“MANY leaders lead, but they have never been through what they are leading people through”, Octavia Prince Shabangu, the only Witsie on the “One Day Leader” show, told Wits Vuvuzela this week.
Shabangu’s obstacles have helped him to share and give advice to other people. “You’ll find leaders advising people about poverty but they don’t know about poverty. I’ll never advise you on something I do not know”, he said.
“One day Leader” is a show aired on SABC 1 that is dedicated to uplifting young leaders by providing them with the skill-set and knowledge they need to tackle social, political and economic issues in South Africa through debate and other leadership activities. The six contestants compete with each other for the coveted title, “One Day Leader”.
Born and breed in Mpumalanga, in a small town called Gedlebane, Shabangu has climbed up the ladder to be the only Witsie and one of the top six “One Day Leader” contestants. but Shabangu’s climb has not been without difficulty.
Shabangu is in 3rd year, studying a bachelor’s degree in accountancy. He is the eldest of six children. His mother is a retired domestic worker and his father a part-time employed truck driver who just recently got employment in 2013.
RISE AGAIN: Octavia Shabangu on the road to becoming the #1 leader of the “One Day Leader” show. Photo by: Lutho Mtongana
“Growing up was tough but I think it’s something that I needed to prepare me for the harsh reality of what life had to offer,” said Shabangu.
He believes a great leader should be resilient.
“Don’t give up on yourself, don’t give up on your dreams, don’t give up on the people around you,” he said.
One day [last year] he and his family were evicted. “When we arrived home and we found everything in the streets, my parents at the time were both unemployed and there was nothing they could do. Me and my family were rendered homeless, I was still in school, I had to leave school for a while, for about four months so I could just find a job and stabilize everything. I never thought that I as an individual, I could be hopeless,” he continued.
However, despite the hurdles he faced last year having tried to get on the show, and not making it to the top 20 of season two, Shabangu went back to school and decided to try and enter the competition again.
He was in a taxi rank when the phone rang for an interview with him. Later that same day, he heard he was again not on the top 20 list of candidates who made on the show. After hearing the news he decided to beg for a second chance. “Let me debate all 20 of them,” he said.
After being allowed to debate one of the top six candidates, Siphosenkosi Malimela, he made it to the top six.
“I just keep on coming and coming as hard as I can. I’m true to my values and I believe in the power of inspiration,” he said.
He draws his inspiration from big problems in his hometown for example, the poverty, high pregnancy rate, including no running water.
When Shabangu is not juggling school and the show, he plays basketball for the Wits Noswal Residence and is involved in the Campus Outreach Programme.
One Day Leader is broadcast every Monday at 16:30 on SABC 1. To vote for Shabangu sms “Leader 6” to 34020.
Wits rugby team Medics “Young Doctors” is currently number one at the university, having lost none of their matches this year from ten teams. Their latest victory was against Monash for the Rugby Internal League play off.
Following Young Doctors is Masakhane with 208 points and the Engineers with 173 points. The SA Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) which still have not won any games since the league started, managed only 50 points and continue to remain at the bottom this semester.
SAUJS have not played any games this semester and have been troubled since their team had a leadership deficit – their manager only just returned two weeks ago from a two month trip overseas. Alan Leonard, Rugby Internal League coordinator, said, “If SAUJS cannot continue then the scores for SAUJS will be wiped out and it will be as if they had not played. That levels the playing field”.
Meanwhile, Masakhane is determined to take the Medics on in the finale after they lost only one game last semester against the Medics. Katlego Maseko, Masakhane captain said his team had no problems, had “the best defence in the league” and he hoped to see Medics in the final.
Even though the Medics have done extremely well their captain, Donovan Heslop disclosed that “one part of our game that needs work is our defence and kicking, this has always been a problem with us our strongest asset has been our attack, we have very exciting players who are able to create tries when needed.”
TEAM HUG: The Medics rejoice after winning a game. Photo by: Tendai Dube
For the past three years the Medics have only made it to the semi-finals, not winning the cup. Heslop said this time, “Our goal is to make the final and hopefully win the league.”
As for Mens Res, they opened this semester with another loss. Leonard said, “Last week their fitness was not up to scratch and they seem to change their team every week.”
“I think the other teams have got stronger but also with the disruptions the teams have not played the same number of games,” he added.
Monash captain, Tatenda Mtemeri said that one of the reasons for their lack lustre performance well is that they had a lot of new players most of which were under 19. They had only three seniors remaining.
However, it’s not really a Super 6 anymore; this year all teams will play until the semi-finals. This means that all teams on the league, Medics, Masakhane, Engineers, Commerce, Monash, Humanities (Titans), Mens Res (Raiders), South African Hellenic Association (SHA), MGI Tigers and SAUJs will be part of the remaining three rounds of the games.
The Rugby Internal League Final will take place on September 10, with only three rounds left until the play-offs. The last week will see a five game round if SAUJS emerges from its leadership crises and continue to play, according to Leonard.
Close on the Medics’ heels for winner, according to the current standing, looks likely to be Masakhane or the Engineers.
More than a decade after Wits agreed to adopt Sesotho as a second language, the university is no closer to implementing this commitment.
In 2003 Wits University drew up a language policy that said the university would use an African language, Sesotho, as a medium for teaching and learning.
“The resources of the university need to be mobilised to enhance the language competencies of staff and students and, in partnership with the government, play a role in the development of one of South Africa’s African languages,” reads the policy.
However, while the policy has remained in effect its implementation has been hampered by a lack of resources.
“Unfortunately, I do not have a good story to tell … I think we must take some responsibility, we say one thing and we do another,” said Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib.
Habib said the current language policy was “all for show” and the university needs to be realistic about its ability to implement an African language for teaching. “We love the policy but where are we going to find the millions of rands? It’s all for show and not for the reality of where we are. It’s a symbolic statement we make [more] than a real statement,” he said.
The 2003 policy outlined the implementation of Sesotho in four phases however, a decade later, not a single phase of implementation has taken place. Phase one, offering Sesotho classes for staff members, was supposed to have been implemented in 2010.
The policy was adopted by Wits because government made it a requirement for all higher educational institutions to further transform. The university signed the policy but took little action to implement it.
THE ISSUE: Vice- chancellor Prof Adam Habib in conversation about the Language Policy. Photo by: Anazi Zote
“The university said ‘let’s go into compliance and let’s tick the boxes’ and we kept quiet and nobody asked,” Habib said.
The university began to look at revising and implementing its policy last year after government said it would conduct a survey of indigenous languages at higher education institutions.
Prof Libby Meintjes, head of the School of Language and Literature Studies, said the first draft of a new language policy would be released in October.
“We are moving back to mother tongue teaching and if we cannot manage it in lectures we will have it in tutorials,” Meintjes said.
According to Meintjes, last year the university sent an email survey asking what was the preferred African language as a medium of learning and teaching. The results showed that isiZulu was in demand more than Sesotho.
“Staff and students put isiZulu ahead of Sesotho because of the language competence and the number of people that speak it but we don’t feel that because isiZulu has replaced Sesotho we will only go for isiZulu,” Meintjes said.
Habib said Wits needed to be honest about what it can do in terms of using African languages with current resources.
“We cannot spend so much time lying to ourselves. I think we should come into terms with it, if we don’t have the resources, the will, and we don’t have the courage, let’s not pretend that we do,” he said.
However, he concluded that Wits can achieve some kind of transformation, but it would be skewed by South Africa’s history.
SILENT PROTEST: The Girls Only Club at South Point Residence spread gender violence awareness in the streets of Braamfontein. Photo by: Lutho Mtongana
You could count the number of protestors on both hands but nothing would stop the small turnout from spreading their message about gender-based violence in Braamfontein yesterday.
The Girls Only Club, based at Southpoint residence, arranged a protest but only 10 people, including some men, participated by carrying bright pink posters and walking in silence.
The group marched from their residence in Melle Street along the streets of Braamies where women have been targeted many times by criminals.
The aim of the march was to send out the message that “women are not vulnerable, women are not weak”, as written on one of the posters carried by the marchers.
Yet another one of the posters read, “I am nobody’s punching bag”. On the street the group was stopped at various times by curious onlookers who asked for more information or posters.
Victor Karamba, a male gender activist who participated in the event said, “This is a good initiative because we still have a lot to do in terms of awareness and the issue of gender because we know that violence is a big issue among our society and I think this is something we have to do every day”.
Natasha Manyuku, one of the participants, believed that the, “purpose of the event was to get the message out” and she thinks they did, even though they expected a bigger turnout.
Selebano said, “Numbers don’t always mean success but the message that we send out and people stopping to ask questions, people getting the pamphlets, I think it was successful and I am very happy with the responses”.
“I think we achieved what we wanted to achieve, maybe not in a big scale but part of what we wanted to do was done”, Selebano added.
Apart from holding a silent march, The Girls Only Club provides a space for young girls to talk about their issues in all spheres of life throughout the year.
Initially, when the club started in 2011, the aim was to only focus on gender violence and since then, it has grown and changed with the need of females needing a safe space to talk about their problems.
In the audience, people tapped their feet, moved their heads side to side and swayed their waists left and right to the rhythm of Marcus Wyatt’s Jazz Jam Session at The Orbit on Tuesday.
Wyatt, the renowned jazz trumpeter, was born and bred in Port Elizabeth. He has played in South Africa, toured throughout southern Africa and performed for audiences around the globe. But on Tuesday, he gave Braamfontein a piece of his art.
Wyatt’s body became a bellweather for his own music. When he played a slow piece his body responded to the rhythm and he closed his eyes at occasions. However, when he played an upbeat piece his entire body danced to the excitement of the rhythm and sound of the instruments coming together as one. He smiled and constantly looked up, facing the ceiling as he moved across the stage and then stopped to sway down and up again.
TRUMPET KING: Marcus Wyatt performs at The Orbit, leaving his audience in awe. Photo: Lutho Mtongana
Accompanied by vocalist Tutu Puoane, an artist and fellow graduate of the University Of Cape Town College Of Music, they performed two bluesy and soothing pieces. Together they brought the house in awe and the audience could not help but stand up in ovation, clapping and whistling to the collaborated piece they played, which had silenced the audience for the duration of the two songs.
Puoane had the audience eating out of the palm of her hand. When she broke into song, the audience roared with applause and when she gradually got softer, the audience slowly followed suit reaching a point of complete silence. When Wyatt blew the trumpet to what he called one of his “difficult” songs, he blew effortlessly and with ease. Puoane has also travelled around Africa performing her album Mama Africa which she wrote in honour of Miriam Makeba.
Wyatt has performed in small corner cafes to playing side by side with music greats Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim and Jimmy Dludlu.
With his music, Marcus has not only made a name for himself but he has created a memory for all those who come to see him play.
The warm and cosy venue was flooded with couples, friends reuniting and a group of older men celebrating a friend’s 68th birthday with a glass of red wine and a meal while watching the playful and yet honest performance of Wyatt.
Wyatt’s peace and tranquility resonated in the room while maintaining a light-hearted atmosphere of fun and laughter among his audience. When he performed he engaged and interacted in light conversations with the crowd showing his rather humorous side.
Wyatt will play again at The Orbit next week Tuesday for his last Jam Session in Braamfontein.
THE CHAMPIONS: A victorious tournament leaves the Celtics players jumping for joy.
Photo: Nqobile Dludla
By Nqobile Dludla and Lutho Mtongana
Bloemfontein Celtic walked away with the spoils at an inaugural pre-season event hosted by Bidvest Wits in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Celtic won the inaugural Charity Showdown at Bidvest Stadium following well fought battles over fellow premier league sides Bidvest Wits and AmaZulu. Mpumalanaga Black Aces also participated in the four-team tournament.
Celtic – the Phunya Sele Sele – beat out hosts Bidvest Wits 1-0 in the semi-finals and took the tournament with a 2-0 win in the final over Amazulu.
Not a tough nut to crack after all
The Clever Boys started off on the right foot, with newly-signed defenders, Buhle Mkhwanazi and Kees Kwakman pairing up to form a strong defence team alongside Siyabonga Nhlapo.
But this wall could not resist the pressure from Gabonamong Mogogi’s header received from Heinrich Issacs’ corner kick, earning Celtic a 1-0 lead.
Early into the first half, Sibusiso Vilakazi was denied a rebound free-kick by Celtic goal keeper, Patrick Tignyemb.
Celtic Joel Mogorosi proved to be a danger coming on strong in the second half, threatening to give Celtic two more goals, but Moeneeb Josephs denied the Celtic player’s attempts.
Despite their efforts, Wits failed to equalise, leaving the score at 1-0.
Celtic coach, Ernst Midlendorp was pleased to see his team advance to the final stage but said the performance “in certain departments definitely was not the standard you want to be competitive in, in the PSL.”
“The outcome was okay. We had a good defensive performance. We have worked on it in the past 3 weeks a little bit more but the movement combat, the build up, the right decision making, the final action, not positioning up and all the stuff you need to be dangerous in to counter your opponent, I think was very poor from our side,” said Midlendorp.
Conquering the Zulu warriors
True to Midlendorp’s assessment, the final clash with AmaZulu, also known as Usuthu, started off sluggish, with AmaZulu dominating the first half.
Michael Ntechane, 20, a Celtics fan, after the first half said, “They (Celtics) are under pressure and I feel they should improve in the second half if they want to win.”
Celtics came back strong in the second half where they managed to score two goals by Vuyani Ntanga and Gabadinho Mhango, giving Celtics the victory.
The two goals however, were not without struggle as Amazulu kept them on their toes with what was believed to be the “best defence” of the day.
AmaZulu booked their place in the final by beating Mpumalanga Black Aces 2-1 in the second semi-final.
The stadium was filled with Celtics supporters who sat through the cold and overcast day, sharing the victory with their team through music and dance, even after the game ended. The team itself was particularly pleased with their win over Bidvest Wits.
“Well, you know its football, you win or lose, we knew that they (Bidvest Wits) are competitive and they have been winning most of the games we played against them so we thought we should come and see what would happen and fortunately we were the ones who won today”, Celtics captain, Wandisile Letlabika said to Wits Vuvuzela.
Despite the knockout in the first semi-final on home soil, Bidvest Wits coach, Gavin Hunt said it was a good game.
“We had a lot of opportunities to score in early stages of the game and I’m sure we’ll be better as the season goes on,” said Hunt.
The inaugural Charity Showdown tournament was aimed at raising funds for The Lunchbox Fund through playing soccer while enjoying a fun filled family day with exciting activities such as face painting, sack racing, snake and ladders for children and live performances. The event raised close to R150 000 by the end of the day.
Mxit came first, Facebook followed, Twitter was not far behind but while each of these social media platforms was growing, the “selfie” was quietly establishing as one of the hottest trends in recent times.
If you’ve been buried under a rock somewhere, a selfie is a picture or photograph taken by one’s self and shared on social media platforms. There are different kinds of selfies taken daily, by celebrities and ordinary people alike.
There is even a song about selfies by the band the Chainsmokers. But while their popularity is undisputed, the motivation for this trend is not quite clear.
Academics, psychologists and sociologists alike are still probing the obsession with the self-image and the need to share almost every moment via a turned-around camera. Studies so far have have shown that selfies are an indication of a person’s obsession with appearance and the need for attention which is largely attributed to a low self- esteem or narcissism even.
People compete for the perfect selfie in all sorts of settings, including the gym, at a party out with friends, just lazing around or studying in their rooms. For others it is about a new hairstyle, a hot outfit or their make-up.
“I usually take selfies when I have a new hairstyle, I take a lot of selfies then,” says 4th year Social Work student, Sinethemba Nkosi.
For Nomvelo Chalumbira, 2nd year BA student, she takes selfies when she is out with friends in a new place or on holiday, and sometimes when she is really bored when studying.
She added, “I don’t take them often at all, because I feel like it’s very vain and most of the time when I take them, I’m in a comfortable space with people I’m comfortable with or where I’m comfortable myself.”
SAY CHEESE: A group selfie with some of #teamvuvu. Photo By: Illanit Chernick
Selfies are not a big deal for Silindokuhle Mavuso who is studying a BSc Honours in Geology and Palaeontology, “I barely take selfies, maybe one or two a month and if I take one it’s because I’m drunk with friends.”
Selfies are intimate and relate one’s personal experiences. But because of the belief that “if it’s not on social media, it did not happen,” content like selfies is readily shared on social media.
Nkosi says, “Most of the time I use them as DP [profile picture] for BBM or Whatsapp and Facebook.”
Mavuso who thinks taking selfies is conceited and pointless, tries to avoid taking them. He believes, as Chalumbira does that, taking a selfie is a very vain thing to do.
Whatever your feelings about them though, the popularity of the selfie is such that the word has been added to the Merriam-Webster English dictionary.
It was announced this week that the word, defined as “an image of oneself taken by oneself using a digital camera especially for posting on social networks,” will now join other terms like ‘tweep’ and ‘hashtag’ in the dictionary.
Mens Res and Midrand Graduate Institute go head-to-head in a scrum. Photo: Lutho Mtongana
The Wits internal rugby league put on an exhilarating show last night with four tightly contested games on the east campus rugby fields.
All four games ended the first half with scores tied, an indication of how evenly matched the teams were.
The Steinhoff Medics won 34-32 against the Steinhoff Engineers in the highest scoring game of the night. The Medics ended the game with a spectacular try from within their own half.
The Midrand Graduate Institute (MGI) managed to score 26 points on their way to victory against Mens Res who only scored 18.
Humanities (Titans) lost to Masakhane who ended the game 8 points ahead after a difficult match. The game ended 16-8 late in the second half.
The final game of the night saw Steinhoff Commerce beating Monash in the final play with a try to win 16-14.
Monash lost their match despite scoring three tries that had the crowd begging for more.
The team currently leading the Wits internal rugby is Steinhoff Masakhane which has only lost one game out of a total of four games played.
Steinhoff Humanities is currently placed last and after the game it lost against Masakhane last night, and it seems like it will remain at the bottom of the league for this week as well.
There are still eight more weeks left before the final in July.
ENCIRCLED: Wits alumni enjoying food and drinks at the newly opened Wits Alumni Pub on west campus. Photo: Zelmarie Goosen
By Zelmarie Goosen and Lutho Mtongana
Staff and alumni of Wits now have an after-work hangout on west campus.
The Alumni Pub opened its doors for a trial run yesterday in one of the many spaces at the Cape-Dutch styled Wits Club.
The pub caters for alumni, staff, and the Kudu runners, a team of Wits alumni runners.
Postgraduate students and alumni from other universities are welcome at the pub which currently consists of a lounge and outside dining area.
Jimmy Neophytou, manager of the pub, says the menu currently only consists of small food items. “It’s a starting point, we want to grow it, and once it’s grown we will add more items to the menu,” he said.
“This is like a test run. As it develops we will have specials and discounts and events”, Neophytou added.
The Alumni Pub is an initiative of the Wits Alumni office which wanted to provide a relaxing, after-hours meeting for alumni of Wits and other universities.
The pub’s survival is dependent on the number of people that will make use of it. “As it grows the menu will grow, the number of days will grow, so this [opening] is just to see if people are interested in it” says Neophytou.
The pub opens every Wednesday from 17:30 to 21:30.
Monash and SHA tackle on the field for the ball. Photo: Lutho Mtongana
Monash University won its internal rugby league match against Steinhoff South African Hellenic Association (SHA) on Wednesday, 31 to 25, but left many of its fans frustrated with their poor defense.
Steinhoff was racing for the goal line but while Monash players surrounded the ball-handler, none made an attempt to tackle, giving away an easy try.
“Do they play touch rugby when they practise?” one Monash fan said with frustration.
Steinhoff SHA’s strong tackling helped them keep up with Monash and with the score staying neck and neck throughout the match. After the first half, Monash led with 15 points while SHA was behind with only 10.
Despite the frustration from Monash supporters during the match, they were filled with enthusiasm and delight when their team ended with a victory against SHA.
Monash player Chris Ndanga said his team had one with several new players, with only four or five senior members on the field.
“They [SHA] tackled high which made them easy to defend off considering most of the guys in our team are smaller,” said Ndanga.
Ndanga acknowledged that the margin of victory could have been greater if they had given away fewer errors.
“I feel we could have won by a bigger margin if it wasn’t for a few defensive and handling errors,” Ndanga said.
The Monash match was one of three played on Wednesday night. In the other matches, Commerce took on the Midrand Graduate Institute (MGI) Tigers and Masakhane faced Men’s Residence.
MGI Tigers, who are newcomers to the internal rugby league, got off to a bad start and wound up losing to Commerce with a score of 7 to 16.
Widely considered to be one of the best teams in the internal league, Masakhane won with a score of 26 to 0 against Men’s Residence, even after three of their players were injured and had to be replaced.
Another two matches were scheduled for the evening, Engineers versus Knockando and the Medics versus SAUJS, but were cancelled because one of the fields was closed.
Despite the cold weather, the crowd sang songs and roared with energy throughout the night. Monash received the greatest support as family, friends and schoolmates came out to watch them leave Wits rugby grounds victoriously.
The university is considering changing the admission criteria for medicine by doubling the percentage accepted on achievement alone, regardless of race.
Currently, 25% of top achievers are accepted regardless of race but recommendations would see that doubled. The remainder is presently allocated in favour of redressing racial disparities.
This is just one of a number of big changes presented at a public meeting to discuss the current and future admissions criteria to medicine on Tuesday night. The other two big changes are that 20% of places would be assigned to students who come from rural environments and applicants with undergraduate degrees would be considered equally regardless of what they previously graduated in.
“What am I doing here, then? I’ve wasted two years of my life,” one student complained. She is currently doing her undergraduate in health sciences. Many of the students there felt they had been encouraged to do these types of degrees in the hope that they would get preference to be accepted to medicine and were now being told this might change.
“A bachelor in health sciences is not a pre-med degree,” Vice Chancellor Prof Adam Habib said.
“If you take students from here [rural areas] they are more likely to return, unlike urban students who end up leaving the country,” according to Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof Andrew Crouch. He heads up the task team with Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof Zeblon Vilakazi.
According to the university, about 8 000 people apply for the degree each year but only 230 receive firm offers, the majority coming from urban environments and middle class families. This excludes many applicants from rural areas, previously disadvantaged backgrounds and poor schools.
Habib said they are trying to maximise the production of doctors but are limited by infrastructure and resources. He advised that students apply for alternative degrees as “some very good people will not get placed”.
The task team is deciding if they will be able to implement the recommended criteria next year or wait until 2016. They will release their findings in a report at the end of this month.
Since her announcement as the Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille has dominated national headlines. In this bonus episode of We Should Be Writing podcast, hosts Lulah Mapiye and Bonolo Mokonoto dissect a media meet-and-greet with the mayoral hopeful. From her extensive political résumé to her controversial public utterance, we examine why the Democratic Alliance has chosen Hellen Zille as their candidate for the 2027 local mayoral elections. Additionally, […]
