There is one resident in Rockey Corner who does not want to stay in Yeoville any more. She opens her door to the smell of decaying rubbish and fears her children will be victims of crime on their walk to school. She is happy with her building’s redevelopment but thinks her neighbours don’t belong.
Melba Khumalo lives in flat 102 of Rockey Corner on Rockey Street, Yeoville. A qualified financial accountant, currently unemployed, she has been living here for the past eight years. The building consists of 10 apartments and most of the tenants are Zimbabwean migrants.
During the 1970s and ’80s the building had mainly white middle-class tenants but Yeoville experienced a dramatic demographic shift, with its population changing from 85% white in 1990 to 2% white in 2011. The demographic shift came about as urban management went into decline in the Johannesburg CBD. The urban decay infiltrated into neighbouring areas, as major businesses moved north to Sandton.
COMPARISON: Property developers Vuka Jozi spent approximately R4-million on Liandra Centre in 2008, after the decaying building was hijacked by tenants. Investor Michael Dick considers the money spent to be a poor investment. Photos: provided
Vuka Jozi Properties bought Rockey Corner in 2008 and, by the end of 2009, had spent close to R4-million on its redevelopment. Vuka Jozi has attempted to bring the building back to its original economic status: providing middle-class accommodation. Rockey Corner is a newly painted building with upgrades such as refurbished bathrooms, security features, newly employed cleaning staff and a designated caretaker.
Hijacked buildings
Khumalo, a South African born in Limpopo, says she feels content with her living conditions but every time she opens her door, she is greeted by the smell of decomposing rubbish. As she looks across the corridor, she points to a building a few metres away. This is Melody Court. It has been hijacked by what Khumalo calls “thugs”, people who are not tenants and who pose a threat far more dangerous than a tenant hijacking, according to her.
When tenants hijack a building it is because there is a dispute with management. They will refuse to pay rent and continue to live on the property without engaging in any dangerous behaviour.
When “thugs” hijack the building, they are usually armed and can take over a building, overnight. According to the City of Johannesburg, the hijackings occur mostly in “bad buildings” – buildings that have been abandoned and neglected by their owners – leading to illegal occupation. In most cases, these “bad buildings” do not have electricity or running water, are overcrowded and are a fire and safety hazard. Often, the residents are illegal immigrants without proper documentation.
Khumalo believes the “thugs” next door are foreigners looking to make some quick money. These usurpers rent out rooms to tenants. The rooms get divided into sections using curtains rails. Then a bed is placed in each section on the floor. The residents pay R1200 or more for a single bed, while all the residents that can be fitted into the flat have to use the same bathroom.
Rockey Corner’s caretaker, Daniel Rasebotsa, says that “thugs” from Melody Court have attempted to steal electricity from Rockey Corner, using illegal cables connected to the building’s basement. They were soon apprehended and police confiscated the cables.
THE BASEMENT: The basement of Rockey Corner has been occupied by a panel beating company. This is also where “thugs” from the neighbouring hijacked building broke through the wall in an attempt to steal electricity. Photo: Luca Kotton
Rasebotsa says the tenants of Melody Court also routinely throw refuse and other waste onto the grounds of Rockey Corner, causing the stench Khumalo describes.
Rattling the window that has been welded to its bracket because of the theft of all the brass handles, Khumalo says: “Our building looks so nice. Our neighbours don’t qualify to be our neighbours. Anyone who doesn’t want to pay rent is a dodgy person in my eyes. The crime in our building has increased and it’s all because of the people next door, who don’t want to look for a job.”
Yeoville’s big backers
Vuka Jozi Properties has eight residential buildings and 10 commercial buildings in Yeoville and its surrounding neighbourhoods. The company is pessimistic about the chances of an immediate regeneration of the area.“In theory, Yeoville can be redeveloped but there is no chance of this happening any time in the near future. Yeoville needs a champion to go in and do all the legwork,” says Vuka Jozi owner and managing director, Michael Dick.
Rockey Corner was Vuka Jozi’s first Yeoville residential purchase back in 2008, when the building was still called Liandra. In the 1990s, it housed a well-known bakery and a Jamaican eatery that Rita Marley, the widow of Bob Marley, frequently visited when she was in South Africa. The building also housed the first mosque in Yeoville, situated on the second floor, which later relocated to Dunbar Street. ANC activist Janet Love, part of Operation Vula, is said to have kept arms and ammunition hidden in the building’s ceiling during the peace negotiations in the 1990s.
Things deteriorated in 2007 when tenants who were dissatisfied with their living conditions hijacked the building. After the purchase, Vuka Jozi laid out a plan of action which included keeping the entire group of original “hijackers”, some of whom even worked on the redevelopment by cleaning and painting.
Dick says if he could go back in time he would never have bought the building, because of the high risk of crime and fairly low profit margins. He describes Rockey Corner as a poor investment in terms of redevelopment. He has spent large amounts of money on the building and it has ultimately been wasted by the behaviour of residents in neighbouring buildings.
Dick says crime is a major problem when it comes to maintenance. His company constantly replaces and repairs damaged or stolen parts, eating into his profits. For security reasons, a building employee stays permanently in most of Vuka Jozi’s properties in Yeoville. The employee is expected to check up on the building two to three times a day, monitoring tenants, maintaining the building and managing cleaning and security staff. The employee is also a communicator between the tenants and owner.
PRIVACY ISSUES: Melba Khumalo sub-lets to four tenants to make extra income because of the couples’ financial situation. Seen here are curtains dividing the TV room to create extra space for a woman and her daughter. Photo: Luca Kotton
New building owners come into the area and find a huge hole in the roof with all the new belongings gone. This, Dick says, is known among owners in the area as the “Yeoville initiation”. And the first thing he does when buying a new building is equip it with an electric fence.
Failed bids
The Johannesburg City Council (JCC) has invested in Yeoville. The library and public swimming pool have been refurbished, a recreation centre has been built and a new police station is currently being erected. Angeline Ramahlo, town planner of the JCC, says that for an area like Yeoville to properly redevelop, it would need to apply to the JCC with a proposal to become a city improvement district (CID).
A CID is a private initiative by building owners in the area. In order for Yeoville to become one, 33% of the building owners in the area would need to approach the JCC. If their proposal is approved, more than half of the building owners would need to pay a levy every month to sustain the extra maintenance, cleaning and security services the city would supply.
Ramahlo says that CIDs are high priority areas for the JCC in greater Johannesburg. For example, if there is a pothole in Yeoville and one in Braamfontein, the pothole in Braamfontein would get attended to first, because of the latter’s CID status.
Ramahlo says attempts have been made in Yeoville to develop a proposal to get CID status. But it has not worked out. The biggest problem was that a large percentage of property owners could not be found, so they never reached the 33% needed for a successful application.
The JCC classifies areas into certain categories in order to allocate resources. For the JCC to focus more on an area, it would need to be classified as “marginalised”. This means that the area would need to be previously disadvantaged and have little or no access to basic city services such as running water, proper sanitation and electricity. Examples of this are parts of Diepsloot and Soweto.
Yeoville has a large number of hijacked buildings where residents burn candles at night, use buckets filled with water and share a bathroom among six or more residents. But that’s not enough for it to be classified “marginalised”, according to the JCC criteria.
“Yeoville is not yet considered a marginalised area. The area’s history means it was not considered in this category. However it is slowly becoming more of a marginalised area,” Ramahlo says. She adds that areas are constantly being monitored and, in the near future, Yeoville could be considered a marginalised area according to the JCC.
Neighbouring CID zones
There have been successful transformations in neighbouring areas of Yeoville. Braamfontein and the downtown Maboneng Precinct are now considered CID zones.
In 2002, local government realised how important the location and function of Braamfontein was to the local economy, and embarked on a multimillion-rand regeneration programme for the area. This was supplemented by significant private-sector investment.
Property developer Adam Levy, who has been largely responsible for the regeneration of Braamfontein, says: “Redevelopment in Yeoville absolutely could work. But you need heavy investment, the property owner community buy-in and someone with backbone to drive it all.”
Levy adds that Braamfontein and Maboneng were different to Yeoville as the majority of properties in the area were owned by only a few investors. Yeoville, however, has separate owners for separate buildings, which makes it more difficult to get CID status, because of the need to contact all property owners and get them to work together.
Levy worked on renovating buildings in Braamfontein for 11 years and helped the area achieve CID status in 2004. He says the process of creating a CID takes time. According to him, Yeoville is a good opportunity for someone from the next generation of property developers because it is well positioned and could be developed into something similar to Braamfontein.
Let’s move
A LONG WALK: Rosy Khumalo’s mother fears for the safety of her 15-year-old daughter because she has to walk through Yeoville to get to school – about 5km away. Photo: Luca Kotton
Khumalo, in her eight years of living in Rockey Corner, has made flat 102 her home. She lives there with her husband and three children, aged 11, 13 and 15. Their children go to school in Braamfontein and she has plans of moving.
“I hope in time that the building next door will be bought and redeveloped by an owner. When people have to pay a bigger rent, they will start treating their living spaces like a home and all the rubbish and crime will hopefully slowly go away. I believe it is a chain reaction and when people take initiative and start redeveloping, others will also take more pride in the area and eventually Yeoville will actually start looking and feeling much more like a home.
“But for me, as soon as my husband and I can get stable jobs, we will be moving to a better area because Yeoville is not a safe environment for my children who have to walk from my house to school every day. I don’t want them growing up in this neighbourhood.”
Meet 92-year-old piano teacher Ros Liebman, who has lived in Yeoville-Bellevue for over 53 years. She has seen the once famous Rockey Street deteriorate as she started to experience more crime and lose some of her students By: Luca Kotton
FEATURED IMAGE: Melba Khumalo sub-lets to four tenants to make extra income because of the couples’ financial situation. Seen here are curtains dividing the TV room to create extra space for a woman and her daughter. Photo: Luca Kotton
Wits University has received R100 million from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. While the university already has plans for the money, vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib says universities around the country need more funding if they are to respond to national imperatives and remain globally competitive. Read the full statement below:
Prof Adam Habib announced today that Wits University has received a donation of R100 million from an unnamed donor. Photo: Wits Vuvuzela.
STATEMENT: R100 MILLION DONATION FOR WITS TO ADVANCE ITS TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES
The University of the Witwatersrand announced today that it is the recipient of a R100 million donation. The individual donor who is a long-time supporter of the University has chosen to remain anonymous. The sum of R10 million has been earmarked for the Wits Arts Museum, and the remaining R90 million is to be deployed for the advancement of research and/or teaching as determined by the university.
“It is a great honour for Wits to receive funding of this magnitude from a South African who has seen it fit to invest in Wits, and in higher education, a sector that develops the future leaders of our country. We are sincerely grateful for this support, which will go a long way towards advancing the academic project and higher education in general,” says Professor Adam Habib, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University. “We are still working out the specific details of how the funds will be expended but we are always in need of funds to attract and retain talented academics and students, and to support the research and teaching activities.”
Universities around the country need more funding if they are to respond to national imperatives and remain globally competitive. Universities obtain their funding via three income streams – state subsidy, student fees and third stream income. However, given the current realities, higher education institutions, and particularly research-intensive universities, are increasingly looking towards third stream income in order to run top-notch universities.
“It is not often that universities in South Africa receive funding of this magnitude from sole philanthropists, as the majority of our external funding is sourced from corporates and state funding agencies locally, and international trusts and foundations,” adds Habib. “A distinguishing feature of this donation is also that it is unrestricted. The university leadership has been granted the autonomy to deploy this donation as it deems best to enhance teaching and research at Wits. Such donations are rare and is to be particularly applauded. These donations are important for Wits to remain at the cutting edge of teaching, research and service excellence, especially at a time when public funding for higher education is stagnant.”
The Wits Group has an annual turnover of about R4 billion.
“I believe that Wits is an active social leader that seeks to advance the public good. An investment in Wits and in our universities today is an investment in our youth, and the future of our country,” concludes Habib.
HEARTBEAT: The contraceptive pill that Thokozane Dyosini believes contributed to her heart attack. Photo: Provided
Monday August 11: Thokozane Dyosini started feeling light-headed. She attended lectures, but saw her general practitioner, who told her she was stressed and anxious. He prescribed vitamins and rest.
Tuesday August 12: The 23-year-old fourth year education student woke up feeling slightly better, but worse when she walked across campus. After climbing a flight of stairs, she sat down to rest with her head on her arms.
It was then that she dropped to the ground with a full-blown heart attack. Dyosini later discovered she had been having a heart attack since the day before. By Tuesday, when she fainted, it had reached its deadliest stage. She was told by her doctors that the oral contraceptive she was taking to regulate her periods, Yaz, may have contributed to a pulmonary embolism, which could then have led to her heart attack. The doctors added that a pulmonary embolism is a blood clot, which reaches the lungs and blocks blood flow. This could result in a heart attack or other serious medical problems.
According to retired gynaecologist Dr Ronald Levine taking the pill did increase your chance of having a blood clot. There was a significant statistical change, in that the pill could create a two or three-fold increase in your chances of getting a clot. There was some research to show that Yaz was associated with a slightly higher chance of blood clots than other drugs, he added. However, people who suffered clots often had a predisposition. This could be a genetic tendency or it could be associated with immobility, recent surgery, smoking and other causes.
“It doesn’t mean that every women that uses the pill will get a blood clot.”
Dyosini had been taking Yaz for a month and two weeks prior to the heart attack. It was prescribed by her gynaecologist at Park Lane Hospital, but she is now against the use of the drug.
“I don’t like it, I don’t recommend any woman to take it for any reason,” she said.
Dyosini is expected back at university in early October in order to finish her degree this year. She believes she was lucky and that circumstances played in her favour.
She is unsure of what action she can take against Bayer Pharmaceutical Company, who produce Yaz, since the package insert does list clotting as a possible side effect to the drug.
FEES FREEZE: Wits has backed recommendations made by the SRC to freeze the upfront fees for 2015. Photo: Luca Kotton
by Luca Kotton and Roxanne Joseph
The upfront fee for next year will remain frozen at R9 350 but it and other fees may still increase in 2016, according to deputy vice-chancellor of finance, Prof Tawana Kupe.
The university had proposed an increase of the upfront registration fee to R10 300 from R9 350. General tuition fees will still increase.
When asked if the freeze will have an effect on the following year’s upfront fee, Kupe said, “In 2015, we will go through the normal processes for setting the various fees, including the upfront fee payment for 2016.”
The upfront fee free was the result of a long process of negotiations by the SRC which reached an agreement with the University Financial Committee (FINCO) surrounding fee increases in 2015, said SRC president Shafee Verachia.
The agreement was reached just over a week ago at a meeting with FINCO, and will be forward for approval to the University Council, which Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib, Verachia and Deputy Vice-chancellor, Prof Andrew Crouch, among others.
Verachia said the SRC successfully negotiated the freeze by commissioning a team of postgrad accounting and actuarial science students to investigate whether or not the upfront fee was unnecessarily high.
Kupe said the freeze is based on a further assessment made by FINCO, which has enabled them to recommend that the university is able to accommodate a freeze in the upfront fee and will not lose any income because “the freeze in the upfront fee amount is not a discount on the fees for 2015”.
He said there was recognition that some fees, such as the Health Sciences degrees, Wits has become too expensive and have been reduced. This is especially significant for international students, who were only allowed to pay their tuition fees in a set of instalments for the first time this year.
Currently, international students studying health sciences will have their fees cut by 60 percent, dropping to R74 680 from about R191 990.
The university had previously justified the increase of the upfront fee by saying it had high costs at the beginning of the year. Kupe said fee increases were necessary due to rising costs.
“Fees have to increase every year because of rising costs, the fact that our government subsidy is not rising as much as inflation and that some of our costs are related to items that are imported,” Kupe told Wits Vuvuzela.
“As you know, the rand has fallen against major currencies and this fall increases our costs. We also have to ensure we have enough financial resources to offer a quality education.”
CAPTAIN’S DUEL: Sibusiso Vilakazi battles for the ball with Maritzburg United captain Ashley Hartog in a match which saw the Clever Boys create multiple chances but manage to only score a solitary goal. Photo: Luca Kotton
Bidvest Wits beat Maritzburg United by a solitary goal to remain unbeaten in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) at Bidvest Stadium this evening.
The Clever Boys started the match with a number of new players and managed to create multiple scoring opportunities but ended the game with little to show for it apart from the goal of Sthembiso Ngcobo.
The change in formation with no wingers in midfield and two strikers upfront seemed to challenge the home side’s creativity.
Gavin Hunt, Bidvest Wits coach told Wits Vuvuzela after the match:”To play with two strikers you have to play with no width, so we played with no width today although on Sunday we tried and we just got burnt.”
Phumlani Ntshangase played his first game of the season for the Clever Boys, received the man of the match award along with weighty praise from the coach.
“He was the difference in the team, he was fantastic … I should have put him in a long time ago bit obviously he was suspended in the beginning of the season and now he can come in,” Hunt said.
Cornelis Kwakman, a Wits defender, also played his first game since arriving from the Netherlands and kept a clean sheet for his team, putting himself in strong contention for selection as the team’s main centre back.
Kwakman told Wits Vuvuzela: “The teams performance was very good, if you saw the pitch it was very difficult to play. We had a lot of chances today, I have not seen more chances for the team this whole season.”
The Clever Boys face Orlando Pirates in the second leg of the MTN8 at Orlando Stadium this Saturday with a two goal deficit working against them.
CHASING DOWN: Buhle Mkhwanazi of Bidvest Wits watches Kermit Erasmus run past him during their MTN8 semi-final clash. The Clever boys are chasing Pirates after the Buccaneers took a two goal lead in the two match tie. Photo: Luca Kotton
Orlando Pirates outsmarted the Clever Boys in a 2-0 victory at a packed Bidvest Stadium earlier this afternoon.
The win leaves Pirates in a commanding position over Bidvest Wits in the two-leg MTN8 semi-final.
The Buccaneers tactically looked stronger than the home team with ample goal-scoring opportunities and a very tight defence.
Pirates coach, Vladimir Vermezovic told Wits Vuvuzela,”Every game is a battle on the field, at the end of the day everything depends on players. We as coaches can prepare strategy and tactical approach but everything depends on them. Fortunately , the players did everything we told them before the game.”
The match started in typical fashion for both top-placed Premier League sides with Pirates dominating possession but unable to create any telling opportunities.
The first half ended scoreless but early in the second half, a Daine Klate corner-kick was met by the head of Orlando Pirates captain Siyabonga Sangweni for the first goal of the match.
After the goal, Bidvest Wits pushed for the equaliser, however, after missing a golden chance to score in the Pirates box, the away side countered with more pace and pressure.
Thabo Matlaba netted the second for the Buccaneers, with a composed finish past the helpless Thapelo “Jackson” Mabokgwane who was left one-on-one with the Pirates defender.
The game ended with Bidvest Wits unable to break down the defence of Vermezovic’s men who held the score at 2-0.
Bidvest Wits will travel to Orlando Stadium next week Saturday with a mountain of a two-goal deficit to to climb.
Vermezovich added,” We realise that 2-0 is a very dangerous result and Wits is also a very strong team and we won’t underestimate them, after today’s result.”
WONDER KID: Attacking player Liam Jordan has attracted interest overseas, he arrived back in South Africa this week to continue training with Bidvest Wits first team. Photo: Provided
SIXTEEN-year-old Liam Jordan, the youngest player to sign a first team contract in the Premier Soccer League (PSL), shows a maturity beyond his years when he talks about recent personal hardships and how he got to where he is in his career.
Bidvest Wits have invested in Jordan’s future. He is a South African born youngster who played football in New Zealand for most of his life before coming back to Johannesburg from where he hails. Jordan started playing at Edenvale Football Club in the east of Johannesburg at the age of four. His mother and father moved to New Zealand in 2004, and Liam played football in the country for nine years at East Coast Bays, Albany United and Onehunga Sports. He also played at an academy called Wynrs.
The versatile attacking player’s famous father, Keryn Jordan, was a prolific goal scorer and started his career at Manning Rangers, scoring 52 goals in 94 starts for Rangers. He moved to New Zealand to play for Auckland City where he scored 76 goals in 100 games. Despite his goal scoring prowess he only managed one cap for Bafana Bafana in a 2-1 win over Botswana in 2009. Fourteen years to the day, Jordan was diagnosed with cancer and passed away late last year after a long battle with the disease.
“My father taught me everything that I know, about the do’s and don’ts, on and off the field. We had so many one-on-one trainings, tears and laughs, I have lost count but those were the trainings that built me as a player and a person. My father is my inspiration every day to do better and I want to play professionally one day for both of us,” Jordan said.
Jordan recently has played for Brondby, a Danish club which has been linked to Bidvest Wits captain Sibusiso Vilakazi for over a year. Brondby asked Bidvest Wits for five of their youth players to train with them while in Denmark and three of the Clever Boys were given extra attention from the Danish club.
Liam Jordan and Marcelo Mendes stayed on in Europe with Brondby to play another tournament in Holland, where the two boys impressed as the Danish outfit went all the way to the final of the tournament, losing out to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The third player, Thabang Mufamadi, is expected to join Brondby next week for a period of three months, on a trial basis.
Jordan relished his experience in Europe. “Of course I want to play in Europe one day; whether or not I can stay here, I am not entirely sure.”
Bidvest Wits coach, Gavin Hunt said Jordan had a role to play this season for the Clever Boys and would definitely play.
He arrived back in South Africa this week and has been given time off training to recover after two overseas tournaments with Bidvest Wits and Brondby FC.
Low night shift allowances for Campus Control are allegedly leading to increased absenteeism among security guards—and putting students in danger.
Security guards are paid a monthly night shift allowance of R203.94.
They work seven night shifts a month, each of which are 12 hours long. This means they are paid about R29 per night shift in addition to their basic salary.
Chairperson of the Wits branch of the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) Nnwamato Sadiki said the low allowance and long hours have started a trend of absenteeism amongst security guards working the night shift.
“Each and every shift you cannot find people that are on shift, some of them are reporting they are sick and some of them are reporting that they are not interested in coming due to various reasons,” said Sadiki.
Campus Control security guards are meant to be posted in the Braamfontein area for the protection of students who live in the area.
Campus Control liaison manager Lucky Khumela said security guards did take off work for sick leave or other reasons. He could not say whether there was increased absenteeism due to unhappiness with the night shift allowance.
“I cannot say no or it’s not a problem that has been identified yet because you find that people get sick or they need to get off work,” Khumela said.
UNDER WAGE: Guards from Wits campus control are unhappy with their night shift allowance. Wits union leader, Nnwamato Sadiki, says guards are earning an extra R203.94 for the seven night shifts they are required to do per month. They want R272. Photo Anazi Zote
“I have never really heard of any issue that workers are reluctant to come to work because of low pay. Wits University is competitive when it comes to campus security companies especially in comparison to other universities,” he said.
However, Wits Vuvuzela reporters who live in the area have noticed a lack of visible Campus Control security guards. Many students also said they felt unsafe in the area, especially when they stay late at school to complete their assignments and study for exams.
Matsepo Khumalo, 1st year BA in Dramatic Arts, said she feels unsafe in Braamfontein without security guards.
“I witnessed a mugging outside Bridgeview and that is relatively close to campus. It is really scary to think that you can be mugged near campus … It would be nice to just walk freely,” Khumalo said.
Khumalo told Wits Vuvuzela that while Campus Control was short-staffed, shifts were adequately staffed even after security guards call in sick.
“Although we are we are very short-staffed we are fortunate that we have security officers who stay around Braamfontein and some of them stay on campus. Whenever someone books off sick another security guard will come to replace him,” Khumela said.
Sadiki said the safety of students could be comprised because security guards are not motivated to work.
“We can’t say we need to compromise the lives of the students but if we are not getting enough of what we deserve and of what we have worked for, it can bring the morale down,” Sadiki said.
Deputy chairperson of Wits Nehawu Billy Cebekhulu said the disputes over the night shift allowance has been going on since 2009.
According to a Wits human resources memorandum sent to Nehawu in March of this year, management acknowledged that the night shift allowance had not increased for six years to 2008 from 2002. It said the night allowance “remained constant for reasons of security industry compliance.”
However, management said that while the allowance was fixed, the total pay package for security guards increased “without fail” every year.
Khumela denied that Campus Control security guards were underpaid.
“Wits University pay their security well and if that was not the case there would be no security guards on campus,” said Khumela.
But Cebekhulu told Wits Vuvuzela that Wits security guards were receiving lower night allowances when compared to the University of Johannesburg.
Sadiki said the security guards believe they are also receiving lower pay packages when compared to other service staff at Wits. He feels Campus Control are not being treated equally to the people they are protecting.
“I am disappointed in Wits because I thought it was an institution with a good reputation since it produced intellectual students.
“They are getting exposure from green pastures everywhere but they forget the environment of working classes, which is the security officers on campus, is deteriorating,” Sadiki said.
Nehawu said they were planning on taking action with regards to the night shift allowances to upper management at Wits.
HAPPY PEOPLE: A small crowd of around 20 Bidvest Wits fans watched the game at Lucas Moripe Stadium. Photo: Nqobile Dludla
The new football season kicked off on Friday and last night, The Clever Boys bagged their first three points with a win over Supersports United at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria.
Bidvest Wits started the season off in ideal fashion bagging three points in their 1-0 win.
S’thembiso Ngcobo bagged a second half penalty when captain Sibusiso Vilakazi was brought down in the box after a clumsy challenge by Supersports United’s new signing Michael Morton, previously of Maritzburg United.
The penalty was converted nervously by the Wits striker after hitting the upright and the ball just making it past the Supersport goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
The Clever boys goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane was the hero for the night as he made a flurry of saves to keep the Supersport attack at bay. Mabokgwane was rewarded for his efforts with the man of the match award.
Giorgi Nergadze made his first appearance for Bidvest Wits after finally sorting out issues with his work permit. The problem has persisted throughout the Premier Soccer League (PSL) with many overseas players missing out on their new teams first games.
Bidvest Wits will face the University of Pretoria in a home derby on Tuesday night.
DERBY DAY: Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib and Bidvest Wits Coach Gavin Hunt swopped pleasantries as the Clever Boys prepare for their derby clash with TUKS. Photo: Luca Kotton
EXTRA-curricular activities, including sports should not be an extra cost to students,according to Wits Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib.
“I would like to stop charging fees for sports … [Now] you have to pay for accessing basic recreational sports, maybe if you play high performance sports it’s a different matter but recreational sports should be open access in the fees,” Habib said.
Habib made his comments at a jersey handover ceremony with Wits Clever Boys coach Gavin Hunt.
SRC president Shafee Verachia told Wits Vuvuzela that the discussion to end fees for extra-curricular clubs and societies has already begun.
“We already started this discussion with [Deputy Vice-chancellor] Prof Tawana Kupe and it’s not only sports it’s also the various other clubs and societies,”
“The extra out classroom activities are not accessible to most of our students. Students on bursaries, National Student Financial Aid Scheme and student loans are affected because all these structures don’t include
extra-curricular activities in their payments,”Verachia added.
Habib said the university’s current fee structure was confusing and should be simplified.
“You must be a PhD student to understand our fees structure because you have the fee, then for the course and for the club and society,” Habib said.
He added that when he went to university there was only a single fee that included extra-curricular clubs and societies.
“If somebody wants to play tennis or do cross country then we shouldn’t be charging them for the basic stuff , the infrastructure is there and it’s not costing anything so why should we be charging,” Habib said.
Past the costly E-toll gantreys on the Golden Highway, just 500 metres beyond the bright lights of the MacDonald’s and the Woolworths, lie the dark streets of Thembelihle.
Packs of dogs scramble for food scraps among the empty bottles and tin cans that litter the dirt roads. Smoke carries the odour of burnt plastic and cooking fires, as people prepare for their day.
SURROUNDINGS: Smoke, dust and rubbish line the streets outside the houses of people living in the informal settlement. Photo: Luke Matthews
Figures appeared on doorsteps with brooms, sweeping the dusty entrances to their houses. Despite the poverty, their pride of ownership is evident.
PRIDE IN THEMSELVES: Two men on their way to sell their home made brooms on the street, any job will do as unemployment is a real problem in the community. Photo: Luke Matthews
The people of Thembelihle have never been provided with legal electricity or running water. They pooled their money to buy a tap for each yard. Portable toilets have been brought in, but they leak sewage into the streets, where children play.
SEWERAGE: A little girl sits on the dusty roads with waste that has leaked from the toilets laying in front of her. Photo: Luca Kotton
A stone’s throw from this informal settlement which lacks all infrastructure, lies the built-up suburb of Lenasia, with fully equipped schools, sports facilities, shopping centres and private healthcare.
Tembelihle has been waging a decade-long battle with local government over the implementation of electricity. Recent protests have turned violent. Electricity boxes in surrounding suburbs were burnt down. Only a few days later, new boxes were installed. Yet still, Tembelihle remains without.
DESPERATION: Live wires running electricity from neighbouring suburbs run through fields and past homes. Photo: Luca Kotton
“We are not wanted here,” said a community leader and member of the Thembelihle Crisis Committee, who asked not to be named. “There’s an undertone of racism from the people of the suburbs.”
Desperation has caused the community to run power illegally from electricity boxes in the outer areas. The wires run across fields and past houses to provide the community with sparse light from sporadic lamps and outside lights.
The children wear gumboots at the slightest sign of rain. Everyone knows the story of the small boy who was electrocuted during a summer downfall.
BROTHERS: The children face the challenge of being electrocuted on a daily basis, enough of a fear to scare any parent. Photo: Luca Kotton
Along the row of houses, a young child with an infectious laugh appears. Bright, named by the people of Thembelihle is only two, but can speak in perfect sentences and run errands for his mother.
BRIGHT: A child of Thembelihle. Photo: Luca Kotton
Given a few coins, Bright ran to the shop to buy himself sweets. Bright represents the future of his community, a future they hope will provide him and the other children with opportunities – the kind of opportunities that come with electricity and an effective infrastructure.
LIFE GOES ON: Bright is too young to understand the problems that exist in Thembelihle, the smile and energy he portrays is not echoed through the older generation. Photo: Luca Kotton
From the Sidelines is a podcast that uncovers the realities of building a career in football journalism, focusing on the ups and downs of breaking into this competitive field. In second episode, we sit down with Mazola Molefe, a highly acclaimed South African sports journalist known for his impactful coverage and respected voice in the […]
