Over the last few months, being a revolutionary has become the new cool. We live in times where Biko is used as a pick up line, Fanon is cited willy-nilly to show a certain level of intellectual muscle and “the look” is about Blackness. You must look Black, talk Black, and behave Black.
Exaggerated, acted out, ‘Comrade Black’. Nothing genuine about that Blackness.
My worry with all of this is not that as young Black people we are finding and living in voices and skins that are authentically ours, but is that some among us have decided that they will use things like #FeesMustFall for popularity and to further their political careers.
To some people, wearing a doek or a beret, and putting on their best comrade stage voice is far more important than doing the necessary and very important ground work that all of these student movements are built around doing.
I have heard for the last six weeks straight, stories of students that don’t have money to return to varsity, students who’ve had to do some really heart-breaking things to raise registration money, students who at this very point have nowhere to sleep and struggle to find money for food every single day.
Yet there are people who masquerade as leaders. People whose Twitter accounts are the only place where they can claim to do this revolutionary work.
Revolutionary work, in my humble opinion, is making sure that these students that have been pushed to the sides, as life at Wits continues “normally” are taken care of. Its making sure you use your massive Twitter following to try and get help for financially needy students, its making sure you use this platform of leadership you have been elevated to, to negotiate with the powers that be to organise accommodation for the many students that sleep in libraries.
I mean, you are the prominent faces of student movements right? Then use your star power properly. You gained popularity because you were what many students thought they needed in a leader, someone who will still remember them, even when they start working towards those future political aspirations.
I have no problem at all with people seeing themselves one day in political leadership. I have a huge problem though, if you’re going to politic with people’s lives.
You walk around with highly inflated egos talking about how the students that you claim to serve have “entitlement issues” and need to “humble themselves” and come to you. Hayibo. Khanthe, what did you think your new position of relevance meant? Can you get off Facebook long enough to do what you’re supposed to do? Preaching Marxist theory doesn’t mean you are putting it into practice.
I know that these days no one does anything out of the sheer goodness of their hearts, and I am okay with this. But I am however demanding that while doing your social media activism and being about that revolutionary lifestyle, you remember that these people you are using to further yourself, need your help. I think that’s a fair trade.
O ke o re tlhohele ka bo popstar bo. Shape up, or step aside.
There are a couple of clubs that are not as popular as Football or Basketball here at Wits. The following list is about some of these clubs.
Fun In the Sun!: Members of the Yacht Club sitting outside their yacht during O-Week. Photo: Michelle Gumede
With the long list of sports and recreational clubs at Wits, it can be pretty challenging to pick a sporting or recreational activity to participating in. We’ve got the scoop on clubs that don’t hectic waiting lists.
The Yacht Club
If you have ever dreamed about sailing the seven seas, then this club may be for you. Established in 1972, the aim of the club is to teach its members how to sail. On average, it takes individuals about three to four 5-hour sessions for participants to learn how to sail. Subscription to the club is R400 per academic year and all you need, in the event that you do not own your own equipment, will be provided for you.
The Underwater Club
Established in the 1960s, there are two sides to the club: scuba diving and underwater hockey. Scuba diving gives participants an opportunity to get accredited through the South African scuba diving instructors association for level one, CMAS-ISA at R1300 for the 2 to 3-week long course. All you need is a mask, snorkel, fins and wetsuit. The rest of the equipment will be provided. Get more information on their Facebook page: Wits Underwater Club.
Futsal
Do you love football, but hate being outside? Futsal may be for you. One of the really lesser-known sports in the country, futsal is a short form of football, featuring, instead of 11 players in a team, 5 players. It is played on a plastic-like court, with a normal football pitch markings. To play, you need specialized court shoes that are available at sports shops. You can join the team for R100 per semester in order to play in a season. For more info, visit their Facebook page: Wits Futsal
Badminton
Described as the fastest racquet sport on the planet, Badminton is an indoor sport that looks like tennis, but is like volleyball, with a different set of rules. The Wits Badminton club offers classes for people who have never played the sport before. Subscription is R300 to for half a year and R600 to play the full year. The club has been doing very well at various sporting competitions, being particularly successful at the University Sports South Africa 2015 tournament. If you’re looking to improve your hand-eye coordination, then Badminton is for you. You need your own racquet to play. Facebook: Wits Badminton Club
Orienteering
Voted Sports Club of the Year for 2015, the orienteering club is doing great things. The idea of the sport is to navigate using a map in the fastest time. The club’s subscription is R110 for the year and that gets you a R10 discount for every orienteering event you’re involved in. If map reading is not your strong point, that’s okay because the club is more than willing to teach you. All you need are comfortable walking shoes. Everything else, such as a hat, maps and electronics (for the navigating) are provided. For information visit: https://witsorienteering.wordpress.com/
Update: The university has since vehemently denied claims of any students being assaulted. See the full statement here .
By Masego Panyane and Michelle Gumede About 60 private security guards were used to evacuate protesting students from Solomon House concourse in an act protesters have called disproportionate
HIRED FORCE: The university hired private security in riot gear to evict protesting FeesMustFall students. Photo: Michelle Gumede
Around 60 private security guards in riot gear were used to “moerskont” and remove nine protesting students in the early hours of Tuesday morning from Solomon House, according to the students.
“They moerskonted us to a point where we could not see,” said Wits Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) chairperson Vuyani Pambo.
The students, who are part of the Wits #FeesMustFall movement, have been occupying Solomon House, also known as Senate House, since January 3. The students had said their demands have not yet been met by Wits management and as a result, they would not move.
According to the students, in the early hours of Tuesday, Michael Mahada of Campus Control woke them up and read them a notice signed by Prof Tawana Kupe, deputy vice chancellor for advancement, human resources and transformation. The notice said the students need to evacuate the premises by the end of business on the previous day, Monday, January 11. Campus Control also had in their possession, dossiers on four of the protestors which had pictures and personal information of the students.
The students were given five minutes to leave Solomon House but they refused. The six Campus Control security guards who had been present throughout the night then stepped back and the private security guards, wearing body armour, wielding plastic shields and batons, sprang into action. Two separate groups of security entered the building from two different sides, physically throwing students out of the building and taking their cellphones. See the footage of the eviction here
BRINGING OUT THE BIG GUNS: Armed private security could be seen at various locations on east campus. Photo: Michelle Gumede
“In that 30 – 45 minutes, they started locking up the exits but they wanted us to leave,” said one of the protestors, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation.
When questioned, one of the private security guards told Wits Vuvuzela that he was struck on the head with a bottle by one of the students. A protestor claims that this was in self-defence and they started using anything from the dustbins outside Senate House in order to keep the private security guards who had been physically assaulting them at bay.
Students were chased all the way to the parking outside Men’s Res area where they were then cordoned off.
Student protestors also said that female protesters had been grabbed around their breasts by private security guards evicting them from Solomon House.
Amadla!: Wits EFF Student Command leader Vuyani Pambo addressing protesting students and workers outside the cordoned off Great Hall. Photo: Michelle Gumede
When asked about this a private security guard responded: “When you are removing people from a space, you are not checking where the lady’s breasts are.”
On SABC’s Morning Live today, Vice Chancellor Adam Habib said that the university cannot be held hostage by twenty odd students.
The university’s senior executive team sent out a statement confirming that students were evicted because they “effectively disrupted the university’s registration process yesterday.” The statement goes on to say the occupation was an infringement of the rights of students who wanted to register and that face to face registration will continue on January 13.
For the people of Little Mogadishu, life in South Africa is characterised by a constant attempt to survive the harsh realities of being “a foreigner”. They have, however, found something that can help ease the sting of that reality – football.
Bowling or football?: The Mayfair Young Stars teams use the grounds of the former bowling club to play their football. Photo: Masego Panyane
The first thing that catches your eye as you walk up to the Mayfair Bowling Club is the fence that has fallen down at one place and the heap of rubbish that lies there. Then, as you move closer, you see a few patches of grass. It’s uneven land, about the size of a normal soccer pitch, and a couple of sharp rocks stick out of the ground.
This is the place the Mayfair Young Stars Football League uses as its home ground. The league, which is made up of players of foreign nationalities, is the pride of the community of Little Mogadishu. The lives of foreign nationals in South Africa are filled with many unpleasant experiences. For this community of Somali refugees and asylum seekers, football provides them with a sense of normality.
The area is home to an estimated 6 000 refugees and asylum seekers, most of them Somali, and has long been a safe haven as well as being accused, without proof, of being a source of Islamic militancy.
I walked into the area as a black, Christian young woman and soon found myself talking about something as masculine as football to the men in the community. I was not chased out. Instead, I soon found myself in impassioned conversations about Manchester United and why they aren’t the team to beat in the English Premier League.
The passion for soccer carries off the field in Little Mogadishu, the heart of which is on 8th Avenue in Mayfair, Johannesburg.
The different faces of football
Malelo Abdool, a 24-year-old businesswoman, decided to start up an informal games arcade in Little Mogadishu after realising that there wasn’t much to do in the area for the children. She took a small shop space, installed plasma screens and PS4 consoles, put in a couple of chairs and bean bags, and the ultimate chill spot was ready.
Xtreme Fun: One of the walls of Malelo Abdool’s game shop. The shop is called Xtreme Games. Photo: Masego Panyane
Abdool’s gaming store is unlike most others. Where you would normally expect a range of gaming experiences, her store contains only football-related games, with versions of the games for every year. “The kids [here]are very inspired by soccer … I tried putting in other games like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty and they just didn’t play them. So I put in games like FIFA 16 because there’s a demand for them,” she said.
With the community being so football crazy, it only made sense that they would have their own football club. But how the club came about, along with its ups and downs, isn’t that simple.
Greater Mayfair Local Football Association (GMLFA or GML) is the managing body of all local football-related activities in the western and southern parts of Johannesburg. The organisation, which is affiliated to the South African Football Association (Safa), oversees six local football leagues that are divided by age.
Local Somalis began playing in the Greater Mayfair LFA in 2008. They encountered problems in the league and could not advance to higher Safa leagues because they did not have South African ID books.
“We couldn’t challenge them. We don’t have lawyers … We don’t have anybody so we left the league,” said Mohammed “Mash”, 34, a member of the Somali Football Association.
In response, the Somalis formed a league of their own, the Mayfair Young Stars, in 2009, shortly before South Africa’s Soccer World Cup. This league meant they could continue playing football in their community outside of Safa’s regulations.
Xenophobia or Safa regulations?
But the experience still left a bitter taste and the founder members believe they were kicked out of the league because they are Somali.
“In the GML we ended up being blamed for everything … If a fight broke out, ‘it’s the Somalis,’ they said, if there were any kinds of problems, it would be the Somali people causing the trouble they believed,” said Mash.
“It became unfair when they would make us stop games because we were winning. The last problem was when they didn’t want us to go to the next level because we didn’t have ID books,” he said.
Safa’s regulations, however, state that foreign players are allowed to participate in regional, inter-regional and national competitions provided they meet a number of conditions. These are that a) there cannot be more than three foreign players registered in one team; b) they must have valid documentation such as a valid asylum seeker’s permit, passport or any other international clearance certificate provided for in the Immigration Act and c) that they meet the eligibility criteria set out by Safa of different age groups.
But according to the members of the Somali community, the reason for their exclusion was simple: the Greater Mayfair LFA was motivated by a dislike for them steeped in xenophobia.
Nadia Patel, secretary of the Greater Mayfair LFA, agreed the Somalis could not advance because of documentation, but denies they were victimised because of xenophobia.
“The only reason we could not let them play is because of that Safa regulation. We even established another social league where teams that are completely foreign can play socially, for teams like Mayfair Young Stars,” said Patel.
“We had a couple of issues with discipline with Young Stars, but we have never discriminated against them because they are Somali.”
It was after this series of events that the idea to form Mayfair Young Stars was born, a team for a generation of Somalis born in South Africa.
“We said these youngsters are South Africans, they were born here, maybe when they reach there, they will have the advantage of joining the formal league,” Mash said.
Losing out on playing in the formal GML had some serious consequences for the Somali footballers. They lost some good team members and a coach but, most importantly, they lost out on a space to play their football.
“When they managed to kick us out because of that Safa rule, they also blocked us from using the grounds we used to practise and play on. So whenever we’d try to get in, the guard would tell us R200 per hour or not let us in at all,” said Aydruz Ismail, manager of the Mayfair Young Stars League.
The situation was devastating for the team. The senior team realised they would be wasting their time pursuing semi-professional football careers in South Africa. They did not have the correct documentation and, to their knowledge, this would prevent them from playing.
The senior team saw it as their duty to get the league up and running for the next generation of Somali footballers. Establishing the league happened fairly easily because the community was already very attached to football. Many of the young people in the area used to play recreationally, so bringing them together wasn’t a far-fetched idea.
The dawn of a new era: legitimate soccer stars
“When we established Young Stars, there were a few youngsters who used to play by the park by themselves. We collect them … and they formed their own teams,” said Ismail.
Huddled in front of TV screens in Abdool’s game shop are a number of young men who play for Mayfair Young Stars. They are in a particularly heated discussion about who is the best midfielder in the community league. It becomes obvious how important the space to play and polish their football skills is to these young men. For people like Mohamed Abdool, 18, and his friend and team-mate Osman Yasin, 15, having the league keeps them healthy, but they also get to try out some of the tricks they see on television.
“I love the sport, I have a passion for the sport. I’m planning to go to London … I want to play for one of the Premier League’s teams,” stammers Mohamed excitedly. His friend Osman also wants to play in Europe someday.
Focused: Mohammed Abdool playing the latest FIFA game in Malelo’s store. Photo: Masego Panyane.
For the two young men, the opportunity to play in the Mayfair Young Stars League is a step closer to these dreams.
Mohamed began his career at Young Stars playing for the senior team but he asked to return to the lower level team in his age grouping to get more game time. Osman describes him as an intelligent player who has a bit of Argentinian player Lionel Messi in him.
Osman, a central midfielder, started playing football because all his friends were playing it. He says his plan after he finishes matric is to succeed in football. If that doesn’t work out, then he’ll settle for being a computer software engineer.
For the boys, it is worrying that, even though they were born in South Africa, they may not have a stable enough future in football because of their documentation. For them, there’s nothing they would rather do than play football. As clichéd as this may sound, football is their life.
“There isn’t enough opportunity here. Even when I was playing for the Orlando Pirates Academy, they’d always ask us for documents and that is limiting us, that’s why I want to go international,” Mohamed said.
Mayfair Young Stars have their matches every weekend because they do not want to disturb the young people with their schooling. Mash added that the major purpose of having organised football in the community is to keep the boys out of trouble.
For some of the other young men like Abdullahi Mohammed, 19, the creation of this league gives them a sense of belonging and it keeps hope alive – that they could one day play professional football – despite not being able to play in the formal GML.
Defending hard: Members of the Punishers and Man City teams from Mayfair Young Stars battling it out for the ball. Photo: Masego Panyane
“The committee of the GMLFA is racist towards Somalis. Even though for most of us that played in those teams, we’ve never seen Somalia before. We were born here, this is our home,” he said.
Mohammed said they experienced injustices at the GML because of what he calls “xenophobia”. Mohammed said he never experienced xenophobia when he played for premier league teams like Bidvest Wits and Jomo Cosmos that had a number of foreign players playing for them.
The Mayfair Young Stars Football League has become an important part of the lives of the men, young men and boys of the community. It has given them hope that, even in South Africa, where it may sometimes seem almost impossible to get correct documentation or citizenship, they can still hold onto their passion for football and, for some of the younger ones, to maybe become world-renowned football players.
Where to from here?
It’s a hot morning in mid-October at the former home of the Mayfair Bowling Club. Outside in the yard, two tattered nets stand at the opposite ends of the grounds. The grounds themselves could do with a bit of TLC, maybe a new bunch of grass could be planted and watered to give the grounds a healthier feel.
The grounds are not marked like a normal football field would be but everyone seems to have an idea of where the centre of the pitch is and where the lines to mark the boundaries are.
In this particularly heated encounter between Somali teams Man City and the Punishers, the most important things at stake here are respect and bragging rights. Both teams play with skill that one does not expect from a group of teenage boys. They are determined and play with the flair and intelligence we all miss seeing in professional football matches.
Ooops!: Abdullahi Mohammed finds himself having to retrieve a lost ball after a little accident. Photo: Masego Panyane
The soccer games attract a number of men in the community, ordinary men who have a keen interest in football and want to see who the bright youngsters to look out for are.
The supporters of the Punishers are adamant that the referee has made a series of decisions against them, all because he doesn’t like them. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that they trailed for most of the match behind Man City by a single goal.
After I watch pure magic at the feet of these boys, the match draws to a close with the final score line being Man City 3-2 Punishers (Man City actually scored 4 goals because of the own goal scored in the 23rd minute). Man City walk away with the ultimate bragging rights for the upcoming week.
After watching these young men play as if they are playing to get paid, one wonders if any of them will be able to make it professionally with the number of obstacles that stand in their way. It is very clear that breaking into the professional football scene here will be difficult for the boys.
But once they do, they will be a sight to behold. For now, they work at becoming the best of the best. The boys continue to play FIFA at the game shop and practise their tackles on the uneven pitch of the Mayfair Bowling Club, one match at a time.
FEATURED IMAGE: Defending hard: Members of the Punishers and Man City teams from Mayfair Young Stars battling it out for the ball. Photo: Masego Panyane
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) finished off the 2014/15 with its annual awards ceremony at the Sandton Convention Centre last night.
Kaizer Chiefs’ Tefu Mashamaite walked away with half a million rands and the title of the best player in the Premier Soccer League last night. Mashamaite also won the defender of the season and players’ player of the season awards at the
Another big winner for the evening was veteran midfielder Teko Modise of Mamelodi Sundowns. The 32-year-old Modise walked away with awards for midfielder of the season and player of the tournament in the Nedbank Cup.
Bidvest Wits, who finished third in the PSL at 52 points, went into the awards with three nominations. Moneeb ‘Slimkat’ Josephs took the goalkeeper of the season nod while Phumlani Ntshangase was chosen as the young player of the season.
Wits’ Thulani Hlatshwayo was also nominated but lost the defender of the season award to Mashamaite.
Kazier Chiefs were the biggest winners of the evening, with two pieces of silverware under their belt from the MTN 8 and the ABSA Premiership 2014/15 title. Coach Stuart Baxter of Amakhosi Amahle walked away with coach of the season and George Maluleke was the last man standing in the MTN 8.
A complete list of the winners is below:
TELKOM KNOCKOUT:
Champions: SuperSport United
Player of the Tournament: Dove Wome (Supersport United)
MTN 8:
Champions: Kazier Chiefs
Last Man Standing (player of the tournament): George Maluleke (Kazier Chiefs)
All three nominated players in this category were from Kazier Chiefs
Nedbank Cup:
Champions: Mamelodi Sundowns
Player of the Tournament: Teko Modise (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Young Player of the Tournament: Tashreeq Morris (Ajax Cape Town)
Other awards within the PSL:
Top Goal scorer in the National First Division: Phumelele Bhengu (Thanda Royal Zulu)
Multichoice Diski Challenge Player of the Tournament: Dikgang Ngcobo (University of Pretoria)
Referee of the Season: Phillip Tinyani
Assistant Referee of the Season: Peter Chauke
Chairman’s Award: Botha Msila – staunch supporter of Bloemfontein Celtics
ABSA Premiership
Goalkeeper of the Season: Moneeb Josephs (Bidvest Wits)
Young Player of the Season: Phumlani Ntshangase (Bidvest Wits)
Coach of the Season: Stuart Baxter (Kazier Chiefs)
Top Goal Scorer of the Season: Moeketsi Sekola (Free State Stars)
ABSA Premiership Champs: Kazier Chiefs
Defender of the Season: Tefu Mashamaite (Kazier Chiefs)
Midfielder of the Season: Teko Modise (Mamelodi Sundowns)
UPDATE: A response from the Wits Legal Office on Bhekithemba Mbatha’s matter was receieved after going to print. This article has been updated accordingly to include this comment.
Bhekithemba Mbatha told Wits Vuvuzela about what he believes is violation of his freedom of speech.
Facebook is to many students just another platform to be social. It seen as a free space where people get to share their views and ideas, the serious and the not-so-serious with few consequences.
Bhekithemba Mbatha, a postgraduate Law student, was until recently one of the many young people who believed this about Facebook.
Last week, however, Mbatha discovered that this isn’t quite the case when it comes to Facebook and the management of Wits University.
Mbatha, a postgraduate Law student, wrote on his Facebook page criticizing a Wits Vuvuzela article about dismissed SRC president Mcebo Dlamini’s comments in admiration of Adolf Hitler
He accused the Wits Vuvuzela of being a “useless tabloid” that practices “poor journalism at its best.”
Mbatha’s post called for a “public burning of Vuvuzela” urging “comrades” to “bring their match sticks and we will burn this newspaper!”
Not long afterwards, Mbatha was contacted by the Wits Legal Office and was told to retract his statement publically or face a charge of inciting violence and risk being kicked out of university.
“I was shocked to hear I have influence as I do not hold any positions on campus, I am just a mere student who was raising his opinion about an issue I see on campus,” said Mbatha.
He said the time university management spent sanctioning him could have been used to help needy students.
Mbatha said his Facebook comment to publicly burn Wits Vuvuzela was not meant to be taken literally and was being “blown out proportion”.
“There is no sane student, a Wits student, crème-de-la-crème of our community, that would literally take matches and burn a building,” he said.
“It’s like Wits is becoming obsessed with our Facebook, with our accounts. What happens on Facebook is blown out of proportion. This whole thing was blown out of proportion.”
The Wits Legal Office responded by saying:
“The University holds dear the rights to freedom of speech and media freedom as guaranteed in the Constitution of the country. As such, it is committed to ensuring that it fosters an environment within which Wits operations, including its student newspaper, can function without fear or threat.”
Mbatha feels that freedom of speech is threatened in the university as well as student activism. “Now we are scared of being charged, we are scared of protesting because we are going to be charged, we are scared of talking on our Facebook pages because we are going to be charged.”
Your Mama’s Kitchen is a music event that organizers hope will happen annually to keep band-culture alive in Braamfontein.
Making live magic: Moeketsi Tapisi and Thabiso Mphahlane of New Creation. Photo: Sibongile Machika
Watching a live concert is completely fulfilling .
It was a pleasant surprise then to hear about an event called Your Mama’s Kitchen which was held at The Bannister Hotel on Friday evening.
The main idea behind the event was to bring back live bands.
Tapisi, who is also a guitarist in the band New Creation and one of the organizers of the event said, “We saw a gap. There’s Pop Bottles which is only djs and there’s Joy of Jazz which doesn’t cater for the young people.
“So Mama’s Kitchen was an idea that came from a friend of mine Super, the rapper of New Creation, and the idea was basically that we have Impande Core’s Radio 1, 2, 3 who have established a name for themselves, therefore we can bring them together with other bands to create something fresh. An opportunity for people to experience live music and for the bands to get a following nyana”.
” something that was written by the Gods of music that someday there‘d be bands like these, that would play music they are not expected to play”.
The line-up attracted quite a crowd, with almost 100 people making their way to the rather small basement space where the event was hosted.
It featured four unsigned bands, namely Don’t Mind Don’t Care (DMDC), Radio1, 2, 3, The Undergrounds and New Creation, with the headline act being The Muffinz.
Thabang ‘Bassick’ Moletsane of DMDC expressed the band’s pleasure at being exposed to larger audiences. Bongani ‘Fingerzz’ Mathunjwa, his band mate, also said that the variety of sounds exhibited at your Mama’s Kitchen allowed people to transcend the borders of genres and enjoy the music without boundaries.
Drummer of DMDC, Xolani ‘Cush’ Mtshali agreed and further stated “we’re trying to get to more ears, we want to move this thing to a more commercial scene. To us events like this are important because then we get to more ears and we won’t get stuck in dungeons”.
Vocalist of Radio 1, 2, 3 Smanga, explained how the coming together in events such as Mama’s Kitchen was a powerful way of showing that live music and the culture around it is not dead. He further stated that it was their “cause, something that was written by the Gods of music that someday there‘d be bands like these, that would play music they are not expected to play”.
The event certainly attracted young people from all walks of life. It was symbolic of the lively and very different mixture of young people that live-in and walk through the streets of Braamfontein.
Finger Magic: Bongani ‘Fingerzz’ Mathunjwa of DMDC Photo: Sibongile Machika
Bidvest Wits beat Orlando Pirates 2-0 in Tuesday night’s mid-week encounter of the Premier Soccer League.
by Masego Panyane and Sinikiwe Mqadi
CLEVER BOYS: The Bidvest Wits side that silenced the mighty Soweto giants Orlando Pirates on Tuesday evening. Photo: Sinikiwe Mqadi
The battle for third place in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) continued after Bidvest Wits walked away with a convincing victory against Orlando Pirates at home last night.
The Clever Boys were simply on fire, scoring both goals in the opening 16 minutes of the game courtesy of Calvin Kadi.
The goals were Kadi’s first in the season: “I am really happy that I managed to get two goals after a very long time without playing – it was a tough game,” he said.
In the second half The Buccaneers pushed forward but were kept at bay by Wits’ goalkeeper, Moneeb Josephs and the Wits defence.
Lennox Bacela tried to save his team by slotting in a goal in the 55th minute, but it was ruled an offside.
” Mistakes do happen and…You know I felt a bit sorry for the boy”.
The Clever Boys finished their match with 10 men, after Phumlani Ntshangase was shown the red card in the 84th minute after an unfair tackle on Lennox Bacela.
Orlando Pirates coach Eric Tinkler acknowledged that a mistake made early on in the game by full back Patrick Phungwayo cost them the first goal. He said, “Mistakes do happen and … You know I felt a bit sorry for the boy”.
On the team’s performance in the match and how that affects their league race chances, Tinkler said: “The hype around the game and the importance of the game got to the players … so I think that’s why they possibly dropped their heads”.
This victory leaves Wits in fourth position on the league table. Wits and Pirates are now level on points, but The Clever Boys have one more game in hand.
The team is fighting to finish second on the PSL log but coach Gavin Hunt says there are challenges, “We are so thin of players, we are struggling with numbers … lots of injuries,” he said.
The Clever Boys will meet Chippa United on the 18th of April at Bidvest Stadium.
Lungile Buhale, 22, Miss Soweto 2014 is a hardworking and very motivated individual. During her term, the 2nd year BA student hopes to improve how Soweto is perceived by the general public. She also wants to show other young women from one of South Africa’s largest townships that, as clichéd as this sounds, anything is possible if you work hard enough at it.
What inspired your decision to enter Miss Soweto?
It was mainly for two things. The first reason I entered Miss Soweto was because I needed a platform where I can communicate my initiatives and ideas that I want to do for the future, and as well as to put me in career mode for events. It’s something I want to do. So getting exposure as Miss Soweto will allow me to meet the right and relevant people in that industry.
So, are you a “pageant girl” in the traditional sense? Did you participate in pageants when you were younger, which led to you entering Miss Soweto?
This was my first pageant and luckily, I won! I don’t think I’m a pageant girl, I think I have qualities that make up a pageant girl.
Let’s talk for a bit about these qualities of a pageant girl, are you lady-like or a bit on the tomboyish side?
At the moment I am wearing a hoodie, takkies and jeans. That I believe does not make me a lady-lady. I am a lady when I have to be (laughs). I like being casual and calm because that represents who I am.
What are you passionate about?
I am passionate about sports and female empowerment. Sports allows you to make friends, keeps you healthy but most importantly it keeps you away from the bad stuff. It keeps you physically fit and mentally sharp.
Pageants are often linked to unattainable standards of beauty. With your experience as Miss Soweto, do you believe this is true?
The truth of the matter is that a certain type of beauty is pushed in these pageants but with Miss Soweto there were a lot of gorgeous women. What decided your fate was how well you can sell the brand. I believe that in that way, the pageant opened up to other women.
What township in Soweto are you from?
I am from the beautiful Dube Village. Not many people know about it, but it’s produced legends.
When the time comes for you to hand over your crown, what do you hope to have learnt from your experience as Miss Soweto?
I’m trying to create these initiatives and I’m hoping they work out. Sometimes you come across people who aren’t buying into an idea. That hurts. I’m learning about myself, by the end of this I want to have developed a thicker skin. I want to hand over my crown with pride knowing that I’ve done a lot for my community.I do not want to be remembered as someone that just won the crown, and left.
The Wits Football Women’s team showed a resurgence in form in their match against Tshwane University of Technology-1 on Wednesday night. Playing on home soil, the team managed to net 5 goals, producing their best performance this season.
Both teams came into this game on equal footing on the league log. TUT-1 had played to a two-all draw with Vaal University of Technology (Vanderbijlpark) two weeks ago while Wits played to a one-all draw with the University of Johannesburg (UJ).
The team played defensively against UJ but showed confidence in their match on Wednesday, pushing forward with every possession of the ball. Linah Maphanga and Siphesihle Zungu made a strong partnership by ensuring that with every touch of the ball they had, an opportunity to score.
“This result shows that we are getting better game-by game”.
When speaking to Wits Vuvuzela last week, Zungu shared how nervous she had been during the last match because she is one of the new players on the team. It seems she has warmed up to the task and this showed in her performance last night.
Wits coach Jabulile Baloyi explained the game had given the team a more positive outlook for the rest of the season. She said “Even though we were satisfied with the draw, this result shows that we are getting better game-by game”.
With Wednesday night’s win, the go into their next match again Midrand Graduate Institute (MGI), their first away game, looking to move to the top of the table. “We’re going back to the drawing board in terms of looking at where our weaknesses were because we didn’t play that perfectly we sure need to work on some departments,” Baloyi said.
The goals of the evening were scored by Maphanga who scored the first two goals, Hlengiwe Tshirunga who scored another two goals and Zungu who scored the final goal of the night against TUT-1 women.
My Body, my rules: Masego Panyane writes about body image. Photo: TJ Lemon
Body image plays a huge role in how we are perceived by the society we live in. This perception impacts our experiences in everyday life. We are nudged, not so gently, to make an effort to look a specific way. It’s everywhere. We see it in images on television, magazines and billboards. We are told about perfection on radio. We speak about it in everyday conversations.
I was bullied for about half of my early schooling days because my teeth were skew and I was the fat little girl. My tormentor, a girl much shorter and skinnier than I, used to refer to me as Sibeko from a comedy show called Emzini Wezintsizwa. The horror I had at being compared to the fat, untidy, always drunk-but quite smart- television character. Bathong!
As a result of that, I became an awkward and sad fat little girl. Until one night, I had a glorious dream of me bashing my tormentor into the ground. A classic case of mind over matter.
“I have struggled with weight and my body image for years. It took me storming out of the gym one afternoon to realize that I had been doing it wrong all this time. I wanted to lose weight because I wanted to fit in, not because I wanted to be healthy”.
I walked onto the playground the following day with the bravery of a Charlie’s Angel. The bully started her usual routine and made fun of one of the other girls. She made a stupid comment about how dumb the girl was because she couldn’t read properly. I didn’t laugh. She noticed, called me Sibeko again and I promised her a serious beating if she carried on. The rest, as they put it, is history.
For the next few years, I built my confidence up brick-by-brick. I focused on the things I was good at. Accepted all the things I was not. I made it work. But for some reason, the confidence I felt in my head didn’t mirror with how I felt, physically.
Now before you give me a lecture about fitness and weight loss, please do me a favor and have a seat. The likelihood that you are going to tell me something I have never heard before is slim. Yes, pun intended.
I have struggled with weight and my body image for years. It took me storming out of the gym one afternoon to realize that I had been doing it wrong all this time. I wanted to lose weight because I wanted to fit in, not because I wanted to be healthy.
Since that penny dropped, I joined a number of body positive movements which advocate for a healthy lifestyle and a positive look at your body, regardless of what size you are or however many defect your body has.
I realized how much pressure I had put on myself to transform my body into what it could possibly never be given my genetics.
I am aware of my body. I know that becoming more active would be great for me. That does not mean I must hate myself in order to achieve this. I will dress as I please and I certainly will not disappear from the face of the earth because I am not conventionally pretty. No can do.
My experience with the school bully stripped me of my voice for a while. After I got through that, I promised myself I would never allow that to happen to me again.
I will get healthier. But at my own pace. Not because I am trying to subscribe to some standard of beauty that I probably would never attain.
CHALLENGE: TUT player Nkosenhle Ntshangase on the attack. Photo: Samantha Camara
Wits Football Club Men suffered yet another defeat after they lost their second match 2-0 to fifth placed Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) at the Bidvest Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Wits coach, Karabo Mogudi explained how disappointed he was at the result of the game. He said “Football is an honest game, it really shows you your weaknesses and if you’re lacking in anything, it’ll really show up”.
The pitch was damp as the rain had fallen quite heavily earlier in the evening. The grass was quite slippery, making it difficult for players to keep steady and upright on the pitch.
ATTACK: Neo Makua dribbles past the TUT-1 defense. Photo: Samantha Camara
In the first few minutes neither team asserted themselves as ball possession was equally distributed.
A counter attack by TUT in the 15th minute led by Senzo Mtshali with the assistance of Shirinda Vogani almsost put them in the lead. Future Gumede eventually took the shot that went wide of the post.
Wits player Innocent Magasela found himself at the end of a hard tackle in the 18th minute of the game which left him in serious pain, giving Wonder Frank an opportunity to show his skills after Magasela had to be taken off.
In the 27th minute of the first half, the perseverance of the TUT side and an error by Wits gave the TUT combination of Mtshali, Vongani and Gumede an opportunity to move towards Wits goals from the left hand side of the Wits defence resulting in a surprising goal by Bongi Mkhabele. Placing TUT-1 in the lead with 13 minutes of the first half remaining.
The second goal of the match came in the 79th minute of the match after both teams had a series of back-and-forth attempts. Gumede, who had been a headache for the Wits defence throughout the game, led an attack from the middle. Vongani stole the ball from the Wits mid-fielders and went through the right hand side of Wits’ defence to score a goal that can only be described as beautiful, sealing the fate of the Wits side.
Coach of the winning side TUT Maude Khumalo said: “I am very happy with the way the boys played, they listened to my instructions, they played as a team and they worked hard.”
Both Wits teams will play away against Midrand Graduate Institute on the 24th March at the Makulong Stadium.
From the Sidelines is a podcast that dives deep into the world of football journalism and exploring what it takes to find your feet in such a dynamic industry. In our first episode, we speak to Lorenz Köhler, an award winning South African sports journalist with over 100,000 followers on X and 1.5 million on […]
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