The future of mining is being shaped by more than what’s beneath the ground.
Wits celebrated 130 years of mining education at its annual Miner’s Day.
Students explored the future of mining through AI, sustainability and leadership.
Safety, community and “Never leave a miner behind” defined the day’s message.
Leadership, innovation and community development took centre stage at this year’s Miner’s Day celebration at Wits University.
“This is where we come together and remember how far we have come as the mining industry… I mean the blood and sweat of our ancestors built this City of Gold,” said final-year mining engineering student Kamogelo Mapeka.
Mining students gathered on Friday, July 31, to celebrate the university’s 130-year mining legacy at the annual event organised by the students in the mining engineering society (SMES).
Final-year student Alizwa Thwala said the global energy transition is reshaping the mining industry, with changing demand for minerals forcing engineers to rethink what and how they mine.
“Coal may be going down in demand, but copper is going up,“ he said.
Some students said adapting to these changes requires a broader set of skills than traditional mining roles once demanded.
Katlego Kekae said mining’s multidisciplinary nature prepares graduates for careers beyond production, from research to analysis, while equipping them to solve increasingly complex industry challenges.
Mapeka said artificial intelligence and mechanisation are already changing mining operations by improving safety and productivity. She believes the industry’s greatest transformation goes beyond technology.
Mining students during Wits University’s 130-year celebration of mining engineering. Photo: Asisipho Mpahleni
“We need philosophers and leaders who think of people,”Mapeka said. She hopes to use her future career to improve education and access to technology in her community, arguing that leadership should be measured by its impact beyond the mine.
That people-first approach was echoed by SMES president Ahluma Mngcushe, who said the industry’s future should prioritise safety above production.
“The right direction is zero harm and safety over productivity because everyone’s lives in the mining industry matter.”
Those values are also reflected in the School of Mining Engineering’s student culture of togetherness.
Third-year student and SMES co-opt member, Seshoka Ramohlale, said the society’s peer-support initiatives reflect its motto of “Never leave a miner behind.” She hopes to one day help struggling students through her own foundation, adding: “There is power in believing in someone. When someone believes in you, you are able to do well.”
FEATURED IMAGE: Mining engineering student holding up a handmade sign written “130 years of excellence”. Photo: Asisipho Mpahleni
After years of working toward a Varsity Football final on unfamiliar soil, Wits Women will finally enjoy home-ground advantage.
Wits Women host Varsity Football at home for the first time.
The team is determined to reach the final.
Matches will take place at Wits Football Stadium on August 8 and 9 before the final on August 19.
Wits University will host Varsity Football women’s fixtures for the first time on August 8 and 9, giving the team a home-ground advantage as they look to reach their first Varsity Football final.
The team opens the tournament with two matches in Pretoria on August 1 and 2 before returning to Johannesburg to host the second bumper weekend. The final is scheduled for August 19.
This opportunity comes as Varsity Football introduces a new bumper weekend format, allowing teams to play two matches before a longer recovery period ahead of the final. Hosting rights are also a first for the Wits women’s football team.
“There had been a rotation, and Varsity Sports opened it to numerous institutions that qualified. We raised our hand, and fortunately Wits will host the second bumper weekend,” said Phuthego Mokgethi, Sports Officer for Football.
Aside from reducing travel, Mokgethi believes hosting will give Wits a competitive edge.
Coach Siphesihle Ngalmane agreed: “We’ve always been knocked out in the semi-finals. This year we want to play in the final, and we’re hoping the final will be here at home.”
The fixtures for the 2026 Varsity Football Women’s tournament on display. Photo: Asisipho Mpahleni
Captain Nthabiseng Ramaisa believes playing in front of Wits supporters could make all the difference.
“It’s not easy playing away,” she said. “Having supporters here is exciting because when we’re away, it’s hard for Wits to organise buses for people to come and watch us.”
She added that away matches often come with added pressure from opposition fans.
“When you get there, people start booing you.”
Ramaisa believes the growing support for the women’s team could inspire more young women to get involved in football.
“More girls can get into soccer, and more girls can participate in sport,” she said.
For first-year player Nokubonga Msimango, the chance to play Varsity Football at home still feels surreal.
“There’s like a superpower playing at home,” she said. “You want to make people proud.”
FEATURED IMAGE: Cheerleaders welcoming the Wits women’s football team at the official launch of the 2026 Varsity Football tournament. Photo: Asisipho Mpahleni
Amidst the chaos of Johannesburg’s traffic intersections, Robots follows Gift, a street performer who turns red-light pauses into moments of joy.
As the lights turn to red, Gift – also known as Marshmallows – steps onto his stage. On Johannesburg’s streets, traffic light intersections become his theatre. There he juggles, unicycles and performs his signature ‘headless man’ act, turning the pause in traffic into a few moments of entertainment, before the lights flicker back to green.
Directed by Yaseen J.Khan, Robots is an insightful, funny and moving portrait of livelihood and perseverance. At its centre is Gift, a charismatic personality who performs at intersections for strangers. Yet beneath the laughter lies a layered story of fatherhood, struggle and resilience. His perspective on life makes you laugh one moment and cry the next.
Gift is a hustler, an entertainer and a man who balances this alongside his role as a husband, father, and friend. His complexity challenges stereotypes about street artists. At first, Gift is presented as joyful and always smiling, but the film asks its audience to look deeper and challenge their own assumptions. Robots is more than a portrait of one man; it is a wake-up call, recognising the overlooked creativity of those trying to make a living and build better lives for themselves and their families.
The documentary itself was self-funded and took three years to complete. At a July 26 screening held at the Bioscope Independent Cinema in Johannesburg, filmmaker Khan was joined by DOP Kirsten Rose and producer Kopedi Aphane to discuss the project’s origins, explaining that it all began with curiosity: “These are people we see every day, but beyond that we don’t know what is happening behind the scenes.”
Cameras were introduced only after conversations and mutual trust-building. As Khan reflected, “We could only tell as much as he wanted to reveal.” Over time the story evolved; Gift developed from subject to collaborator and friend, guiding the filmmakers into spaces others might have avoided, sharing his health diagnosis, financial struggles and hopes for permanent work. The process reshaped the filmmakers themselves, who later wrote, “as filmmakers, this documentary changed our own perspectives about poverty and resilience.”
The editing moves seamlessly between vibrant energetic scenes, to quiet moments of reflection, accompanied by music that mirrors Gift’s changing moods. An upbeat score, including the crashing of cymbals, adds a ‘showbiz’ flair to the street performance. The rhythm makes you laugh, then suddenly brings tears as the pace slows.
Intimacy is the film’s strength because you can feel the connection to Gift not only as a performer, but as a person. Camera points of view through car windows, amidst the chaos of traffic, and then inside his family home with his wife and two children, all offer unique insight into his life.
He moves between that home and the space under the bridge. His smile feels like a quiet act of defiance. Even when motorists do not reward him, he finds joy in their reactions, saying that he loves to see people smiling, “even if you give nothing, just your smile”.
Khan hopes to leave the audience with conversations that will carry beyond the screen.Robotschallenges assumptions about people at traffic intersections. The film is insightful and funny, emotional yet hopeful. It made me appreciate life and see street performers in an entirely new light. Gift’s story shows the power of performance to connect strangers, even if only for the length of a red light.
FEATURED IMAGE: Robots poster. Photo: Supplied/The Bioscope
From pre-colonial wars to the mechanics of state execution, students are demanding a more nuanced history. It is time to stop sanitising the past and walk the 52 steps.
The Department of Basic Education is currently reconsidering how we teach our past, a move that comes not a moment too soon. In a recent series of conversations at the University of the Witswatersrand (Wits), students expressed a clear hunger for a history that goes beyond the “standard” narrative.
Joy Cain, a first-year Biomedical Sciences student, noted a lack of perspective on the white experience during Apartheid, while Shane Yurar, a first-year Film and Television student, suggested the curriculum should expand to include pre-colonial history, specifically the tribal wars of leaders such as King Shaka. Others, like Aluta Manale, an international relations honours student, pointed toward the migration stories from Congo. Or as Tinashe Morena, a second-year psychology student, said, the need to study the Black authors and struggle writers who defined an era.
The underlying message from these students is clear: they feel their history has been “filtered.”
As I stood in the Kgosi Mampuru II Gallows last week, Wednesday, 15 April, I realised just how thick that filter is. While students are asking for more diverse stories, there is a physical site of memory in Tshwane that remains almost absent from our national consciousness. The Gallows is a “human abattoir”, a place where 3,500 lives were ended with clinical, industrial efficiency.
My mentors cautioned that the Gallows might be too ‘deep’ or too ‘sore’ a topic to bring up in a casual vox pop, and they are right. It is a heavy, sombre reality. But that is exactly why it needs to be taught. By shielding students from the ‘scary parts’ of our history, we are not protecting them; we are leaving them with an incomplete understanding of how we got here.
We learn about the “In Detention” poem in English class, but we do not walk the 52 steps in History. We talk about the triumph of 1994, but we do not look at the white telephone that never rang for those awaiting a pardon.
If the Department of Basic Education wants to truly localise our curriculum, they must include the sites that prove Apartheid was not just a set of laws, but a factory of dehumanisation. To truly appreciate the “Freedom” we celebrate on April 27th, we must stop sugarcoating the past. We must look at the darkness of the Gallows to understand the value of the light we live in today.
Drawing of a noose that represents the Gallows, in South Africa. Graphics: Daniella Ripamonti
FEATURED IMAGE: Drawing of a noose that represents the Gallows, in South Africa. Graphics: Daniella Ripamonti
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, […]
