by Shandu Mulaudzi | Apr 19, 2013 | News
BIG SOUNDWAVES: Tshepo Makhubela (aka DJ Thirteen) of VoW FM, is the winer if the Bright Star MTN Radio Award. Article on page 4 Photo: Shandukani Mulaudzi
Wits Radio Academy tutor and VoW FM presenter Tshepo Makhubela was acknowledged for his groundbreaking work training a blind student in radio at the MTN radio awards last Saturday.
Makhubela aka DJ Thirteen received the Bright Star award, which is awarded to “young individuals within the industry who are making their mark and who show promise for the future,” according to the website.
“I did not think I would win this award. I know a few people on that list [of nominees] and they are freaking awesome hustlers. They do groundbreaking stuff and I thought they would win,” said Makhubela.
Makhubela received the award for work he did at the Wits Radio Academy with blind student Chantal Ferreira.
“They didn’t know how to conduct her training. Things like how to use the desk and other technical things. When Franz Kruger approached other lecturers they all said it was impossible and would not work. When Franz asked me if I thought it would work, I insisted that we would make it work.
“At the end of the year Chantal was able to work the desk on her own, prepare her packages, etcetera, without any assistance, and she graduated from the academy. I shape-shifted a mindset. Impossible is nothing.”
Makhubela’s work was submitted on his behalf by the VoW Board and the Wits Radio Academy. He said he was unaware that they had done this and appreciated the fact that they recognised his work.
This was not the first award Makhubela has received for his work. He also works for DJ Zinhle’s Fuse Academy, where he trains and mentors female DJs. Last year, the academy presented him with a Best Lecturer award.
“When working with women and trying to get them to work into a male-dominated industry it is important to first shape their minds. Impute words and then do the training,” he said.
Makhubela has been working on radio for one year and said this had been a stepping stone for him as well as an opportunity to step out of his comfort zone.
MTN also awarded a bursary to News reader and Sports Hub co-host, Lonwabo Miso. “I was chosen out of all my classmates in the Radio Academy for the year 2013. It was an amazing, overwhelming and spectacular feeling.”
Miso said she planned to have a career in news and sports reporting on a commercial platform. “For now I want to do news and sports, but we are still going to be taught a lot more at the academy so I may add to this later in the year.”
The MTN Radio awards banquet took place at the Sandton Convention Centre on Saturday, April 13.
by Shandu Mulaudzi | Apr 19, 2013 | News
ELEVEN members of the Wits community, including eight SRC members, have been charged for disrupting the performance of an Israeli-born pianist.
“The university can confirm that it has charged 11 members of the Wits community for a possible contravention of the university’s codes of conduct,” read a statement issued by Vice Chancellor Prof Loyiso Nongxa.
SRC Internal Vice President Tokelo Nhlapo said eight of the 11 people are SRC members. Five of those SRC members charged are also part of the executive: President Sibulele Mgudlwa, External Vice President Joy Phiri, Secretary Tasneem Essop, Treasurer Justice Nkomo.
Nhlapo is also a member of the SRC executive and is among those charged.
Nhlapo said members of the Palestinian solidarity movement on campus had also been charged.
Nongxa said the matter would not go before a Student Disciplinary Committee and, instead, senior counsel had been appointed “to chair the hearing, and to carry out all of its functions and to exercise all its powers.”
The vice chancellor said the university did not want to make any judgement about the outcome of the investigations as the legal process needs to take its course.
The disciplinary proceedings are the result of a protest during a March 12 performance by Yossi Reshef, a pianist who was born in Israel. Members of the Progressive Youth Alliance, Muslim Students Alliance, Wits Palestinian Solidarity Committee and the SRC entered the venue singing songs, blowing vuvuzelas and brought the concert to a halt.
Nhlapo said the charges against them were without basis and were “in the interest of racism of Zionism.”
“Not only is the university threatening us with charges but doing so in the interest of racism and Zionism. Legal office has become a political tool in which Nongxa and his cronies can continue to sing and play pianos while Palestinians die,” said Nhlapo.
He claimed the charges had come only after the SRC complained of racial profiling at the concert.
“Only white people were allowed into the venue and our colleague who had bought tickets was not allowed in because she was Indian and presumed Muslim,” said Nhlapo.
He said the protestors had been called names such as “barbarians, terrorists and many other degrading terms by the organisers of the event.”
by Shandu Mulaudzi | Apr 14, 2013 | Featured 1, News
ANGRY ABOUT RAPE: Antje Schuhman speaking at the WISER Theorising Rape panel discussion. Her discussion was entitled: “Objectify my Fist!” Rape, Recovery, Revenge. Photo: Shandu Mulaudzi
Wits academics and social commentators came together on Thursday to tackle the unusual topic of ‘theorising rape.’
The Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) hosted the panel discussion which focused on the gendered nature of rape.
The intention of the panel discussion was to ‘ask people who work on themes of rape, and who have conducted research on rape, to step back, and abstract from the mass of data they work with, and offer critical reflections on the most effective and persuasive ways to think about rape from their research, and often also activist, standpoints,” according to the organisers.
Professor in political studies at Wits, Shireen Hassim said that although rape could come in different forms including the rape of transgendered people and women raping, rape is still an “overwhelmingly gendered” crime.
“We shouldn’t imagine that male on female rape is the only problem we have to deal with or that women cannot rape; either rape men or rape other women. The statistics may be low but conceptually I want to say it is a very important aspect that we need to debate,” Hassim said.
Following on the issue of patriarchy, Wits law professor Bonita Meyersfeld who spoke about rape from a legal perspective quoted feminist Catherine A. MacKinnon: “Man fucks woman; subject verb object”.
“The statement is pithy but there is a truism to it. And that truism is because the historical legal categorisation has oscillated around a gendered categorisation,” Meyersfeld said.
Meyersfeld said that current South African law is “terrific” comparatively with some other laws around sexual violence and rape. She said that the rigidity of the law requires a “revolution” as “real solutions still elude the law, lawmakers and those who implement it.”
Another recurring theme was that of rape being predominantly viewed as an act that needed to be violent in order to be classified as such.
Social commentator and former talk-show host, Eusebius McKaiser said that those in the media as well as activists need to be careful in highlighting certain kinds of cases as this reinforces an idea in society that there is a rape paradigm.
He said that people need to be careful not to have one formula of what rape looks like as this causes many victims of rape to question whether they were actually raped. He said that this is because the idea is that a rape victim has to be a victim of violent rape in order for the violation to be classified as rape.
McKaiser also expressed his disappointment at the fact that none of the panellists were male academics from Wits University.
“There is a massive elephant or three on campus right now about sexual violence and even more so in the country. The intellectual and academic burden of speaking for 10 minutes without the peers from your department or your discipline being here in an interdisciplinary space is exceptionally low,” McKaiser said.
“Women rape, we rape and yet we have the audacity to make them theorise about rape for 90 minutes,” McKaiser said.
Dr Catherine Burns, one of the organisers of the event said that McKaiser made a valid point and said she had approached many male academics whose publications and work had touched on issues around gender violence as well as rape.
Burns said that some academics, including females, were put off by the limited time they were given to speak as they feel “weak and vulnerable” if they do not have enough time develop their ideas.
Other panellists included: Lisa Vetten of the Legal Advocacy Centre , Lyn Ossome, Dr Antje Schuhmann, Carol Long and Prof Sheila Meintjes. Burns has confirmed that given the interest generated by the discussion, there are talks about a book on the same subject.
by Shandu Mulaudzi | Apr 12, 2013 | News
IN PSYCHOLOGY, there is what they call the “bereavement process”. A process that describes the stages people go through after experiencing a type of loss.
Although the bereavement process is unique to all individuals who go through it, it is generally accepted that the first step is denial.
Nelson Mandela has not died but it seems the whole world is in denial. We refuse to accept that he is an old and mortal man. He is likely to die in the near future. We must all die some day.
Perhaps the issue where Mandela is concerned is we believe his death will result in the death of what he represents. To many, he represents freedom, equality, democracy, peace, unity and perhaps even love.
Do we honestly believe that one person’s death will result in the end of all of that? If that is true then I have a few questions:
Why did black consciousness not die with Steve Biko? Why did Martin Luther King Jr’s dream not die along with him?
Ideas, beliefs and virtues do not rest in one man. We live and we learn from the person who leads the movement but we do not allow the loss of his life to result in us forgetting what he stood for.
A few years ago my great-grandmother died at the approximate age of 89 (she did not have a birth certificate so none of us are really sure how old she was). She was old and after experiencing two strokes, she could no longer walk.
When she died my mom said we should not mourn her death but celebrate the life she had had. She fulfilled her purpose and honestly it was painful to watch her deteriorate from a woman of strength and wisdom to the frail person she became.
At her funeral, we jubilantly sang songs celebrating the powerful woman who was now our ancestor. People remembered her chirps, her laughs and her life in general.
Perhaps we need to start viewing Mandela as one of our own family members. I imagine him as my great-grandfather, one of the most powerful men in the world. I imagine the pain of seeing him lie in a hospital bed not once, but more than that within four months.
I imagine the pain that each hospital visit may come with and I feel sorry for my great-grandfather. I question the quality of life he has now and I worry that he is suffering.
I believe that his family will mourn his death, as will the nation and the world. I also believe however that his family — and the nation and the world — would not want him to suffer.
Zapiro had a cartoon about the need for South Africa to let go of Mandela. The cartoon depicts Mandela lying in a hospital bed while South Africa sits by his side holding on to his hand.
When the cartoon was initially published in the print edition of the Sunday Times, the speech bubble of Mandela saying to South Africa “I know it’s hard but we must let go” was left out.
The editors were worried it may be seen as disrespectful. They later published the original cartoon online.
I mean no disrespect. I too believe it is time we accepted that Mandela will die and we will be able to honour his legacy by continuing his commitment to freedom and democracy.
shandu@witsvuvuzela.com
by Shandu Mulaudzi | Apr 5, 2013 | Featured 1, News
THE AFTERNOON DRIVE SHOW: MTN awards nominee Zweli Mbhele (left) with co-host Nkhensani Khosa (far right) interviewing guest Leigh-Ann Carey.
First-timers Voice of Wits (VOW) scooped seven nominations in the MTN Radio Awards announced last week.
VOW is one of a few finalists selected who received this honour. According to the website, there were over 1000 entries.
Station manager Michael Smurthwaite said this year was the first time they entered since the re-launch of the station two years ago.
“Having launched the station from an empty floor, with no skills or experience in our staff, it is fantastic that after two years of hard work, training and mentorship we have managed to be nominated seven times at the first attempt,” Smurthwaite said.
Most of these nominations are in the campus and community radio stations but in one category, VOW will also go up against stations like Talk Radio 702 and SAfm.
In the Business and Finance category, VOW was nominated for its show Bizz Buzz against stations such as Talk Radio 702 and SAfm.
Tsholofelo Semenya was nominated in the News and Actuality Presenter (Campus and Community) category and is a presenter on Bizz Buzz.
“Holy Crap I’m up against Bruce Whitfield (702) was what I first thought. I’ve admired him as a talk radio host for a while and love his business show so it was pretty daunting to know we’d be going up against one another, but also a huge compliment to know that people of high radio prestige think that my show is of a good enough calibre to stand its own against other amazing national business shows,” Semenya said.
Zweli Mbhele received a nomination for the Afternoon Drive Presenter (Campus) category as well as Music Show (Campus) for Living Electro.
“I think they show that VOW FM is one of the best stations in the country and a lot more people will be aware of that now. We racked up more nominations than some of our commercial competitors (they know who they are), which puts the ‘campus station’ logic to shame. Our management has put in blood, sweat and tears into making us a top station and I think every presenter will agree that these nominations are for them just as much as they are for the presenters,” Mbhele said.
Commenting on the relevance of the MTN Radio Awards in South African media, Smurthwaite said they are “extremely relevant as they create a platform that recognises radio broadcasters for their craft and hard work”. This raises the standard of radio across the board, Smurthwaite said.
The awards banquet will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre on Saturday, April 13.
by Shandu Mulaudzi | Mar 15, 2013 | Featured 1, News
Lutendo Maiwashe standing at the door of the Legit store where she was scammed. Photo: Shandukani Mulaudzi
A group of “motherly” con artists scammed a Wits student last week after luring her away from a clothes store with promises of back door deals.
Lutendo Maiwashe, 2nd year BEcon Sci, was browsing through clothes at the Legit store in Braamfontein when a middle-aged women approached her.
The woman said she had a cousin who could help her get clothes at half price.
“The lady seemed very sympathetic to the fact that I’m a student and clothes are expensive. She said we could go meet her cousin outside,” Maiwashe said.
The woman led Maiwashe outside and, as they were walking, another woman joined them. They all walked to a spot outside a bottle store on Melle Street.
“The second woman asked me if it was the first time I was doing this and also convinced me that it was a great deal and for my benefit. She referred to the ‘cousin’ as Zandi,” Maiwashe said.
Maiwashe said that very soon after they had stopped outside the bottle store, “Zandi” joined them. The first woman said she needed to quickly go to the bank and left Maiwashe with her belongings. Maiwashe thinks this was to establish trust.
“Zandi” explained Maiwashe would come with her to the store and they would go through the staff entrance. For this reason Maiwashe would have to leave her bag behind.
When they got to the store “Zandi” suddenly realised it was closing time and said Maiwashe should come back with her friends on the weekend. When Maiwashe went back for her bag, the other women were gone. And so was her bag.
“It was traumatic. I mean I would never have expected this from women. I am a trusting person and now I’m not. These women represented a mother figure,” Maiwashe said.
After the incident Maiwashe recalled that one of the women was wearing a pale blue shirt which looked like it could belong to a Pick ’n Pay employee. After searching the streets with some of her friends they went to Pick ’n Pay to ask if they could check the surveillance cameras to see if they could identify the con artists.
A Pick ’n Pay manager, who asked not to be named, confirmed they had heard of two similar incidents in the past two weeks. She said, however, these people were not employees of Pick ’n Pay.
Simangele Bhila, a Legit employee, said she had also heard of two incidents, one at their store and one at Pick ’n Pay. She said the one who robbed a lady at their store was a man who was allegedly working with women.
Maiwashe has reported the case to the police but she said she wasn’t sure if they would investigate as they did not ask her to describe the perpetrators.
“I could’ve just bought the shirt, it was only R80 and I had the cash in my bag,” said Maiwashe, adding she has been put off discount offers for life.
by Shandu Mulaudzi | Mar 15, 2013 | Featured 1, News
DEFACED: A student looks at the Israel Apartheid Week wall that was defaced. The words “Propaganda” and Brain-washed” were scrawled on the wall. Event co-ordinator Tasneem Essop said she was disappointed about the vandalism. Photo: Shandukani Mulaudzi
A STUDENT wall announcing Israel Apartheid Week events was discovered to have been vandalised on Thursday morning.
The words “Propaganda” and “Brain Washing” were spray-painted across the wall in large, black letters. The phrase “Realise, Real Eyes, Real Lies” was also written into a corner of the wall.
The wall is used by different student groups to announce events and messages. Vandalism against the wall when its subject is the Israel-Palestine conflict is a regular occurrence.
Last week, the same wall, this time painted by the SA Union of Jewish Students, was also vandalised. A depiction of Israel on a map of the Middle East was blackened out and part of a written message was also blackened out.
On Tuesday, students sympathetic to Palestine protested against a performance by Israel-born pianist Yossi Reshef in the SW Engineering block.
Members of the Student Representative Council (SRC), Muslim Students Association (MSA), Wits Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC) and the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) gathered outside the Atrium ready to bring the concert to a stop.
SRC secretary Tasneem Essop said: “We heard of plans to host an Israeli pianist brought to South Africa by the Israeli embassy. We then immediately wrote to the relevant university staff calling for them to cancel the event as it is a direct violation of the cultural boycott of Israel as adopted by the SRC last year.”
“Protest was our last resort.”
Israel Apartheid Week is hosted annually across the world by pro-Palestinian activists. As part of their involvement, Wits PSC hosted a series of events throughout the week, which were open to students on campus such as an exhibition at the library lawns.
“We have some photos up as well as a mock prison which represents Palestinians who have been detained illegally,” Essop said.
There was also a discussion on Tuesday evening and a film screening on Wednesday.
A balloon release, silent protest and panel discussion were planned for Thursday. An open mic session is planned for Friday.
Essop said that they had faced some challenges with regards to planning their events. They wanted to have a photo exhibition and film screening in a residence but university officials said no political events were allowed in there.
Essop said usually society events were organised through the Dean of Students Prem Coopoo and Student Development and Leadership Unit (SDLU) however this year they were requested to submit their information and list of events they planned to both Coopoo and university Registrar Kirti Menon.
Coopoo denied that Israel Apartheid Week had been treated unfairly as this was not the first time that a club or society event was reviewed by the vice chancellor’s office.
“Events hosted by SAUJS and Wits PSC have to be approved by my office. This has been the practice for the past eight years. Tasneem and Tokelo Nhlapo objected to this six weeks ago in a discussion with me. I explained that all policies and practices are subject to evaluation and review,” said Coopoo.
She suggested they submit a proposal to review the policies but they had not taken this up.
Coopoo said that when she had doubts about an event she seeks advice of other members of management.
by Shandu Mulaudzi | Mar 11, 2013 | News
Shandukani Mulaudzi and Caro Malherbe
There has been some confusion regarding an investigation into Political Studies Prof Rupert Taylor. Pic: Facebook
It is unclear whether an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against the former head of the political studies department, Prof Rupert Taylor, has been undertaken following a report last year in the Wits Vuvuzela.
Prof Daryl Glaser, current Political Studies head of department, confirmed that an investigation is underway against the former head of department [HOD] but stopped short of confirming the identity of the individual.
Glaser did say that it was public knowledge that someone in the department had allegations of sexual harassment against them.
Dawn Taylor, Director of the Wits Legal office refused to speak with Wits Vuvuzela and Tasneem Wadvalla, a legal advisor at the same office, said they could not respond to questions about an investigation into Taylor.
According to Wits University spokesperson, Shirona Patel, there were two investigations on sexual harassment currently happening at the university. The first, where an individual was named, was that of Tsepo wa Mamatu, while the second was a campus-wide inquiry where all people have been encouraged to come forward with allegations of sexual harassment.
Glaser indicated that no students had come forward with official statements against Prof Taylor to “the best of my knowledge but once the issue was brought into the public domain, the department wanted to be seen as acting.”
“We have invited the person to step down as HOD despite his denial of allegations,” Glaser said.
Dikeledi Selowa, the former politics first year class representative for 2012, told Wits Vuvuzela that students were aware that Taylor stepped down as head of politics. Selowa said there had been “hearsay” amongst the students about Taylor. “We knew of his history and some students were warned about him,” she said.
She said that no information was given to the students by the department and they weren’t provided with a platform to discuss the allegations.
“It is not true to say that we were aware of issues of sexual harassment until Wits Vuvuzela broke the story. The article was a revelation to most staff,” Glaser said.
“Students have not been informed of the investigation. But we have drawn their attention to issues of sexual harassment,” said Glaser. He said that the students were not informed of the investigation due to legal reasons given to them by the University.
Shahid Vawda, Head of School of Social Sciences said, “No students have come forward. All I can say is the legal office report said they have investigators. It is difficult for us to comment once a legal process has commenced. It is in the hands of the Transformation office.”
In another development, an anonymous blog which is run by an unnamed group of Wits students and known as 11th Floor Senate House (11thfloorSenateHouse.tumblr.com) responded to last year’s Wits Vuvuzela article by posting: “everyone in the Political Studies department (students and staff) knew that it was Professor Rupert Taylor.” Despite numerous attempts to contact Prof Taylor, Wits Vuvuzela was unable to reach him for comment.
by Shandu Mulaudzi | Mar 1, 2013 | Featured 1
THE SOUTH African Union for Jewish Student (SAUJS) hosted Israel Awareness Week for the first time since the start of the organization.
An exhibition was held at the library lawns from Monday to Friday. The exhibition gave information about refugees in Israel. SAUJS political liason officer Harry Hoshovsky said that the event was aimed at educating students about the conflict between Palestine and Israel.
He said that there is a debate that is ongoing about the issues in Israel and that it was important to get both sides.
Hoshovsky said that they had a good turnout from people of different backgrounds who were interested to find out more about Israel. “Our aim is to unite students not divide them,” he said.
