by Dana Da Silva | Apr 28, 2015 | News
As a student you may not always have money to splurge on an expensive meal. Here is a list of meals that you can get for under R25 on campus.
1. Kara Nicha’s has always had affordable Indian food, which is why you can get a Biryani tub with a dhal, chutney and Cooee for only R11.00 at the matrix.
CURRY TUB: If you love Indian food, then Kara Nicha’s has a biryani tub and cooee that will cost you R11.00. Photo: Dana Da Silva.
2. Fight the cold this winter with warm and fresh pies from Theo’s, priced at R16.90 in senate house. Available flavours include sausage, cornish, mutton curry and spare ribs to name a few.
WARM AND FRESH: Fight off the winter cold with Theo’s hot pies. Photo: Dana Da Silva.
3. Located at the matrix, Students Corner provides a combination and weight based meals that you can get for under R25.00. For example, you can get a piece of chicken (which costs R7 per 100g) with a side of rice (R4.67) or a plain dumpling (R6.36).
EXTRA HOT: You can order pap and fillet as well as a variety of other meals at Sizzlers as extra hot. Photo: Dana Da Silva.
4. Sizzlers also have a couple of meals for under R25.00 at the matrix and on west campus. You can get pap and fillet for R22.00, a hotdog for R18.00 and a polony sandwich for R21.00. Available in mild, hot and for the very brave, extra hot.
BRAAI FIX: If you’re looking for good old grilled foods you can get a russian and mini chips at Chesa Nyama. Photo: Dana Da Silva.
5. The Chinese Lantern has a variety of noodles that you can get for R22.00 at the matrix. Portions are large enough to share between two and some of the choices available are pork, chicken, beef vegetable and calamari.
FOR TWO: Chinese Lantern sweet and sour pork as well as its other noodles can be a large enough portion to share. Photo: Dana Da Silva.
6. If you feel like having some braai meat you can get a Russian and Mini Chips for R18.00 as well as Chesa Wors and Chesa Maize Fries for the same price at Chesa Nyama at the matrix.
COMBO MEAL: If you feel like combining your own meals, why not go to Students corner and get meals such as this chicken and rice. Photo: Dana Da Silva.
7. The Zesti Lemonz, on route to west campus, has some of the best pizza on campus. You can get chicken and mushroom, margarita and mexican slices for R23.00. It may seem like a bit much but they are larger than regular slices so you get a big bite for your money.
PIZZA PARTY: Zesti Lemonz slices, such as this mexican pizza, are some of the best on campus. Photo: Dana Da Silva.
8. If you feel as if you have a little more money to splurge then why not get a meal from Olives and Plates at the Wits Arts Museum (WAM)? They change their menu daily but an sample plate of what is on offer includes gourmet meatball, coucous and some lemon potatoes. Just remember they do it by weight and to keep it below R25 you will have to opt for a small portion.
GOURMET MENU: Olives and Plates changes their menus daily; you can get meals such as a gourmet meatball, couscous and mash. Photo: Dana Da Silva.
by Dana Da Silva | Apr 22, 2015 | News
STORYTELLING: (left to right) Ainsile Mclartly, Claire Waterhouse, Fezile Kanju, Sbu Maseko, Brett Sandler and Dan Sermand share their stories while working at MSF.
Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF, came together for a “Bed-time stories” evening to share their work experiences.
Wits students were treated to first-hand testimonies from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)/Doctors without borders field workers at the Wits Medical School campus on Monday.
“Bed-time stories”, an event hosted by Wits Friends of MSF and the Nursing Students Council brought together workers who shared their personal experiences of working for MSF.
Crazy and Unpredictable
Many of the workers confessed that the unpredictability of their work is one of the main reasons they choose to work for MSF.
“You never know what a situation will throw at you, that’s half of the excitement and half of the fun,” said Claire Waterhouse, a project administrator for MSF who just returned from Liberia.
Even though field workers are trained to deal with different situations you can’t be prepared well enough and can’t predict what will happen, said Waterhouse.
Ainsile Mclartly, a field nurse who recently returned from Afghanistan, said that she loved the craziness, adventure and unpredictability of her job.
Mclartly said that often MSF workers are short of necessary medical equipment which forces them to think creatively and improvise in using what is available for medical procedures.
Conflict Zones
Working for MSF can also be dangerous as field workers are sometimes sent to conflict areas.
“Security definitely plays a role”, said Mclartly.
While in these zones Waterhouse said that, “They [MSF] do a good job of keeping you safe and secure the whole time”.
“There is no such thing as a safe environment”, said Dan Sermand, previous head of mission and field HR (human resources) recruiter for the MSF Braamfontein office.
To be able to work in such places you need to be neutral and impartial when interacting with both sides. “That is your bullet proof jacket,” said Sermand.
by Dana Da Silva | Apr 21, 2015 | Featured 1, News
Wits University hosted another townhall meeting with the vice chancellor last week to give staff and students the opportunity to raise questions with Wits management.
It wasn’t a comfortable town hall meeting for Wits Vice Chancellor (VC) Professor Adam Habib last week. At the meeting held last Thursday, Habib came under heavy criticism mainly over the university’s stance on Israel and over the issue of unpaid electrical workers.
Rashaad Yusuf Dadoo, BA Law, used the platform of the townhall meeting to question Wits’ apparent lack of a stance on the conflict in the middle East and accused the university of having a political conscious only when it suited them.
Dadoo, who is a member of the Wits Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), claimed that the university was quick to stand against xenophobia, in solidarity with Kenyan students, but failed to take up a specific stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I felt the need to bring up the evident hypocrisy shown by the Vice Chancellor Professor Habib with regard to showing equal compassion and solidarity,” Dadoo said.
“I feel Professor Habib should show that compassion equally regardless of who the oppressors are,” he added.
He also claimed that the university had allowed the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) to bring an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier onto campus.
Habib was quick to deny this allegation saying the “soldier” was only a student wearing an IDF shirt.
Another member of the audience accused the VC of allowing racists to speak and mobilise on campus.
Habib, responded by saying that Wits is a place of free ideas where people are free to express their views even if they are not his views or those of the university.
Students took to Twitter after the townhall, to voice their disappointment in the VC’s response:
“APPALLED at the way VC <a href=”https://twitter.com/AdHabb”>@AdHabb</a> treated the <a href=”https://twitter.com/WitsPSC1″>@WitsPSC1</a> as a group of Muslim fundamentalists who don’t stand for freedom of speech,” said Aaisha (@aaishadadipatel).
“@WitsPSC1 was received with such hostility, WHY? Our first question was nothing but respectful,” tweeted Courtney Morgan (@Courtz_RM).
Silent Protest
Electrical workers who have gone unpaid through this year staged a silent protest on the steps of the Great Hall before the meeting started. The workers, part of MJL Electrical, then walked into the hall and stood at the front of the stage for the duration of the meeting.
MJL workers have been in dispute with their employer, who has not paid them for over a month, and have taken the matter to court.
Habib addressed the issue of the MJL workers by saying that the university would support them as a friend of the court.
He also said that it was not the university’s responsibility to guarantee the jobs of employees of outsourced service providers as it would set a precedent for workers from other service providers.
by Dana Da Silva | Apr 16, 2015 | Featured 1, News
Students from across faculties came out in support of the Wits Medics Charity Ball Lumo Run this week.
FACE PAINT: Sarah Best, Davida Kruger, Tashmira Kara and Yerma Wynguard prepare for the run by painting each other with lumo paint. Photo: Dana Da Silva
Bright neon paint and stickers set the stage for the theme of this year’s Wits Medics Charity Ball Run which took place Wednesday evening on Education Campus.
Runners in this year’s event were asked to dress in white clothing that was decorated in lumo paint and stickers in keeping with the theme.
“It’s a fun way to get everyone involved to do something exciting and different. To get out there, get active,” said Tracy Sanders 4th year medicine, and committee member of the Wits Medics Charity Ball.
“We’re trying to emphasise that it’s not like a run, or competitive, it more just about getting involved and doing something different. It’s just a nice idea and it works really well, quick and easy,” said Sanders.
Exercise and Paint
Berzelius Klein, 4th year MMBCh, and another of the committee members, believed that it was the theme that brought people to the run more than the running.
“I think people are just happy to put stickers and paint everywhere, so that’s what I’ll be doing, I won’t be running,” Klein said.
Davida Kruger, 2nd year BHSc, said she came mostly for the lumo paint. “It’s for charity, its good exercise and I’m here with friends. It will just be a great night.”
Leonard Muhango, 4th year MBBCH, was there for the exercise. “Running is fun and I think exercise benefits, it’s good for the body.”
Showing support
The Lumo run was one of the events hosted by the Charity Ball committee in order to raise money for the ball and for charity.
The event was held to raise funds for the Wits PV Tobias Bursary Fund and a non-profit organisation called the Link Literacy project, which develops numeracy and literacy in second -language English-speaking learners in low income schools.
by Dana Da Silva | Apr 8, 2015 | News
Project W has distanced themselves from SRC hosted Pro-Palestine events which they believe is part of a misuse of the SRC office.
Project W, one of the political organisations making up the Student Representative Council (SRC), have distanced themselves from pro-Palestinian events hosted by the student council.
The events were held in collaboration with the City of Johannesburg during Palestine Week at the end of March.
As part of Palestine Week a delegation from Ramallah, a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, visited Johannesburg and met with Mayor Parks Tau. One of the events took place at Wits University where guest speaker Dr Husam Zomlot was invited to give a presentation on Palestine.
But Project W’s Jamie Mighti said it was inappropriate for the SRC to host a pro-Palestinian event and should stay “neutral” on issues like Israel-Palestine.
“The SRC is a parliament for the university, we’re supposed to oversee student structures and stay as neutral as we possibly can,” said Mighti, the SRC campus health and wellness officer.
He said the SRC had only held one meeting up to Palestine Week. The SRC’s hosting of the event and Tau’s visit had not been discussed by all SRC members.
“So you can imagine my surprise as a member of the SRC, to find out that the SRC is hosting the mayor and that the president of the SRC is representing the SRC in this discussion,” said Mighti.
SRC president Mcebo Dlamini, a member of the majority Progressive Youth Alliance, declined to comment on Mighti’s accusations.
“Basically there is nothing to comment on,” Dlamini said.
by Dana Da Silva | Mar 31, 2015 | Featured 1, News
SITTING-IN: (Right to left) Olando Ndzayo, Evans Shonhe, Shadrack Baloyi, Samuel Mosia, Hendrik Kqarajoana, Alfredo Zuma, Linneth Masange and Richard Ndebele are amongst the workers employed by MJL Electrical that staged a sit-in at the offices yesterday afternoon because they had not been paid in four weeks. Photo: Dana Da Silva.
Employees of MJL Electrical stage a sit-in to draw out their employer to answer questions after they go unpaid yet again.
Outsourced electrical workers at Wits University staged a sit-in yesterday afternoon to force their employer to account for their lack of pay over a 2-week period.
The workers employed by MJL electrical refused to leave their offices in the Central Block building. “We workers are occupying the office, we are seeking attention from our boss to come answer the questions and tell us exactly what is happening”, said Samuel Mosia, one of the workers.
“We just need our boss’s attention. We’ve been emailing him, calling him but he’s never pitched”, he said.
According to Mosia, the owner of MJL electrical, George Cresswold, told the workers he was having problems with Wits and that he was sorting out paper work with the Wits Property and Infrastructure Management Division (PIMD) and once that was done he would pay his employees. “What I can say is that he’s dodging to pay us, we don’t really know a good reason for doing that,” said Richard Ndebele another worker from MJL electrical.
When contacted by Wits Vuvuzela, Cresswold said that he was unable to comment.
The workers say they spoke directly with Mandla Mdluli at PIMD, and according to him, the University does not owe MJL electrical anything. The workers asked PIMD to intervene by asking for their salaries to be paid and to get another contractor to replace Cresswold’s company.
This is not the first time that MJL workers have had payment issues. Earlier this year, the workers staged a similar sit-in after they went unpaid for 6 weeks.
by Dana Da Silva | Mar 20, 2015 | News
TIRING TIMES: Amos Hlungwani has been working for the university since 1996. He says he is concerned over the night shift payment dispute. Photo: Dana Da Silva
The union representing security guards on campus is still in dispute with the university over some night-shift payments and must deliver a new plan by the end of this month. The dispute started 14 years ago.
National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has until the end of this month to present the university management with new calculations regarding the night-shift allowance payment.
The dispute has been recurring since 2001. In a letter sent to Nehawu on Thursday September 4, 2014 deputy vice-chancellor Tawana Kupe said the university would address the matter by bringing in an independent mediator, Stuart Wilson, from the Socio-Economic Research Institute (SERI). Kupe is the unviersity’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Advancement, HR and Transformation.
The letter also said, once Wilson made a decision on the matter, payment arrangements would be made to affected staff. The final report written by Wilson said both parties didn’t provide sufficient information and calculations for him to make a decision. Both the university and the union had their own calculations over the amount that Wits owes the workers.
Wilson suggested they meet halfway with the university paying the workers a lump sum. The union went on to dispute this by writing to Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib, expressing its dissatisfaction. In a reply, Habib said management would set up a meeting with Nehawu and three task team security officers to discuss the issue. In the meeting, Nehawu was asked to bring in new calculations within the deadline of March 31 to the university management.
Professor Kupe said it isn’t possible that Campus Control workers are not being paid for the night shift. He said in 2009 university management reached an agreement with Nehawu, whereby the night shift would be paid as a monthly allowance. This would be adjusted annually and based on the annual increase.
Amos Hlungwani has been working for the university as a Campus Control officer since 1996. He describes the night shift as being very difficult. As part of the seven to seven, 12-hour shift they have to patrol the university, service the students and visitors at the gate as well as lock up the buildings and engage the alarms.
From when he started in 1996 he said they were paid an increase per month every year for night shift. The problem cropped up in 2001 when Amos said they stopped getting paid the allowance. He along with other colleagues didn’t know what changed. Workers haven’t been told anything since the meeting held by Wits and Nehawu over the issue in 2014.
To him it is unclear whether the union will accept the lump-sum offer or if they found an auditor in order to calculate the new amount. “We have to work because we are not serving management, we’re serving students and staff so we must work for their safety and protection,” Amos said. The issue has been going on for so long that Amos says it’s giving night workers stress.
by Dana Da Silva | Mar 17, 2015 | News
Collins Chabane, Minister of Public Service and Administration, dies in a car crash on Sunday morning March, 15. Photo: Flickr.
Collins Chabane (55), Minister of public service and administration died in a collision on Sunday morning when a truck driver did a U-turn in front of their car on the N1 highway. He had been travelling with his bodyguard Lawrence Lentsoane (45) and driver Lesiba Sekele (45) when the crash took place at around 1 am.
The car collided with the truck killing him and his security staff on impact, with Sekele being flung out of the vehicle. The driver of Chabane’s white VW Touareg, Sekele, may have been exceeding the speed limit when it collided with the truck, according to Marius Luyt, the spokesman for the Automobile Association, who told IOL that “If the vehicle was travelling within the speed limit, it should have been able to stop in time.” But he said that this would be difficult to determine as they do not have information regarding the cars previous condition. “South Africa has lost a very humble minister, who could make any South African feel at home in their own country”, said Brent Simpson The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Service and Administration. He said that its Its very tragic for the department as he was such a loyal colleague and had touched everyone’s lives in a certain way.
Zizi Kodwa, The ANC National Media Spokesperson told the Wits Vuvuzela; “This is just a huge loss for the country and the ANC. He was different to many with his distinct characters of respect, loyalty, discipline and integrity. He was a dedicated cadre who understood service to the people as the prime responsible of leadership.” It wasn’t just politicians who were sending condolences and expressing their grief.
On the scene the driver of the truck was tested positive for alcohol. He had attempted to make a U-turn to get to a smaller truck that was on the other side of the highway when the collision took place. The police performed a breathalyser test that showed he had alcohol in his system, but whether or not it fell within the legal limit could not be determined. Following the arrest he was taken to a hospital to do blood tests which were sent to the forensics Department in Pretoria for further analysis. He has since been arrested and charged with culpable homicide as well as reckless and negligent driving. The truck driver was due to appear in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, but that has been rescheduled for April 6th. The truck driver has been arrested before for driving under the influence.
Chabane won’t only be remembered for his position as a minister. He was also an avid lover of music and had released two albums, called Movement 1 and Movement 2. He had also shared the stage with legends such as Jonas Gwangwa, Hugh Masekela and Salif Keita.
