On Wednesday this past week, the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research kicked off its year with a conversation regarding the role female student journalists played in the protest. The talk was titled “Inter sectional writing in times of protest: Conversations with young woman journalists”
Over the last few months, being a revolutionary has become the new cool. We live in times where Biko is used as a pick up line, Fanon is cited willy-nilly to show a certain level of intellectual muscle and “the look” is about Blackness. You must look Black, talk Black, and behave Black.
Exaggerated, acted out, ‘Comrade Black’. Nothing genuine about that Blackness.
My worry with all of this is not that as young Black people we are finding and living in voices and skins that are authentically ours, but is that some among us have decided that they will use things like #FeesMustFall for popularity and to further their political careers.
To some people, wearing a doek or a beret, and putting on their best comrade stage voice is far more important than doing the necessary and very important ground work that all of these student movements are built around doing.
I have heard for the last six weeks straight, stories of students that don’t have money to return to varsity, students who’ve had to do some really heart-breaking things to raise registration money, students who at this very point have nowhere to sleep and struggle to find money for food every single day.
Yet there are people who masquerade as leaders. People whose Twitter accounts are the only place where they can claim to do this revolutionary work.
Revolutionary work, in my humble opinion, is making sure that these students that have been pushed to the sides, as life at Wits continues “normally” are taken care of. Its making sure you use your massive Twitter following to try and get help for financially needy students, its making sure you use this platform of leadership you have been elevated to, to negotiate with the powers that be to organise accommodation for the many students that sleep in libraries.
I mean, you are the prominent faces of student movements right? Then use your star power properly. You gained popularity because you were what many students thought they needed in a leader, someone who will still remember them, even when they start working towards those future political aspirations.
I have no problem at all with people seeing themselves one day in political leadership. I have a huge problem though, if you’re going to politic with people’s lives.
You walk around with highly inflated egos talking about how the students that you claim to serve have “entitlement issues” and need to “humble themselves” and come to you. Hayibo. Khanthe, what did you think your new position of relevance meant? Can you get off Facebook long enough to do what you’re supposed to do? Preaching Marxist theory doesn’t mean you are putting it into practice.
I know that these days no one does anything out of the sheer goodness of their hearts, and I am okay with this. But I am however demanding that while doing your social media activism and being about that revolutionary lifestyle, you remember that these people you are using to further yourself, need your help. I think that’s a fair trade.
O ke o re tlhohele ka bo popstar bo. Shape up, or step aside.
The Wits Internal Netball League is calling all budding netball players to come register their teams in order to participate in the 2016 internal netball league.
The move, which was decided this week comes as a result of the desire of the internal league to grow.
“I love netball because it’s simple, it’s active and you’re less likely to get injuries than in rugby,” said 2015 Internal League chairperson and first team manager Klaas Mokgomole.
Mokgomole says it is important for the sport to grow in the university. Recruiting these new teams will ensure that there is a larger pool of players and more talent to choose from when the university needs to be represented externally.
“The new structure is aimed at enhancing competition and making sure teams don’t quit,” Mokgomole said.
The new structure of the internal league is that it will now consist of 20 teams in total; 10 of which were top 10 in last year’s league. The teams will be divided into pools A and B respectively, based on their performance in the upcoming season.
Mokgomole says in the past netball was not given the necessary recognition in the past. “I believe it will be recognised this year because the Wits girls won USSA 2015 Championships in Pool B … so netball is in the spotlight” he says.
The pools will function as a kind of a league structure, with Pool A being the “premier league” and Pool B being the first division.
By the end of the season, the bottom three teams in Pool A will be relegated to Pool B and the top three teams in Pool B will be promoted to Pool A.
Pool B, will play their matches on Tuesdays and Pool A will play their matches on Thursdays.
New teams have till February 26, to register. Internal teams will be charged R800 to be part of the league, while external teams will be charged R 1 000 per team.
While players that are not students of the university will be allowed to participate, there are conditions. “You can get any student from any institution and register them in your team as externals … teams that register as externals will be forced to have a minimum of six Wits players. The maximum number of players a team can register is 10-15,” says Mokgomole.
With teams that are internal, they can have a minimum of two Wits players. Clubs and societies as well as schools are also invited to participate in the league.
What began as an art activation protest escalated to one of the most talked about things so far in the
An “art activation” against private security on campus and a t-shirt painted with the words “Fuck White People” has led to a human rights complaint against a Wits student,a protest and a social media storm.
Protesting against the presence of security personnel and the financial exclusion of students, Zama Mthunzi, a scholar in the Science faculty decided that he would protest artistically by painting on his t-shirt the words “Fuck White People”.
He wore the t-shirt for a week, resulting in a photo of him making the rounds on the social media platforms. Mthunzi then received a call last weekend telling him there was a complaint and he would be appearing in front of a hearing set up by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
By the time Monday came around, a protest was being held in solidarity with Mthunzi. His fellow students and comrades from the #FeesMustFall movement argued that the taking of Mthunzi in front of the SAHRC was a way of “silencing him” and an attempt to “police Black anger.”
T-shirts with various slogans ranging from “Fuck White Privilege” to “Fuck Patriarchy” graced the front of the Great Hall Piazza on Monday afternoon.
Images of the protest were put up in an album on the Wits Vuvuzela Facebook page and what followed was a debate of epic proportions. As of press time the album had been shared more than 2 000 times and drawn almost 500 comments.
The comments moved between being about whether or not the act of the students was necessary, if their cries were valid, if blacks can be racist, what this meant for the right to protest in the university, to racist slurs, threats of rape and violence and insults that were aimed at the students and other commenters on the album on Facebook. The level of vitriol led Wits Vuvuzela to take the unusual step of moderating comments.
SAHRC spokesperson Issac Mangena confirmed that a complaint had been levelled against Mthunzi. “The complainant is requesting that we investigate the possibility that the writing on the t-shirt could be hate speech,” Mangena said.
However, there is a mystery about how and when the complaint was laid. Mangena confirmed that was laid to the SAHRC on Monday afternoon. But Mthunzi said that on Saturday he received a phone call notifying him that a complaint had been made against him “through the university”.
For its part, the university released a statement on Monday afternoon saying that “apparently” a complaint had been laid.
“We are not sure who laid the complaint with the SAHRC,” read the statement.
The university has maintained it was not involved in the SAHRC complaint and said they had previous matters against Mthunzi and other students relating to vandalism that the university will investigate internally.
Mthunzi said the phone call he received left him more questions than answers.
“Thing is he acted like he’s from the university, to say the complaint was laid via the university. But the university also doesn’t know … When I went to Legal Office they told me ‘hai, we know about these things’ but they were speaking to me about things from other cases, not this one,” Mthunzi said.
Regarding the commission’s investigation, Mangena explained that the commission was not at liberty to divulge who the complainant is.
“We are not at liberty to divulge the names of complainants unless they go to the media to inform them they have lodged a complaint with the SAHRC,” Mangena said.
Mangena said the commission would follow the normal process that’s followed in their investigations.
“We will receive the complaint, assess it to decide whether to investigate or not, then get submissions from the parties before a preliminary report is sent to them. We will release the final report to the public.”
In the end, Mthunzi has a complaint against him at the Human Rights Commission, the hearing hasn’t happened, investigations are underway and the debate burns on.
UPDATE: The South African Human Right Commission (SAHRC)’s Issac Mangena has confirmed that a complaint has been laid with the commission regarding Mthunzi’s t-shirt and the matter is being looked into by the commission. Mangena added that there will be no hearing held by the commission for Mthunzi on Wednesday.
“Being Black Is Sh*t” reads a T-shirts from the #WitsFMF F*ck campaign organised by the Fees Must Fall movement. This is also the front of the t-shirt that has landed Zama Mthunzi in hot water. Photo: Zimasa Mpemnyama
A group of protesting students took to the Great Hall Piazza to voice their displeasure about a fellow student, Zama Mthunzi being reported to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for Hate Speech over a t-shirt he created during an artistic protest over the financial exclusion of poor students, presence of security personnel and other reasons, on campus in January.
Mthunzi, a 3rd year Mathematical Sciences student caused a stir on social media after an image of him in a t-shirt written “Fuck White People” trended on social media sites.
The Art Activation, which happened in January, was a protest organized by students to say how they felt at Wits-like they are “dying” because of the “oppression they face at the hands of the institution”. Mthunzi says the activation was when he ‘spontaneously’ created his t-shirt to show how he was feeling at time.
“I just took a t-shirt and I wrote how I was feeling at that moment. I was feeling hatred, because it was times of financial exclusion…and you’d look, come to lines and see how White people are paying, they’re relaxed, there are no financial problems so it arose that Black exclusion is so [rampant] in this institution” Mthunzi said.
Mthunzi’s t-shirt was met with harsh criticism by some members of the university community with a complaint having been allegedly laid with the Human Rights Commission and an investigation taking place in the university.
The protest took place during the lunch hour on Monday afternoon and there was a considerable amount of security personnel guarding the Great Hall entrance and the immediate surroundings of the piazza. This, however, did not seem to faze the demonstrating students as they continued painting t-shirts, singing and explaining to fellow students why they were there.
The university released a statement condemning the actions of protesting students, and it has also stated that it has heard that Mthunzi will “apparently” be appearing before the SAHRC but they are “Not sure who laid the complaint with SAHRC”.
The demonstration is set to continue till Wednesday in solidarity with Mthunzi who will allegedly be appearing before the Human Rights Commission regarding this complaint.
Internships are an opportunity to get experience but they can be slightly tricky to navigate because of the pay. We attempt to break that discussion down a little further.
The low or non-existent pay for some internships have been the subject of many discussions recently. But some people are generally misinformed when it comes to what is legal when looking to intern somewhere.
Most recently, popular magazine Marie Claire has come under fire for offering an internship that only paid R30 a day.
Internships are a great way for young people coming into various industries to get the necessary experience after graduating from institutions of higher learning and training. What becomes a sore point about all of them, however, is the low remuneration that interns get for the services they provide.
According to labour lawyer Riona Kalua, there is legislation that governs how internships should be run, the Skills Development Act and the Skills Development Levies Act. “Employers are obliged to contribute money in the form of a skills levy, to ensure funding is available for skills development,” Kalua says.
Some internships are regulated through the system of a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA), whereby companies are given money by the government to run training programmes. Every industry and occupation in South Africa is covered by a SETA. Other internships operate with money that comes from within the company itself. All these internships are still, however, required to meet standards set out for employers and employees in standard labour laws.
Take for example Ntombi Khoza* who is an aspiring journalist. She dreams of writing for large newspaper. Ideally, she would like to use her skills to educate and inform people like those she left in her hometown in rural Kwa Zulu Natal.
She recently graduated from the Wits Journalism School, and applied to an international media house for an opportunity to get herself acquainted with the media industry. When she found out that her prospective employers were only willing to pay her R4 000 a month, she says she felt cheated. What was particularly striking for her, was that she had costs such as rent, food and transport that she needed to cover and that amount just would not cut it.
Things were not much different for Modise Mokoena* who took his chances with a local broadcaster after graduating with a BA degree. The company was willing to pay him up to R3 000 for his services in editing and filming.
“Because this is what I love doing, I want to do documentaries and television, I don’t pay attention to the money. I’ve had to continue living with my mother in order to (survive)”, he added.
For Khoza and Modise who are in the media field, the Media, Advertising, Publishing, Printing and Packaging (MAPPP) SETA should determine the guidelines concerning how much interns are paid, what hours they are expected to work and other guidelines to do with their training.
Kalua, however, cautions that employers may not follow guidelines set out in SETAs. She advises that prospective interns get themselves acquainted with the relevant guidelines regarding their employment. “I would advise graduates to contact the relevant SETA to discuss the internship and obtain clarity on the duration, training, stipend and hours to be worked. A written contract is also very important as this sets out the terms and conditions of employment”, she says.
Kalua also advises that all communication between companies and interns be in writing so that it can be produced should a dispute arise.
There are a couple of clubs that are not as popular as Football or Basketball here at Wits. The following list is about some of these clubs.
Fun In the Sun!: Members of the Yacht Club sitting outside their yacht during O-Week. Photo: Michelle Gumede
With the long list of sports and recreational clubs at Wits, it can be pretty challenging to pick a sporting or recreational activity to participating in. We’ve got the scoop on clubs that don’t hectic waiting lists.
If you have ever dreamed about sailing the seven seas, then this club may be for you. Established in 1972, the aim of the club is to teach its members how to sail. On average, it takes individuals about three to four 5-hour sessions for participants to learn how to sail. Subscription to the club is R400 per academic year and all you need, in the event that you do not own your own equipment, will be provided for you.
Established in the 1960s, there are two sides to the club: scuba diving and underwater hockey. Scuba diving gives participants an opportunity to get accredited through the South African scuba diving instructors association for level one, CMAS-ISA at R1300 for the 2 to 3-week long course. All you need is a mask, snorkel, fins and wetsuit. The rest of the equipment will be provided. Get more information on their Facebook page: Wits Underwater Club.
Do you love football, but hate being outside? Futsal may be for you. One of the really lesser-known sports in the country, futsal is a short form of football, featuring, instead of 11 players in a team, 5 players. It is played on a plastic-like court, with a normal football pitch markings. To play, you need specialized court shoes that are available at sports shops. You can join the team for R100 per semester in order to play in a season. For more info, visit their Facebook page: Wits Futsal
Described as the fastest racquet sport on the planet, Badminton is an indoor sport that looks like tennis, but is like volleyball, with a different set of rules. The Wits Badminton club offers classes for people who have never played the sport before. Subscription is R300 to for half a year and R600 to play the full year. The club has been doing very well at various sporting competitions, being particularly successful at the University Sports South Africa 2015 tournament. If you’re looking to improve your hand-eye coordination, then Badminton is for you. You need your own racquet to play. Facebook: Wits Badminton Club
Voted Sports Club of the Year for 2015, the orienteering club is doing great things. The idea of the sport is to navigate using a map in the fastest time. The club’s subscription is R110 for the year and that gets you a R10 discount for every orienteering event you’re involved in. If map reading is not your strong point, that’s okay because the club is more than willing to teach you. All you need are comfortable walking shoes. Everything else, such as a hat, maps and electronics (for the navigating) are provided. For information visit: https://witsorienteering.wordpress.com/
SELFIE TIME: Students who have come to register take a moment for a selfie with hired private security. Photo: Michelle Gumede
Ok, so you’ve been seeing some pretty shocking news coming out of the university over the last two weeks. While you know that the protest is a continuation from last year’s #FeesMustFall protests, there are certain things that are going on that you just don’t understand.
The good news is, we are here to help you. We have complied a list of questions and answers that can make understanding these protests a little bit easier for you.
Who are the students protesting?
The students that are currently involved in the #FeesMustFall2016 protests at Wits are some members of the Student Representative Council (SRC), the Wits Fees Must Fall (FMF) movement–who say they are non-partisan–and other students that are not part of the two groups. Even though the workers at Wits aren’t on strike, they have been protesting everyday this week at lunch time in solidarity with the students.
Why are they protesting?
The protests are about, among other things, the need for all students, particularly those from previously disadvantaged backgrounds to have access to free quality education, that the registration fee be scrapped regardless of previous debts that they have incurred, that the upfront fee for university accommodation be scrapped and that international students that come from Africa be allowed to start their studies by paying only 20% of their entire tuition cost instead of the expected 75%.
What does this now mean for registration?
The registration process was meant to begin on the on January 11. But due to the ongoing protests on campus, they were postponed on January 12 and they resumed the following day. Registration has officially resumed however with a heavy private security presence guarding the registration venue, Hall 29.
When is this protest going to end?
It does not seem as though the end is in sight anytime soon. Students are still protesting on campus and they are demanding that the university stop ignoring them and begin to engage with them on the demands they have tabled. Until that happens, the students on Wednesday afternoon said they would take their protests into the forthcoming local elections saying: “No Free Education, No Elections”.
I’ve been watching Twitter and it looks like Wits SRC and Wits FMF have beef. Whose #FeesMustFall is it anyway?
There are some tensions between the Wits SRC, dominated by the Progressive Youth Alliance, and Wits FMF movement. The bodies even released two different, competing statements over the course of the week. Wits SRC members were also kicked out of a meeting by Wits FMF meeting for allegedly causing a disruption, an accusation the SRC denies. However the Wits SRC has been tweeting that they are for the #FeesMustFall. Likewise, Wits FMF has made it clear that they respect that the SRC is a democratically elected body, that is meant to represent students. However, Wits FMF is adamant that there will be times when both parties will have to work independently and that if the SRC wants to join in, they can only come as ordinary students to a non-partisan movement.
I thought students won last year, is there still a need for #FeesMustFall protests?
The diplomatic answer at this point is that you decide. In your decision making however, tread carefully and consider all sides of the discussion. However, here is some food for thought:
Will the university’s calendar be disrupted?
At this point its a little too early to say. This will be determined by the length of the protests and the university’s reaction to them.
We hope this clears some things for you. We will keep updating you with any new developments as they come up.
Affected students in a meeting with acting Dean of Students Lamese Abrahams discussing amongst other things, the plan to accommodate students preparing for exams. Photo: Michelle Gumede
by Masego Panyane and Michelle Gumede
HUNDREDS of Wits students will be temporarily accommodated for free after being left homeless on campus over the festive season, squatting in libraries and computer labs to prepare for their supplementary and deferred examinations.
This comes after the entire end-of-year examination timetable was reshuffled due to the #FeesMustFall protests that rocked the country late last year. Supplementary and deferred exam dates were pushed back to early January and many students stayed on campus to prepare. But many were left without accommodation as residences closed on December 1.
In protest against their lack of accommodation, many of the affected students with the Wits Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Wits Fees Must Fall (FMF) staged a sit-in at the Senate House concourse, also known as Solomon House.
On Monday January 4, several Student Representative Council (SRC) members met with representatives from the All Res Council, the university administration and Wits EFF to agree that students writing deferred and supplementary exams would be accommodated on campus.
SRC projects, media and campaigns officer Mzwanele Ntshwanti said the SRC left for holidays on December 23. When the SRC arrived on campus in early January, they received and processed a list of the homeless compiled by a few students who had been staying in the library, concourse and computer labs. Ntshwanti said the SRC were already prepared that there might be a situation where a bulk of students would come from all over the country to write their exams. However, he said preparations stalled over how much it would cost the university.
“Conversations were started, they were just never concluded because the university was like ‘It’s gonna be costly and they were not willing to take the cost’,” Ntshwanti said.
This week’s agreement allows for 500 students, 300 male and 200 female, to be accommodated at Men’s Res and Jubilee respectively. Ntshwanti estimates the accommodation will cost the SRC R181 per night per student.
University officials could not be reached for comment by Wits Vuvuzela as of the time of posting this article.
Vuyani Pambo of Wits EFF said his organisation spent their holidays staging a sit in at Mens res, studying and consulting with students on possible solutions regarding the academic year ahead. Pambo says during their interaction with students it became more apparent that many students were on campus studying and doing vacation work to save up for their fees while being without accommodation.
On December 28, the Wits EFF staged a “let in” at Mens Res, where they opened up the residence for all homeless student which lead to conflict with campus control.
Pambo said they occupied Men’s Res only after attempting, unsuccessfully, to negotiate for accommodation for the homeless students with the university.
Although campus control was called to the Men’s Res, the students were never removed from the res and students are now coming in to sign up for accommodation since the agreement was publicised on social media by both the SRC and Wits EFF.
The procedure is that students have to go to cluster head Doreen Musemwa at Jubilee residence the day before their allocated exam date where their status for a deferred or supplementary exam is verified. Students must then go to the SRC offices to fill out forms and then they can then move into res. Students can stay at res until the day after their exam and will receive breakfast daily at the main dining hall for the duration of their stay.
Third-year mining student, Albert Sefadi* said that learning about the agreement on Facebook, he drove to Johannesburg from Mahikeng to sign up for the accommodation before his exam date. However, he says when he got to Jubilee on Tuesday he found that Musemwa was not around and he had to sleep in his car.
Sefadi was later assisted by the SRC on Wednesday and had completed all his paperwork, ready to move into his room by 10am.
There are some students who are distrustful of the arrangement. Rendani Dumah* a final-year education student and Wits FMF member decided to not take the offered accommodation.
“I don’t want to have the SRC telling people that they did stuff for me when they didn’t do anything,” said Dumah.
As of Friday, the occupation of Senate House has continued despite the dean of students sent the FMF group a letter demanding they leave the concourse.
*Affected students requested that Wits Vuvuzela change their names.
For the people of Little Mogadishu, life in South Africa is characterised by a constant attempt to survive the harsh realities of being “a foreigner”. They have, however, found something that can help ease the sting of that reality – football.
The first thing that catches your eye as you walk up to the Mayfair Bowling Club is the fence that has fallen down at one place and the heap of rubbish that lies there. Then, as you move closer, you see a few patches of grass. It’s uneven land, about the size of a normal soccer pitch, and a couple of sharp rocks stick out of the ground.
This is the place the Mayfair Young Stars Football League uses as its home ground. The league, which is made up of players of foreign nationalities, is the pride of the community of Little Mogadishu. The lives of foreign nationals in South Africa are filled with many unpleasant experiences. For this community of Somali refugees and asylum seekers, football provides them with a sense of normality.
The area is home to an estimated 6 000 refugees and asylum seekers, most of them Somali, and has long been a safe haven as well as being accused, without proof, of being a source of Islamic militancy.
I walked into the area as a black, Christian young woman and soon found myself talking about something as masculine as football to the men in the community. I was not chased out. Instead, I soon found myself in impassioned conversations about Manchester United and why they aren’t the team to beat in the English Premier League.
The passion for soccer carries off the field in Little Mogadishu, the heart of which is on 8th Avenue in Mayfair, Johannesburg.
Malelo Abdool, a 24-year-old businesswoman, decided to start up an informal games arcade in Little Mogadishu after realising that there wasn’t much to do in the area for the children. She took a small shop space, installed plasma screens and PS4 consoles, put in a couple of chairs and bean bags, and the ultimate chill spot was ready.
Abdool’s gaming store is unlike most others. Where you would normally expect a range of gaming experiences, her store contains only football-related games, with versions of the games for every year. “The kids [here]are very inspired by soccer … I tried putting in other games like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty and they just didn’t play them. So I put in games like FIFA 16 because there’s a demand for them,” she said.
With the community being so football crazy, it only made sense that they would have their own football club. But how the club came about, along with its ups and downs, isn’t that simple.
Greater Mayfair Local Football Association (GMLFA or GML) is the managing body of all local football-related activities in the western and southern parts of Johannesburg. The organisation, which is affiliated to the South African Football Association (Safa), oversees six local football leagues that are divided by age.
Local Somalis began playing in the Greater Mayfair LFA in 2008. They encountered problems in the league and could not advance to higher Safa leagues because they did not have South African ID books.
“We couldn’t challenge them. We don’t have lawyers … We don’t have anybody so we left the league,” said Mohammed “Mash”, 34, a member of the Somali Football Association.
In response, the Somalis formed a league of their own, the Mayfair Young Stars, in 2009, shortly before South Africa’s Soccer World Cup. This league meant they could continue playing football in their community outside of Safa’s regulations.
But the experience still left a bitter taste and the founder members believe they were kicked out of the league because they are Somali.
“In the GML we ended up being blamed for everything … If a fight broke out, ‘it’s the Somalis,’ they said, if there were any kinds of problems, it would be the Somali people causing the trouble they believed,” said Mash.
“It became unfair when they would make us stop games because we were winning. The last problem was when they didn’t want us to go to the next level because we didn’t have ID books,” he said.
Safa’s regulations, however, state that foreign players are allowed to participate in regional, inter-regional and national competitions provided they meet a number of conditions. These are that a) there cannot be more than three foreign players registered in one team; b) they must have valid documentation such as a valid asylum seeker’s permit, passport or any other international clearance certificate provided for in the Immigration Act and c) that they meet the eligibility criteria set out by Safa of different age groups.
But according to the members of the Somali community, the reason for their exclusion was simple: the Greater Mayfair LFA was motivated by a dislike for them steeped in xenophobia.
Nadia Patel, secretary of the Greater Mayfair LFA, agreed the Somalis could not advance because of documentation, but denies they were victimised because of xenophobia.
“The only reason we could not let them play is because of that Safa regulation. We even established another social league where teams that are completely foreign can play socially, for teams like Mayfair Young Stars,” said Patel.
“We had a couple of issues with discipline with Young Stars, but we have never discriminated against them because they are Somali.”
It was after this series of events that the idea to form Mayfair Young Stars was born, a team for a generation of Somalis born in South Africa.
“We said these youngsters are South Africans, they were born here, maybe when they reach there, they will have the advantage of joining the formal league,” Mash said.
Losing out on playing in the formal GML had some serious consequences for the Somali footballers. They lost some good team members and a coach but, most importantly, they lost out on a space to play their football.
“When they managed to kick us out because of that Safa rule, they also blocked us from using the grounds we used to practise and play on. So whenever we’d try to get in, the guard would tell us R200 per hour or not let us in at all,” said Aydruz Ismail, manager of the Mayfair Young Stars League.
The situation was devastating for the team. The senior team realised they would be wasting their time pursuing semi-professional football careers in South Africa. They did not have the correct documentation and, to their knowledge, this would prevent them from playing.
The senior team saw it as their duty to get the league up and running for the next generation of Somali footballers. Establishing the league happened fairly easily because the community was already very attached to football. Many of the young people in the area used to play recreationally, so bringing them together wasn’t a far-fetched idea.
“When we established Young Stars, there were a few youngsters who used to play by the park by themselves. We collect them … and they formed their own teams,” said Ismail.
Huddled in front of TV screens in Abdool’s game shop are a number of young men who play for Mayfair Young Stars. They are in a particularly heated discussion about who is the best midfielder in the community league. It becomes obvious how important the space to play and polish their football skills is to these young men. For people like Mohamed Abdool, 18, and his friend and team-mate Osman Yasin, 15, having the league keeps them healthy, but they also get to try out some of the tricks they see on television.
“I love the sport, I have a passion for the sport. I’m planning to go to London … I want to play for one of the Premier League’s teams,” stammers Mohamed excitedly. His friend Osman also wants to play in Europe someday.
For the two young men, the opportunity to play in the Mayfair Young Stars League is a step closer to these dreams.
Mohamed began his career at Young Stars playing for the senior team but he asked to return to the lower level team in his age grouping to get more game time. Osman describes him as an intelligent player who has a bit of Argentinian player Lionel Messi in him.
Osman, a central midfielder, started playing football because all his friends were playing it. He says his plan after he finishes matric is to succeed in football. If that doesn’t work out, then he’ll settle for being a computer software engineer.
For the boys, it is worrying that, even though they were born in South Africa, they may not have a stable enough future in football because of their documentation. For them, there’s nothing they would rather do than play football. As clichéd as this may sound, football is their life.
“There isn’t enough opportunity here. Even when I was playing for the Orlando Pirates Academy, they’d always ask us for documents and that is limiting us, that’s why I want to go international,” Mohamed said.
Mayfair Young Stars have their matches every weekend because they do not want to disturb the young people with their schooling. Mash added that the major purpose of having organised football in the community is to keep the boys out of trouble.
For some of the other young men like Abdullahi Mohammed, 19, the creation of this league gives them a sense of belonging and it keeps hope alive – that they could one day play professional football – despite not being able to play in the formal GML.
“The committee of the GMLFA is racist towards Somalis. Even though for most of us that played in those teams, we’ve never seen Somalia before. We were born here, this is our home,” he said.
Mohammed said they experienced injustices at the GML because of what he calls “xenophobia”. Mohammed said he never experienced xenophobia when he played for premier league teams like Bidvest Wits and Jomo Cosmos that had a number of foreign players playing for them.
The Mayfair Young Stars Football League has become an important part of the lives of the men, young men and boys of the community. It has given them hope that, even in South Africa, where it may sometimes seem almost impossible to get correct documentation or citizenship, they can still hold onto their passion for football and, for some of the younger ones, to maybe become world-renowned football players.
It’s a hot morning in mid-October at the former home of the Mayfair Bowling Club. Outside in the yard, two tattered nets stand at the opposite ends of the grounds. The grounds themselves could do with a bit of TLC, maybe a new bunch of grass could be planted and watered to give the grounds a healthier feel.
The grounds are not marked like a normal football field would be but everyone seems to have an idea of where the centre of the pitch is and where the lines to mark the boundaries are.
In this particularly heated encounter between Somali teams Man City and the Punishers, the most important things at stake here are respect and bragging rights. Both teams play with skill that one does not expect from a group of teenage boys. They are determined and play with the flair and intelligence we all miss seeing in professional football matches.
The soccer games attract a number of men in the community, ordinary men who have a keen interest in football and want to see who the bright youngsters to look out for are.
The supporters of the Punishers are adamant that the referee has made a series of decisions against them, all because he doesn’t like them. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that they trailed for most of the match behind Man City by a single goal.
After I watch pure magic at the feet of these boys, the match draws to a close with the final score line being Man City 3-2 Punishers (Man City actually scored 4 goals because of the own goal scored in the 23rd minute). Man City walk away with the ultimate bragging rights for the upcoming week.
After watching these young men play as if they are playing to get paid, one wonders if any of them will be able to make it professionally with the number of obstacles that stand in their way. It is very clear that breaking into the professional football scene here will be difficult for the boys.
But once they do, they will be a sight to behold. For now, they work at becoming the best of the best. The boys continue to play FIFA at the game shop and practise their tackles on the uneven pitch of the Mayfair Bowling Club, one match at a time.
FEATURED IMAGE: Defending hard: Members of the Punishers and Man City teams from Mayfair Young Stars battling it out for the ball. Photo: Masego Panyane
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The results of the 2015 Wits Student Representative Council elections were announced and the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) won with 12 seats of the 15 seats available.
Earlier today Vice Principal Professor Andrew Crouch announced that the PYA won 12 of the 15 seats available. With Project W winning the remaining 3.
Electoral Officer Jabu Mashinini announced that there were 6973 valid votes, 688 spoilt ballots and the total turn out of students that voted this year was 7 661, 469 people more than the 7 192 total votes received in 2014.
In last year’s election (2014/2015) the PYA won 9 seats with Project W winning 6 seats. As with last years election both the Wits EFF and the Democratic Alliance’s Student Organization (DASO) did not receive any seats.
Thamsanqa Pooe, who was running for re-election received the highest number of votes at 3517 votes even though his party (Project W) did not win the election.
Obett Motaung and Lesego Mokwena, both of the Progressive Youth Alliance, received the least number of votes at 2705 votes each.
The current SRC’s Deputy President Omhle Ntshingila said “We are overly excited, the elections went well, they were fair and square. Students are in safe hands”.
A disappointed Thamsanqa Pooe said he that even though there were only 3 Project W members in the SRC, he was certain that students wouldn’t lose out. “In as much as there’s only 3 of us in the SRC, its 3 of our strongest candidates. 3 of the most genuine guys. 3 of the most hard working guys”, Pooe said.
Newly elected education student Ontiretse Phetlu said this win would definitely benefit the often forgotten education campus students, “I want to affirm to them (education students) that their voices will be represented…its the first step, I hope that they will take our victory as an inspiration” Phetlu said.
DASO’s Odwa Abraham says as an organisation their main mandate in this year’s election was to re-introduce themselves to the student community. ” Our plan this year was to be visible because we ‘disappeared’ last year. We are very happy with how things turned out, the response of the students was positive…so we achieved our mandate”, Abraham said.
Here is the list of the 15 candidates, the number of votes they received and their parties (in order of highest votes):
STILL KICKING: Wits FC is steadily trying to ascend to their place as champions of university league football. The team is currently participating in the varsity football league, where they have won two out of five matches.
It was a season of drawing or losing for Wits university senior men’s team until two matches ago when they managed to start an unexpected winning streak.
It started off as a shaky campaign for the Wits side in July when they suffered a goalless loss against both North West University and Tshwane University of Technology. The season seemed like it would be something that would end in tears for Wits supporters.
At that point it looked as though Wits was leaving the tournament the same way they did in 2013 – bombed out with the worst loss to TUT, 3-0.
The change for the Wits side came in Round 5 when they brought the momentum of the UP Tuks side to a screeching halt.
Tuks had won two matches in a row, and suffered only one loss in the season so far. But their streak was stopped by Wits FC with a 2-1 win.
Round 6 also saw Wits beat the Vaal University of Technology 2-1 on their home turf infamously known as the slaughter house.
This sudden but welcome change of events leaves Wits at 4th place on the Varsity Football Log with one more match to go before the semi-final round.
Wits will meet Walter Sisulu University on Monday evening at the Bidvest Wits Stadium. Kick-off is at 6pm.
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