The first day of the Wits SRC elections kicked off yesterday without any incident following a week characterised by disruptions, suspensions and cancellations.
The first leg of the Wits SRC (Student Representative Council) elections kicked off at the med school and education campuses without incident yesterday. This despite threats ealier in the week from from EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) chairperson, Advocate Dali Mpofu. Mpofu, speaking at Wits on August 24, promised to establish a team that would disrupt the elections if the suspensions of the Wits EFF members were not lifted.
Wits Campus Control officers at the polling booths (who refused to be named), told Wits Vuvuzela before voting started that they were not expecting any disruptions.
Representatives of the various student parties were present at both voting stations and actively encouraged voters to vote for their parties.
The initial voter turnout was slow but picked up over the course of the day.
Phumlile Motloung, first year BEd, said she voted because the current SRC helped her with things such as accommodation, food and she feels that by voting, she will be doing her bit.
Alexander Loukakis, BEd, said he’s voting because it’s his right and he believes that by voting he will know who to turn to if he ever needs help.
Some students were not keen to vote however as they felt their campuses are generally overlooked.
Chris Dube, 5th year MBBCh, said, “I’m not actually voting because I’m sure the SRC does do stuff for other students but they are not visible here on medical campus”.
Sne Mkhwanazi, 2nd year MBBCh said, “I don’t think it’s going to do anything for me. They are all making similar promises to us … and I don’t think they are going to fulfil them”.
The elections continue at the education and medical school campuses today, and comes to the main campuses on the 1st and 2nd August 2015.
Less than one in 10 of the students in need of financial help received assistance from the funds raised earlier this year in the “One million, One Month” campaign, according to a report released by the SRC.
In total, 219 of 2 400 needy students were assisted by the campaign which raised over R3.5 million for the SRC’s humanitarian fund.
The SRC started up One Million, One Month as a way to raise money for students who could not receive funding due to a shortfall in National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). More than 2 700 students were left stranded after NSFAS said it would not be able to fund the students – many of them returning students.
At the time, then-SRC president Mcebo Dlamini said the goal was to help all the students, estimated to be 2 788, get funding.
“Our wish is to take all 2 788 students to class because that is the future of our nation…I can’t lose 2 788 students, it’s not only them it’s their families as well,” said Dlamini at the launch of the campaign in February this year.
Current SRC President Shaeera Kalla said the university’s funding mechanisms managed to absorb approximately 300 students that had been affected by the crisis. Of the remaining 2 400, only 219 were able to receive full or partial funding.
Kalla said the SRC had made it clear that they would not be able to assist all the students that applied for funding. The SRC set up a process to select students with the criteria for funding included selecting returning students who could afford to pay part of their fees and new students who qualified for NSFAS but were rejected due to a shortage of funds.
“There were students who we helped fully because they met the criteria, but then we had to start digging into students who paid a little bit, who met the criteria,” Kalla said.
“At this point in time, 67% of the students we assisted [with partial funding] have got bursaries,” Kalla said.
Some funds were also used to pay outstanding fees of some students from 2014.
A large portion of the funds was used to assist students who needed partial upfront payment for the academic year. The next biggest item of spending was on accommodation with 47 students being assisted. Only 11 students received complete assistance in terms of tuition, accommodation, meals and books.
The Faculty of Humanities had the most students to receive funding, 76, followed by Engineering and the Built Environment. Only three students from the Faculty of Health Sciences received funding.
The report also said there would be a need for future funding, which is why SRC was trying to set up an endowment fund for the emergencies that rise up for students during the year. While the details of this fund have not been finalized, Kalla said it has been approved by the University Council.
This serves as a response to the privileged white girl Anlerie de Wet on her piece that appeared in the Wits Vuvuzela, on August 24, 2015. De Wet states that she was, “only bouncing around her father’s testicles” when the racist lunatics orchestrated the venomous system of colonialism in all its manifestations – internal, external, apartheid and structural mechanisms that served and continues to serve as restrictions for the black man to gain economic emancipation in his own land.
It is important to initially clarify the historic events because they shape the current material conditions that many black people are subjected to survive under.
De Wet might have ‘been bouncing in her father’s testicles’ when the separate developments were implemented by her forefathers, but she does not have to ignore the fact that her parents received quality education while many of our parents, as black people, were the initial recipients of inferior education that systematically shaped them to be slaves. It is therefore easy for De Wet’s parents to be promoted at work as she clearly stated in her piece.
While on the other hand, our black parents are coerced to be in the primary sector of economic activities, they work hard in the field, and in the assembly line to increase productivity. Our parents are exploited and alienated from the benefits of their hard labour, they earn peanuts, while white monopoly capital advocates enjoy the surplus through profit obtained from the sweat of our parents.
Our parents are not slaves because they want to be. The workers that De Wet always sees on campus are not cleaning toilets because they want to but they sell their labour all the time, to put food in the table for their children. They are not stupid, most of them would have been doctors, lawyers, successful entrepreneurs and good educators today, but they cannot be that, because De Wet’s parents and many others who share the same pigmentation with her are pure beneficiaries of institutionalised racism.
I keep wondering if she ever noticed that there are no white cleaners on campus? Well, she seems to have the same mentality as the apartheid engineers for they believed that white people are blessed and black people are cursed. Maybe that is why she keeps emphasising that she is “blessed”; does it then mean that the black workers on campus are not blessed?
We are not jealous of white privilege. In fact, for many black poor students who have no place to sleep and often feed on food from dustbins at night, they do not care about white people who “reside in Sandton” and own “Iphones” per de Wet’s example of the wealth of white people.
But black students do care about academic excellence, striving to be employed and then to transform the material conditions at home.
De Wet is thinking about creating an environment that will make her white kids privileged like her, but we not even thinking about our future kids, because we have our families to care about and also our communities.
Her utterances are a pure indication that most of the white people are in tertiary institutions to create a better future for their kids, while the black poor majority have a bigger task to firstly combat poverty at home, in our societies and also create better conditions for our kids.
De Wet is not alone, there are many like her who are prepared to protect and enhance white monopoly capital using the phrases, “blessed” and “equal”. It cannot be that the All Mighty God blesses thieves.
I mean De Wet was too quick to say that she is blessed, and it is not a sin to be privileged, well the Ten Commandments put it clear that; “Thou shalt not steal” De Wet’s forefathers stole our land! Let them bring back our land then we can talk about blessings.
Bhekithemba Mbatha is a Postgraduate Law student who hails from Orlando, Soweto.
Here is some information on the Netball action in the university.
As the Wits Internal Netball League (WINL) takes a breather at the end of the term, the Wits Netball Club gets ready to participate in the University Sports South Africa (USSA) tournament next month.
The club is going to be participating in the upcoming USSA National Institutional Netball Championship from June 29 to July 3, hosted by the University of Johannesburg. Wits came second in the B-Section last year.
Ofentse Moropa, Wits Netball Club Vice Chairperson, said: “This year we are hoping to win Gold so that we can be promoted to the A section”.
The netball club is also planning to have the Quad Series later in the year that will feature four other tertiary institutions in Gauteng. The best two teams from each institution will play against one another.
The club is the main team that represents the university against other institutions. The WINL is an internal league that allows any school, residence or club within Wits to join.
“The idea is to get people that are interested in netball to form their own parties and participate in the league,” says Eunice Montso, WINL vice-chairperson.
The best players of the league get a chance to participate in the main team that represents Wits against other teams. Each team is made up of seven players and one male player per team is allowed.
The league began in March and now takes a mid-league break to give participants a chance to study for exams.
Of the 15 teams, the Brainwashers and the Medics are topping the league. The Brainwashers have shown excellent form in the last few weeks winning all eight of their matches. Reigning champions the Medics are left in second place with one game in hand.
Braamfontein Centre, Esselen, Girton Hall and Zenith are teams at the bottom of the log. They have respectively played between six and seven games and have struggled to gain points in as many games.
The league starts again in July with Jubilee taking on Girton Hall at 6pm sharp at the Diggs Fields on the university’s West Campus. League games will run until 17 September.
Wits University has confirmed that it is investigating another member of the Student Representative Council (SRC) following a series of accusations on social media and media enquiries.
“The university can confirm that legal proceedings are indeed underway against another SRC member, following incidents which occurred last year, before the member took office,” the university said in a statement.
“These proceedings are being adjudicated by an independent student disciplinary committee and an outcome is expected in the next few months. The university’s management has no control over these proceedings. However, once a decision is made, the university will act accordingly.”
The Wits Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) had sent a number of tweets asking why no action had been taken against the SRC member as had been done with the dismissal of former SRC president Mcebo Dlamini.
We call on @WitsSRC to clarify us on whether one of their members is charged with sexual harassment or rape?
The university said the raising of the matter was “political opportunism” and would not be pressured to act “outside of its normal procedures in response to this opportunism.”
STATEMENT FROM WITS UNIVERSITY
The University has received multiple queries from the media and social media pertaining to the status of another disciplinary hearing involving a member of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC). We understand that this matter is being raised as a result of political opportunism to force the University to act beyond its boundaries. The University will not act outside of its normal procedures in response to this opportunism.
However, the university can confirm that legal proceedings are indeed underway against another SRC member, following incidents which occurred last year, before the member took office. These proceedings are being adjudicated by an independent Student Disciplinary Committee and an outcome is expected in the next few months. The University’s management has no control over these proceedings. However, once a decision is made, the University will act accordingly.
All student disciplinary matters are dealt with in terms of the policies and procedures of the University, which apply equally to all students. The University acknowledges that these procedures generally take too long to reach a conclusion and management has been authorised by Council to look at ways to expedite these processes without compromising the disciplinary processes.
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) finished off the 2014/15 with its annual awards ceremony at the Sandton Convention Centre last night.
Kaizer Chiefs’ Tefu Mashamaite walked away with half a million rands and the title of the best player in the Premier Soccer League last night. Mashamaite also won the defender of the season and players’ player of the season awards at the
Another big winner for the evening was veteran midfielder Teko Modise of Mamelodi Sundowns. The 32-year-old Modise walked away with awards for midfielder of the season and player of the tournament in the Nedbank Cup.
Bidvest Wits, who finished third in the PSL at 52 points, went into the awards with three nominations. Moneeb ‘Slimkat’ Josephs took the goalkeeper of the season nod while Phumlani Ntshangase was chosen as the young player of the season.
Wits’ Thulani Hlatshwayo was also nominated but lost the defender of the season award to Mashamaite.
Kazier Chiefs were the biggest winners of the evening, with two pieces of silverware under their belt from the MTN 8 and the ABSA Premiership 2014/15 title. Coach Stuart Baxter of Amakhosi Amahle walked away with coach of the season and George Maluleke was the last man standing in the MTN 8.
A complete list of the winners is below:
TELKOM KNOCKOUT:
Champions: SuperSport United
Player of the Tournament: Dove Wome (Supersport United)
MTN 8:
Champions: Kazier Chiefs
Last Man Standing (player of the tournament): George Maluleke (Kazier Chiefs)
All three nominated players in this category were from Kazier Chiefs
Nedbank Cup:
Champions: Mamelodi Sundowns
Player of the Tournament: Teko Modise (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Young Player of the Tournament: Tashreeq Morris (Ajax Cape Town)
Other awards within the PSL:
Top Goal scorer in the National First Division: Phumelele Bhengu (Thanda Royal Zulu)
Multichoice Diski Challenge Player of the Tournament: Dikgang Ngcobo (University of Pretoria)
Referee of the Season: Phillip Tinyani
Assistant Referee of the Season: Peter Chauke
Chairman’s Award: Botha Msila – staunch supporter of Bloemfontein Celtics
ABSA Premiership
Goalkeeper of the Season: Moneeb Josephs (Bidvest Wits)
Young Player of the Season: Phumlani Ntshangase (Bidvest Wits)
Coach of the Season: Stuart Baxter (Kazier Chiefs)
Top Goal Scorer of the Season: Moeketsi Sekola (Free State Stars)
ABSA Premiership Champs: Kazier Chiefs
Defender of the Season: Tefu Mashamaite (Kazier Chiefs)
Midfielder of the Season: Teko Modise (Mamelodi Sundowns)
SRC President Mcebo Dlamini speaks to everyone except Campus Media
Dismissed SRC president Mcebo Dlamini was a common presence on radio and websites this week with several media appearances. Everywhere—seemingly—except for campus media outlets Wits Vuvuzela and VowFM.
Since his dismissal as SRC president on Monday, Wits Vuvuzela made several attempts to get hold of him: eight landline calls, four cell phone calls, four WhatsApp messages that were read but not responded to (blue ticks!) and countless visits to the SRC offices.
After all this effort, Wits Vuvuzela only managed to get hold Dlamini only once and his comment was very simple: he was still “gathering his thoughts”. He had been booked to go on VowFm but was reportedly a no-show.
But while he has not appeared on campus media, Dlamini has appeared frequently on commercial outlets.
He spoke to the Mail and Guardian and said Vice Chancellor Adam Habib’s decision to remove him from office was because he “succumbed to pressure from the White community”.
He went on to explain to Eye Witness News that his dismissal was “proof to everyone that white supremacy is putting its boots on the neck of the black child.”
The most comprehensive of interviews that Dlamini gave was one where both Dlamini and Habib were interviewed on Power FM. Dlamini said his dismissal was a “joke” and that the vice chancellor knew he had no case against him.
Dlamini said the charges on which he was dismissed are related to a fight he had in a dining hall happened one year and four months ago before he became SRC president. He said that he had been found guilty by a “kangaroo court in an effort to protect the evil that is practiced by the university, chaired by Adam Habib”.
“The university just wanted to get rid of me,” Dlamini said.
He also told PowerFM that Habib was “twerking in my name all over social media
He continued to defend his remarks around Adolf Hitler: “Hitler is a freak of nature, I am failing to separate him from the White people. In all of them there is a small element of Hitler. In as much as they can do good things, there’s an element of Hitler. It is time for the Black masses to speak against White supremacy because we are going nowhere.”
When asked how he was planning on responding to his dismissal, Dlamini told PowerFM that “the students will decide”.
“I was put in office by the students, and if the students are happy that the vice chancellor will twerk in my name and at their expense on all social media, behaving like a pop star, then they will allow him, but if the students believe in the power of blackness, then they will challenge this thing because I didn’t put myself in office.”
UPDATE: A response from the Wits Legal Office on Bhekithemba Mbatha’s matter was receieved after going to print. This article has been updated accordingly to include this comment.
Bhekithemba Mbatha told Wits Vuvuzela about what he believes is violation of his freedom of speech.
Facebook is to many students just another platform to be social. It seen as a free space where people get to share their views and ideas, the serious and the not-so-serious with few consequences.
Bhekithemba Mbatha, a postgraduate Law student, was until recently one of the many young people who believed this about Facebook.
Last week, however, Mbatha discovered that this isn’t quite the case when it comes to Facebook and the management of Wits University.
Mbatha, a postgraduate Law student, wrote on his Facebook page criticizing a Wits Vuvuzela article about dismissed SRC president Mcebo Dlamini’s comments in admiration of Adolf Hitler
He accused the Wits Vuvuzela of being a “useless tabloid” that practices “poor journalism at its best.”
Mbatha’s post called for a “public burning of Vuvuzela” urging “comrades” to “bring their match sticks and we will burn this newspaper!”
Not long afterwards, Mbatha was contacted by the Wits Legal Office and was told to retract his statement publically or face a charge of inciting violence and risk being kicked out of university.
“I was shocked to hear I have influence as I do not hold any positions on campus, I am just a mere student who was raising his opinion about an issue I see on campus,” said Mbatha.
He said the time university management spent sanctioning him could have been used to help needy students.
Mbatha said his Facebook comment to publicly burn Wits Vuvuzela was not meant to be taken literally and was being “blown out proportion”.
“There is no sane student, a Wits student, crème-de-la-crème of our community, that would literally take matches and burn a building,” he said.
“It’s like Wits is becoming obsessed with our Facebook, with our accounts. What happens on Facebook is blown out of proportion. This whole thing was blown out of proportion.”
The Wits Legal Office responded by saying:
“The University holds dear the rights to freedom of speech and media freedom as guaranteed in the Constitution of the country. As such, it is committed to ensuring that it fosters an environment within which Wits operations, including its student newspaper, can function without fear or threat.”
Mbatha feels that freedom of speech is threatened in the university as well as student activism. “Now we are scared of being charged, we are scared of protesting because we are going to be charged, we are scared of talking on our Facebook pages because we are going to be charged.”
The city of Johannesburg is aiming to provide education and employment opportunities for 200 000 local youth by 2016.
The city of Johannesburg is aiming to provide education and employment opportunities for 200 000 local youth by 2016.
The announcement was made by the Parks Tau, Mayor of the City, at his State of the City address on Wednesday in Braamfontein.
Called Vulindlel’ eJozi, the initiative will enable young people to become participants in the economy on a step by step basis. The programme, which is due to be launched on the 1st of June this year, will begin by testing the aptitudes of young people enrolled in the programme, in order to provide them with tailor-made opportunities to suit individual skill sets. The programme aims to equip the youth with numeracy and literacy skills along with digital literacy giving the participants greater job opportunities.
As part of the digital literacy initiative, the City has partnered with the University of Johannesburg (UJ), to appoint 3000 youths who will work as digital ambassadors. These ambassadors will be responsible for promoting digital literacy training in their communities as the city rolls out free access to Wi-Fi in designated public hotspots. It is hoped that the work of these ambassadors will help more individuals make use of the opportunities provided by the free Wi-Fi. High-speed broadband access has already been launched in some of Braamfontein’s public places.
The Mayor also announced the rollout of an online university education programme in partnership with international institutions that will be made accessible through the city’s public libraries.
At the moment, 40 young people are enrolled on the programme which works through the Massive Open Online Varsity which provides a learning gat
Wits Student Representative Council (SRC) president Mcebo Dlamini is “gathering his thoughts” following his removal from his position today while the rest of the SRC is meeting to discuss the decision.
Dlamini made the comment to Wits Vuvuzela after several phone calls. He declined to comment further.
Wits Vice Chancellor Adam Habib announced in a statement made earlier today that Dlamini would removed his position as SRC with immediate effect due to an ongoing disciplinary action for misconduct earlier this year.
It is not clear what was the nature of the misconduct. A disciplinary panel had already found Dlamini guilty but the vice chancellor suspended the sentence while the former SRC president appealed the decision.
However, in his statement on Monday, Habib accused Dlamini of attempting to delay the appeal in an attempt to serve out his entire term as SRC president.
Acting SRC president Shaeera Kalla declined to comment on Dlamini’s dismissal. A source with knowledge inside the SRC told Wits Vuvuzela that the student representative council was meeting tonight to discuss Dlamini.
Habib denied Dlamini’s removal was related to his recent comments praising the Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany and his accusation that “all whites had an element of Hitler in them”.
“I would also like to state that the separate matter of Mr Dlamini’s recent declaration of admiration for the fascist leader, Adolf Hitler, and what I believe to be racist comments regarding whites, did not influence my current decision to require him to step down,” Habib said. However, the vice chancellor said he has asked the Legal Office to investigate the comments.
Wits Economic Freedom Fighters secretary Mbe Mbhele has come out against the removal of Dlamini, calling it a “continuation of the defence of White supremacy at the university”.
Mbhele added that he believes that it is a “lie that the vice chancellor’s decision is not affected in any way by the recent comments on Hitler, it’s because he touched the Jewish people that [Dlamini] is being told to step down.”
SRC President Mcebo Dlamini has been requested to step down from his position and the SRC with immediate effect.
Wits Vice Chancellor Professor Adam Habib has announced, via a statement, that SRC President Mcebo Dlamini has been removed from office with immediate effect.
Habib explained that his decision is not based on Dlamini’s Facebook comments in which he declared his love for Hitler’s organisational skills. Instead, Habib, explained, the decision follows from charges that were laid against the SRC President and for for which he was found guilty by a Student Disciplinary Committee.
According to the statement, Dlamini and Habib decided at a recent meeting that it would be in the best interests of the university that Dlamini step down.
When contacted for comment, Dlamini stated that “ I don’t know what you’re talking about, I haven’t received this statement so I can’t comment”.
The unedited version of the statement is reproduced below:
“Dear Students,
As of today, Mr Mcebo Dlamini is no longer President or a member of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC). In February 2015, Mr Dlamini was found guilty of misconduct by a disciplinary panel and given a sentence of, inter alia, one year suspended exclusion in respect of each charge against him. In terms of the SRC Constitution, a member of the SRC ceases to be a member if s/he is found guilty of misconduct by a Student Disciplinary Committee. The SRC member may appeal against his/her removal.
Mr Dlamini appealed to me and asked that I defer his standing down from the SRC pending the outcome of a review of the disciplinary panel’s decision. I agreed, provided that the review was completed within 14 days. Unfortunately, this did not happen. I met Mr Dlamini on 22 April 2015 and informed him that it was not in the best interests of the University for him to continue to hold office while having a disciplinary finding against him. I gave him until 30 April 2015 to make written representations to me regarding why I should not withdraw my decision for him to continue in office.
Mr Dlamini then provided a motivation for an extension of my decision based on the argument that the delay in the legal process was the fault of the Legal Office. I believe that this argument is disingenuous since it appears that, inter alia, he did not submit the relevant documentation to the Legal Office with enough time before the hearing for the Legal Office and the Committee to properly consider his arguments. This leads me to believe that he is deliberately delaying a final decision until the end of his presidential tenure. To allow this to happen would be a violation of the SRC constitution and the principle of justice.
Therefore, after consultation with the Chair of Council, Dr Randall Carolissen, I have decided to withdraw my decision for Mr Dlamini to remain in office. As of immediately, he is required to stand down from his position in the SRC. Both Mr Dlamini and the SRC have been informed in this regard. Appropriate provisions will be made for the continued operations of the SRC.
For the purposes of clarity, I would also like to state that the separate matter of Mr Dlamini’s recent declaration of admiration for the fascist leader, Adolf Hitler, and what I believe to be racist comments regarding whites, did not influence my current decision to require him to step down. However, they cannot be ignored and I have referred the matter to the Legal Office for investigation. This matter will take its due course.
I would also like to make it categorically clear that I believe that these comments violate the fundamental values of Wits University and that Mr Dlamini has brought our institution into disrepute. His remarks have provoked multiple complaints from people of all racial, political and religious persuasions, including a petition demanding his immediate expulsion from the University. His subsequent engagements, including a Facebook post in which he threatened to kill an individual and his children, even though he may have been provoked, are in my view an indication that he lacks the maturity that is required of a student leader who is meant to represent a diverse and cosmopolitan community of over 30 000 students. As someone who claims to love this institution, I believe that Mr Dlamini has single-handedly wrought more damage on its reputation than any other person who I can think of in at least the last two decades. This damage has the potential to impact on the credibility of our degrees, and therefore on the employment prospects of all of our students and graduates.
There are some in our midst who have argued that the University’s principled commitment to free speech means that Mr Dlamini should not be sanctioned for his comments. I personally disagree. While I am committed to ensuring that Wits remains a free space for the contestation of ideas, including those with which we do not agree, I believe that the officials and leadership figures of this University must act in accordance with its values. Leadership in public institutions comes with responsibilities. It is incumbent on these leaders to act beyond their individual ambitions to the broader public interest. One is not compelled to seek office; one does so of one’s own volition. Therefore, one must be willing to take on the burdens of leadership as much as one experiences its privileges.
There are others who have argued that our responsibility in the case of errant behaviour by young leaders is to mentor and develop, rather than sanction. I concur, but mentorship and development can only be undertaken when a young leader is willing to learn. There has been continuous engagement with Mr Dlamini by many people over many months, and in my view, this has not yielded any change in his conduct.
I am also of the view that one cannot forever appease leaders (young or old) who violate our values and resort to mobilising on the basest of human impulses. There must be consequences for their choices. Our failure as a society to hold such leaders accountable is partly why our institutions have begun to fray and why we are subjected to the challenges of corruption, violence, xenophobia, racism, sexism, inequality and exploitation. Wits cannot allow itself to repeat this mistake for it would destroy the very fabric of who we are.
I want to say that this has been a difficult decision, even if some do not want to believe it. However, it has brought two principles to the fore. Firstly, it is important to realise that we live in a constitutional democracy. Even if one is elected by popular vote, one’s behaviour must be in accordance with the values of the collective. Secondly, it is important for the full student community to participate in the SRC elections. The vast majority of our students do not participate in the elections and too many subsequently complain about their leadership and their responsiveness to student concerns. If you truly want a responsive leadership, then it is incumbent on you to take the initiative and participate in the democratic act of choosing your own leadership.
I have deliberately chosen to reflect on my reasons for withdrawing the decision that enabled Mr Dlamini to remain in the SRC, as well as his recent general conduct, because of our collective commitment to transparency. I believe that we cannot demand this of government and others if we are not prepared to live by this code in our own institutions.
Siyabulela Xuza was at the Chamber of Mines yesterday afternoon sharing his life experiences in order to inspire others
There aren’t many South Africans who have the honor of having a planet named after them.
At the age of 26, Harvard graduate Siyabulela Xuza had this honor bestowed upon him after he took first place at an international science fair, the Global Science and Engineering fair for an alternative rocket fuel.
He gave a motivational talk to Engineering students at the Chamber of Mines yesterday afternoon. Xuza had the audience eating out of his hands after sharing with them that he had been, even if it was for just four months, a Witsie who stayed at Knockando Halls of Residence before he found out that he had been awarded a scholarship to Harvard.
His story is one about perseverance and optimism that knows no bounds. He believes in hard work and to “Remain Ruthlessly Curious” which is his personal motto.
Believer: Siya Xuza sharing stories of his childhood in order to inspire Witsies. Photo: Michelle Gumede
Xuza recounts how as a little boy growing up in Northcrest Township in Umthatha, he was fascinated by watching an airplane in the sky. He did not know what it was, but he wanted to find out.
At some point in his young life he decided he wanted to go to Jupiter, so he’d build a rocket. This decision led to him blowing up parts of his mother’s kitchen in an attempt to create fuel for his rocket.
Xuza’s story is appealing to so many young people because it is authentic. During the question and answer session, he explained how he prefers to tell his own story to inspire young people, in whose position he once was. He believes that because it’s genuine and it’s from him about him, then people are likely to get the message far easier.
“It is estimated that 850 million people in Africa do not have access to energy. As an innovator, it is our [sic] job to try to solve the problems of tomorrow by improving on yesterday’s solutions…” said Xuza. This is the reason he was inspired to create a micro fuel cell that will last longer after it has been charged. He does however admit that even though this cell will revolutionize the availability of power, it is still financially impractical to mass produce.
Xuza says this is why his partnership with TOTAL is so important because then he will be equipped with the necessary financial skills in order to solve this problem.
The humble and quietly confident young man is proof, as clichéd as this sounds, that if you work hard, have a clear vision and persevere, anything is possible.
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, […]
