From anarchy and role playing to pretty much the entire earth, Wits’s lesser known societies cover a wide spectrum of interests.
The War gaming, Anime, Role play and Pc and card gaming (Warp) society offers its members “pure geekdom”, according to Kerry Clark, the new treasurer of the club.
“About 90% of sign ups we get are thanks to the couches, the kettle and the microwave we have in the clubroom,” jokes the previous treasurer, Jarred Harlow.
Clark says the club had about 120 members last year and has already received 110 registrations this year.
A few registration tables away from Warp, students can find an anarchy society. “A society for anarchists is not a contradiction,” says Warren McGregor of Inkululeko, the Wits anarchist collective.
“Over the last few decades, the definition of anarchism has been lost or confused in the English language,” says McGregor.
He says the club does not support chaos and disorder but rather strives for a “horizontal society”. Within the Wits context, this includes campaigning for better employment conditions for cleaners, gardeners and admin staff at the university.
“It’s not just about rocks,” says president of the geological society, Zandile Mjoli. She says the society caters mostly to the interests of geologists but anyone can join the club.
Mjoli says people think the society talk about rocks all the time, but geology is about all of Earth’s movements and changes as well as the atmosphere. She says they arrange braais and camping trips throughout the year for members to get to know each other.
Students can sign up for societies in front of the Great Hall during O-week
