assisting teachers with online teaching.
To achieve the outcomes of the compulsory undergraduate course Community-based Project Module (code: JCP) of the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT, students must work 40 hours in the community. In the 2020 academic year 1 909 students enrolled for the module.
Tyler Schwegler, a second-year mechanical engineer, delivered his homemade masks at the SPCA. Kgomotso Motau, a second-year Quantity Surveying student, delivered masks to Thushanang Primary School in Middleburg.
Endangered cheetah cub triplets born
Juno, a four-year-old cheetah from Cheetah Experience, gave birth to a stillborn cub, and went about her normal routine. Days later, a caesarean section helped her become a mother to three healthy cubs.
Domestic cats are known for having the ability to pause labour and resume it a few days later. This phenomenon is not well studied in wild felids so when the caring staff at Cheetah Experience noticed movement in Juno’s abdomen, she was rushed to UP’s Veterinary Academic Hospital.
Dr Jacques O’Dell, specialist wildlife veterinarian in the Faculty’s wildlife unit, examined her and found her in good health. Dr Geoff Brown (reproduction specialist) performed a reproductive examination and found no signs of obstruction.
Radiographs revealed three healthy foetuses and they were considered full term. Cheetah females have a gestation period of approximately 90-98 days. Due to the unique challenges in monitoring labour in wild cats, the decision was taken to not risk the lives of the mother and her cubs and to rather proceed with a caesarean section.
Juno was rushed to theatre where Dr Roxanne Buck, specialist veterinary anaesthesiologist, and her anaesthetic team did an excellent job of keeping Juno and the cubs alive during surgery. In particular, anaesthesiology resident, Dr Abdur Kadwa was instrumental in resuscitating the newborns.
While recovering from the anaesthetic the team ensured that the cubs could suckle from their mom. These first few sips of milk (known as colostrum) are vitally important as it contains antibodies and strengthen the cubs’ immune system.
After mom recovered sufficiently from the procedure, she went home to raise her three cubs so they can also one day contribute to the cheetah gene pool. The current conservation status of the cheetah is classified as vulnerable.
Vaccine trial for bovine TB could help eradicate TB among humans
Professor Anita Michel and Dr Jennie Hewlett, researchers in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, have announced the start of vaccine trials for tuberculosis (TB) in African buffalo.
Bovine tuberculosis is an extremely slow but steadily progressing disease that poses a serious health threat to cattle, wildlife and people, especially in developing countries. Without active surveillance, bovine TB typically goes unnoticed for years until it has escalated to a point where one or more animals present with severe disease. At this stage, the spread of TB within and between animal populations is virtually unstoppable, and culling infected animals becomes the only solution. This is unfeasible in wildlife populations.
“The urgent need for alternative control strategies, which are able to reduce and ideally cease disease spread, sparked plans for an important TB vaccination trial among African buffalo,” says Dr Hewlett, who is a lecturer in the Department of Paraclinical Sciences. systematically studied in buffalo under controlled conditions for nine to 12 months in the state veterinary quarantine bomas at Skukuza,” explains Prof Michel of the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases. Dr Hewlett is a wildlife veterinarian at the Faculty of Veterinary Science and is a PhD candidate on this vaccination project.
Prof Michel and Dr Hewlett have received overwhelming support from a team of local wildlife, veterinary and state veterinary professionals who ensured a safe and efficient operation, from capture and testing to translocating the buffalo.
“For the study, Phinda Private Game Reserve and the Manyoni Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal donated 26 buffalo,” says Prof Michel. “The level of stakeholder involvement is indicative of the disease challenge at hand.”
“It is crucial to remember that bovine TB is a zoonotic disease, and can be spread from animals to humans,” adds Dr Hewlett. “According to the World Health Organisation’s Global Tuberculosis Programme, 147 000 new cases of zoonotic tuberculosis occurred in 2016 worldwide, with some 12 500 people dying of the disease. In South Africa, the burden of zoonotic TB is not known because the required diagnostic methods are not applied in medical TB laboratories. It will be impossible to successfully eradicate TB among humans without tackling zoonotic TB.”
Research study on returning to sport after COVID-19
Author: Primarashni Gower
The Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Institute (SEMLI) at UP, in association with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Research Centre of South Africa, has launched a study on the effects of COVID-19 and other respiratory infections on athletes returning to training and competition.
“Since the first case of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was described in late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has added an unparalleled threat to the health of all people, including recreational and professional athletes around the world,” says Professor Martin Schwellnus, director of SEMLI.
About 50% of all acute illness in athletes during competitions and tournaments affect the respiratory tract, he explains. Some acute respiratory infections, such as COVID-19, negatively affect multiple organs in the body, which can cause a drop in exercise performance and increase the risk of medical complications occurring during exercise.
As lockdown restrictions are lifted, the SEMLI community is being called on to urgently advise and guide organisations and individual athletes on how they can safely return to sports training and competitions following a COVID-19 infection.
“The current return-to-play guidelines for athletes are an adaptation of a clinical tool known as the ‘neck check’, where the decision to exercise or not is based on symptoms and signs being either localised (above the neck) or systemic (below the neck),” explains Prof Schwellnus. “But limited research data supports its use, and the use of this tool to guide return-to-play following COVID-19 has been questioned.”
There is increasing evidence that the virus can affect multiple organs including the lungs, kidneys and heart, and increases the risk of blood clot formation. There might also be neurological symptoms and potential negative effects on skeletal muscle. There is, however, no data that determines whether the negative effects on organs are exacerbated in athletes as they return to full training and competition.
“Such residual symptoms might not affect only sports performance but could increase the risk of medical complications occurring during high-intensity exercise,” Prof Schwellnus says. “The decision as to when it is safe for an athlete with recent or current symptoms of an acute respiratory infection can return to exercise remains one of the most challenging clinical decisions for a sport and exercise medicine physician or health professional involved in the management of athletes.”
The AWARE research study aims to answer these questions by tracking the symptoms and recovery of athletes after they have experienced a recent acute respiratory infection, including COVID-19. This will allow guidelines to be established that health professionals around the world can use to advise competitive and recreational athletes as they return to sport after COVID-19 or some other respiratory infection.
SEMLI is inviting athletes who compete at all levels and in different sports to be part of this important research, including: • elite/professional, competitive and recreational athletes (those participating in community-based sports events, and who regularly train a minimum of 3 hours per week or under the guidance of a coach), with or without disability • athletes between 18 and 60 years of age • athletes who have had any symptoms of a respiratory infection (any flu-like illness including COVID-19) in the past six months, such as a sore throat, blocked or runny nose, cough, loss of smell or taste, difficulty breathing, chest pain, fever or chills, excessive tiredness or unexplained general muscle/body pain, or • who have had a COVID-19 test in the past six months (with or without symptoms).
Participants will be asked to complete an online questionnaire about their history of symptoms that are suggestive of a recent acute respiratory infection, including COVID-19.
The Athletes With Acute Respiratory InfEction (AWARE) research study is done in collaboration with local academic institutions (South African Medical Research Council, Stellenbosch University and University of the Witwatersrand), international academic institutions as well as sports organisations such as the IOC, FIFA and World Rugby. For more information about the AWARE study and how to become involved, contact: aware_covid@semli.co.za.
Africa’s sporting powerhouse
UP’s focus on sport and sport development, also through our world-renowned High Performance Centre, is a major drawcard for student athletes to study at UP. With the new Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Institute (SEMLI) launched in 2018, UP has further distinguished itself as a centre of excellence in sports medicine, sports science and research on healthy lifestyles. In a year where COVID-19 hamstrung many athletic performances, our athletes still managed to make their mark on the global stage, reports Wilhelm de Swardt.
TuksAthletics
Simbine caps dream season running 9.96s
Akani Simbine has achieved something few athletes have managed to do: not to lose once in a season. He won seven 100-metre races on the trot clocking two of the four fastest times in the world.
For Akani’s coach, Werner Prinsloo, it is mission accomplished.
“The big thing for Akani and me was that 2020 should not be remembered as a wasted year. We wanted to race, and we wanted to win. We did both. The fact that Akani managed to clock two sub-10 times is an absolute bonus.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was never going to be about times this season. In June, I was prepared to ‘scrap’ the year because Akani was not able to train properly. When things started to change for the better, it was vital for us to make the most of every opportunity.
“It helped that he never felt under pressure to perform. To be on the track in Europe, training and competing was all that mattered. His continuous winning streak did a lot for his confidence.”
Akani is preparing for next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games and hopes to qualify to race the 100m as well as the 200m at the Games.
TuksSquash
Above: TuksSquash league winners Helena Coetzee, Mariska Wiese, Nothando Ntimane and Jess McDonald.
Tuks women win the Northerns Squash Blitz League
Tuks’s women’s squash team bagged their first title for the season when they won the Northerns Blitz League in February 2020.
Their secret? Camaraderie, according to Mariska Wiese.
“The four of us had only one goal, and that was not to let the team down. It meant we fought for each point we played. Our coaches at Tuks also deserve a lot of credit. They left nothing to chance.”
The Tuks players each have their own unique way of approaching a game. Helena Coetzee will tell you it is about never giving up.
“It is a matter of pride to me to chase down every ball. If you can do so, you start to frustrate your opponent as they don’t know what shots they need to play to win a point. I also like to dominate the centre of the court where it’s easier to dictate the play.”
Jessica McDonald prides herself on being able to quickly identify any opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and adapt her way of play to it. She also favours a no-nonsense approach on the court.
“I like to get any rally over and done with as soon as possible.”
Nothando Ntimane is totally focused. “One moment’s lapsed concentration is all it takes to be caught off-guard. In a way, squash seems to calm me. At times it feels like it is only me and the ball. Nothing else matters.” The COVID-19 virus could not stop TuksGolf’s head coach, Llewellyn van Leeuwen, from helping to guide George Coetzee to win the Portuguese Masters Tournament in September.
For four days in July Llewellyn was “man down”. There were times when it apparently felt like a fat person was sitting on his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe. The one thing that kept him going was his passion for golf. After a week, all he wanted to do was to be back at the TuksGolf range helping players to better their game.
Llewellyn and George’s “working relationship” goes way back.
“I first coached George when he was 14 when he won the South African Amateur Championships and his first professional tournament. Soon afterwards our ways parted. It was only three years ago that George had approached me to help him again,” Llewellyn explained.
It is possibly one of the best decisions George ever made. Winning the European Tour’s Portuguese Masters Tournament in 2020 was big for him. It was the first time that he won in Europe.
Besides his victory in Portugal he has also won the Titleist Championships in Pretoria and improved his international ranking by more than 80 positions. He is currently ranked 85th.
He is currently playing the Open de Portugal TuksSwimming
Schoenmaker sets SA 200m breaststroke record
Tatjana Schoenmaker surprised herself during the trials for the South African Shortcourse Championships by setting an Africa as well as a new national record in the 200m breaststroke.
She won in a time of 2:18.20, which is 0.53s faster than the record set by Suzaan van Biljon during the 2008 Short Course World Championships in Manchester. The former Tuks swimmer swam 2:18.73.
Tatjana’s heroics mean she now can boast a “full house”. She also holds the short course records (25m) in the 50m as well as 100m breaststroke events. The Tuks swimmer’s talent for breaking records is not restricted to short course galas. She has set national records in all three of the long course (50m) events.
She is possibly one of only a handful of South African swimmers to ever hold all six national at Royal Obidos. After the first round, he was tied eighth.
Van Leeuwen tends to play down his role in Coetzee’s success.
“George likes to run ideas past me. I would tell him to go ahead or to reconsider.”
But there is more to it—the Tuks coach considered to be one of the best when the technical aspects of the game. In 2015 he was voted the PGA of South Africa’s Teaching Professional of the Year.
Many would go as far as to say Van Leeuwen is the “Master of Swing”. That is one aspect of Coetzee’s game that tends to let him down at crucial moments. Van Leeuwen still remembers what happened a few years back.
“I had only started to coach George again when he played the Portuguese Masters. On the last day, he was second with one hole to play. He mistimed his swing. The ball twice landed in the water. George ended up playing seven shots.
“The past Sunday on the same hole George played it beautifully. The ball landed perfectly in the middle of the fairway. It was possibly one of the best T-shots he ever played. It was a mental victory.
“To me, it was if three years of hard work all came together. That is what makes coaching rewarding.” records in one specific event at the same time.
Five of the six Africa breaststroke records also belong to Tatjana. The 50m short course breaststroke is the only record she has not yet claimed.
Meiring (TuksSwimming head coach) said he was precise in what he expected from Schoenmaker.
“I wanted to see how fast Tatjana can swim the second 100 metres. So I told her to swim the first 100 metres on a slow stroke count. We only afterwards realised that she had set a record. It is unusual for, a national and continental record of this level to get broken at altitude in a school pool in good old Pretoria of all places.”
According to Meiring swimming times at altitude tends to be near a second slower in all
TuksGolf
Coach overcomes COVID-19 virus to help win in Portugal
events longer than 100 metres.
As a youngster, Van Leeuwen was considered to be exceptionally talented. Unfortunately, he got hit by a cricket ball in the eye while at school and suffered a detached retina that affected his vision. It put an end to his plans to play golf competitively but led to him starting to coach.
In memory of …
Gawie Fagan
The University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Architecture recently lost one of its longest-living alumni, Gabriël (Gawie) Theron Fagan, who passed away at the age of 94.
Fagan graduated with a BArch in 1952 and was a recipient of the University’s Chancellor’s Award in 2003. He is best known for his domestic architecture and his own house, Die Es (The Hearth) in Camps Bay, Cape Town was a labour of love. The house epitomised everything that the architect stood for during his 68-year career: a sensitivity to the landscape, hand-forged materials, an appreciation of history and the creation of place for modern living. Dr Claude De Villiers Claude was born in Villiersdorp in the Cape Province on 29 June 1924. At the age of 16, he matriculated at De Villiers Graaff High School in Villiersdorp as one of the top ten pupils in the Cape Province. In 1947 he completed his MTheology at the Seminary, Stellenbosch University. He was the itinerant minister of the SCA for two years (19481949), after which he accepted a position at the NG mission congregation Vlakfontein (the present-day Mamelodi) in Pretoria East. Dr Rolf Stumpf University of Pretoria mourns the passing of the first ViceChancellor and CEO of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), Dr Rolf Stumpf. Dr Stumpf was Vice-Chancellor of NMMU from 2006 to 2008.
As Vice-Chancellor and CEO of one of our predecessor institutions, the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) from April 2002, he was instrumental in leading the merger of the former UPE, the PE Technikon and Vista University’s PE campus in 2005. He was thereafter appointed Interim ViceChancellor of NMMU, and in September 2005 appointed as Vice-Chancellor. It is fitting that he spent the last few months of his life in Die Es surrounded by the mountain and sea, with his wife of 71 years, Gwen. Fagan was one of four brothers born in Newlands, Cape Town on 15 November 1925. Music, motorcycles and maidens took up much of his engineering study time at the University of Cape Town, after which his mother encouraged him to study architecture at the University of Pretoria. He excelled and displayed great skill as a designer, with his prize-winning projects featured in several South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) journals.
Fagan began his architectural career with
Volkskas Bank in 1952. In 1964, he set up a In 1955 he became a full-time missionary on the Rand (Mayfair West, Johannesburg), where he worked among the coloured community. In 1956 he accepted a position as Chief Superintendent of Daveyton in Benoni. From 1955 he researched the history and activities of the ANC, and interviewed, among others, Oliver Tambo. He also met Nelson Mandela. In 1956 he completed his MA dissertation, Die “African National Congress” en sy aktiwiteite aan die Witwatersrand (19121956) with distinction. The year after that,
Prof Stumpf was a member of the Board of the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) and was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of Higher Education SA (HESA), now known as Universities South Africa (USAF). He was also a Trustee of the Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET), a member of the Academy of Science of SA and served on the Board of Directors of the PE Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Dr Stumpf authored a number of scientific articles in the field of statistics (qualitative data analysis) and was co-author of a book on Graphical Exploratory Data Analysis. He also practice in Cape Town and undertook his first conservation project, La Dauphine, in 1966. This was followed by Tulbagh Main Street renovations in 1969, then his longest-running project, the Cape Town Castle, for which he won the SAIA Award of Excellence in 2002. In 1988, Fagan received a Gold Medal from SAIA, the organisation’s highest honour for local architects.
He is also regarded by many as a polymath, having made an epic journey from Portugal to Mossel Bay in a replica caravel to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Bartolomeu Dias in the Cape in 1488. Then in 1982, he won the Transatlantic yacht race from the Cape to Punta del Este and the 2003 race to Bahia.
Author: Professor Arthur Barker
he accepted a lectorate in anthropology at the University of Pretoria. Claude wrote one chapter in Godsdiens (edited by PJ Coertze) and Inleiding tot algemene Volkekunde (1959). In 1972 he completed his PhD thesis, Die vryetydsbesteding van volwasse manlike Bantoes in die gebied Pretoria-WitwatersrandVereeniging, with the help of a grant from Dr Anton Rupert.
Claude retired in 1984. He was married to Mercia Loraine Pietersen of the Uitenhage District (Eastern Cape) for 66 years, and they had six children, 14 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. On 29 July 2020, he passed away at the age of 96 in Pretoria.
authored and co-authored a large number of policy reports in the field of education, especially in higher education.
Dr Stumpf was born in 1945 in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal. After completing his schooling in Vryheid and Pietermaritzburg, he enrolled for a degree in Mathematics & Statistics at the University of Pretoria and graduated with a BA (cum laude) in 1967. He continued with his studies in statistics while lecturing at the University of Pretoria, receiving a BA Hons (cum laude) in 1969 and an MA (cum laude) in 1972.
In 1974, while studying full-time and lecturing part-time, he completed a Diploma in Theology (cum laude) at the Baptist College of SA in Johannesburg. He was awarded his PhD in Statistics (Analysis of Qualitative Data) from the University of South Africa in 1984.
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