The failure by registered organ donors to disclose their intentions to donate to their families – is causing a stumbling block for the growth of this kind of surgical procedure, which saves lives
As Organ Donor Awareness Month comes to an end, the lack of donators continues to be a concern for doctors and organisations that work to bring awareness about this medical procedure in the country.
According to the Western Cape Government, more than 4000 people are awaiting a life-saving organ or cornea transplant, however, the country has a mere 0.2% of registered organ donors. In addition to this, South Africa has one of the lowest rates of deceased organ donations in the world with merely one in four donors per million population.
Dr Sharan Rambarran from the transplant clinic at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre explained that there are various factors contributing to the low number, including religious and cultural.
However, even those factors considered, being a registered donor means nothing if the giver is not having the necessary conversations with their loved ones. This is because the organ donation system in South Africa uses an “opt-in” approach — meaning regardless of whether an individual is a registered organ donor or has their wishes to be a donor expressed in their will, their family would have to consent to the donation.
“You can be registered with every association, you can be signed up on every organ donor registry, ultimately when you are declared brain dead your family have the last say as to whether or not you can be an organ donor,” said Rambarran.
Dr Sharan Rambarran in his office at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre Transplant Unit after discussing the various factors which contribute to the low number of registered donors in South Africa.
Photo: Terri-Ann Brouwers
The president of Save Seven Jonty Wright, and vice-president, Naazim Nagdee said they have since learned that this problem can be avoided if interested donors can inform their loved ones about their intentions to donate.
“We ran a small survey and realised that over 90% of our peers didn’t know this simple fact and that’s a part of why young people don’t sign-up, it seems complex and time-consuming when it is actually not,” said the pair that works to raise awareness around organ donation.
Tanya Bothma (43) has experienced both ends of the spectrum. Speaking to Wits Vuvuzela, she said in December 2017, she had a double lung transplant after living with a chronic lung disease since birth. It was the first transplant of its kind to be done anywhere in Africa. However, five months prior to her transplant, Tanya lost her brother in a paragliding accident. Her brother was an organ donor and although his organs were unable to be harvested, he was able to donate tissue and help 26 people in need.
The sad reality is not every story ends like Bothmas. Jessie Ann Losper faced a different reality when her husband was diagnosed with stage four renal kidney failure in 2020.
Although Losper was a match for her husband, he died before the transplant could take place. Losper said this was an eye-opening experience for her as she got a first-hand encounter of what the people in need of transplants and their families go through.
“Not many are as fortunate as we were to find a donor. Donors are desperately needed for many. During Taariqs’ (her husband) time at the hospital we met so many people who have been on the programme even longer than him and are depressed and hopeless because they have no support from family or friends.” She continued, “Loved ones have abandoned them because of them not being able to be as active as they once were, to earn salaries, even because of the level of care they sometimes need. It’s heart-wrenching to see and know.”
After experiencing both ends of the spectrum Bothma pleads with the public, “Please have the conversation with your family members about donating your organs after you have died, to save more lives like mine.”
Infographic: Six facts about organ donation
FEATURED IMAGE: A Wits student registering to become an organ donor on the Organ Donation Foundation website. Photo: Terri-Ann Brouwers
Fourth year fine arts students learn the organisational and financial aspects of being an artist.
The Wits Fine Arts department’s graduating class hosted the New Work Auction at the Point of Order gallery on August 10, to raise funds for the print of their first physical catalogue in four years, since disruptions during the covid-19 pandemic.
Reshma Chhiba, curator at the Point of Order, told Wits Vuvuzela that at the end of the fourth year of the fine arts degree, the class is graded through a New Work exhibition at the Wits Art Museum, and a printed graduation catalogue.
The evening started out with a silent auction (where bids were written on a piece of paper) and was followed by a live auction (where an auctioneer called for bids). The auction exhibition featured artwork by both students and staff.
Student placing a bid in the silent auction. The Wits fine arts department fundraising auction was held at The Point of Order gallery in Braamfontein. Photo: Morongoa Masebe.
Simangaliso Sibiya, who is part of the fine arts honours class, said that his colleagues had placed starting bids as low as R50, and the live auction helped get as much out of the auction as possible. By the end of the live auction, the highest bid was R3500.
Sibiya’s auctioned work was a portrait of the late Bhekizizwe Peterson, who was a professor in the Wits African Literature department. A tribute to Peterson for a recommendation that influenced Sibiya’s entry into the fine arts programme. In the portrait, Peterson is surrounded by a circle of dancing children and a border of QR codes, both symbolising that his contributions, will live in the future.
Sibiya said he appreciates the New Works Project because it teaches them one of many ways to make an income from their work.
Chhiba also said that the New Work project facilitates the development of some skills that the students will need when they begin work as professional artists. Because this is a student-led fundraising initiative, they get to learn the organisational and financial aspects of being an artist.
Masindi Mbolekwa, who was part of the organising team, and whose work was also part of the auction, said that it was significant in teaching him “how to navigate these kinds of spaces, how to talk to people, how to engage with people when they are interested in the work.”
The New Work exhibition will be showing at the Wits Art Museum in November of this year.
Simangaliso Sibiya’s portrait of Bhekezizwe Peterson hangs on a wall, surrounded by people viewing and bidding for artwork, at the Wits fine arts department’s New Work auction. Photo: Morongoa Masebe.
FEATURED IMAGE: Image of a bid sheet for the silent auction at The Point of Order gallery, where the Wits fine arts department held their fundraising auction. Photo: Morongoa Masebe
Members of the LGBTQIA+ community are tired of being assumed as change makers in binary spaces that exclude their queerness.
While queerness is now visible in old and new media in society, members of the Activate Wits (LGBTQIA+ student society) argued that there is still much more work that can be done to cater to their needs. This was the central theme in the very first Queer Lekgotla, on Monday, August 7.
The discussion was held at Solomon Mahlangu House (SH6). According to the student society’s advertisement, Queer Lekgotla was held in order “to engage in meaningful discussions concerning the needs and concerns of the queer community [at Wits].”
Sihle Mazibu, former chairperson of Activate explained how queerness and activism should not be treated as synonyms. “Activism is tiring, activism is draining, and you will find yourself [pouring from an empty cup].
Our job as queer people is to simply take up space,” she said.
However, she recognised that it’s unfortunate that queer people must carry the burden of being “changemakers” in circles they normally frequent at.
The rainbow flag detail on the Activate Wits blazer from behind the refreshments counter. Photo: Otsile Swaratlhe
Meanwhile, panelist and Activate deputy chairperson Zandile Ndlovu said that during her high school years, she saw varsity as a space that would accommodate how she identifies. “I remember seeing somebody with pink hair kissing another person with pink hair” she said, adding that she remembers saying to herself, “I want to be you.” Yet her first experience from first year reflected the opposite of that.
Ndlovu was surprised by how queerness was politicised in university. Referring to how straight identifying student leaders used it in a way that would help them appear as progressive, yet still excluding the people they claim to represent.
Ndlovu said that when she would attend events that facilitate spaces for queer people, there would be straight women speaking there.” I was like… I am not sure if this is [how it is supposed to be],” she said. This is until she found Activate, a society she calls, “home”.
Wits alumnus and fellow panellist, Moeketsi Koahela shared his experience of being an employee while being queer. For him, the workplace made him realise “activism is not for everyone, the struggle is not for everyone. I think it is a calling.
“Not all of us have to go to the streets and picket, there is much more that can be done in terms of policy making,” he said.
Koahela encouraged the attendees to start asking themselves, “What is my role?” because not all of them have to burn tyres. “Some of us are good in the boardroom and that is where we will be trying to find solutions from”.
In closing, students were encouraged to find a type of activism that spoke to them as individuals — and that they should wear queerness as an identity that speaks to who they are, and not as tools meant to fix the world.
FEATURED IMAGE: Friends and members of Activate Wits that were in attendance at Queer Lekgotla (From left to right: Noma Sibanda, Sipho Mcani, Ayanda Ntuli, Lesego Makinita, Siyanda Madlokazi, Onkokame Seepamore) . Photo: Otsile Swaratlhe
A night of rewarding hard work and academic excellence turned sour, as not all students received their certificates of achievement.
Current and former residents of Barnato Hall who did exceptionally well in the 2022 academic year, left Convocation dining hall on West Campus empty handed at the residence’s 2023 academic dinner on Friday, August 4.
The annual event started off well, with guest speaker, Theresa Oakley Smith, regaling the room with the history of the residence and her experience as its first warden in the 1980s.
“[Barnato] was the first res that was mixed race and mixed gender,” she said, adding that it was foreign at the time because of the racial segregation that existed in the country under Apartheid laws.
The first round of award giving began shortly after Smith got off stage. At the time, the dinner seemed to have started going well as everyone that got on stage received their certificate and took a picture with the current warden, Millicent Motheogane.
The second guest speaker and masters in computer sciences student, Phindulo Makhado (24) said Barnato resident helped him socially and academically.
“I am a living testament to the power of academic diversity and cross-disciplinary exploration [from Barnato],” he said.
The more happier students – Gontse Maleka (22) and Glet Thwala (22) – who received their certificates of achievement at Barnato’s 2023 academic dinner that was held at Convocation dining hall. Photo: Otsile Swaratlhe
It was only after dinner service that the event took a turn. Chairperson of Barnato’s House Committee, Siphesinhle Shiba (22) got up on stage to handout the remaining certificates. However, the certificates she had were less than the students that were still waiting to receive.
“We are still waiting for some certificates and the names that I will be calling now will not be receiving any tonight, but they can come and take a picture with a [decoy] certificate we have here,’ Shiba eventually announced.
Some students opted not to go on stage for the picture as they felt it was pointless. A disgruntled theatre and performance arts student, Sanele Radebe (24) told Wits Vuvuzela, “I feel like I have been played [because] I am looking [nice] and the thing that I came here for is not here. Might as well not take a picture with that [fake] thing.”
When asked about what the cause for this could be, Shiba (22) could not allow anyone in her committee to take the fall as she claimed that this was the printing company’s fault. “[The academic officer] submitted everything on time and the latest information was sent by Wednesday,” she told Wits Vuvuzela.
Student of the night and Barnato’s 2022 highest achiever, Katlego Mashiane’s light could not be dimmed by the residence’s poor planning. Having passed last year with an average of 83.43%, Mashiane received a special award for her achievements and said, “I am overjoyed, it has been one hectic year.” Despite the earlier disappointment, most students stayed on until decided to the dinner officially ended.
FEATURED IMAGE: A copy of the certificates of achievement that were being awarded to the students in attendance of the academic dinner. Photo: Otsile Swaratlhe
The well-known sports event disappointed qualifying teams by removing the hockey and cricket tournaments this year.
Wits’ cricket and hockey team members qualifying to participate in the varsity cup games — alongside the top eight universities in South Africa — will not be partaking in the sports due to lack of sponsorship.
Sharmin Naidoo, the sports officer for hockey at Wits said that sponsors pulled their funding from supporting these games; and new ones could not be found. According to the Varsity Sports website, the main sponsors for all included sports are FNB, Cashbuild and Suzuki. However, it is not yet clear why they pulled their money from cricket and hockey.
Naidoo explained that all universities are part of a company called University Sports Company, which contracted ASEM Sports Entertainment and Media to manage and get sponsorships for Varsity Sports.
“This year they were only able to find sponsors for Varsity Cup [the rugby tournament] and some varsity sports. There have been no sponsors for cricket and hockey,” he said.
The Wits Cricket team at the Walter Milton cricket oval on Wits main campus after winning their last match of the league in April 2023. Photo: Kimberley Kersten
Naidoo said that the varsity sports which have secured sponsorship besides rugby are men and women’s football as well as netball.
The Wits hockey team has a history of competing in the Varsity Hockey tournament, according to Naidoo, and finished in second place in 2022.
However, Nono Pongolo, coach of the Wits’ cricket team said that to his knowledge, the team has never qualified to be included in the Varsity tournament, and “to have it ripped away from them like that is disappointing”.
He said the team worked hard to win in their division in Pretoria, in the USSA tournament in 2022; and it is important for them to continue showcasing their talents.
Pongolo added that the universities are organising a smaller cricket event amongst themselves which is set to take place at the University of Pretoria later this year, “so it’s not all doom and gloom, but it’s not the varsity cup.” However, he hope that they will be able to participate in the tournament in 2024.
Wits’ cricket player Joshua Streak said Varsity Cup “is significant because of its name” and even though there are other tournaments, there are not as big. He added, “It’s an important tournament when it comes to [national and provincial] selections, and for exposure because it’s usually televised.”
Wit’s hockey and cricket player Reese Scheepers said, “I’m extremely disappointed. We work extremely hard during the year to play in such a tournament. Now it feels like our hard work and talent won’t be displayed.” He continued, “I’m a passionate sportsman and I look[ed] forward to competing in such tournaments and now it feels like this year has been lost.”
Storme Johnson, the chairperson of the Wits sports council, who played hockey for Wits in the Varsity Sports 2019 tournament said, “It was an experience that I will never forget. It is so sad that the younger girls in our team won’t get the opportunity to experience it.”
Wits Vuvuzela reached out to previous sponsors of Varsity cricket and hockey for comment; but did not receive a reply by the time of publishing.
FEATURED IMAGE: a Wits cricket player kneels on the field after catching a ball at the Walter Milton cricket oval at Wits main campus. Photo: Kimberley Kersten
Powerful African rhythms and poignant reflections on post-apartheid complexities.
Bokani Dyer performing one of Vuma Levin’s movements titled, Chaphela. Photo by: Ayanda Mgwenya
Renowned jazz artists, Vuma Levin and Benjamin Jephta, took to the Chris Seabrooke Music Hall stage, on July 29, 2023, for a combined album launch called The Narratives.
Jephta is a bassist and composer and has performed with prominent international artists like Dianne Reeves and Terri-lyne Carrington.
Levin is a jazz studies lecturer while Jephta lectures in both jazz and film music.
Renowned jazz maestros, such as Sisionke Xonti (saxophonist), Bokani Dyer (pianist), Tlale Makhene (percussionist), and Jonno Sweetman (drummer), performed alongside the two during the launch.
The evening was divided into two sets. Levin kicked off the night with tracks from his fifth album, The Past is Unpredictable, Only the Future is Certain, performing 2/3 parts of the album: The first one titled The Past is Unpredictable with movements Gijima and Chaphela and the second one titled Prayers Made From Grass with Homily and Rites.
Led by Tlale’s poetic chants and Xonti’s melodious sounds, an African rhythmic experience was created. The inclusion of African instruments like the udu ceramic drum, cymbals, chimes, ankle rattles, and triangles added a distinct African essence.
Levin said, “The album blends indigenous and western musical instruments, making it a unique and special representation of Pan Africanism in music.”
Following a short intermission, the spotlight shifted to Jephta’s set, performing hisBorn Coloured, not Born-Free album, Jephta’s compositions delve into the complexities of race in South Africa. The music encapsulated his personal experiences as a coloured male in post-Apartheid South Africa.
Jephta’s set featured soulful tracks like An Incomplete Transition and Gadija (part 1), a heartfelt tribute to his grandmother. The bass-driven Ben-Dhlamini Stomp earned him a standing ovation. Closing the show, Jephta’s last two movements, Acceptance/metamorphosis and Resurgence, delighted the crowd with its infectious rhythm and captivating melody, leaving them singing and bobbing along.
Speaking about the two musicians, Wits Music lecturer, Dr Peter Cartwright said, “They are both new in the permanent staff… so it’s a way to welcome them, you know, with their first public concert.”
Elliot Rogers, third year music student said, “Benjamin Jephta is my lecturer for ensemble, and I do guitar [classes] with Vuma Levin; and seeing this concert where their music is coming together is a beautiful sight, looking at it from a [scholastic] lens.”
The Narratives concert got the audience singing and clapping throughout, the multiple standing ovations received on the night spoke to the pair’s expansive talents.
FEATUREDIMAGE: Benjamin Jephta performing his bass-driven composition, Ben-Dhlamini Stomp, at the Chris Seabrooke Music Hall. Photo by: Ayanda Mgwenya
After creating an award nominated play, six former Witsies, interwoven by the threads of their theatrical dreams, unite to start their own theatre company.
The curtains may have closed on the final run of the show Seeing Other People at the Theatre on the Square, Sandton, on Saturday, 22 July, but for the creators, it marks just the opening act of an exciting new journey.
After creating a three-time Naledi Theatre award-nominated play former Witsies Hira Lodhi, Martin Grendele, Naledi Modipa, Sasha Karlin, Hlumie Moloi and James Netherlands have started a theatre company named “Top Comedy”.
The group said founded the company for two reasons. Firstly, they thoroughly enjoy working together and share an undeniable performance chemistry and rapport. Secondly, creating this company provides them with a valuable support system.
“The theatre industry can be quite competitive, working together means we have each other to lean on for support in regards to creating work together,” said the group in a combined statement.
The idea of starting the company had been on the group’s mind since their days at the Wits theatre department, but they admitted that it “always seemed so out of reach.“. However, after the success they experienced with their play Seeing Other People starting the company felt like the right move.
The group wanted to make it clear that they are a theatre company, not a production company. “The major difference being that we don’t produce other theatre or works, except our own. We simply collaborate creatively to make a work of theatre [and to] generate online content.”
(From left to right) James Netherlands, Martin Grendele, Sasha Karlin, Hlumie Moloi, Hira Lodhi, Naledi Modipa posing for a “fun” photo after a performance of their award nominated show Seeing Other People at Theatre on the Square. Photo: Terri-Ann Brouwers
Commenting on the roles each member fulfils, they said that the roles change depending on the project they are working on and what each member wants to take on.
“For example, Hira Lodhi [was the] director, designer and producer of “Seeing Other People” while Martin Grendele [was the] producer and performer.”
The team says that their long-term goals are simply “To keep working. To keep creating”.
The future of the company looks bright as they are currently working on new theatrical and digital projects.
FEATURED IMAGE: The six Witsies who started Top Comedy after the final run of their award nominated show, Seeing Other People, at Theatre on the Square. Photo: Terri-Ann Brouwers
People with disabilities are often not brought into critical discussions about LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights, however, this is something the Wits Disability Rights Unit (DRU) wants to change.
Sexuality, gender and access to health services for people with disabilities were all up for discussion at the DRU’s first event for disability awareness month.
The webinar was held on Friday, July 21 and was centred around the harmful consequences of the prevalent stereotype that people with disabilities are not sexual beings, who experience desire like everybody else.
The month of July marks disability pride month and presents an opportunity to honour the experiences, histories and struggles of people with disabilities.
Tish Morpheus Geddes, senior administrator at the DRU, was especially proud of the panelists, as it brought together “people who work in sexual and reproductive health sectors, people doing research into disability and sexuality and members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as people with disabilities. We have a unique perspective.”.
Facilitator, Siya Hlongwa said: “Stereotypes become a benchmark for discrimination in healthcare services.” Geddes added that people with disabilities are viewed as asexual beings and so, “health care providers think this is not a group that must be considered” therefore limiting access to lifesaving sexual and reproductive health resources.
Thato Mphuti, the founding director of the organisation, Enabled Enlightenment said, “[The conversation the DRU has started] speaks to the work that we do” in trying to destigmatise sexual education with the parents and caregivers of people with disabilities, “there is no parenting manual and often parents are the biggest barriers when it comes to accessing sexual and reproductive health services.”
Geddes said that one of the central goals of the webinar was to have a truly accessible conversation. This was done through accessible marketing on social media, “you’ll notice that all of our posts have image descriptions.” In addition, the webinar was translated live into South African Sign Language as well as transcribed into text.
Sesona Buyeye, an attendee to the webinar and communications assistant for Ibis reproductive health, said, “Iit was such a great discussion with great insights shared, especially during disability awareness month.”
Similar events will be hosted by the unit throughout July, details available on their social media pages.
FEATURED IMAGE: A Wits student enters the Wits Disability Rights Unit on Wits main campus. Photo: Kimberley Kersten
Wits’ Office of Student Success (OSS) equips health science students with valuable lessons to survive the harsh reality of the healthcare industry.
The department of health sciences at Wits hosted a panel discussion on their premises in Parktown on July 20, 2023, to conscientize students on the issues that exist in the medical field — while empowering them with knowledge to help them thrive in the profession.
One of the organizers, Rachel Dzenga, explained that they aimed for the discussions to provide “emotional, academic, and therapeutic aid to students,” and to prepare them for the “transition from student to professional.”
A second-year dentistry student, Ayanda Ndaba, said she holds a degree in nursing and is “open to learning new skills,” however, she added that she could not find a position in nursing as there were no places hiring despite being “promised” by the program that she would easily find work after completing her community service hours.
Dr. Bongiwe Nhlangulela and Lucy Pearl Khofi speaking to students about their relevant fields and how to survive the healthcare industry. Photo: Georgia Cartwright
To counter the same thing from happening, Ndaba said she learnt to “chase every opportunity available.”
Lucy Pearl Khofi, an award-winning women’s health activist, encouraged students to “always be hungry and go beyond what is asked of [them].” Fraser further explained that the best way to make it in the industry is to “be open to any opportunity” as there is a greater need now than ever before for health care professionals.
The discussion also touched on the debates about the National Health Insurance (NHI) which was passed in parliament on June 12, 2023. The NHI aims to create universal healthcare for all South Africans by bringing in a state-run medical aid, which will provide equal access to quality healthcare. However, it has not yet passed through legislation.
Facilitator of the discussion, Dr. Simon Fraser said the NHI is a “polarizing issue,” that could “overhaul the healthcare system”. Fraser adds that the NHI, if done correctly, could “provide plenty more healthcare positions,” as more qualified professionals will be needed to make up for the shortfall found in many public hospitals.
Dzenga says that the OSS will be hosting more exciting conversations and events to further prepare students for the working world.
FEATURED IMAGE: Dr. Simon Fraser, Dr. Johann Lamprecht, Lucy Pearl Khofi, and Dr. Bongiwe Nhlangulela giving advice to students at the Philip v Tobias building in Parktown. Photo: Georgia Cartwright
The Forge facilitated a conversation on African film by a Sembene screening, a story about the “Father of African Film” Ousmane Sembene.
Multicultural community centre, The Forge commemorated novelist and filmmaker Ousmane Sembene through a screening of Sembene!, a documentary film which looks at his life and times as an African cinema pioneer.
Dubbed as the ‘father of African cinema’, Ousmane Sembene was born January 1, 1923, in Senegal. The writer and filmmaker was known for his political and historical themes. La Noire de… (Black girl), his 1966 feature film was considered the first major film produced by an African filmmaker.
Sembene! Is a 2015 documentary film directed by Samba Gadijo and Jason Sliverman that looks at the life of Ousman Sembene in the form of interviews with Gadijo and archives of his films. Gadijo who also narrated the documentary was one of Sebene’s closest confidants and the documentary follows their friendship.
La Noire de… (Black girl) scooped a major prize at the 1967 Cannes International Film Festival. The film depicts the virtual enslavement of an illiterate girl from Dakar working as a servant for a French family.
Co-director of public programs at The Forge and Commune, Mwelela Cele said that the film screening was inspired by Africa Day, Ousmane Sembene and filmmaker and writer Tsogo Kupa’s Sikelela Tapes and articles on Africa as a Country.
The space has been holding screenings since 2021 every last Thursday of the month, but they were disrupted by the covid-19 pandemic. This was the first screening since the covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
The screening was held at The Forge’s theatre on May 25, 2023. After the screening Tsogo Kupa, an internationally award-winning filmmaker, writer and Wits Film & Television graduate, engaged the audience in a discussion about the documentary and the issues surrounding the African film industry.
Kupa says that “even to this day as Africans we don’t feel like we own the medium of cinema, we feel like it is an art form that was picked up by Europeans and Americans”.
“Part of why we remember Sembene is to fight for the fact that we need to make his name well-known, and I think part of the reason why Africans feel like they don’t own cinema is because we don’t know of African masters of the medium”.
Sazi Bongwe, a literature student at Harvard University who attended the screening says that there is a lot to take away from cinema, the screening and the film itself as someone who is invested in art.
Cele told Wits Vuvuzela that The Forge will host another film screening linked to youth month at their theatre again in June 29, 2023.
FEATURED IMAGE:Sembene! plays at The Forge’s theatre. Photo: Mbalenhle Dlamini
South Point residence mum on an incident that took place at one of their parties, raising serious concerns about the management’s response to the safety and security of students.
It’s been a little over a month since an alarming incident unfolded at a Retro Block Party hosted by South Point, where students were stubbed while others had their phones stolen. However, management at the student residence has not made any headway in finding the culprits.
According to one of the witnesses, on the night of the party, April 28, 2023, intruders gained access to the party by paying an entrance fee like anyone else. The party was hosted in one of the South Point buildings, 87 Juta in Braamfontein.
While mingling and dancing, students suddenly heard screams and saw cell phones being stolen. The security officer was called, and the suspected intruders were removed from the party. Angry victims then followed them outside to try fight for their belongings.
What these partygoers did not know was that the intruders had additional team members waiting outside – a scuffle ensued, and some students were stabbed in the process.
The party is an annual event, and this year’s party was designed to commemorate South Point’s 20th anniversary, and it is reported to have begun at 17h00 in the evening.
Wits Vuvuzela spoke to workers at South Point about the incident, but they did not want to be named in fear of retribution from their employer.
“Yes, I heard about a boy who was stabbed, but I can’t say much about it because I don’t know what’s going on, and management doesn’t tell us anything,” said the worker.
Wits Vuvuzela contactedSouth Point manager Mahlodi Mathiba, who was not aware of the incident. “Unfortunately, I don’t know anything but let me refer you to the student liaising who should know”, the manager said.
The manager then referred us to the student liaising officer, Brenda Sambo who said she was aware of the situation but was uncertain about the facts. What the student liaising said is that “I don’t really know the story, the only thing I know is that students’ phones were stolen, and they ran after the suspects only to get stabbed”.
One of the witnesses, Ngwato Mashile (22), said they have been left traumatised by the incident. “I was hurt, it really affected me because those people aimed for sensitive parts without even looking where they were stabbing, and I thought the students were dead, and I’m still traumatized because the screams keep replaying in my head,” he said.
Mashile, like other witnesses and even the victims have thus far not received any kind of assistance from their landlord.
RELATED FEATURED: Outside the residence in question, 87 Juta. Photo: Patience Masalesa
Inspired by Ricky Rick’s Cotton Fest, Young creatives give local brands a platform.
Sole Purpose hosted a pop-up store event, bringing together local artists to perform and local brands to sell their wares at Homeground restaurant, in Braamfontein.
Pop-up store at the Sole Purpose event and attendees having drinks and socializing. Photo: Sinazo Mondo
This pop-up store experience was co-founded by Shaun Nzwakhe Gomeza and Nkhensani Mashimane in December, 2021. “We are an initiative that supports local artists, creatives and entrepreneurs by providing a platform and atmosphere for people to network and socialize,” their website reads.
The sixth iteration of Sole Purpose took place on May 27, 2023. New local brands such as Projext, a clothing brand and Avitality (Born to Move), a gym wear clothing brand popped up for the first time. While clothing brands Deity Artisty art painting , Freak sins, Co lounge and Narty returned to the market.
The musical talent included Tiller Sax, Lwaazii and Fried.HZ who provided live music throughout the afternoon.
From left to right, photographer, Dj Alsi Paq and Co-founder of Sole Purpose Nkhensani Mashimane at the deck inside Homeground restaurant. Photo: Sinazo Mondo
Anelisa Mnyweba (24) who attended the event said: “I love the local gin brand Egoli, that I just tried for the first time, the music and performances were good and I’ve bought myself a few beautiful items from the local brands.”
Creative director and owner of Born to Move, Avela Sisilana said,“I love that my brand is being recognised and its name is out there now. It’s been two hours and I haven’t made any sales yet but that’s mainly because my brand is specific as it is gym wear. I’m more here for branding than making sales.”
Ntsako Ntimane owner of Deity Artisty said, “I started painting four years ago and this is my first time actually putting myself out there, I had my first exhibition with Sole purpose in March this year… I’ve made sales and connections today thanks to Sole purpose.”
The event continued till late with vendors packing up at 17:00, while the owners, artists and creatives socialized over drinks. The mood quickly moved from chilled to upbeat as local artist, DJ Alsi Paq(22) ushered in the night with Amapiano hits.
FEATURED IMAGE: Deity Artistry showcasing art work at the pop-up store with attendees admiring. Photo: Sinazo Mondo
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, […]
