by Tendai Dube | Mar 20, 2015 | Featured 1
Most of the portraits were retrieved from studios that closed down, where treasured images and documents were never collected. Photo: Tendai Dube
Remember when you were a child playing dress-up? How when you wore your parents’ clothes you believed you were an adult – and for those few minutes, before you were reprimanded, you thought you could skip the 18 or more years of being a kid.
You became exactly what you saw in the mirror and owned it with a child-like confidence.
This is what the portraits on display at the Origins Centre did for people in the past, they created the best self-imagined version of people.
The Portrait Racket showcases portraits of ordinary people in South African history in a time where, for most people, the only photographs they had were the identity photo in their passbook.
According to curators Ruth Sack and Lisa Espi: “Airbrushed photographic portraiture was a widespread, flourishing business in South Africa for the greater part of the twentieth century, from the 1930s to the 1990s. The people in the business referred to it as ‘the portrait racket’.”
It was an affordable way to have a colour picture taken. The technique was reportedly brought to South Africa by a Mr. Popov from Chicago who opened the first studio.
The Portrait Racket includes a selection of completed airbrushed portraits, and in some cases the original small photographs they were based on. Photo: Tendai Dube
The studio salesmen went door-to-door and sold people the opportunity to have themselves remembered in a way that often differed from their circumstances.
The airbrush artists took a photo of you and one of your partner, enlarged them and put them alongside each other. The couple would then explain how they would want to be dressed up in the portrait, and usually that outfit portrayed a finer and more accomplished attire than the one they owned.
Whether it was a more tailored collar in one, or a more expensive wedding dress in another, most of the portraits told a better story than the reality. One of the stories was of an elderly woman requesting a wedding picture of her and her deceased husband based on a picture of him in his youth, since they never had one taken.
The exhibition includes a selection of completed airbrushed portraits and in some cases the original small photographs and the succinctly scrawled instructions that were submitted to the artists.
Take a timeline trip to the Origins Centre and read a few stories of the people who went to such lengths to redefine what their oppressive passbooks were in reality and turned it into something romantic.
Most of the portraits were retrieved from studios that closed down, where treasured images and documents were never collected. Some of these portraits could help others get reunited with their long-lost relatives.
The exhibition ends on March 31 and the display occupies one of the walls inside the building’s shop.
by Tendai Dube | Mar 20, 2015 | News
DONE N’ DUSTED: The Wits food bank is running low on supplies and appealing to Witsies to donate food for needy students. Photo: Tendai Dube
The Wits Food Bank is running out of food. The food bank is a campaign of the Wits Citizenship and Community Outreach centre (WCCO) aimed at “managing food insecurity among students,” said Karuna Singh who is the manager of the food bank.
The initiative started in 2013 and provides students in need with toiletries and food.
Early into this school year, an email was circulated requesting staff to donate whatever non-perishables they could to the bank as it was nearing depletion.
The food bank left with only food parcels that are donated from Stop Hunger Now, but they need more.
“Those meal packs come with rice, lentils and soya mince, so it’s quite a nice nutritional pack but it’s six meals in a pack and it has to be cooked,” said Singh.
“You can’t possibly eat that every day – students want something faster so tinned foods are good, peanut butter is always brilliant – the protein,” Singh added.
The food bank has steadily been running out of tinned food and other necessities needed to supplement the food parcels they give out to students and as of this week they cannot make a single package, which usually lasts a month.
According to Singh, approximately 500 food parcels have been given to students since July last year, with “an average of eight students a day coming in to collect”.
“Usually the beginning of the year not too many students are in need as they have just come from holiday,” so the bank expects the need to only get greater.
“We have various projects at WCCO where we have groups of students collecting food. So whether it’s though their friends, family, on campus or through awareness days but obviously that can never be enough so we also look for donations through staff.”
Singh said she was hoping staff and students would do their best to help replenish the food bank if they are able to.
The food bank is run on a volunteer basis by Wits students and their offices are located at Student Affairs, Senate House, Room 37A or WCCO, Matrix basement.
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by Tendai Dube | Mar 10, 2015 | Sport
LETS MAKE A CLAP: Wits boys share their victory with the crowd as they walk off the field after a stunning game of multiple tries. Photo: Lutho Mtongana
FNB WITS remain in the top spot of the Varsity Shield log after a comprehensive win against the University of Fort Hare (UFH) last night. The Witsies came away 93 – 0 against the team from Alice at the Wits Rugby stadium.
This was Wits’ second win in the season against Fort Hare, having beaten them 39 – 24 last month.
Wits flew into half-time with an unassailable lead of 48 points after right-wing Joshua Jarvis and left-wing Luxulo Ntsepe helped score two more tries. Fort Hare never managed to recover with poor defence dominating their performance.
“We didn’t make our own one-on-one tackles, we never got the ball-in-hand – we’d kick it away. So we played most of the game without the ball-in-hand, so surely when you don’t have the ball in hand in rugby, you’ll always go down,” said UFH’s coach Currie.
“It’s an embarrassment, I think the best thing about this game is that it’s over. But you have got to keep fighting, the show’s not over, we’ve got two more games left,” said UFH captain, Madoda Ludidi.
“You can’t afford to have three tries scored against you in the first fifteen minutes, then you start playing your own rugby – start playing ‘catch-up rugby’, which is not winning rugby, unfortunately,” Ludidi added.
Wits rugby captain, Richard Crossman congratulated his team on a good game. He was named the “player that rocks” for the night – the Varsity Shield title for the man of the match.
“I’m so glad we were so clinical, I think it was a great game for the team, we’ve got a great coaching style and great management,” Crossman said.
Wits coach, Van As said the boys could stay on top. “If we keep our feet on the ground and just make sure we achieve what we want at the end of the season.”
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by Tendai Dube | Mar 6, 2015 | Featured 1
OVER the years, Wartenweiler Library on Wits’ East Campus has continually been a concern for students hoping to get some studying done. On a warm day, the four-level building is just too hot.
Students have sent complaints to the Wits Vuvuzela about this and are struggling to study because they feel that the air conditioning in the library is insufficient.
“It’s really great when it’s cold, likes now, but otherwise it’s too hot to even think,” said Nicole Stern, 1st year BA student.
“You find yourself falling asleep because this heat makes you drowsy and the heat just makes you want to fall asleep and its really annoying, it would be fantastic if they could actually turn the air con on,” said Katherine Stewart, 1st year BA student.
Stewart is a first year and came to Wartenweiler library in the first week of school about three weeks ago and said it’s been like this since the first day.
Not all students find the building uncomfortable, “It doesn’t really affect me at all, I don’t get cold and I don’t get hot, I feel like it keeps me pretty alright,” said Crystal Poulter, 2nd year BSc. “There isn’t enough circulation so at times I get sleepy,” she added.
Poulter said it just needs more movement of air because right now its stagnant but she does not necessarily have a problem with the room temperature.
First-year BSc student, Lebogang Dladla, noticed the issue at other Wits venues. “We have this issue in classes as well, even at education campus.”
Heated Up: Wits students are struggling to be productive in the Wartenweiler library on East Campus. Photo: Tendai Dube
Dladla added that her studies are affected because she has to now add additional pressure on herself to concentrate harder because of the heat. She thinks that a temperature system that can be regulated would be the best solution.
Another first-year student studying a BA at Wits, Selelo Maake, doesn’t see an issue. “It seems quite alright to me and I’ve been here a couple of times and it’s quite comfortable for me. I’m all dandy,” he added.
Wits Vuvuzela spoke to Karasen Gangan, technical inspector at the Property and Infrastructure Management Division (PIMD), to ask him about the ventilation issues.
He was surprised we were receiving complaints since the air conditioning was repaired last Wednesday. Contractors had come in to fix the cooling tower control panel, which was not working.
When Wits Vuvuzela went into the library on Tuesday this week, the air was still stuffy. Some staff in the library were using personal fans.
On the first three floors of the library building, which are the busiest ones, the air conditioning does not appear to be working, however on the fourth floor, which is set up as an office space for Wartenweiler library management, the situation seems to be much better.
Gangan responded to that by saying that the fourth floor works on the same system but parts of it work on its own, and that it too has to be repaired frequently.
He and some staff in the library attribute the faulty air conditioning system to the age of the building which is now over 70 years old. When asked if the system can be replaced, Gangan said, “We can look into that, but that’s a costly exercise.”
“At the moment it’s serviced and maintained for the regular items but if there’s anything major that fails, then we’ll obviously look into replacement,” he added
According to the inspector and contractor, the issue “this time was the v-belt, which is very much similar to a fan belt” had snapped and would be repaired by Wednesday morning.
by Tendai Dube | Mar 6, 2015 | Sport
EXHALE: Students in position during a Bhakti Yoga session on Wednesday afternoon. Photo: Tendai Dube
As you approach the elevated building, DJ Du Plessis, you overlook a scenic garden of trees and a mini-waterfall that flows through rocks into the little pond Witsies know to be on West Campus – a more secluded part of Wits which goes perfectly with the serenity that is needed to do yoga.
Through the doors, you’re welcomed by multicoloured yoga mats and on them are bodies bent and stretched over in unconventional positions.
This is what you can expect from one of the Bhakti yoga lessons. Their classes run four days a week, from Monday to Thursday depending on the level of yoga you chose to partake in.
You can also learn about the philosophy of yoga during lunch on Thursdays. According to Sibusiso Nhlabatsi, coordinator of the Bhakti Yoga Society, “A person’s life is like a whole package, first the body, is like our immediate home so anyone who likes their home, wants to keep it clean. Yoga then is allowing our bodies to be clean and to be fit.”
Nhlabatsi is mostly known by his community as ‘Savyasaci Das’, his Sanskrit name. He is a monk who has followed this spiritual path for about 13 years.
The society has signed almost 300 members this year and has won best Civil Society Organisation.
“Since I joined yoga, I’ve been sleeping better, feeling fresh in the morning, I have enough energy to get through the day without feeling worn out and my body is more flexible than it was before I joined,” said Rebotile Masera, 2nd year BAccSci.
Savyasaci said some of the benefits the students gain from yoga are that they feel their muscles working and that “some people are just happy that they can finally sit and touch their toes.”
by Tendai Dube | Feb 27, 2015 | Sport
Tendai Dube and Lutho Mtongana
The Wits Varsity Shield team is back with a competitive bang, sitting top of the log with three wins and a draw in their first four matches of the season.
FNB Wits has been unstoppable since the season kicked off a month ago and this week was no different when the boys drew 37-all against the University of the Western Cape (UWC) at home.
Wits captain and flank Richard Crossman said the team has been fortunate in getting this far in the Cup.
“It’s been a huge transformation, we have a whole bunch of new guys, new management, and they are all fresh from matric. We only have two or three senior guys,” said Crossman.
Although they are currently leading the log, the team still have to work hard to stay ahead of the game and, according to Crossman, are training intensely.
“Our weaknesses is that we are young and inexperienced but that could also be our strength because our guys are young and are willing to learn,” Crossman said.
In their first game of the year the Wits boys went head-to-head against a normally challenging Fort Hare, and defeated them with a solid 39-24 win.
They then proceeded to squash the TUT Vikings with 71-36 in their next match on February 19.
CROSSING THE LINE: Richard Crossman, Wits Rugby Captain, flank Photo: Tendai Dube
On March 9 Wits will be playing against Fort Hare on the Wits Rugby Field and Crossman is determine that they will come out on top once again with their home ground advantage.
There are five teams in the Varsity Shield this year: UWC, Wits, Fort Hare, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). Wits needs to finish at the top of the log at the end of the season to secure a chance to move back into the Varsity Cup.
by Tendai Dube | Feb 27, 2015 | News
FILL IN: A student fills in a NSFAS form to apply for university funding from the government. Photo: Ilanit Chernick
LERATO Morake* lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Pretoria. She drives a sleek, silver Audi to her job, where she earns R440 000 per annum.
She also has no plans to pay back the almost R200 000 she owes to NSFAS because no one has been around to collect.
Frustrated students across the country have protested a lack of funding provided for needy students by the National Student Financial Aids Scheme (NSFAS).
NSFAS is suffering a shortfall due in part to students not repaying their loans and replenishing the fund’s coffers.
But former students who are now successful say there is no reason to repay NSFAS because the scheme does not try to collect.
Morake started working in 2008 and said NSFAS has not attempted to reclaim any funds from her.
“They are not even trying to do anything, they aren’t even trying our phones, my number is the same number I used when I applied and they never even tried to call me,” Morake said.
They could’ve just used my ID number and the details of the people that owe them, then through that they can get us to pay back.
According to the NSFAS website, once a student starts working and earns more than R30 000 a year, they must pay back part of the loan. Meaning you would only pay back R900 a year on a salary of R30 000 a year, or R84 per month. A small price to pay considering the interest charged on the loan is subsidised at 80% of the rate that commercial banks would charge.
Students sign a legal contract to repay their loans and the scheme promises to “contact all students who graduate or stop studying to give consent for repayments to be deducted from their bank account every month,” according to the NSFAS website.
But this hasn’t been the experience of Morake: “I don’t think they tried to find me, I read somewhere in the papers that they were trying to find people but, because they are a government financial institution, if they wanted to catch us out, they could’ve gone to SARS, [SA Revenue Service]” she said.
“They could’ve just used my ID number and the details of the people that owe them, then through that they can get us to pay back,” she said.
Morake only knows how much she owes because of a statement she once saw at her cousin’s house in Croydon a few years ago. Her cousin has moved three times since then.
“My aunt also went through this programme, I think about seven years ago and she still hasn’t finished paying for it, so it’s just like donating money and no one sees where it’s going,” Morake said.
NSFAS receives a budget from government, which it then uses to provide a scholar with funds to pay for tuition, accommodation and books.
NSFAS was introduced by government in 1996 to provide poor matric-holders access to a university education. Students have their annual tuition paid and receive the rest of the amount for books and other course material as credit, not as cash, to avoid misuse.
NSFAS offers an income-dependent loan, meaning the student only begins to repay the loan once they start earning an income.
Morake received her undergraduate degree in corporate communications and development studies at the University of Johannesburg in 2008 and since then has worked at three different companies.
Her studies have resulted in her getting a job as a corporate communications consultant for a popular fast food franchise.
At the time she applied for NSFAS, Morake’s mother was unemployed and looked after their home in Alexandra township. Her dad could not afford to pay for her schooling as he did not earn much as a handyman and electrician.
I told them to send the banking details and stuff but they didn’t bother so I didn’t pay.
The cost of paying back a loan is burdensome, especially for an individual just entering the workforce and trying to start out their lives.
“When I first started working I worried, I said to myself, ‘okay, this is your first job, they said you have to pay them back or else they’ll find you’, so I called the call centre, they proofed my details then they told me I had to pay 10 percent of my salary and it was a ridiculous amount for me at the time,” Morake said.
Still, Morake told NSFAS to send her the relevant details to begin repaying her loan. However, the scheme never followed up with her.
“I told them to send the banking details and stuff but they didn’t bother so I didn’t pay,” she said.
“I just didn’t want to be the only one paying.”
Lerato is planning on studying further. She wants to do her honours in management but does not plan on using NSFAS again.
“This time I’ll pay for it myself, it would just be greedy otherwise,” she said.
*not her real name
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by Tendai Dube | Feb 20, 2015 | Featured 1
Fifty Shades of Grey Poster
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Jennifer Ehle, Eloise Mumford, Victor Rasuk, Rita Ora
Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson
Vuvuzela Rating: 5/10
Fifty Shades of Grey roped in big bucks this Valentines weekend raking in over $266 -million at the global box office on its opening weekend.
The erotic movie performed predictably well, considering the massive hype surrounding E.L. James novel, which has sold over 100 million copies. Sex it seems certainly does sell.
Ster-Kinekor announced on February 15 that it achieved its biggest box office for a single day in the company’s recorded history since 1995.
The widely read bestseller seemed to consistently attract negative reviews.
The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane wrote that, “It could hardly be worse. No new reader, however charitable, could open Fifty Shades of Grey, browse a few paragraphs, and reasonably conclude that the author was writing in her first language, or even her fourth.”
The storyline follows recent college graduate Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), as she enters a sexually charged relationship with handsome, yet troubled, billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan).
The movie adaptation seems to have followed a similar fate. Despite massive ticket sales, popular film review sites, Metacritic.com and Rotten Tomatoes rated the film 46 percent and 26 percent respectively based on mixed reviews which were mostly negative.
“The film never pretends to be other than what it really is: soft-core porn for the ladies, diluted with an r-rating,” said Sara Stewart from the New York Post.
Those who have read the book are probably curious about how director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s movie adaptation of the book, particularly its sexual scenes, translate to the big screen, without going beyond cinema regulation standards.
The indieWire’s Eric Kohn felt that “most viewers will be seeking a safe word to escape this two-hour-plus mess of half-baked excess.”
But it wasn’t all face down, David Edelstein from Vulture magazine said that, Fifty Shades of Grey is nowhere near as laughable as you might have feared (or perversely hoped for): It’s elegantly made, and Dakota Johnson is so good at navigating the heroine’s emotional zigs and zags that you want to buy into the whole cobwebbed premise.”
Aside from the very attractive lead characters – clothed or unclothed, the movie’s soundtrack was a sultry and soulful experience, with songs from Ellie Goulding, The Weeknd, Beyoncé, some Frank Sinatra and Rolling Stones, accommodating both modern and classic music palates.
If you are one of those who thought the movie was terrible, speculation that the director might not be part of the trilogies future adaptations will motivate you to try the second movie and see if it rubs you up the right way.
by Tendai Dube | Feb 13, 2015 | Opinion
Andile Mngxitama: EFF member and the member of Parliament Photo: Tendai Dube
Andile Mngxitama, Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) MP holds an MA in sociology from Wits and has published the first four essays in the New Frank Talk series, a journal of critical essays. Mngxitama is also a columnist for the Sowetan and City Press
What do you think of the current education crisis tertiary institutions are facing?
Here when students say ‘we want free education’, which is a fundamental right, what comes is violence from the police, arrests and intimidation. It shows that this state is anti-black, and totally incapable of listening to the needs of black people, it reproduces the apartheid logic. We should be paying students to keep them at university.
How do you suggest the situation be resolved?
In Bolivia, they pay poor families in rural areas to keep their children in school. that’s what we should be doing.
We should be grateful that our students – after 12 years of kak education – somehow qualify to go to an institution of higher learning. They should be rewarded, not punished.
How did we get to this situation?
In South Africa to get a matric exemption, it’s like we celebrate. In white society, a child is born, they will end in university and it’s not a mystery – it’s a given, but for us, because we have to overcome so many hurdles to actually get a matric exemption or to get university entrance, it’s a huge thing. It is achieving a lot against massive odds and then you get punished in the end.
What are the EFF’s plans to combat the education crisis?
The problem is that the 12 years students spend at school in South Africa, black public schools, are f**cked, it doesn’t prepare them for anything.
So what you do is you bring all the Zimbabweans with O – levels into SA schools and make all our teachers write the basic test – they will fail.
Zimbabwe must become our center for educating. Those teachers who fail have two options, they can get a package and go home or they can get reeducated and we send them to Zimbabwe. Let’s not create a difficult life for ourselves, bring all the Zimbabweans and spread them in rural schools…You just give them a two weeks crash course on methodology.
“The Mngxitama ABCs to solve the education crisis.”
Our teachers are underprepared, uneducated, untrained, unmotivated and they can’t do their basic job, but if we inject this new process then I think that within five years we can get back lot of South Africans into the system who are able to teach. We must build schools also and put real money into those things.
At a university level, not a single student must apply for a bursary. As a student you literally walk up to your university and if you qualify they should take you.
And they can say beforehand that Wits is a pro-poor school therefore we will take sixty percent of all new intakes from bursary students, so I already know what is my bill which I then present to government, to say these are the number of needy students that we have taken. They must make the registration illegal, that thing is evil, once you’re in you must be in until you finish.
by Tendai Dube | Feb 13, 2015 | Featured 1
CORRECTION: Wits Vuvuzela initially reported that Joshua Ndlangamandla was from Men’s Res, but he is actually from EOH. We regret the error. The error has been corrected in the copy.
MARCH ON: “Freshmen” sing and dance as part of their first year initiation during O-week. Photo: Roxanne Joseph
DURING O-week the residences plan a highly interactive experience for the wide-eyed young adults in first year to help familiarise them with the university and each other.
Two years ago, Wits Vuvuzela reported on how two female students formally complained to the dean of students at the time, about unsanctioned initiations and how they were “victimised” and experienced sexism from students at a male residence.
“There’s a fine line between what the freshers can take and what they can’t and what they are going to complain to their parents about and what they are going to find fun,” said Priya Thakur, Sunnyside house committee chairperson.
“Right now we are still trying to get them used to the entire res and varsity, get them to mingle with other students because, in as much as they are going to be students who are alone, they are still going to meet with students from other res’s as well in their classes,” said Joshua Ndlangamandla, a BSc third year and the sports administrator at Ernest Oppenheimer Hall of residence (EOH).
Wits Vuvuzela spoke to house committee members at the residences about how first years were being initiated and if the acts were harmless or not.
The “freshmen”, as EOH call their first years, appear to be treated as cadets. Wits Vuvuzela witnessed Men’s res in their blue t-shirts doing a series of drills and push-ups, followed by dancing and singing.
The freshmen only earn their keep after the formal initiation, when the “freshmen” jump into the pool, and “depending on how we feel on the day, it might be fully clothed,” added Ndlangamandla. “They will no longer be called “freshmen” but “Ernest men”.
Sankie Kgatse, a first year staying in Sunnyside residence said it has been “fun”, that they were taught a lot of traditional songs and did some physical exercise. “We gym yoh! We do a lot of physical activities and they are very hard … We wake up around 5.30 every morning,” the first year added. The freshers do morning runs to get them used to waking up early for classes.
According to Sunnyside’s Thakur, one of the traditions they uphold is their pledge night with Ernest Oppenheimer Hall of residence (EOH), where the freshers pledge their allegiance to EOH. The pledge took place earlier this week.
“It’s fun because historically Knockando and Men’s Res hate each other and then Sunnyside and Jubilee are fighting over Men’s Res when EOH is not around, it’s a lot of res rivalry, which is pretty fun during the week.”
The pledge also included a wedding, where house committee chose the person they would marry, Kgatse explained to Wits Vuvuzela. Ndlangamandla regrets that he wasn’t initiated in his first year at EOH and found that he generally struggled in his first two years because he didn’t really know the people around him.
He sees the benefit in initiation because “you’re partnered with someone through initiation and you’ve been through the same struggles you’ve been telling each other, ‘oh that house comm manager is an asshole’, so you have something in common”.
“It builds that brotherhood, that camaraderie between people that if you’re struggling, don’t do it alone … Once you’re alone we can’t help you out because we don’t know where you are in life,” says Ndlangamandla.
“It’s all about building a proper rapport between the students and us so that they can come to because most of us have been there before,” he adds. When asked about any worrisome activities, Thakur said she could not reveal that to the Wits Vuvuzela, and doubts that any other res would.
“A lot of the things we do here are internal and house issues, it’s designed and meant specifically for Sunnysiders. If the university had to read about it, I don’t think they would understand – it’s a different thing living at res and the Vuvuzela has a much wider audience,” said Thakur.
Apart from morning drills, the first year are taken around Johannesburg to the Hector Peterson Museum, Vilakazi street and the South African Breweries to watch how beer is made.
by Tendai Dube | Feb 9, 2015 | News
Prominent gender activist and academic Mikki van Zyl was found dead at the Protea Hotel Parktonian in Braamfontein last week.
Gender activist Mikki vn Zyl died while on a visit to Wits last week. Photo: Facebook
Van Zyl was staying at the hotel during a visit to Wits University for a workshop jointly hosted by the Wits African Centre for Migration & Society and the university of Bergen’s Centre for Women’s and Gender Research.
A source at the Protea Parktonian told Wits Vuvuzela van Zyl had died of a heart attack but this could not be confirmed. Her body was discovered by by hotel staff early on Thursday morning.
Professor Melissa Steyn, of the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies spoke to Wits Vuvuzela about van Zyl, describing her as a close friend. “She was my best friend, I feel like a schoolgirl saying that but she really has been because we wrote two books together on sexuality in South Africa, Steyn said. Steyn described her longtime academic collaborator as “unfailing, strong and determined, she really gave everything she had.”
Van Zyl has contributed significantly to both gender activism and the anti-apartheid struggle for over 20 years.
Van Zyl graduated from UCT (University of Cape Town) with a degree in Communication and Media Studies, and a MPhil in Sociology. She has lectured in media studies, sociology, criminology and diversity studies.
According to Steyn, van Zyl was also an instrumental in setting up diversity studies at UCT along with disability studies. In 1993 she started her own business for gender and capacity development, Simply Said and Done.
by Tendai Dube | Sep 19, 2014 | News
Statements were found spray-painted on the Wits Great Hall stairs on Friday morning.
Photo: Luke Matthews
CORRECTION: The article originally omitted the word “building” giving the impression that Umthombo is a student residence. Additionally, the term “racial statements” in the photo caption has been changed to “statements”.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
“Black power, Biko lives” and “fuck white racism” were the words that greeted Witsies as they approached the Great Hall this morning.
The graffiti appeared overnight, sprayed in black paint, on the steps of Wits’ most iconic building.
Student residences Sunnyside, Mens Res and the Umthombo building were also targeted in separate but apparently related incidents. The graffiti appeared to favour the renaming of buildings on campus. Mens Res residents found their building sprayed with “Robert Sobukwe Hall” while students at Sunnyside res found their res had been “renamed” after Winnie Madikizela.
Susan Laname, a Sunnyside resident, claimed that the EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) may be responsible for the tagging of the buildings as the renaming of campus buildings was part of their election campaign.
Other buildings vandalised were Umthombo, Mens res and Sunnyside res.
Photo: Luke Matthews
EFF chairman Vuyani Pambo confirmed members of his organisation were not involved in the spraying of the graffiti, saying he had only found out about it through social networks.
“We are not responsible for the tagging, we engage the university directly as we did about our campaign, he added.
“I, for one, think it’s telling, maybe the pressure the students are feeling, and this is one way in which they are finding expression,” said Pambo.
Wits Campus Control say they have no strong leads and little evidence as to the guilty parties.
“So far we have received the complaint and we have seen the graffiti and we are taking it very serious and we are doing own investigation,” said Lucky Khumela, Campus Control’s security and liaison manager .
