There has been no resolution to the dispute between Wits management and unions, and the Academic and Support Staff Association of Wits University (ASAWU) has announced another one-day strike.
Last minute negotiations between management and the Academic and Support Staff Association of Wits University (ASAWU), National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) and the Administration, Library and Technical Staff Association (ALTSA), to prevent the one-day strike on August 2 failed.
ASAWU members will also boycott admin meetings and performance management from August 20, in addition to the withdrawal of services on August 28.
In a meeting on Tuesday August 14, members were given ballots to vote for additional action, with an indefinite strike being one of their options.
The unions had demanded a signed agreement to their demands, but “chose to walk out of the mediation process before it was concluded”, according to vice chancellor Professor Loyiso Nongxa. ASAWU President David Dickinson denied this, saying Nongxa was not present at the negotiation sessions.
The unions are demanding a 9% salary increase for support staff and payment to academics at the 75th percentile of the tertiary education sector. They also demand the establishment of a childcare facility for Wits employees, an end to overselling of parking permits in non-designated parking areas and access by their auditors to the university’s financial system.
Academic and support staff picket outside the Yale Road entrance to Wits during their initial one-day strike. Photo: Jay Caboz.
Union decries silent treatment
Dickinson said they were met with silence after the strike.
“The first communication of any kind from management is the letter sent out today [August 13] by the vice chancellor to all Wits employees. This message fails to engage with the issues raised by the three unions and their members. It is a slap in the face of Wits lecturers and support staff.”
Nongxa said management did not have a mandate from the Wits council to grant the 9% increase, but proposed a shift from the July-to-June pay cycle to a January-to-December pay cycle. Staff could get a pay rise in January 2013 together with the increase received in July.
Nongxa said the proposals made by management were realistic and asked for “similarly constructive responses” from the unions.
“In the current context of declining state subsidies, the cost of higher-than-average salary increases may have to be carried by already heavily-burdened student fees.”
ASAWU seeking solidarity
ALTSA and NEHAWU are consulting with their members on further action. Dickinson said he hoped they joined ASAWU’s strike and boycotts.
During the previuos strike, Nongxa said the university could not be coerced into meeting the unions’ “unsustainable” demands.
“One would have assumed that, in an environment where we think about these things, that you can come with reasoned solutions to these problems, rather than resorting to a strike.”
Candidates outside the Wits Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) are hoping to avoid a third consecutive clean sweep for the party in this year’s Student Representative Council (SRC) elections.
Election campaigning was officially launched on Tuesday 7 August at a circus outside the Matrix. Less than 40 students braved the snow to listen to candidates from the PYA, the Democratic Alliance Student Organization (DASO) and independent candidates.
The Wits Congress of the People Student Movement (COPESM) did not nominate any candidates. Mukondeleli Mphigalale, chairperson of the Wits COPESM, said the party was dealing with internal structural issues, and would be back in SRC elections next year.
Voter turnout in last year’s elections was just over 16%.
Gavin, who lives at number 15 Juweel Street, Jukskei Park, noticed that something was amiss after he hearing strange noises coming from his neighbour’s house. It was 4am but from his bedroom window it looked as if sunrise had happened already. The house next door, number 17 was on fire.
“I then heard the sound of the flames as the thatch caught fire. I phoned the fire department and went outside to start wetting my own thatch roof with the garden hose.”
By the time the firemen arrived the flames were two meters high.
Firemen struggled with the fire. They needed more water but the only fire hydrant was on the next street. Four more trucks and a portable water truck were called in to handle the blaze.
Until they came, firemen controlled the fire by wetting the border areas of the house. Other neighbours also began to wet their thatch rooftops in case the blaze spread.
“The house had been empty for a couple of months.” said Gavin to the other neighbours gathered around the street. One of them was watching the fire with her coffee mug still steaming.
Despite rumours of squatters on the property firemen said they found no evidence that anyone had been in the house when the fire had started.
Stories like these are a regular occurrence in South Africa’s wintertime. Winter is dry in Joburg, and cold, according the city of Johannesburg these are the two leading causes that lead to fires in households in the city. People turn on their heaters and braziers, and carelessness can lead to devastating fires.
The following is taken from an article written by Camilla Bath, Deputy News Editor for Eyewitness News, in Johannesburg.
“Fire is a terrifying thing. It tears through homes, guts buildings, destroys property and devastates the lives of those who survive it. Many don’t.”
Years ago, as a field reporter, I covered the story of a fire at an electrical sub-station in Johannesburg in which a man died. Authorities suspected the victim had been living in the sub-station and had inadvertently touched a live wire, starting the blaze late at night.
Early the following morning, I caught a glimpse of his blackened body through the painted slats of an air vent. It is an image that has stayed with me in vivid detail, one I wish I’d never seen: the badly burnt corpse somehow frozen in time, crouching, one hand outstretched, his face formless, its features seared away. Perhaps worse than that stiff figure was the smell of burnt flesh, unexpectedly sweet and cloying.
Every time I hear or read about another fatal fire, I’m taken straight back to that scene.”
Only SABS-approved electrical and/or cooking apparatus should be used.
Heaters, two-plate stoves and so on, should only be used for their intended purposes, as per the instruction manual.
Do not leave candles burning unattended.
Experience has shown that in informal settlements – though this can also be the case in brick and mortar structures – people tend to disregard even the smallest detail regarding fire safety by warming themselves using primus stoves and braziers (mbawulas), only to fall asleep and their homes go up in flames.
Alcohol should be consumed in moderation.
In case of emergency, call 10177 or 112.
Everyone is welcome to volunteer at a fire station in Johannesburg of his/her choice. Life skills acquired through such volunteering can be used in life-saving situations. A well-trained volunteer can perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on victims of drowning and smoke inhalation. They can also train members of their own communities to be life-savers.
Fire sources such as heaters, stoves and irons should not be left unattended.
Boxes of matches and cigarette lighters should be stored safely.
Children like to experiment– always trying this and that. Their actions can have dire consequences, not only to your home but to the whole community
Make sure that your house is properly ventilated; there must always be enough fresh air. This will prevent winter-related airborne diseases.
Two suspects were chased down by Wits students and arrested by security guards after they tried to rob a female student in Braamfontein last weekend.
The suspects approached her with a knife on the corner of Bertha and Stiemens streets and stole her bag around 8:30pm last Saturday.
Matthews Bisse, 1st year BSc, was walking along De Korte Street with two friends when he heard a scream.
Listen to Bisse’s eyewitness account below.
Mboniseni Sikhwari, a security officer for a private security company, said the suspects approached him before he heard the call for “backup” on his radio.
One of the suspects was chased by a motorist along Jorissen Street, while Bisse and his friends intercepted the other outside Braamfontein Lofts.
The suspects were arrested by Urban Genesis security officers, who are contracted by Wits to patrol walking areas around the university.
A case was opened with Campus Control and the police.
Bisse said he was ahead of his friends as they chased the thieves.
“… what we’ve read on Vuvuzela that people are being mugged just gave me confidence when I saw that I wasn’t alone … there were a lot of us chasing that guy.”
Sikhwari said muggins are more common during university terms. He advised students to be more streetwise.
Listen to Sikhwari’s advice to students below.
Michael Mahada, Campus Control investigations manager, said Campus Control does not escort students to off-campus residences but has arranged with Urban Genesis security guards to do so.
Wits Vuvuzela was unable to reach the student.
Published in Wits Vuvuzela, 17th edition, 27 July 2012.
The hockey men earned a win and a much-needed bonus point after beating Jeppe B 8-1 in their Premier League match on Saturday at the Randburg Astro.
The men’s team desperately needed to win by five goals. This would earn them the bonus point needed to catch up to the top four teams in the league.
In a slow-to-start game, Wits spent the first half struggling to score. Most of the play occurred in Jeppe’s half. There were a number of wayward shots despite Wits’ strikers being in good positions to score.
There were some tense moments when Jeppe B managed to get out of their own half and counter attack. However, their shots lacked firepower and were easily saved by Carl Zontag, Wits’ goalkeeper.
Wits continued to put pressure on Jeppe B’s defence but with little effect, until striker Andrew Hofmeyer managed to score late into the half after a tight scramble near the goal line.
“We had control for much of the game but struggled in the final third during the first half…only being 1-0 up at half time,” said Zontag.
Wits continued the second half from where they left off. They dominated play and, shortly after restarting, Matthew Povall capitalised his chances by adding another two goals to his impressive tally for the season.
Jeppe B managed to pull a single goal back toward the end of the second half, against the run of play, to bring the game to 3-1.
“The pressure and patience paid off as goals came more steadily through a couple well executed shorties and flicks from the Povall brothers, Matthew and Jay. In last 10 minutes the flood gates opened and we scored four more,” said Zontag.
Robert Morisse executed a well-planned penalty corner to give Wits their needed bonus point.
Wits did not stop there. They put in a further two more goals to end the game 8-1.
The goal scorers were as follows: Andrew Hofmeyer 1, Mark Tathum 1, Barry Morisse 1, Robert Morisse 1, Max Cobbett 1, and a hat trick to Matthew Povall.
The win secures Wits’ 5th position on the log. Wits is now two points behind log leaders Crusaders. They play against them this Sunday (July 22) at 12.45pm, Randburg Astro.
The hockey side comes fresh off a winning streak at their USSA tournament held in Johannesburg during the holiday break. They took gold in the B section, placing the side among the top eight universities in the country.
For the first time in the university’s history Wits academic and support staff unions have collectively embarked on industrial action against Wits management over salaries and a range of other grievances.
Union members marched through Braamfontein in colourful academic robes and with yellow cards giving a “final warning” to Wits management to bring a “meaningful” resolution to their demands.
“Seriously? That never happened in MY day! Times certainly are a-changin’!” was an alumna’s response to a tweet that it is not students who are protesting.
Wits management has seldom capitulated to the demands of protesters in the last few years, cementing the impression that it is unyielding.
As testament, the SRC and other student organisations celebrated a simple address by the Vice Chancellor during their hunger strike as “a victory” while the 17 Royal Mnandi dismissed chefs remained at home.
The unions have strongly suggested that Wits’ budget surplus, in excess of R100 million last year, should be dispensed in their fridges and savings accounts instead of the university’s capital projects and savings.
Wits however needs to guarantee its future as an institution and has argued that budget holders, including some union members, do not spend all the money they are allocated annually.
While Wits Vuvuzela acknowledges that the budget-deficit situation is more complex, it equally acknowledges that management has defaulted on its 10-year-old promise to pay academics at the 75th percentile, while investing heavily in its ambition to achieve top 100 status within the next 10 years.
The first protest was held on a freezing Friday afternoon last month, when around 150 staff members lined the entrance of the Senate House basement parking, heckling Council members as they drove in for a scheduled meeting.
Council chair Sakumzi Macozoma arrived in a R1.4-million Audi R8. He has other lucrative business interests but the contrast of his wealth with the demands of union members was notable.
Wits Vuvuzela believes that management should take decisive steps to show Wits staff their investment in this institution can earn them a mild semblance of Macozoma’s wealth. More importantly, they should not have to protest in the cold or threaten to strike to get their demands, even though these give us great stories.
Published in Vuvuzela, 16th edition, 20th July 2012.
Update: 30th July 2012
The retraction below was published in Vuvuzela, 17th edition, 27th July 2012:
Owing to confusion arising from last week’s editorial, WitsVuvuzela would like to clarify that Wits Council chair Mr Saki Macozoma does not receive a salary from Wits University.
Wits academic and support staff unions have planned a rally through Braamfontein on July 19 and a one-day strike next month over long-standing grievances with Wits management.
The three unions jointly declared a dispute after annual wage negotiations faltered last month. Management announced a 7.25% increase for academic staff (Grades 5-9). But the Administration, Library and Technical Staff Association (ALTSA) and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) have demanded a 9%increase.
They received a certificate of dispute from the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), which provides legal protection for protest and strike action.
The two unions, along with the Academic Staff Association of Wits University (ASAWU), also made non-wage related demands in a memorandum to management, including a child care facility for Wits employees.
The unions began their protest action with a picket on Jorissen Street outside Senate House in June, coinciding with a scheduled meeting of the Wits Council. About 150 staff members lined the entrance of the basement parking in freezing weather, calling for support as Council officials and members of the public arrived.
Catherine Dryden, a librarian, told Vuvuzela that she has worked at Wits for over 20 years and earns less than R20,000.
“With my experience and my qualifications, I think it’s an absolute disgrace, and I think if I were a member of Council, I would hang my head in shame”, she said.
Deputy vice chancellor of finance and operations, Prof Patrick FitzGerald, said the university provides extensive information about its financial sustainability during negotiations. Last year, ASAWU’s proposed salary increase would have cost the university around R60m to implement.
“Enough is enough”.
According to the unions, this is the third year they have been in dispute with management. Advocate Liz Picarra, an executive committee member of ASAWU, said “enough is enough”.
“We care about this university, we are this university, and unless they start engaging with us, we are actually doing our students and the entire university community a disservice”, she said.
Nomasonto Baloyi, a data administrator at the Wits Arts Museum, said she has not moved to a job that could pay better because of the experience and benefits Wits offers.
ASAWU president David Dickinson asked Sakumzi Macozoma, Wits Council chair, for his views on the picket as he drove in. He responded, “I hope you’ve told them that we’re speaking to you, have you?”
Wits Council chair, Sakumzi Macozoma (left) in conversation with ASAWU president David Dickinson (right).
Wits Communications manager, Shirona Patel, said management may not respond directly to the memorandum, but will continue with talks until next week.
“The last thing you need is to have an accusation of rape against you for putting a speculum in.”
This was according to Dr Liz Meyer, Medical Protection Society (MPS) consultant, in her lecture titled Medical Legal Issues Relating To Surgery, organized by the Wits Students’ Surgical Society.
Meyer said sexual assault and substance abuse were the main reasons why medical students were dismissed from the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
“You don’t get erased very easily, but if you do, it’s also very difficult to get back.”
Some records taken from doctors' notes in Mpumalanga hospitals.
Doctors don’t always know best
Meyer said the mindset in the medical profession has changed over time to pay more attention to patients’ rights, autonomy and expectations.
Doctors have faced court charges in the past for not tailor-making consent specifically to patients. She said patients must be made to understand the “material risk” of the procedures they may face.
“If you are considering an amputation, a ballet dancer is going to feel different about what is relevant to her in consent, than to a person that is already bound in a wheelchair.”
Etienne Raffner, 5th year medical student and co-founder of the surgical students’ society, said students were taught about consent before anything else in their degree.
"No, no no, nurse! I said slip off his spectacles!"
Communication is key
Meyer said registration with the HPCSA is a responsibility to conform to its ethical code, and doctors must not be afraid to name and shame negligent colleagues.
“If there’s somebody whose actions and work causes you concern, you must do something about it or otherwise, you are going to have problems.”
Meyer said it is important for doctors to share information clearly, especially where there is a language or experience gap. Clinical notes could be used in court, and it can be “very embarrassing” if not written properly according to Meyer.
Medical indemnity is big business
The MPS, which provides legal support to its members and compensates harmed patients, paid out R800m in claims last year.
Membership fees range from R100 a year for interns, to R220 000 a year for gynecologists, because they are considered “high risk”.
Prof Martin Veller, head of the Wits department of surgery, said it was “silly” for students to go into the profession without indemnity, regardless of the cost. Veller said he pays R80 000 a year on medical indemnity insurance.
To achieve the proposed top 100 ranking in the next 10 years Wits needs to address issues that other more established European and American institutions do not face, according to the university’s Strategic Planning Division (SPD).
On its website, the SPD said the university needs to address these specifically African complications in order to reach the prestigious spot and compared the challenge of maintaining league table rankings to “operating on shifting sand”.
Reaching the top 100 spot will require continuous improvement of the quality of Wits’ teaching and research outputs according to the SPD’s Vision 2022 strategic framework.
One of the ways the university hopes to achieve this is by upgrading and building more facilities that are capable of generating a higher standard of research projects.
This in turn will attract highly talented students from around the world and provide an exceptional student-centred and research-driven experience.
Wits also plans to increase improve postgraduate enrolment said Prof Loyiso Nongxa, Vice Chancellor. Nongxa said all the planned improvements require greater financial investment and the university had set aside R1.2-billion for infrastructure development. Nongxa said the programme is starting to show results.
The Wits Art Museum, located at University Corner is set to open on May 19. The urban regeneration project cost the university R40 million and will showcase some of the 9 000 African artworks collected over the university’s 90 years.
The student residence in Parktown, Wits Junction, cost R511 million and is expected to raise the residence capacity of Wits campus by 25%.
Wits has also completed the FNB Building, the New Science Stadium and the upgrade to the Chamber of Mines Building since the project’s introduction by the vice chancellor when it began in 2007.
The implementation of these building projects is aimed at consolidating the university’s status as an intellectual powerhouse by 2015, according to an SPD statement.
Wits is currently ranked 251-275, alongside Stellenbosch university, according to the Times Higher Education World Rankings (THES).
On its website the SPD outlines some of the challenges African countries encounter when competing for ranking in systems such as THES.
These ranking systems can be ignorant of social and economical contexts; tend to focus on research in hard sciences rather than other subjects; rank universities on general rather than specific institutional performances and rely heavily on public perception.
Senior executives hand over baton -It has been confirmed that the vice-chancellor and deputy vice-chancellor (DVC) of finance and operations will leave Wits by May next year.
Wits has invested substantively in technologies that make its core functions of the generation, custodianship and transmission of knowledge easier. But how far has it come?
The first computer owned by a South African university occupied a large part of the first floor of Senate House and had the same processing capacity as a cellphone.
Today, more than 80% of Witsies have access to mobile computing devices according to Professor Yunus Ballim, deputy vice chancellor of knowledge and information management. Last year, the Wits senate resolved that all students from 2nd year upwards will own a mobile computing device.
The Student Computers and Networks initiative will facilitate this plan. Ballim said it was “unacceptable” that poor students were left out and the university plans to engage the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to invest in devices that may offset the cost of textbooks and lecture notes.
Ballim said Wits provides “fairly free” internet access for staff and students, but the Parktown campuses do not have this yet. A R16-million project is under way to instal a fiber cable that will improve the quality of access on the Parktown campuses.
“I think the reality is that the modern university from a research point of view cannot do without high quality internet access. We’re not where we should be but we certainly are getting there,” Ballim said.
The current situation
Kgomotso Selowa, 2nd year engineering, said he enjoyed the virtually uncapped internet that some other universities did not provide, but that the computers were slow.
Otshepeng Letlape, 2nd year BA visual and performance, said she does not use the labs since she got a laptop because she found them crowded and the printers and fans were often not working.
Despite these conditions, there are some students who find the labs helpful. Shalini Lala, 2nd year applied maths, said “some people don’t have access to the internet at home” and the labs are “convenient for many”.
Ballim said the Science Stadium was a learning curve on how technologies can make learning in large classes more effective.
“One of the challenges is getting people used to chalk to use an electronic touch pad with a projector,” he said.
HIGHER ACCESS: A student hard at work outside the CNS computer labs using the wireless network provided by Wits to students for free. The university provided cushions to make the concrete seats more comfortable. Photo: Nandi Ndlazi
Published in Wits Vuvuzela 13th edition, 11th May 2012.
The 13th edition of the Vuvuzela has a new design!
The image is a photographic composite of an image from the Wits Archives of political activity on campus, right, and life at Wits now, left. In this edition, we took a look back at how the university has evolved to its present state, and what it is doing to become one of the top 100 universities in the world.
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, […]
