UWC 360º Perspectives 2015-16 (Issue 4)

360ยบ PERSPECTIVES | ISSUE 4 | 2015/2016

Computational Sciences Centre

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ISSUE 4 | 2015/2016

Where innovative ideas can come to life as drivers of change in our country and for our future world.

Pontia helice (Meadow white)

Cacyreus marshalli (Geranium bronze)

the Vanessa cardui (Painted lady)

Cacyreus tespis tespis (Water bronze)

Š UWC NATURE RESERVE UNIT

Pelopidas thrax inconspicua (White-banded swift)

Spialia mafa mafa (Mafa sandman)

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STAY CONNECTED Update your contact details online

TO STAY CONNECTED with your alma mater.

www.uwc.ac.za/alumni

Alumni Relations Office Department of Institutional Advancement, University of the Western Cape, Office No. 41, Nursing Building, Robert Sobukwe Road Tel: +27 21 959 2143 • Fax: +27 21 959 9791 • Email: alumni@uwc.ac.za • www.uwc.ac.za

www.facebook.com/uwcalumni

twitter.com/uwconline

FROM HOPE TO ACTION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE.

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Foreword

Professor Tyrone Pretorius Rector and Vice-Chancellor

The 360º Perspectives Magazine is aimed at a wide audience of academics and professional staff, current and prospective students, alumni, donors and the public at large.

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his issue showcases some of the University’s achievements during 2015 and 2016 in teaching, research and innovation, student development, our community engagement programmes, as well as achievements by our alumni.

As we reflect on 2015, what probably stands out in the minds of students, staff, parents and all those who kept abreast of the news is the tumultuous period of student protests. Along with many other South

African universities, some international universities and the nation at large, the University was affected by last year’s student protests. Despite the protests, we have seen our students prosper and complete the academic year on a positive note, many of them completing their qualifications.

UWC supports the ideal of equitable and affordable access to education. As an institution we believe that, given the role that higher education plays as the pillar of

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economic and social prosperity, with both public and private benefits, it is imperative that it should be made even more accessible to the poor. We support the initiative by the SRC to launch the Ikamva Lethu – Our Future Fund to raise funds for financially needy students.

In 2015, our image and reputation were strengthened by the international awards and honours received by our academics, the ranking of our university by international organisations, and the achievements of our students in academia and sports.

UWC received three more research chairs in the NRF’s South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI), increasing the total number of SARChI chairs hosted by UWC to 14. The wide-ranging scope of these research chairs, from humanities to science and technology, shows the degree of relevance of our research agenda to the needs of our communities. UWC was also the first institution to be awarded a DST-NRF Flagship, the Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities, based at the Centre for Humanities Research.

Our community engagement initiatives are continuing to make a difference. As part of our contribution to the development of skills in science and technology, one of the highlights of 2015 was the opening of three more Science Learning Centres at schools in disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape. The completion and handing over of the three centres means that we have contributed to the rolling out of 32 Science Learning Centres in the Western Cape.

UWC is creating partnerships with industries and with other research institutions. UWC launched the first hydrogen fuel cell forklift in South Africa and the world’s very first hydrogen refuelling station, commissioned by Impala Platinum Mines.

With over 4 000 new students welcomed and enrolled for 2016, it promises to be another great academic year.

As the articles in this magazine show, UWC’s students, staff and alumni continue to make a positive impact on society and our country and we are proud to highlight their accomplishments.

Professor Tyrone Pretorius Rector and Vice-Chancellor

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PERSPECTIVES Managing Editor: Luthando Tyhalibongo Production Editor: Nastasha Crow Editor: Nazeem Lowe Editorial: Aidan van den Heever Asiphe Nombewu Myolisi Gophe Nicklaus Kruger Shirwileta Williams Dumile Brand Boutique Invision Media Services Scruffy Dog Communications Images: Scruffy Dog Communications UWC Archives Jakupa Architects and Urban Designers (Pty) Ltd. Design: Kult Creative Printing: Deep Print Design Interactive Consultancy Copyright: University of the Western Cape (UWC) unless used with permission of any third party and referenced accordingly. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publishers.

360º Perspectives is published annually

by UWC. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of UWC.

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360ยบ PERSPECTIVES | ISSUE 4 | 2015/2016

PERSPECTIVES

Contents

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Foreword

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Seen on campus

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Rector visits United Arab Emirates

10 Ikamva Lethu Fund to assist struggling students

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Alumni Travel Trip

12 Launch of the Southern African Systems Analysis Centre 14 Alumni paying it forward 18 Computing future growth 20 UWC shapes the future...

23 UWC by the numbers 24 Brilliant innovation needs more talk time?

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New Technology Centre

26 Launch of DST-NRF Flagship 28 Research at UWC growing in stature

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Research growth

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30 International partnerships unlock value for universities 34 Breakthrough water-recovery technology 36 Dullah Omar Institute celebrates 25 years of excellence

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Acid Mine Drainage

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38 Protecting the Cape’s floral heritage

54 7 Interesting Research Topics

41 SANBI improves drug resistance testing

63 Alumni recognised at Chancellor’s Awards Ceremony

43 A brilliant IDIA

65 UWC Then and Now

46 SBF building business minds

68 Olympic dream eludes UWC pair

48 First hydrogen fuel cell forklift and refuelling station

70 Holistically shaping a first-class future

50 Mama Africa!

Celebrating a legend 52 University SRCs must fall?

72 Udubs star’s gritty Olympic debut 74 Footballer stays focused 75 Book reviews

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Cape Flats Nature Reserve

81 2015 in a nutshell

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Influencing changes

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Seen on Campus

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1. Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe, visited UWC to welcome Prof Tyrone Pretorius to his new position as the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape on 12 February 2015.

2. UWC alumna and CEO of the Artscape Theatre, Marlene le Roux (right), and actress Denise Newman, were among the guests at the performance of Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa!

The Musical which took place in May 2016.

3. South Africa’s Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, delivered the fifth annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture at the University of the Western Cape on 7 October 2015 – on Archbishop Tutu’s 84th birthday.

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4. Sello Maake Ka-Ncube, who stars in the soap opera Scandal, attended the inaugural Department of Small Business Development Stakeholder Dialogue at UWC’s School of Business and Finance, held on 12 May 2016. Participants in the Dialogue were able to put questions to the Minister of Small Business Development, Lindiwe Zulu.

5. On 10 February 2016, award-winning local hip-hop star, Ifani, was welcomed at the University of the Western Cape’s Student Centre where he gave students an inspirational account of how he overcame challenges to succeed in his field.

6. The University of the Western Cape hosted the five Cuban antiterrorism heroes popularly known as the Cuban Five, on 21 June 2015, as part of their country-wide tour of South Africa.

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Rector visits United Arab Emirates

The Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tyrone Pretorius, led a delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December 2015.

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he visit marked the first official visit of a UWC Rector to an alumni chapter outside South Africa and was the first official visit to UAE by

UWC’s executive. The purpose of the visit was to encourage alumni fundraising support to the University and to explore contacts and partnerships with academic counterparts

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The purpose of the visit was to encourage alumni fundraising support to the University and to explore contacts and partnerships with academic counterparts and government officials.

and government officials. Prof Pretorius was accompanied by Larry Pokpas, Head of Institutional Planning, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Institutional Advancement, Patricia Lawrence, and Alumni Relations Manager, Samantha Castle.

Prof Pretorius and the team were warmly welcomed by the UWC UAE alumni chapter at the official chapter launch celebration dinner at the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel in Dubai. The chapter, which has 29 members residing and working in the country, was established in 2014.

Alumni travelled from neighbouring city Al Ain in Abu Dhabi and even the Ras AlKhaimah Emirate, a two-hour drive through the desert, to attend the event.

Alumnus Joseph Dennis, the chapter PRO, was the master of ceremonies for the evening, while UAE chapter chairperson, Francis Fourie, gave the welcoming address.

Assuring the Rector of UAE alumni support,

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she related how the chapter had set about raising funds for the Jakes Gerwel Education, Endowment and Development Fund as one of its main goals. Members of the chapter had attended the 1980s alumni reunion weekend in 2014 where they handed over a donation of R10 000. Fourie and the executive committee were proud to present a donation to the Rector of R50 000, money that was raised at two functions held in 2015. One of the functions was a birthday gathering at the home of chapter secretary Leonie Cloete and her husband and fellow alumnus, Freddie Cloete. Leonie had asked friends and alumni to donate money to the Fund in lieu of presents for her birthday.

Prof Pretorius gave a well-received presentation on recent progress at UWC, noting the University’s improvement in rankings and particularly its progress in the sciences. He also gave his perspective on the recent student protests, mentioning the negative impacts of the demonstrations and the destruction of University property at UWC. Alumni had ample opportunity to network with the Rector and the other UWC representatives, as well as South African Embassy staff in attendance.

Jumeirah Creekside Hotel, Deira. Picture credit: Dubai Golf & Holiday

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Ikamva Lethu Fund to assist struggling students On 29 February 2016, the University of the Western Cape Student Representative Council (SRC) launched its Ikamva Lethu campaign which will assist academically deserving students with funding.

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he campaign targets struggling students to ensure that they are not financially excluded. The issue of student funding is most pertinent, as many of the 20 000 registered students at UWC need financial assistance.

SRC President Akhona Landu says, “As the student leadership body, we find it very important to always put students and their needs first in all our engagements and activities.” The campaign forms part of the SRC’s Legacy Project, which aims to initiate sustainable student support initiatives that will have a long-term impact.

The nationwide campaign has already secured R2 million from the UWC Executive Management with an added pledge of R350 000 from the SRC that will be taken from the SRC’s allocated budget.

Renewable energy company BioTherm Energy, together with the Department of Energy, donated R1 million each towards the Ikamva Lethu - Our Future Fund campaign.

Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tyrone Pretorius says, “Regardless of our historically disadvantaged institution (HDI) status, we have been consistent with our performance, which has earned the University the distinction of being one of the five top-

rated institutions in the country. But we are an HDI institution that needs support from various stakeholders.”

Master’s student in the Linguistics Department, Zandile Bangani, feels privileged to be part of a generation of students that offers solutions to problems instead of excuses for the challenges they faced.

“Financial difficulties are limiting most

students from underprivileged backgrounds.

Ikamva will help prevent the high dropout rate of students wanting to finish but unable to due to fees being too expensive and

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unaffordable. The Fund will make things easier by paying for registration, food and study materials.”

The SRC is confident that any concerns about accountability and transparency have been addressed through the roles of the office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Development and Support (exercising fiduciary duties), the Student Development and Support Services Committee (dealing with allocations), the Department of Institutional Advancement, external auditors and other role-players.

Luthando Tyhalibongo, Communications and Media Relations Manager at UWC, says, “The Fund is strictly for students who do not qualify for NSFAS funding – the missing middle.” He adds that the Minister of Higher

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Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, has stated that all universities in South Africa will be audited by the Auditor-General’s office.

The Fund will undergo rigorous scrutiny and UWC will handle the administrative aspect of the campaign.

According to the SRC, the Fund has already assisted 200 students by paying for their registration and settling 30% of their 2015 debt. Food assistance was also provided to 1 227 students in the June examination period.

The UWC SRC has called on parents, the business sector, and staff and supporters of UWC to donate to the Ikamva Lethu Fund through online payments, EFT payments, and SMS donations at *120*4885# (SMSs cost R25 each).

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Dr Thandi Mgwebi, UWC’s Director of Research and the Director of the Southern African Systems Analysis Centre (SASAC).

Launch of the Southern African Systems Analysis Centre

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outh Africa became a member of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in 2007, with the National Research Foundation (NRF) as the national member organisation (NMO).

IIASA is an international non-governmental research organisation, headquartered in

Laxenburg, Austria, that provides sciencebased insights into complex global, regional and national problems. IIASA conducts policyoriented scientific research in the problem areas of energy and climate change; food and water; and poverty and equity. Its three crosscutting research areas are drivers of global transformation, advanced systems analysis, and

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IIASA is an international nongovernmental research organisation, headquartered in Laxenburg, Austria, that provides science-based insights into complex global, regional and national problems.

policy and governance. A range of research and capacity building activities have been developed by South African research partners and IIASA since then, most notably the launch by the Minister of Science and Technology in 2011 of the Southern African Young Scientists Summer Programme (SA-YSSP), that was hosted in South Africa during 2012–2014.

The National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) took a strategic decision to invest in and expand activities around systems analysis over the coming decade. This led to the development of the new Southern African Systems Analysis Centre (SASAC), a multiyear initiative aimed at strengthening systems analysis capacity in South Africa.

After a call for proposals by the NRF/DST in August 2015, a consortium of four universities – the Universities of the Western Cape, Limpopo, Witwatersrand and Stellenbosch – won the bid to host the SASAC between 2016 and 2018. A grant of R20 million over the first three years of the SASAC has been awarded to the SASAC, which is under the directorship of Dr Thandi Mgwebi, the Director for Research at UWC. The Centre will host a number of capacitybuilding and training programmes, including: • The management of three-year bursaries for South Africa-based PhD students registered at South African universities to complete their studies with a supervisor from South Africa experienced in systems analysis, and possibly with an international co-supervisor or collaborator associated with IIASA.

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• PhD students will be identified to take part in a two-month capacity development programme to be held during May and June at the host institution(s). The PhD research should be supported by systems analysisrelated research methodology and focused to address the DST Grand Challenges.

This group of students will include those who have received bursaries (as described above), as well as students from NMO member countries and from Africa.

Supervisors (from South Africa and IIASA) will spend up to 10 days on site with the students at the beginning of the two-month research period. There is also a three-week high-level capacity strengthening programme that will target supervisors, early career academics and postdoctoral fellows from Southern Africa and other NMO countries. A target of 30 participants per annum is anticipated. The programme will include high-level lectures and capacity development workshops related to systems analysis capacity.

• In addition, scientific seminars will cover themes in both the social and natural sciences, often with policy dimensions, to broaden the participants’ perspectives and strengthen their analytical and modelling skills. Keynote lectures will be delivered by national and international leaders in their respective research fields, partly drawn from IIASA’s widespread network of alumni and collaborators, as well as from the NRF’s extensive international networks of excellence. The programme will be enhanced with field trips and cultural excursions, and may involve networking with national research programmes.

• Four to five South African institutions that currently have systems analysis capacity will be identified to incorporate a systems analysis component or module into selected honours level programmes.

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Alumni paying it forward The relationship between a university and its alumni is one that is influenced by a strong sense of pride and a desire to continue a progressive relationship with the institution.

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niversities across the globe benefit from this connection with their former students. Former Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Brian O’ Connell, proudly reflects on how humbled he was by the dedication and commitment of UWC alumni during his term in office.

“In order to understand the personal connection between UWC and its alumni community, one has to fully be in tune with the Institution’s history,” he says.

“Having been previously branded as an institution that houses ‘second-class academics’ UWC holds a remarkable history, which narrates the outcomes of collective perseverance. Our

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alumni are legacies who are true examples of excellence regardless of adversities.”

Recent challenges faced by universities throughout South Africa have underlined both the financial pressure experienced by many students and the need for universities to find ways to assist students without placing at risk the universities’ own sustainability.

As a university that has always had a majority of working class students, and with the student debt crisis of the early 1990s still a painful memory, UWC foresaw the need for student assistance several years before the recent student protests erupted. In 2012, the chairperson of the UWC Foundation, Fred Robertson, initiated the establishment of the Jakes Gerwel Educational, Development and Endowment Fund, in honour of Professor Jakes Gerwel who had, during his term as Rector of the University of the Western Cape, consistently advocated broad access to higher education.

While the Fund is also intended to raise funds for UWC’s growth and future sustainability, it is primarily a bursary fund. A number of corporate donors have generously contributed to the Fund. Alumni programmes organised through the Alumni Relations Office at UWC’s Department of Institutional Advancement have also raised considerable sums toward this purpose.

These programmes have ranged from football tournaments and golf days to alumni reunions and the establishment of alumni chapters.

The Alumni Relations Office frequently facilitates opportunities for alumni to pay it forward through participating in on-campus programmes, speaking engagements and acting in leadership or mentoring roles with current students.

Increasingly, individual UWC alumni are seeing the Fund as an ideal way to contribute to the work and mission of their alma mater.

In a typical comment Ingrid Jones says, “As

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a UWC alumna, I have made it my personal responsibility to ensure that I support the University and its students in whatever way I can as I personally have benefitted from the generosity of the institution’s former students.”

Another alumnus who is determined to demonstrate the concept of paying it forward is Sidney Martin, a highly successful business owner in Namibia with a range of interests in farming and fishing. He completed his BA Law degree in 1991. >>

This was a good foundation for my career – where I studied towards my first law degree and where I learnt the key principles that proved invaluable in operating a successful business today.

Sidney Martin, BA Law degree, 1991

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“This was a good foundation for my career – where I studied towards my first law degree and where I learnt the key principles that proved invaluable in operating a successful business today.” Martin wanted to make a positive impact in his country and the broader community and decided to annually donate money towards the financial needs of Namibian students at the University of the Western Cape.

“I can relate to poverty and I saw the sacrifices my parents made to afford the education I enjoyed in my lifetime. I’d like to do the same for other students who have the same appreciation for education as I do,” he says.

Martin is active in the Namibia Alumni Chapter, one of four UWC alumni chapters launched in 2015. Alumni chapters are key structures in alumni philanthrophy and can be established anywhere in the world where an institution can muster numbers of alumni. Aside from fundraising for specific purposes and individual donations, chapters are also typically instrumental in raising

funds for infrastructure programmes such as new buildings or research chairs and, with older universities, often inspire alumni to bequeath donations to their alma mater in their wills. UWC’s chapter programme is still in its infancy with chapters launched since 2014 in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Namibia, the United Arab Emirates and the Western Cape. Alumni in London, Washington D.C. and elsewhere have also expressed interest in forming chapters.

For current student leaders, support from UWC’s alumni is valued beyond their financial contribution. “The Student Representative Council (SRC) holds the relationships that it has with the institution’s alumni dear as they open opportunities for engagements and mentorship. As future alumni we will continue to find it just as important to shine the torch brighter for students through providing significant support to the University when we too have the means to do so,” says Akhona Landu, President of the UWC SRC.

Jakes Gerwel Education, Development and Endowment Fund Building the UWC Legacy

Join us in building the UWC legacy by supporting the Jakes Gerwel Education, Development and Endowment Fund.

The Fund supports student bursaries, University projects and campus-wide improvements. With your support, we believe the Fund will grow significantly and ensure that future generations enjoy a

quality education at our beloved alma mater.

With your help, the University of the Western Cape can continue to be a place of quality learning, a place to grow, and a place that turns hope into action through knowledge.

To make a donation, please visit the DONATE page at www.uwc.ac.za. Alternatively, contact Ms Somayah Barnes at sbarnes@uwc.ac.za or telephone +27 21 959 2143.

FROM HOPE TO ACTION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE.

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Computing future growth The South African government has identified four key strategic indicators that will help reduce poverty and inequality and improve living standards in the country.

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hese are entrepreneurship, innovation, business development and sustainability. Technology will play a significant role in helping to attain these goals. The University of the Western Cape (UWC) has integrated technology into its operations through three focus areas.

Externally, we are nurturing productive relationships with internationally competitive research teams. Internally, we are offering students platforms to help them adopt and master technologies that can be used to develop solutions to society’s socio-economic challenges. Our third focus is to ensure the physical infrastructure on campus supports these activities.

The University therefore proposes developing a new Computational Sciences Centre that it hopes will add to the University’s ever improving science resources. The Centre is the next phase of the strategy to develop a science precinct to the west of campus, linking with the Life Sciences, Chemical Sciences, PetroSA Synthetic Fuels Innovation Centre and the South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry buildings.

The Computational Sciences Centre will bring the Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science and Information Technology departments together into a single teaching

space designed to accommodate up to 1 000 students. A key principle behind this project is to maximise and improve the buildings and spaces that already exist at the University. The proposed design incorporates redeveloping the existing facilities and consolidating them into one refurbished facility. The core of the academic activity will be conducted at lecture halls on the upper floor of the Centre.

Plug-and-play WiFi-enabled technical areas, lockers, printing hubs and eating areas will be constructed on the ground floor. Postgraduate

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students will have 24-hour access to a reflective space in which to work or relax. A third area will accommodate offices, seminar and discussion rooms, a library as well as a kitchen and staff room. Among many expected benefits, the Centre will: • assist UWC to translate the ground-breaking research produced at the University into valuable business opportunities; • enable technology to be optimised to make a profound social, economic and environmental impact; • help to attract and retain new researchers in relevant fields; • enable UWC to attract and nurture a more diverse group of future leaders in information communications technology (ICT)-related industries. The investment in these leaders will encourage others in previously disadvantaged communities to pursue studies in these growing fields of research; • develop new research that may spin off

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commercial benefits for the Institution that would spur job creation.

The first step in realising the dream of a Computational Science Centre has begun with the development of a funding proposal for the new building, as the University will require substantial sponsorship from donor partners to develop the facility. Once completed, the Centre will represent the best of technology innovation in the Western Cape and South Africa and assist UWC and the country to enter a new era of technology research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

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UWC shapes the future...

The University of the Western Cape’s rapid rise to become one of Africa’s top research institutions is a reflection of the quality of staff and students that the University has been able to attract and nurture, and the considerable investment by the Institution, government and stakeholders in developing research capacity. 2015 saw UWC achieve a number of gratifying awards and milestones.

New SARCHI Chairs The NRF awarded three more South African Research Chair Initiative (SARChI) research chairs to UWC. Professor Patricia Hayes is the SARChI Chair in Visual History and Theory, and Prof Helen Schneider is the SARChI Chair in Health Systems Governance. The SA-UK Bilateral Research Chair in Social Protection for Food Security was awarded to Dr Stephen Devereux of UWC’s DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security in 2016. UWC now has a total of 14 SARChI chairs.

“We are especially pleased that the University will host two more SARChI chairs filled by leading women researchers,” says Prof Frans Swanepoel, Deputy ViceChancellor: Research & Innovation.

Six academics join ASSAf The Academy of Sciences of South Africa (ASSAf) is the country’s official national academy of science, which invites membership to South Africa’s most outstanding scholars. The six UWC academics who joined ASSAf in 2015 are: Prof Tamara Shefer: Director and Professor of the Women’s and Gender Studies Programme and Deputy Dean: Teaching and

Learning at the Faculty of Arts.

Prof Julian May: Director at the Institute for Social Development at the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, and also Director of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security.

Prof Priscilla Baker: An internationally recognised specialist in Analytical Electrochemistry at UWC’s Faculty of Natural Science, she is also co-leader of SensorLab, an electrochemistry research platform focusing on fundamental and applied electrodynamics of materials and sensors.

Prof Christopher Stroud: Head of Department at the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research in the Faculty of Arts.

Prof Uma Mesthrie: A professor at the Faculty of Arts for nearly two decades, Prof Mesthrie is a leading scholar in the field of India-South Africa connected histories.

Prof Ernst Conradie: Senior Professor in the Department of Religion and Theology at UWC, where he teaches systematic theology and ethics.

Knowledge Tree Awards Every year, the Water Research Commission (WRC) recognises excellence in research and innovation in areas affecting the water and

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sanitation sector. The two UWC researchers awarded the Transformation and Redress Tree of Knowledge Award in 2015 were: Prof Leslie Petrik: Prof Petrik leads the Environmental Nanosciences Group which has contributed nanoscience and environmental research focused on the treatment of mining effluents, brines and solid wastes, including ground-breaking work in acid mine drainage.

Dr Barbara Nompumelelo Tapela: A senior researcher at the Institute for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), Dr Tapela has developed broad expertise in integrated water resources management, community-based natural resources management, sustainable livelihoods, strategic partnerships and smallholder farmer integration into agro-food chains, and transboundary water management.

Distinguished Researcher Award Prof Meshach Ogunniyi, Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Education and former Head of the School of Science and Mathematics Education was awarded the Distinguished

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Researcher Award for his lifetime contributions to science education and indigenous knowledge research by America’s National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST).

National Awards in the Sciences Prof Ramesh Bharuthram received a lifetime achievement award from DST at the inaugural awards ceremony of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) in May 2015.

Prof Marla Trindade received the 2015 Distinguished Young Woman Scientist (Life Sciences) Award at the DST South African Women in Science Awards in August 2015.

Three UWC scholars were recognised at the 2015 National Research Foundation (NRF) Awards. Professor Alan Christoffels, the Director of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) at UWC, received the Hamilton Naki Special Award.

Prof Romeel Davé of UWC’s Department of Physics and Prof Andrew Taylor (Department >>

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of Astronomy) were awarded A-ratings by the NRF, recognising them as leading international scholars in their fields.

Recognition for Excellence The Master’s in Adult Learning & Global Change (ALGC) programme won the Excellence in e-Learning Award at the 14th European Conference on e-Learning, held at Hertfordshire University, UK at the end of 2015. Dr Garnet Grosjean, the international coordinator of the programme, accepted the award on behalf of the ALGC. The Masters in ALGC, in its 15th year of existence, is delivered collaboratively by UWC (South Africa), Linköping University (Sweden), Monash University (Australia) and the University of British Columbia (Canada).

International Award for Dr Pedro Abrantes Dr Pedro Abrantes, from the Department of Medical Biosciences, was awarded the John David Williams Memorial Award by the International Society of Chemotherapy (ISC) for Infection and Cancer. This award was presented to him during the American Society for Microbiology / International Society of Chemotherapy (ISC) for Infection and Cancer 55th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and 29th International Congress of Chemotherapy and Infection, held in San Diego, California, in 2015.

The title of his award-winning conference paper was “Proteomics of drug-resistant HIVassociated candidiasis”.

Physics Awards Five UWC students from the Physics Department won awards at the 2015 South African Institute of Physics conference:

Siphelo Ngqoloda (second-year masters student, MATSCI) – Outstanding poster presentation in the Condensed Matter division; Sinovuyo Tanci (first-year masters, Physics Education) – Outstanding poster presentation in the Physics Education division; Lynndle Square (PhD, material modelling physics) – Best PhD Oral presentation in Theoretical and Computational Physics division; Phumzile Zandile Mabika (joint MANUS student from University of Zululand) – Outstanding poster presentation in Nuclear, Particle and Radiation Physics Division; and Bernadette Maria Rebeiro (PhD Nuclear Physics) – Best PhD oral presentation on Nuclear Structure studies.

Moot Court competition The Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice in which student teams argue both the applicant and respondent positions of the case. The UWC Law student team beat four of South Africa’s top universities in the South African round of the competition at UWC, earning the right to represent South Africa in the international phase of the world’s largest student courtroom challenge.

Imperial Barrel Awards UWC team members Sylvia Mabitje, Teddy Raphiri, Muazzam Hashim, Amansure Giovanni and Faculty Advisor Dr Mimonitu Opuwari won the African leg of the Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) competition. The IBA is an annual competition where graduate geoscience teams from universities around the world compete to win scholarship funds towards postgraduate geoscience development at their universities.

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1 …by the numbers

UWC is the leading university in South Africa in in a number of fields, including Ecology, Nuclear Physics, Genetics & Heredity, Planning & Development, and Multidisciplinary Sciences.

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UWC has been elected South Africa’s Greenest Campus twice since the Green Campus Initiative awards began in 2012.

(WEB OF SCIENCE CITATION IMPACT FOR 1993–2012).

3 Current Vice-Chancellors of South African universities who are UWC alumni (including Prof Tyrone Pretorius).

The number of World Health Organisation Collaborating Centres hosted by UWC (in Oral Health, Health Systems Complexity and Change, and Bioinformatics and Human Health).

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UWC’s rank overall among South African institutions for research citations.

The spot UWC held in 2015 on the Times Higher Education rankings of the top universities in Africa for research influence.

UWC alumni have gone on to become Rectors or Vice-Chancellors of South African universities.

The number of SARChI Chairs hosted at UWC.

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47

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UWC academics honoured with membership of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa.

The number of state-of-theart school science labs developed by UWC’s Science Learning Centre for Africa.

The percentage of South Africa’s dentists produced by UWC’s Faculty of Dentistry.

The percentage of teaching staff at UWC who hold doctorates.

100

100

220

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UWC’s ranking in 2015 among all 2 500 universities in the BRICS countries (placing it in the top 5 percent).

The number of PhDs awarded by UWC in 2014.

Species of indigenous plants protected in UWC’s Cape Flats Nature Reserve (along with over 100 bird species).

The percentage growth in UWC’s research output from 2001 to 2013.

1500

2 000

10 000 20 000

UWC’s Research Repository holds over 1 500 papers by researchers, accessible to anybody in the world.

Student volunteers at UWC who actively participate in green campus initiatives including clean-up campaigns, green talks and debates, and green gardening activities.

The number of students from South Africa and other African countries who have participated in the UWC School of Public Health’s Summer and Winter Schools since 1992, making it the largest continuing education programme in public health in Africa.

The approximate number of students currently registered at UWC.

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Brilliant innovation needs more talk time?

Installation of solar panels at one of the selected homes in order to connect to the Mesh Potato service.

Mobile phone technology has been adopted faster in Africa than anywhere else, especially in remote areas that landlines have not reached.

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he devices are wireless, but they still need access to the networks of cellphone towers to work. Even when they can access networks, the cost of handsets and airtime, like traditional landline calls, severely inhibits telecommunications in poorer communities.

A team from UWC’s Department of Computer Science has responded to the challenge and launched a telecommunications project in the small community of Mankosi in the rural Eastern Cape. The study was initiated in 2012 by students based in the department who were familiar with the community’s communication problems.

The project aims to give the community – very dependent on the relatively expensive

major mobile operators – more choice in telecommunications access, and to cut residents’ mobile phone bills.

“In South Africa, there is a massive gap in access to communications tools,” says Dr Carlos Rey-Moreno, one of the project’s founding members. “The project was a way for the community to take responsibility for their own telecommunications, and reduce costs.”

The technology on which the project is based was already available. For some years, the department’s Prof Bill Tucker had led a study on the establishment of a ‘village telco’, an international initiative – simply called Village Telco – to provide low-cost telephony and internet to small communities with either no or expensive access. Village telcos harness

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open-access hardware and software and are built around a wireless network architecture known as mesh networking. Instead of using expensive beacons or masts, mesh networks run off small, cheap wireless devices dubbed Mesh Potatoes. These Mesh Potatoes ‘talk’ to each other and pass data along the network.

The team was well aware that it needed community buy-in to overcome resistance to new technology. “We wanted people to feel empowered, to organise themselves, to make their own choices,” says Dr Rey-Moreno.

The UWC team made a point of sitting down with the community’s traditional authority before they started. The traditional authority established a committee to oversee the project.

That committee took charge of administration, including registering a cooperative and selecting the 12 households where the Mesh Potatoes base stations or nodes would be set up. The committee adopted a business plan for the project and eventually named the project the Zenzeleni Networks Mankosi (‘Zenzeleni’ means ‘do it by ourselves’). It was decided that phone calls from one node to another node would be free. To raise funds for the project, calls to other networks were set at 50% of the rate charged by MTN, the operator commonly used in the community.

A number of residents were trained to set up and later maintain the system. This included installing solar panels and the Mesh UWC’s William (Bill) Tucker and Carlos Rey-Moreno.

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An example of a Mesh Potato base station or node.

Potatoes’ aerials on the roofs of the selected homes. As Mankosi is not on the Eskom grid, the solar panels not only charge the Mesh Potatoes but also generate enough power to light the base-station homes and charge the phones of Mankosi residents, who pay for the much-needed facility. Against expectations, while many recharged their batteries at the base-station homes, residents continued to make pricier calls from their private phones rather than use the Zenzeleni service.

“Even in the case of Zenzeleni – where we have done a fairly decent job of spanning these communities – it doesn’t make for instant success,” says Prof Tucker. “Every culture/society/community comes with a large degree of steadfastness, obstinance, plasticity, institutional inertia – whatever you want to call it, that holds people back from changing certain behaviours.”

To address this, his team set about convincing a few early adopters to switch to the Zenzeleni system, hoping that, once others see the benefits of the new service, they would do likewise.

“When people in the community start to see others changing their behaviour, only then will we see a ‘tipping point’ – that point when a behaviour or idea becomes widely acceptable – and then the new technology can take hold and be exploited for personal, community and societal gain,” says Prof Tucker.

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Launch of DST-NRF Flagship

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he University of the Western Cape hosted the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, when she officially launched the DSTNRF Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities at the Centre for Humanities Research on 2 September 2015.

The flagship is the first launched under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and National Research Foundation (NRF) programme responding to gaps in the current framework of higher education in South Africa. The Minister made it clear that the flagship was intended to assist

institutions that were only lately beginning to attract significant funding for research, unlike “established universities with a strong institutional research base [that] receive support from existing research support mechanisms.”

Recounting some of the research advances made by UWC, Minister Pandor said it had evolved “into an institution with sophisticated research activities.”

UWC Director for the Centre of Humanities Research, Professor Premesh Lalu, said, “The Flagship on Critical Research is a platform for scholarly exchange, artistic

(Front, from left to right) UWC CHR Director, Prof Premesh Lalu; Science and Technology Minister, Naledi Pandor; UWC Vice-Chancellor, Prof Tyrone Pretorius. Picture credit: Ajay Lalu.

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science & technology Department: Science and Technology REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

South African research on identity and transformation already has rich material to form the foundation for the early work of this flagship. It offers collaboration opportunities to social scientists in a range of fields that are not sufficiently explored collaboratively – customary law and democracy, history and culture, human origins, race and identity.

Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology

creation and public inquiry into African political subjectivity, art and society, and technology and the human.”

The flagship is founded on three research thematics: Aesthetic Education, the Becoming Technical of the Human, and Migrating Violence. In an effort to engage with members of the public, the flagship will convene a public lecture series in Athlone, Cape Town, and establish a Factory of the Arts in District Six. The flagship is designed to host scholars and students from South African universities, public institutions and national and international research bodies in a collaborative initiative to forge the next generation of humanities scholars, committed to the demands of building a post-apartheid South Africa. Minister Pandor said she had high hopes for the flagship. “South African

research on identity and transformation already has rich material to form the foundation for the early work of this flagship.

It offers collaboration opportunities to social scientists in a range of fields that are not sufficiently explored collaboratively – customary law and democracy, history and culture, human origins, race and identity.”

The Minister added that, if the Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities lived up to expectations, it would radically alter the focus and thrust of the humanities in South Africa and Africa, as well as provide an opportunity to reaffirm the humanities. The process of awarding the flagship involved presentations by competing universities. An international panel selected UWC on the basis of a compelling presentation made by UWC’s Centre for Humanities Research.

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Research at UWC growing in stature

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niversities are places of teaching and learning as well as places of research, producing the knowledge and understanding to power future progress. UWC didn’t begin its life as a research institution, but has become one of the African continent’s leaders in research, with its research output growing by 365 percent between 2001 and 2013. Reflecting this position, two key appointments were made in 2015, with newly-appointed Prof Frans Swanepoel joining the executive team as Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, and Dr Thandi Mgwebi as Director of Research at UWC. Many research projects and innovations have contributed to UWC’s rapidly growing stature in research, among which are the following: • UWC launched the Energy Storage Innovation Lab (ESIL) aimed at providing reliable and cost-effective energy storage systems. ESIL boasts high-tech battery integration and production facilities, and has produced a modular battery system (MBS) capable of powering a range of applications, including golf carts, battery electric vehicles, backup power solutions, off-grid power systems and grid-connected storage.

• Prof Leslie Petrik, Dr Godfrey Madzivire and others of the UWC’s Environmental and NanoSciences group have

Universities are places of teaching and learning as well as places of research, producing the knowledge and understanding to power future progress. devised a fly ash acid mine drainage technology that involves the treatment of contaminated mine water with coal fly ash, enabling the re-use of the water for agricultural and industrial purposes while reducing pollution and environmental hazards.

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• While many South African physicists have collaborated with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on high-energy physics, UWC’s Prof Nico Orce has masterminded the first Large Hadron Collider-considered research proposal in low-energy nuclear physics to be led by an African institution. The experiment will examine the nuclei of an exotic isotope of selenium produced in the explosion of binary star systems composed of a giant star and an extremely dense neutron star – a powerful but extremely common occurrence on a galactic scale. Preparation has been ongoing since 2013, and the project has been awarded beam time for experiments to be run in 2016.

• Prof Bill Tucker of the Department of Computer Science at UWC leads a range of projects in the Bridging Africa’s Network Gaps (BANG) consortium group. One project enables connectivity through lowcost internet and voice calls in rural areas.

Another provides an alternative, nontextual, inexpensive communication tool to assist deaf people to receive prescription information in South African sign language from a pharmacist on a mobile phone.

• Department of Medical BioScience Associate Professor Jeremy Klaasen discovered that kraalbos, used in indigenous Khoisan medicine, could be used as a biopesticidal adjuvant (boosting the performance of a pesticide). Research is being conducted as part of UWC’s Indigenous Botanical Adjuvant Technology (iBATECH) project, and Prof Klaasen’s company, Kraalbos Bio-Health Products CC, has launched a range of kraalbos cleansing products as well.

• Hyrax Biosciences, which grew out of UWC’s South African National Bioinformatics Institute, works to

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•

•

•

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make precision medicine affordable for everyone, focusing primarily on resource-limited settings, where the burden of infectious disease is high and the ability to provide clinicians with relevant information is critical to successful treatment.

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has awarded the UWC School of Public Health’s extramural unit, the ‘SAMRC/UWC Health Services to Systems Research Unit’, potential funding in excess of R1 million per year for 15 years, to focus on interventions and technologies that improve the access, quality and equity of health services.

The recently-launched Green Nanotechnology Centre combines the strengths of nanobioscience, nanochemistry and nanophysics to develop innovative solutions for societal benefit in alternative energy, new medical diagnostic/therapeutic agents, biological sensors, chemical sensors, smart electronic materials, nanoscale robots and environmentally benign breathing devices.

UWC launched the UWC Centre for Research in HIV & AIDS in 2009, to foster synergies among UWC’s research teams and actively engage society in developing, conducting and applying research and teaching in health policies, education and learning, capacity strengthening, genderbased issues and violence.

UWC’s HySA Systems Centre of Competence and several national and international partners have introduced many hydrogen fuel cell technology innovations, including South Africa’s first hydrogen-powered tricycle and scooter, a 2.5kW fuel cell backup power system for telecommunication markets and a hydrogen-powered golf cart.

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International partnerships unlock value for universities Before the 1990s, international collaboration between UWC and other universities was severely limited by the restrictions on opportunities imposed by apartheid.

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efore the 1990s, international collaboration between UWC and other universities was severely limited by the restrictions on opportunities imposed by apartheid. Partnerships that did exist, such as that with the University of Missouri System – now in its 30th year – contributed significantly to growing research and teaching capacity at UWC. In a telling observation on globalisation on the eve of the new millennium, the then Secretary-General of the United Nations Organisation, Kofi Annan, observed that the coming period would offer “unparalleled opportunities for universities, as centres of knowledge, to play a vital role in addressing global concerns”.

UWC had already reached this conclusion, having established the International Relations Office in the same year (1998), to ensure effective planning and coordination of its internationalisation strategy. Mathematics Professor Jan Persens was the Office’s first Director. As stated in the UWC Institutional Operating Plan, international cooperation is an essential part of teaching, learning, research and community outreach/involvement.

Every department and operating unit within the University’s seven faculties has core international partnerships and linkages that advance this strategic goal.

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“The function of the International Relations Office is to ensure that the Institution’s international reputation and relevance transcend from administrative governance to sustainable research exchange projects that benefit both staff and students,” says Leolyn Jackson, the current Director of the UWC International Relations Office.

“The engagements and exchanges we manage between UWC and universities from across the world are among the reasons that we have generated an increasing amount of interest from faculty members and students from abroad to pursue their higher education qualifications at our institution.”

UWC has successfully pursued strategic international partnerships with higher education institutions across the globe, resulting in award-winning research findings and numerous opportunities for UWC students to pursue postgraduate studies abroad. Engagement agreements include joint research collaborations, scholarships and student exchange programmes. Among others, UWC has long-standing Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the University of Missouri (USA), Ghent University (Belgium), The Hague University (Netherlands), Minnesota University (USA) and the Universities of Bergen and Oslo (Norway).

UWC further enhanced its global footprint through its membership in and participation with global international higher education associations like NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the European Association for International Education, the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education, the Southern African-Nordic Centre, the Brazilian Association for International Education, the Mexican Association for International Education and the Association of International Education Administrators.

UWC hosts international students seeking degrees and those who are affiliated for

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research and short-term study abroad. UWC’s international student community comprises approximately 10% of total enrolment. Most of the international students are African, originating from Zimbabwe (340 currently enrolled), Nigeria (170), Namibia (108), Zambia (107), Libya (80), Cameroon (70), Kenya (70), Democratic Republic of Congo (60), Malawi (48), Rwanda (41), Sudan (40), Uganda (38) and Ghana (38).

UWC pursues executive strategies to establish links with research chairs, funding agencies, professional networks, and research and project consortiums. These agreements are often preceded or followed by the hosting of international visitors by departments and the University.

In March 2016 UWC hosted a delegation of Swedish vice-chancellors and representatives of the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation and Research as part of its engagement to strengthen research collaboration with Sweden and its existing partnerships with the universities of Lund, Uppsala and Linköping, among others.

UWC also met delegations from other universities in 2016, such as Howest (Belgium), Karlstad (Sweden), Leiden (Netherlands), Humboldt (Germany), Missouri (USA) and Marquette (USA), all of which resulted in the establishment or renewal of cooperation agreements.

“The MOUs with our long-term and new international partners have enabled us to continue positively building UWC’s reputation within the international higher education community,” says Jackson. The improvement in UWC’s international profile and standing has contributed tangibly to the Institution’s research capacity and its achievement of several prestigious milestones, such as: • developing three World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaboration Centres in Dentistry, Pharmacy and Public Health; >>

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• the development of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security; • the largest nuclear and nanotechnology programmes; • two of five German-sponsored centres of excellence in Africa, in Justice and Development Studies; • UWC being awarded 14 NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chairs; • A master’s degree in adult learning and global change offered jointly with the Australian Catholic University, Linköping University, the University of British Columbia and UWC; • A Master’s in Health Information Management offered between UWC, the

Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Tanzania), subsidised by the German Academic Exchange, DAAD. Many individual departments maintain research and teaching links with their counterparts abroad. For example, the Department of Biotechnology works with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, the Department of Law with Humboldt University, the Department of Medical Biosciences with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore, and the Department of Computer Science with the University of Carthage, Tunisia.

Expanding network of key strategic partnerships

Canada • Ottawa University USA • Arcadia University • Binghamton University • Howard University • Johns Hopkins School of Nursing • University of Kentucky

• • • • • • • • •

Marquette University Massachusetts College Minnesota University Missouri University Morgan State University Pennsylvania State University Point Loma Nazarene University Wisconsin-Madison University Sewanee University of the South

• • • • • • • •

The Netherlands Switzerland Sweden Spain Russia Norway Malaysia Japan

• • • • • • •

Ireland Germany China Caribbean Brazil Belgium Austria

• • • • • • •

Namibia Rwanda Sudan Kenya Mozambique Denmark France

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Breakthrough water-recovery technology In a 2010 report, an expert team reporting to an inter-ministerial committee on acid mine drainage (AMD) highlighted the “urgency of implementing intervention measures before problems become more critical”, listing many environmental and health threats.

Professor Leslie Petrik.

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n 2014, the Department of Water Affairs warned that it would cost the country between nine and ten billion rand to purify AMD into potable water.

AMD is a global problem, and is a particular concern in South Africa’s gold, coal and copper mining areas. It occurs when water and oxygen react with the sulphur contained in rocks. While this process occurs naturally, mining exposes more of the sulphur when rocks are broken up. During normal operations, water is pumped from the mines and treated. However, abandoned and disused mines are a concern as AMD can seep into groundwater, and eventually pollute streams and rivers surrounding mining areas.

Apart from a range of very complex salts, acid mine drainage also holds high concentrations of metals and sulphates.

“There’s a whole periodic table of chemicals and minerals in there,” says Professor Leslie Petrik, leader of the Environmental and NanoSciences (ENS) group in the Department of Chemistry at UWC. Prof Petrik’s team has developed a water recovery plant to clean the acid mine drainage. The system uses fly ash, a waste residue that remains after the burning of coal, as well as low-cost nano-materials known as zeolites – with structures so small they are invisible to the human eye and even standard

microscopes. Zeolites are minerals that occur naturally, but synthetic versions can also be produced, as Prof Petrik has done. Both natural and synthetic zeolites have a typical cage-like molecular structure that allows them to trap other molecules, including the toxic elements found in AMD. A pilot study has shown that the water recovery plant works better and cheaper than most other technologies. Studies have found that fly ash zeolites cost as little as one-fifth of commercially available zeolites.

The plant has performed well in tests, removing the bulk of the pollutants in the AMD.

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The recovered water still contains calcium and sodium, but at this stage is clean enough for agricultural irrigation. The water can be made fit for human consumption by dropping the zeolites into the system’s clarifying tanks to remove the residual contaminants.

The great advantage of the treatment is that it can clean up the raw AMD without having to dilute it first, as most other technologies require, saving time, energy, water and money. There are also distinct advantages in using fly ash. It is estimated that South Africa generates 35 million tons of fly ash waste every year, much of which is produced by Eskom’s coal-fired power plants. Waste fly ash is therefore in abundant supply and available to the purification process at little or no input cost.

The large amount of fly ash residue left over after purification can be returned to the (nowclosed) mines from which it originated to not only fill and stabilise old shafts and tunnels, but also to stall the formation of more AMD. “That’s really the strength of our process,” says Prof Petrik. “It allows a cradle-to-cradle solution, and it means that people can close a

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mine and walk away from it, which they can’t do at the moment.”

In designing the plant, Petrik teamed up with engineer George Nieuwoudt, whose company, BioFuelsON, holds the patent for the jet reactor (mixer) that drives the plant’s mixing efficiency (UWC holds the patent on the overall purification process).

The partnership is reaping other benefits.

A fly-ash zeolite catalyst (a substance used to speed up a chemical reaction) developed

by Prof Petrik has been incorporated into Nieuwoudt’s biofuel-production applications.

“One of the things that government does do right [through the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP) of the National Research Foundation and the Technology Innovation Agency] is offering opportunities for small or one-person companies to get involved in research and development at this level,” says Nieuwoudt.

“These projects help me to promote my company and get into an industry like this.”

Professor Leslie Petrik, leader of the Environmental and NanoSciences (ENS) group, with her team from the Department of Chemistry at UWC.

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Dullah Omar Institute celebrates 25 years of excellence Twenty-five years ago the Community Law Centre opened its doors, founded on the belief that the future Constitution must promote good governance, socio-economic development and the protection of the rights of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.

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he legendary Advocate Dullah Omar was the first director of the centre when it opened in 1990. Among his staff were prominent activist lawyers such as Bulelani Ngcuka, Zola Skweyiya and Brigitte Mabandla. They worked closely with Albie Sachs and Prof Kader Asmal and participated in the constitutional negotiations towards the new South Africa.

For 25 years, the Centre has been a major contributor to policy formulation in South Africa and increasingly elsewhere on the continent. Through engaged research, teaching and advocacy, the Centre has supported processes to build inclusive, resilient states that are accountable to citizens and responsive to human rights. It has aimed to be the leading think tank on governance and human rights in Africa. The Centre’s key initiatives and achievements included assisting with the drawing up of children’s rights laws in Namibia and the

drafting of the constitution of Yemen, and participating in structures of the African Union and the United Nations. In 2012, the Centre was awarded a National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Multilevel Government, Law and Policy. In that year, the Centre was active in 22 African countries, making critical contributions to governance and human rights on the continent.

In 2014 the Centre engaged the University to change its status and name on the basis of its record of achievements. The Board of Trustees adopted a new constitution enabling the Centre to request that the University change the CLC into an Institute.

In terms of the University’s Research Policy, an ‘institute’ is an enduring structure that conducts multidisciplinary research through postgraduate programmes; a centre does not have the same status.

The Omar family graciously agreed to the University renaming the Centre the Dullah

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Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights’, in honour of the founding director and first Minister of Justice in President Nelson Mandela’s Cabinet.

In November 2014 the University Council approved the Institute’s new status and name, which came into effect on 19 August 2015 when the Centre celebrated its 25th year.

This occasion marked the beginning of a new chapter of engaged scholarship and provided an opportunity to reflect on the Institute’s role as a thought leader shaping South Africa’s constitutional democracy.

Also in 2015, the Centre produced the book Constitution-Building in Africa. An enduring highlight of the Institute’s programme has been the presentation of the annual Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture in honour of the late Adv Dullah Omar. Past speakers included the

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first national Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, former President Thabo Mbeki and former Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs.

The Dullah Omar Institute houses professional and research staff of national and international repute, including three NRF-rated researchers.

The Centre has been a major contributor to policy formulation in South Africa and increasingly elsewhere on the continent. Through engaged research, teaching and advocacy, the Centre has supported processes to build inclusive, resilient states that are accountable to citizens and responsive to human rights.

Furthering human rights in prisons and places of confinement in Africa Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative (CSPRI)

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Protecting the Cape’s floral heritage The University of the Western Cape is the proud owner of the 32ha Cape Flats Nature Reserve.

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hough first created to conserve Strandveld and Coastal Fynbos, it now functions as a base for ecological training, environmental education and research. The Cape Flats Nature Reserve was proclaimed a nature reserve in 1977 and has provincial heritage site status. It is one of the most important floral conservation sites in the Cape Lowlands, of which only small fragments are formally conserved. The reserve includes three major floristic regions – Vlei, Flats and Dunes. The endangered Cape Flats Dune Strandveld vegetation of this nature reserve is of significance in terms of its horticultural and medicinal value, with 66 Red Data List plant species recorded and is endemic to the Western Cape. Of the 43 percent remaining, only 6 percent is under formal protection.

The reserve also protects critically

endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos, which is also endemic to the Western Cape. Cape Flats Sand Fynbos was the most widespread vegetation type in Cape Town, but due to development, much has been irreversibly lost. Despite a national recovery target of 30 percent, only 16 percent remains. Less than 10ha of Cape Flats Sand Fynbos remains within the reserve, with visible evidence of disturbance. A concern with this ecosystem is that water tables can be altered and polluted in urban areas, especially where reserves are very small.

The UWC Nature Reserve Unit is part of the Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

Cape Grysbok (Raphicerus melanotis)

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Snake-stemmed pincushion (Leucospermum hypophyllocarpodendron hypophyllocarpodendron)

department in the Faculty of Natural Science.

The unit supports the academic programmes of the University through field work, practical activities and support for researchers. Expertise and support are provided by qualified staff within the unit and the Science Faculty.

As the custodian of the Cape Flats Nature Reserve the unit also offers environmental education and has an indigenous nursery.

Through the volunteer/internship programme, interns and students have the opportunity to obtain skills and practical experience in Biodiversity and Conservation. Students have the opportunity to gain experience in community involvement through the unit’s active Outreach Greening Programme. The resource centre is used for environmental education activities for groups of all ages and backgrounds. Programmes are designed to fit group requirements and comply with the school curriculum, with the focus on getting to know and appreciate nature.

Over 240 indigenous plant species are found in the reserve, including special species such as the formerly endangered Euphorbia marlothiana now merged into the species Euphorbia caput-medusae (Medusa’s head), and the vulnerable Leucospermum hypophyllocarpodendron (pincushion protea).

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There are more than 20 species of mammals in the reserve, including grysbok, a caracal, mongooses, Cape dune molerats and smaller species of rodents. Over a hundred bird species have been surveyed including birds of prey such as the Black-shouldered kite, Rock kestrel and Spotted eagle-owl. The list also includes smaller species such as weavers, Spotted thick-knee and Cape robins and migratory birds. Various species of reptiles are also found in the reserve.

In terms of species list additions, the reserve can boast the first record of the Black percher dragonfly (Diplacodes lefebvrii) in the Cape Peninsula, and having the butterfly list updated to 21 species with the Fynbos blue (Tarucus thespis), Mafa sandman (Spialia mafa mafa) and Water bronze (Cacyreus tespis tespis) being the latest additions. Rodent and reptile species have also recently been added to the species list and evidence of the marsh mongoose (Atilax paludinosus) has been sighted. The caracal (Caracal caracal) is the very first carnivore recorded in the reserve. Its presence is an indication of a healthy ecosystem.

Caracal (Caracal caracal)

Groups can book guided tours through the endangered Cape Flats Dune Strandveld, critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos and seasonal wetland, or they can enter on their own. The reserve is open Monday to Friday from 08h00 until 16h00 and weekends by prior arrangement.

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However you see your future…

…if you have ambition, ability and drive, UWC is the place to be!

FROM HOPE TO ACTION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE.

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SANBI improves drug resistance testing With an estimated 2.5 billion gigabytes of data produced globally every day, developing useful information from big datasets is a growing challenge for scientists.

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rofessor Simon Travers and his team at UWC’s South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) are attempting to meet this challenge in their field. The big data in their case is generated by advanced testing methods for HIV drug resistance (HIVDR). HIVDR occurs when the human immunodeficiency virus mutates, allowing it to escape control by antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).

According to a 2012 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the prevalence of HIV drug resistance stands at around 6.8 percent in low and middle-income countries, and between 8 and 14 percent in highincome countries. Drug resistance can lead to treatment failure (and ultimately death) and at the same time increases the risk of individuals passing on drug-resistant viruses.

International best practice (such as that of the US Department of Health) recommends that drug resistance testing be undertaken for HIV-infected individuals upon entry into care. The WHO has recommended that treatment should be initiated for everyone living with HIV. In the case of South Africa, adopting the WHO recommendation would require that all 6.8 million HIV+ individuals in the country would need to go on ARVs. According to current South African guidelines, 4.7 million

people are eligible for treatment with 3.1 million actually in treatment. If the country were to adopt international guidelines for resistance testing, this could amount to as many as 6.8 million resistance tests. The public >>

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health bill for tests on this scale would be prohibitive, as a single HIV drug resistance test (genetic sequencing is the standard procedure) currently costs between R5 000 and R6 000. It is estimated that only 150 000 to 200 000 people in South Africa currently have access to drug resistance testing, mostly through private medical aid. The use of nextgeneration sequencing (NGS) technology can significantly reduce those costs. NGS has accelerated the sequencing process, is more accurate than current tests, and allows for the batch sequencing of multiple patient samples.

However, NGS spews out millions to tens of millions of sequence ‘reads’ that represent tiny pieces of the full genetic sequence. The problem is exacerbated in HIV because each sequence read may represent a different virus with a different resistance profile as the virus mutates rapidly. Once this sequence data is generated, a specialist bioinformatician is traditionally employed to laboriously filter and translate the data into a result that is of use to a clinician.

“It’s a skills thing,” explains Prof Travers.

The SANBI HIV drug resistance team.

The exatype tool can download sequence data from any NGS instrument, and within minutes generate a one-page HIV drug resistance report that identifies to which, if any, ARVs an individual is resistant.

“When you’re dealing with 10 or 30 million sequences, it’s not a trivial thing to follow all the steps that we have to follow to make sense of the data.”

That specialist knowledge hikes the cost of testing. Which is why, a few years ago, the bioinformaticians at SANBI started work on a radical piece of software. Named exatype, the tool can download sequence data from any NGS instrument, and within minutes generate a one-page HIV drug resistance report that identifies to which, if any, ARVs an individual is resistant. A clinician can then prescribe a modified ARV drug regimen.

Exatype is being developed under the aegis of a UWC spin-off company, Hyrax Biosciences, with Prof Travers as managing director. Development is supported by UWC, the Strategic Health Innovation Partnership (SHIP) of the Department of Science and Technology and the South African Medical Research Council. Hyrax plans to adapt exatype so that it can also be used in testing for resistance to tuberculosis drugs and other antimicrobials (notably antibiotics).

“We have a unique way of being able to identify mutations in sequences,” says Prof Travers. “Those algorithms give us a sensitivity advantage, in that we’re able to really sensitively identify the absence or presence of mutations, and it’s also very fast.”

The exatype software is deployed as a cloud-based tool. This will enable its use in any hospital or clinic with an internet connection, even in remote and resourcelimited settings. The developers are also keeping an eye on emerging technologies.

The advent of hand-held point-of-care sequencing devices, for instance, would allow the software to assist in drug resistance monitoring and surveillance exercises. SANBI was awarded the runner-up prize at the 2016 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) Awards in Botswana for the development of exatype.

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Hydrogen Epoch of Reionisation Array (HERA) telescopes. Picture credit: SKA South Africa.

A brilliant IDIA

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hen the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in the Karoo comes on line, it will be a telescope (more accurately, an array of many linked telescopes that together will form the world’s biggest radio telescope) unlike any other – 50 times more sensitive and able to survey the sky about 10 000 times faster than the best radio telescope today.

It will be powerful enough to detect radio waves from objects millions or even billions of light years away from Earth, allowing scientists to look further back into the history of the universe than ever before.

The SKA will focus on addressing questions that can only be answered using a radio telescope. Scientists expect to collect, process and analyse vast amounts of data that will help us understand how the Universe evolved.

The SKA will produce what is termed Big Data – data volumes so large that they will require analysis by supercomputers so powerful they haven’t even been built yet. For example: • The dishes of the SKA will produce twice as much information as the global internet traffic.

• The SKA central computer will have the processing power of about one hundred million personal computers. >>

Simulated aerial view of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescopes. Picture credit: SKA Organisation/TDP/DRAO/ Swinburne Astronomy Productions.

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• Data collected by the SKA in a single day would take nearly two million years to play back on an iPod. • The SKA will consist of thousands of antennae in eight African countries as well as a low frequency array in Western Australia.

The scope of technology requires cooperation between institutions and scientists on an unprecedented scale. The University of the Western Cape has joined forces with the University of Cape Town and North-West University to form the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA).

According to a launch press release, “The IDIA will bring together researchers in the fields of astronomy, computer science, statistics and e-research technologies, to create data science capacity for leadership in the MeerKAT SKA precursor projects, other precursor and pathfinder programmes and SKA key science.” The IDIA will also establish an SKA-driven, data-intensive research and training programme.

“Universities that rise to the challenge of the data revolution will be globally competitive in this new era of data intensive research,” says Professor Russ Taylor, IDIA’s founding director, who currently holds a joint UWC/UCT SKA Research Chair.

The three universities have researchers that are designated leaders on MeerKAT large survey projects, as well as programmes on

Artist’s impression of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescopes. Picture credit: SKA Organisation/TDP/DRAO/ Swinburne Astronomy Productions.

ASKAP (Australia Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder) and SKA pathfinding programmes at other international facilities. Together they have committed to funding the IDIA to the tune of R50 million over the first five years.

The participants expect that IDIA will grow into a larger partnership that includes other South African universities, and institutions in other African countries that are part of the continent’s SKA partnership.

“The scientific knowledge that will come from the SKA – knowledge about our universe and our place in it – will be available to everyone, without charge, and it will enrich humanity in the way that music, literature, art and other forms of knowledge enrich us,” says Prof Roy Maartens, SKA Research Professor at UWC and also chair of the SKA Cosmology Working Group. “The SKA is an investment in the knowledge and culture of all humanity.”

South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope is an SKA precursor – a “pathfinder” telescope. It will consist of 64 dish-shaped antennae spread over eight kilometres, each as high as a four-story building.

MeerKAT will be the most powerful radio telescope in the southern hemisphere and will form 25% of the Phase 1 dish array in South Africa. South Africa has built seven dishes, as an engineering prototype or test bed for the MeerKAT. This seven-dish array, dubbed KAT-7, has already produced its first scientific images.

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Clint Davies (left) and Prof Ricardo Peters, lecturers at the School of Business and Finance (SBF) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC).

SBF building business minds Professor Ricardo Peters recently marked his first anniversary as Director of the School of Business and Finance (SBF) at UWC.

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e assumed office in August 2014 after serving as acting director for four years. In 1992 Prof Peters obtained a BCom degree at UWC and worked in the financial sector. He obtained his Master of Business Leadership (MBL) degree from Unisa’s School of Business Leadership (SBL) and a DComm in Leadership Performance and Change from the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

After leaving the financial sector, he joined the University of Zululand and later the University of Johannesburg, where he taught financial planning. In 2009, he started as a senior lecturer at UWC and after only six months was appointed Divisional Head of Finance at the SBF. “The SBF at UWC was a fairly new school which never had a permanent director prior to my appointment. I [took] on the acting director role because I realised the potential the school had to produce high calibre management and finance graduates. It was clearly in a position to compete among the top business and finance schools in Africa given the right support. The SBF has highly competent staff working in the school. My focus has always been on our most valuable asset – our staff,” says Prof Peters.

One of them is Clint Davies, who owned a coffee shop and ran a bakery before he

joined the SBF in 2011. Clint brings the valuable practical experience of two decades of entrepreneurship in the development of his own businesses to students. He moved to teaching after completing BCom Honours in 2010 and enrolling for an MCom in 2013, focused on entrepreneurship.

Davies is a Business Management lecturer at UWC and says he is pleased to be part of research “that makes an impact on society and helps bring about equality and development in entrepreneurship in South Africa.”

Davies is a key influencer at the SBF. He was instrumental in the planning and coordination of the 14th International Entrepreneurship Forum (IEF) which took place in Cape Town from 16 to 18 September 2015.

The Forum was led by the University of Essex Business School and Davies co-organised with the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship and the Forum for Sustainable New Ventures.

Prof Peters says, “When our students leave, they know they’re leaving with a very good education. Many of our finance graduates are scooped up by financial institutions which leads to a large proportion getting work.”

Prof Peters says that the SBF has very good courses in entrepreneurship in the Management division. However, he believes

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entrepreneur education should start at school level and that stronger ties should be built between government, the private sector and academia to build a strong cadre of entrepreneurs, and not just job seekers.

The SBF was involved in a project involving five colleges in the Western Cape and UWC. Students intending to complete an ADM (Financial Planning) to become certified financial planners (CFPs) could register for an NQF level 5 Certificate in Wealth Management offered by the colleges.

This was part of a pilot project sponsored

by Inseta that saw persons with no formal qualifications but sufficient work experience taken on the programme to complete formal

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qualifications to become CFPs. Prof Peters says,“It’s important to train students to work well with money. We need to see more qualified financial planners coming from socalled historically disadvantaged areas such as the Cape Flats. UWC has a big role to play in this respect.”

Davies also feels there should be a greater shift toward entrepreneurial universities, and an inclusive approach to entrepreneurship education, research and training. “That way, more entrepreneurs can be reached and developed. In particular, practical short module training and mentorship are needed to encourage learning by entrepreneurs in the management of their businesses.”

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First hydrogen fuel cell forklift and refuelling station UWC’s Hydrogen Systems South Africa (HySA Systems), in partnership with Impala Refining Services (IRS) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), unveiled South Africa’s first prototype hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklift and refuelling station at the Impala Refineries in Springs on 31 March 2016.

Over the last three years, IRS, a division of Impala Platinum Holdings (Implats), provided R6 million in funding to enable HySA

Systems to develop the prototype forklift and refuelling station. Fuel cell technologies use electrochemical processes rather than combustion to produce power. The technology will allow the forklift to operate at lower pressures, improving vehicle safety and costs (the cost of the local refuelling station is around R2 million compared to €500 000 for an imported system). The forklift also has lower noise levels, generates less heat and noxious emissions, and has longer operational times between refuelling – hydrogen refuelling is required after two

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A prototype hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklift and refuelling station was unveiled at Impala Refining Services in Springs on 31 March 2016. The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, was in attendance.

to four days of use, and refuelling takes only seven minutes. Implats plans to use hydrogen fuel cell technology as its main source of energy for material handling and underground mining equipment.

This investment follows a decade of discussion and negotiations between Implats and UWC’s South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry (SAIAMC), under the leadership of SAIAMC’s Director, Professor Vladimir Linkov.

“With Impala Platinum becoming a partner to SAIAMC, UWC has achieved the longterm goal of entering strategic research, development and innovation partnerships with an absolute national leader in one of the pillars of energy generation for current and future needs of the South African economy.

This partnership is unique in the national system of innovation, unparalleled by any other university laboratory or institute in South Africa,” says Prof Linkov.

Dr Cordellia Sita, the Director of HySA Systems, says, “Fuel cell-powered forklifts are gaining significant traction worldwide and are now entering mainstream commercialisation. However, the limited availability of refuelling infrastructure,

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coupled with the challenge of finding the most appropriate on-board hydrogen storage technology, remains a big challenge. Through this demonstration project, HySA Systems has addressed both challenges through the use of a novel metal hydride material for both hydrogen compression and storage.”

Speaking at the event, Prof Frans Swanepoel, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at UWC, said, “South Africa is beginning the difficult journey towards a hydrogen economy, and this partnership is an important step in that direction. If fuel cell forklift development is to take off, it has to happen in South Africa – and UWC is happy to play a part in that.”

Implats Chief Executive Officer, Terence Goodlace, commented: “Developing a viable fuel cell industry in South Africa has several advantages for the country, such as economic development, sustainable job creation and social good.

As the world’s largest platinum-supplying region there is a guaranteed supply of the metal as well as the potential to increase global platinum demand. The development and implementation of this technology provides an important opportunity for South Africa to play a role in reducing global greenhouse emissions, thus diminishing urban pollutants and contributing to reduced health care costs and an improved quality of life.”

South Africa is beginning the difficult journey towards a hydrogen economy, and this partnership is an important step in that direction.

Impala Platinum fuel cell coordinator Fahmida Smith (left) observes as HySA Systems’ Mykhaylo Lototskyy describes the operation of the fuel cell forklift to Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor and Gauteng Premier David Makhura.

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Mama Africa!

Celebrating a legend

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he first-ever performance of Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa! The Musical was a celebration of the 30-year partnership and collaboration between the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC). The musical drama was researched and written over three years by American playwright, director, author and filmmaker Niyi Coker, with support from the Carnegie Africa Diaspora Fellowship Program, the ZM Makeba Trust and Siyandisa Music. Professor Coker is the E. Desmond Lee Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Media Studies at UMSL and has produced plays in Africa,

Europe and the Caribbean. With an all-South African cast and band consisting of students, professional and semi-professional community dancers and actors, the production features 30 of Makeba’s most popular songs. Cast members were inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of the audience on opening night, many of whom, like most of the cast, were too young to have experienced the legend in her heyday.

Ameera Juta, a second-year BA student at UWC and one of the youngest cast members says,“It was quite a different experience performing for the first time, testing the play in front of an audience. The first night had a large number of students present who could

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In a fitting climax to Africa Month, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) hosted an energetic tribute to legendary South African music icon Miriam Makeba at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Bellville Campus Auditorium from 26 to 28 May.

The cast of Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa! The Musical will tour the USA in September, including a stop on Broadway, New York.

relate to the story and even interact and identify with the play, while responding to slogans used in the liberation struggle. I think a lot of them are more curious to know more about the liberation struggle after seeing the musical even though Miriam Makeba’s music is not from our generation. We have grown to love the tunes and learn about the country’s history in a very practical way.”

The second performance was attended by students and academic staff of the University of Missouri System as part of their marking of the 30-year collaboration between the universities.

Congratulating the cast, Prof Mike Middleton, Interim President of the University of Missouri

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System said, “The music was great, the dancing was vibrant. The story reminded me of the time of my connection to the civil rights movement and my connection to the struggle against apartheid here. It was deep, meaningful.”

Rector and Vice-Chancellor of UWC, Prof Tyrone Pretorius, praised his predecessor, Prof Brian O’ Connell, who attended the performance, saying that the musical was a product of Prof O’ Connell’s legacy. “I’m so blessed to be standing on the shoulders of giants,” says Prof Pretorius. Explaining his choice of the legendary Mama Africa in an earlier published interview, Prof Coker said, “We were looking to do a collaborative production between the two universities, and it made so much sense to focus on Makeba.

She was South African – but she also spent many years in exile in the US, and performed with Americans such as Harry Belafonte and Dizzy Gillespie. She is known in both countries – her story has affected not just South Africans, but the African diaspora.”

The show will tour in the USA in September, playing in New York and St. Louis, before returning for a second run at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town in February 2017, followed by performances in Johannesburg.

Prof Don Cupps, a member of the board of curators of the governing body for the University of Missouri, Prof Mike Middleton, Interim President of the University of Missouri System, and Prof Tyrone Pretorius, UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor, enjoy a moment together at the media night pre-function.

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University SRCs must fall?

Luthando Tyhalibongo, UWC’s Communications and Media Liaison Manager, offers a personal reflection on challenges to student governance in the wake of the #FeesMustFall student protests.

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he national #FeesMustFall movement has made significant strides to ensure that lack of finances does not deny academically deserving students access to higher education. The student ‘Arab Spring’ led by the movement has forever changed the landscape of higher education in South Africa and has shown how powerful students can be when they act collectively.

However, several critical questions have emerged from these events. Within the higher education space, particularly with regard to student governance, what happens beyond the current events? Have the governance structures within the higher education space been undermined, or are we entering a new phase in student governance where students speak for themselves instead of being represented by a bargaining channel?

Will these events cause a tectonic shift for student governance in higher education or is it a seasonal change? Most South African

universities have a Student Representative Council (SRC) and an SRC constitution. The Higher Education Act, 101 of 1997, sets out the institutional governance framework for the establishment of the SRC and student governance framework as the highest level of student governance in a university. Each university in the Western Cape has a University Statute, through which the SRC Constitution is derived, that provides a detailed student governance framework with which the elected student leaders need to comply.

The SRC Constitution at some universities also establishes student governance substructures, including standing committees, executive committees, SRC sub-councils, student assembly (alternatively Parliament or General Council), residence committees, student academic faculty committees, student societies, sports codes, etc.

During this complex and turbulent time, some universities appear to have undermined

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their own rules of engagement and forums for addressing student issues. Universities such as the University of Cape Town, Wits University, University of Pretoria, University of the Western Cape and Cape Peninsula University of Technology negotiated with groups outside of the normal governance structures of the university. The groups not only negotiated with the university managements, but some matters escalated to the University Councils, compromising the universities’ own rules of engagement.

Another example of student governance failure was the way protests continued after the announcement of the non-increase of university fees by South Africa’s President.

Despite SRCs at some universities calling off the protests and asking students to prepare for classes and exams while they negotiated on their behalf, the protesting students shifted the goalposts by demanding immediate free education.

This begs the question whether the rules of engagement being used to address the current national crisis will have repercussions in the long term. Are SRCs even still relevant, or should students form their own groupings outside a structured format in order to demand engagement with managements and University Councils? A paper by Dr Ebrima Sall and Dr Ibrahim Oanda, titled ‘Framing Paper on Higher Education Governance and Leadership in Africa’, suggests that in public universities, impediments to effective student representation include large student numbers which make it impossible to mobilise and represent everyone’s needs – the diversity of students’ views and needs is too large to harmonise and represent effectively. It is therefore a given that not every student is represented by the SRC. Dr Moonira Khan, Executive Director of Student Affairs at the University of Cape Town, has suggested a number of possible responses to the current

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governance dilemma, stating: “Student leadership should continue to strengthen links between itself and the Minister of [Higher] Education, the Department of Higher Education and Training, South African Union of Students, and any other body that it considers appropriate to its focus. A robust platform for dialogue is needed where the higher education student leaders from each region form a national think tank and critical mass to discuss issues of higher education, social justice issues and any other issue of national and international significance.”

Creating such regional and national platforms for SRCs would enable students to work collectively and strategically in addressing issues in the higher education sector. In a democratic space such as the university, hearing different voices and opinions should be a norm, but there needs to be a degree of order, and structures to support that order.

In a democratic space such as the university, hearing different voices and opinions should be a norm, but there needs to be a degree of order, and structures to support that order.

For example, academics have faculty meetings, faculty boards and an institutional forum, and they are also represented at Senate. In the same way that this structure is respected, should we not respect the platforms created for student engagement, and their contributions to the academic project and the university’s sustainability?

Finally, perhaps another question universities need to ask themselves is whether the Higher Education Act is still sufficient to deal with the challenges of university and student life, or whether it should be amended in terms of the structured form of and approach to student governance.

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7 Interesting Research Topics

1Revealing attitudes to HIV With gender representation and gender equality being continually debated throughout the world, studies exploring gender representation within different societal and economic structures have become important.

Dr Yoliswa Ntsepe is a research specialist in the Social, Behavioural and Biomedical unit of the HIV/AIDS, STI and TB programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).

For her PhD, Dr Yoliswa Mavis Ntsepe explored the effectiveness of women’s agency to influence changes in sexual practices among women in an attempt to encourage safe sexual practices as a means of HIV prevention. Titled ‘Narratives of HIV-negative women in South Africa about their sexual engagements: A case study of Mfuleni, Cape Town’, this study shows how cultural, economical and social stereotypes impact on the sexual practices and choices of women and how these have influenced the spread of

the HIV pandemic. Although HIV prevalence in Cape Town is low, the Mfuleni community has a high incidence of the illness.

Dr Ntsepe worked closely with a social development officer from the City of Cape Town and engaged with the ward councillor of Mfuleni for more insights into the community.

Although the narrative research methodology was used for this study, the research model went beyond listening to stories to identify silenced narratives. The study focused on decision-making based on heterosexual relations and explored the roles of both men and women and how they act and react in relation to social inequalities.

Highlighting the social and cultural objectification that most women experience during their transition from being rural to urban dwellers, the study found that gender roles, cultural practices and economic status greatly influenced the choices women in Mfuleni made with regard to HIV. Sexual navigation to avoid HIV infections involves a lot of communication between the sexual partners, which can pose a challenge for women due to prevailing gender roles.

The study found that local religious and cultural practices regarding marital and extra-marital sexual relations have developed psychological blocks which prevent open sexual communication between partners.

It found that HIV-negative women adopt various sexual practices in order to maintain their HIV-negative status. Despite this, cultural norms prevented women from exploring child conception options that would not present infection transmission. The influence of the social life in Mfuleni, which often involves

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alcohol abuse and negative gender hierarchy practices, is emphasised. Increasingly, women have psychologically prepared themselves to parent children alone as the support of men is not guaranteed.

An interesting finding in this study was that HIV statistics contain gender biases as male diagnoses are not included in positive cases found in local prenatal clinics. The transactional nature of sex was also explored in this study. Men use material goods to entice

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women for sexual gratification, with women motivated to comply through poverty and the desire for social acceptance.

An interesting narrative that stood out in the study was that of a young woman who chose to leave her husband because of his infidelity. Rather than perceive her as a sexually responsible woman standing up for herself, she was seen as disrespectful to her husband and ostracised from her marital family.

2Restoring mobility for amputees

UWC Physiotherapy lecturer, Dr Liezel Ennion

Recent University of the Western Cape PhD graduate and physiotherapy lecturer in the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, Dr Liezel Ennion (née Wegner), has produced a significant study that will help to improve the lives of below-the-knee amputees

living in rural areas. Her PhD study is titled ‘Transtibial amputation rehabilitation in a rural community in South Africa’.

Her interest in researching this topic began when she conducted her community service in a rural area in northern KwaZulu-Natal in 2005, where she worked with amputees dealing with the challenges of living in a resource-poor rural setting.

Dr Ennion says, “As part of my study I fieldtested a type of prosthetic socket for patients with a transtibial (below knee) amputation that could be manufactured and fitted in a rural setting in approximately one hour. This socket could potentially address the two major challenges for these patients specifically, and rural health in general, namely staff shortages and access to health-care facilities.

“By providing patients with a prosthetic socket that could be manufactured in one hour and one visit to the hospital, the prosthetists could manufacture more >>

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7 Interesting Research Topics prostheses in the same amount of time, and the patients only have to make one (usually very expensive) journey to the clinic or hospital to receive a prosthetic limb. Even though only a relatively small number of patients were fitted with this socket in this study, the results are promising and could potentially be used to improve prosthetic service delivery in this rural setting.”

During 2013 and 2014, 21 unilateral transtibial amputees in the Umkhanyakude health district of KwaZulu-Natal were fitted with the direct application socket (DS). There was a very high attrition rate typical of a longitudinal study in a rural setting, with only 36.8% of the patients who were fitted with the prosthesis completing the six month followup period. Due to a very limited number of patients being fitted with the alternative patellar tendon bearing (PTB) socket during this period, a direct comparison was not possible and the study should therefore be considered as only a pilot study.

The study, which was limited to primary or first-time prosthetic users, showed a “dip” in scores at the three month follow-up. This reflects the skin irritation caused by volume

loss of the stump, which is commonplace in primary prosthetic users in the first three months. Participants were also unhappy with the appearance of the prosthesis, and wanted the metal pylon to be covered with durafoam to resemble their remaining limb.

Participants reported an improved functional status, better health-related quality of life and good satisfaction with the prosthesis when measured against the norm values for the Orthotic and Prosthetic User’s Survey.

Typical responses of participants who reported an improved quality of life and functionality, were “…it’s better now after this [receiving the prosthesis], because I can now even do things on my own”, and “I use[d] to be indoors but now I can go outside.”

Dr Ennion is conducting an international collaborative research project that follows up on her PhD research, aimed at improving prosthetic rehabilitation and service delivery in rural settings in developing countries.

Dr Ennion started studying Physiotherapy at UWC in 2001 (she obtained her BSc in 2004, MSc in 2008 and PhD in 2015) and is in her fifth year of lecturing at UWC.

3 Study analyses the cost of informal business The informal economy has been the lifeline of most townships and informal settlement areas, ensuring access to basic consumer goods and supplies in communities that were geographically displaced by social segregation implemented during the apartheid system. In his master’s thesis, ‘A comparative study of the transaction

costs of doing business in Formal Urban vs Informal Settlement Areas: A study of Microenterprises in Joe Slovo and Maitland, Western Cape, South Africa’, Mahamed Rage Mahamed looked at the transactional costs and conditions of operating microbusinesses in different socio-economic settings. Recent studies indicated that

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there are at least 100 000 home-based, family-owned spaza shops and tuck shops operating in South African communities that contribute 6.2% of all jobs and have a collective annual turnover above R7 billion.

The key objective of this research was to measure and compare institutional influences (government, trading rules and regulations) on microenterprises within different geographical settings.

The research sample consisted of a random sampling of 40 microenterprise owners, split equally between the communities of Joe Slovo and Maitland. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative research designs were used to conduct the study.

Primary data was obtained from face-toface interviews with shop owners as well as government officials using questionnaire data collection sources.

The study found that the majority of those who run these microenterprises are women, minority groups and immigrants, who start off as disadvantaged and have lower levels of education. While all microenterprises have to comply with environmental health and city zoning laws, the study found that zoning limitations were highly subjective as the application process could be time-consuming and costly. Formal suburbs have an evidently higher transactional cost limitation in establishing businesses than their township counterparts, where local government authorities appear to automatically allow microenterprises without compliance to the City zoning scheme.

Responses from traders who operate within the test areas indicated that 30% of the microenterprises in the test areas had not applied for the Consent Use (CU) certificate,

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which is required for businesses operating within a residential area. The study showed that not only were the majority of noncompliant businesses from Joe Slovo, but more compliance checks occurred in Maitland than Joe Slovo.

Unlike zoning compliance, hygienic food handling practices are meant to be universally enforced, and an Environmental Health Department Certificate of Acceptance indicating compliance with the environmental health by-laws is required by informal stores selling food products.

However, the study found that while suburban-based tuck shops prioritised compliance, most township enterprises’ food handling practices were based on their operators’ basic food hygiene knowledge.

With the sector continuing to boom, the study showed that the City of Cape Town needed to improve its administrative processes to ensure that compliance is encouraged and monitored uniformly across all communities.

A spaza shop in Joe Slovo Park, Cape Town.

Picture credit: Wikipedia

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7 Interesting Research Topics

4 Traditional dental health care in Cameroon According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 80 percent of Africans still rely on traditional medicine and indigenous knowledge to meet their health requirements and needs.

Apart from being financially affordable, traditional medicine is culturally and socially acceptable. Dr Michael Agbor’s study, ‘The role of traditional healers in oral health care in the Bui division, North-West Province, Cameroon’, looks at how the prioritisation of traditional healing (TH) in Cameroon affects patients’ choices in accessing available dental health care. The study aimed to determine the competence of traditional healers (THs) in diagnosing oral conditions and how they could be used in the prevention of oral disease.

The study consisted of a random sample in the Bui region in the North-West Province of Cameroon of 21 THs with 52 patients aged between 20 and 77 years, that had pre-existing dental problems. Questionnaires for dental clients were administered in a survey method randomly conducted in market places, bus

stops and busy areas within two localities.

The study found that while both traditional and modern medication for dental ailments were used, the ultimate choice of treatment was influenced by the patient’s beliefs. Dr Agbor hypothesised that the reasons for patients’ reluctance to attend dental clinics would include inaccessibility, cost, superstition and fear of the act of dental practice. The study showed that cost was a major factor in the subjects’ decision-making as the cost of modern dental medical assistance was $50 as opposed to the $5 consultation fee payable to a TH. The formal education qualification of the THs played a major role in their understanding and embracing modern medicine. In the sample, 57.1 percent of the THs had a primary school education, 14.3 percent completed high school and 28.6 percent were never formally educated. The study found that traditional healers’ cooperation with modern medical practices directly influenced how the community embraced and reacted to alternative medical interventions.

In the Bui region in Cameroon, the relationship between THs and hospitals was positive. The study found that traditional healers played a vital role in the provision of health care services within the Bui division – an area that has nine medical doctors and one dentist serving 80 000 people. With more than 500 registered THs, their involvement in the provision of health care, especially oral health services, was highly important.

A need was identified for the consideration of the inclusion of THs into Cameroon’s public health care strategy as well as a need to improve dialogue between practitioners from both ends.

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5 Living a longer, healthy life People are living longer than ever before and the proportion of older people is increasing across the globe.

But will older peoples’ additional years of life be healthy?

For his PhD study, titled ‘An investigation into the health and wellbeing of older people in South Africa’, Dr Witness Chirinda set out to “estimate health expectancies based on various objective and subjective measures, in order to give a first comprehensive analysis of the health and wellbeing of older people in South Africa.”

Dr Chirinda, a senior research manager at the South African Medical Research Council in Cape Town, says entering this field was a natural decision for him. “Aging and health is an important area that has received little attention, especially in African countries like Zimbabwe where I come from. Population aging is projected to occur at a faster pace in these regions and it is becoming an important force.”

To give a comprehensive analysis of the health and wellbeing of older people in South Africa, Dr Chirinda analysed data drawn from two nationally representative surveys: the WHO Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE); and the South African National HIV Prevalence, HIV Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey (SABSSM). Some of the findings of the study were: Based on a self-rated health measure, the study found both absolute and relative compression of morbidity in older people between 2005 and 2012. Compression of

morbidity occurs if the age at onset of the first chronic disease can be postponed, then the lifetime illness burden may be compressed into a shorter period of time nearer to the age of death – either because age-specific morbidity rates fall faster than age-specific mortality rates (which is known as absolute compression) or because the amount of life after first chronic morbidity decreases as a percentage of life expectancy (which is known as relative compression).

Examining factors associated with happiness in older people, Dr Chirinda found that wealth status was the strongest predictor of happiness for older people.While women lived longer than men, they also spent a greater part of their lifetime in poorer health than men.

“Population aging is projected to occur at a faster pace [in African countries] and it is becoming an important force.”

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7 Interesting Research Topics

explores links between jobs and rights 6 Study of persons with disabilities in South Africa

In recent years, the rights of persons with disabilities have received substantial attention by researchers both in South Africa and internationally. However, the right to social protection has not yet been examined in detail.

Social protection involves the provision of financial support as well as certain services in order to ensure that persons with disabilities are able to participate in society on an equal basis with others. One of the essential components of the right to social protection is the provision of adequate social security for persons with disabilities. University of the Western Cape (UWC) LLD graduate

Yvette Basson (nee Wiid) explored this issue in her thesis, titled ‘The right of access to social security for Persons with Disabilities in South Africa’. Dr Basson has lectured in the Mercantile and Labour Law Department for five years.

Examining the situation of persons of working age with disabilities in South Africa in terms of access to social security benefits, the thesis investigated ways in which the financial and social standing of persons with disabilities could be improved in South Africa.

The study examined the provisions made for social security of persons with disabilities in South Africa in the South African Constitution compared with similar legislation and policies from other jurisdictions, and the provisions required of states in terms of the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Dr Basson looked at articles 20 to 30 of the Convention, which provide for the equal participation of persons with disabilities in society. The Convention requires that signatory states ensure that the right to social protection (including social security) and an adequate standard of living are promoted and implemented.

The South African Constitution states, ‘everyone has the right to have access to… social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance’. In South Africa social assistance consists of a number of state social grants to older persons, children, war veterans and persons with disabilities

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who meet qualifying criteria. Social insurance (unemployment insurance and retirement funds) is linked to employment. Therefore any person who is unemployed has limited access to social insurance. The study found

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that, in the case of social assistance, the qualifying criteria are a barrier to the receipt of social grants. Access to social insurance is limited by the scarcity of employment for persons with disabilities.

7 Learners underperforming despite democracy

Dr Munje Paul Nwati, for his PhD thesis, titled ‘Capability analysis of performance in Quintile-1 Schools in Cape Town’, investigated the assumed reasons behind underperformance to identify possible solutions to the problem.

After 22 years of democracy, in which the South African education system has been extensively studied and debated by researchers and policymakers, there remain significant challenges to the goal of ensuring equal learning opportunities for millions of learners from different economic and social

backgrounds. Despite the implementation of many amendments to the system, issues of learner underperformance continue to be highly contested topics in South Africa.

For his PhD thesis, titled ‘Capability analysis of performance in Quintile-1 Schools in Cape Town’, Dr Munje Paul Nwati investigated the >>

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7 Interesting Research Topics assumed reasons behind underperformance to identify possible solutions to the problem.

The study examined three Quintile 1 (Q1) primary schools in close proximity to each other within the Metropole South District of Cape Town. The assumption in selecting Q1 schools in the same district was that they would receive similar levels of support from government. The key objective of the study was to identify whether learner underperformance and environmental exposure contributed to how learners from disadvantaged areas perform as opposed to those who attend school in developed areas.

Despite an underlying assumption by parents that, since their children attended a no-fees school, all learning materials would be provided, lack of access to teaching materials such as textbooks, maths sets and even writing materials was a major contributing factor to underperformance.

The study used the Capability Approach (CA) pioneered by economist and philosopher Amartya Sen as a functional framework to understand the nature of learner performance, emphasising the value of using the Capability Approach in educational spaces in order to find sustainable solutions. During the study, focus groups of between 13 and 18 learners were given structured and openended questions to provide an opportunity for learners to freely express their opinions.

Lessons were observed in the Grade 7 classes

of all three schools. The principals of the three schools were interviewed to assess their competence as school administrators.

The focus was to understand the day-to-day activities that occur in each of these schools and to identify how these activities affected the schools’ performance.

Despite an underlying assumption by parents that, since their children attended a no-fees school, all learning materials would be provided, lack of access to teaching materials such as textbooks, maths sets and even writing materials was a major contributing factor to underperformance. The study showed that learners who do not have adequate resources felt excluded from the teaching process, thus ultimately becoming disconnected with the need to learn. Both teachers and learners in this study indicated that the current conditions of learning and lack of resources limit talent identification and development in studies in students.

Furthermore, learners who did not have adequate nourishment lacked the energy to participate in a full day of learning. Parent participation was also a factor, with the low levels of education of the parents affecting their ability to adequately assist learners with school work. Teachers also indicated that some parents seemed not to value education, and did not actively participate in checking homework and helping their children with school assignments.

The study concluded that the environment in which a school is situated, poverty and parent participation were closely linked to learner underperformance.

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Alumni recognised at Chancellor’s Awards Ceremony The University of the Western Cape hosted its second annual Chancellor’s Dinner and Outstanding Alumni Awards Ceremony in October 2015. The event serves to honour some of the most deserving alumni of the Institution.

The recipients of the 2015 Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumni Awards.

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t the first Outstanding Alumni Awards Ceremony in 2014, the University honoured the eight alumni who had served as Rectors or Vice-Chancellors of universities, including the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, the late Professor Russel Botman, the University of the Free State’s Prof Jonathan Jansen, and UWC’s former Rectors and Vice-Chancellors, Dr Richard van der Ross, Prof Brian O’Connell

and the late Prof Jakes Gerwel. For the 2015 event, awards were made in several categories after a period of public nominations and a rigorous process to select the finalists.

The awardees were Ms Nargis Gani, Dr Nomafrench Mbombo and Prof Leila Patel in the category of Women in Leadership; Dr Razeena Omar and Mr Ashley Uys in the category of Science and Technology; Adv Hishaam Mohamed in the Law category; Dr Tanushree Pillay and Mr Tobias Titus >>

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for Sports Administration; and Professors Nicolette Roman and Praneet Valodia for their contributions to Health Sciences.

UWC Chancellor, The Most Reverend Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, also presented special recognition awards to two legendary UWC figures, Drs Jaap Durand and Daan Cloete.

Each awardee received a gold lapel pin, a UWC blazer and a plaque of recognition.

The Chancellor thanked all those who contributed to their respective sectors and the society at large with their work.

“Our society is in dire need of exemplary leaders and we hope you will be the shining light we need and that you will continue to inspire our alumni and young upcoming stars in our communities. I wish you continued success,” he said.

The plaque of recognition received by awardees represents the vision and mission

of UWC within its African context, using the outline of the African continent to symbolise the roles that UWC graduates should play in bringing about hope and change in Africa through the knowledge acquired at UWC. The design echoes the concept of the African Renaissance, and the notions of African cultural, scientific and economic renewal.

The pin, plaque and blazer all feature the protea, which is a significant part of the UWC coat of arms. The protea has symbolic meaning for the University as it is not only the national symbol, but is also indigenous to the Western Cape. Named after Proteus, the son of the Greek God Poseidon who had the power of knowledge of all things past, present and future, and could change his appearance to avoid trouble – the protea thus symbolises wisdom, diversity, courage and transformation – the traits of an outstanding alumnus.

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UWC Then and Now

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The University of the Western Cape was established in 1960 as a university college for ‘coloureds’, intended to produce civil servants, theologians and teachers.

© INDEPENDENT NEWS MEDIA GROUP

An early aerial view of the University of the Western Cape.

An aerial view of the university in 2016.

© INDEPENDENT NEWS MEDIA GROUP

Old entrance to the UWC main campus.

I

n that first year, the teaching staff numbered only 17 (mostly white) lecturers teaching exclusively in Afrikaans – and the student body was only 166 strong.

For the first decade UWC didn’t even have full university status, with its degrees and diplomas awarded by Unisa. Few would have predicted what happened next, as generations of students rebelled against racial discrimination and oppression in the society, a process which forged a unique legacy and a transformed institution unlike any other in South Africa.

Northern entrance to the main campus in 2016.

Along with its contribution to the political struggle, UWC engaged energetically with the complex issues of transformation of the Institution’s academic project and the challenges of higher education. It has blossomed in the democratic era, and has become one of the premier academic institutions in South Africa, ranked fifth nationally (according to Times Higher Education), seventh in Africa, 100th in the BRICS countries, and one of the top 800 universities in the world (according to the QS World University Rankings).

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UWC Milestones 1994 1994

UWC’s leadership assists in writing the higher education policy for the incoming government.

UWC launches South Africa’s first School of Public Health outside a medical school, with Prof David Sanders as founding Director.

1995

UWC launches its very first website – joining the internet age before other universities in the Mother City.

UWC’s anti-apartheid media project Bush Radio goes on air as a pirate radio station – and shortly thereafter became South Africa’s first licensed community radio station.

1995

UWC launches the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) to engage in research, training, policy development and advocacy in relation to land reform, rural governance and natural resource management.

1993

1987

New Rector and ViceChancellor Prof Jakes Gerwel declares UWC the ‘university of the left’. The University deracialises and opens its doors to African students.

UWC becomes the first university to award the late President Mandela an honorary doctorate upon his release from prison.

1993

1983

The University of the Western Cape Act finally grants UWC autonomy on the same terms as the established ‘white’ institutions – UWC is free to determine its own destiny.

Many academics from UWC are appointed in Ministerial and advisory positions in the late President Mandela’s government.

1991

1978

UWC’s Cape Flats Nature Reserve is declared a National Monument (now known as a provincial heritage site).

UWC inaugurates its longest-serving Chancellor, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who served for more than 25 years.

1990

1975

Professor Richard van der Ross is appointed as UWC’s first black Rector.

1987

1960

The University College of the Western Cape opens its doors.

UWC academics assist with the development of the interim constitution in 1993 and the development of SA’s first democratic constitution, adopted in 1996.

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2014 2014 2014

The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship is introduced to UWC, promoting an international postgraduate education experience. The first cohort of Fellows is accepted in 2009.

UWC signs the Berlin Declaration on Open Access in the Sciences and Humanities, joining hundreds of institutions around the world dedicated to supporting the principles of open access and working to achieve openness in publicly funded projects.

South African writer Meg Vandermerwe initiates UWC Creates, the only creative writing programme in South Africa operating across three languages (English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa).

2014

2014

UWC becomes the first university to be declared Africa’s Greenest Campus in the inaugural African Green Campus Initiative Challenge.

2013

UWC graduates its first master’s students as a hub of the National Nanosciences and Technologies Platform.

UWC acquires the first protein X-ray crystallography facility in South Africa (thanks to funding from the Carnegie Foundation), a major boost to research capacity development in biotechnology.

2012

At UWC’s first Chancellor’s Dinner for Outstanding Alumni, eight UWC alumni who went on to become Rectors or Principals of South African universities are honoured (Prof Tyrone Pretorius, the ninth, was appointed later).

2012

UWC is recognised as a top-tier university by the Department of Higher Education.

UWC launches its Technology Transfer Office to help promote the development and protection of intellectual property by the University’s research community, staff and students.

2009

For the first time, UWC awards over 100 PhDs and over 4 000 degrees in one year.

2008

10 SARChI chairs are awarded to UWC, the highest number awarded to any university in SA in this year.

2003

2010

2002

Under the leadership of Rector and ViceChancellor, Prof Brian O’Connell, UWC successfully resists a forced merger, and holds onto its name and autonomy.

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The DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security is established at UWC, the first Centre of Excellence to be housed at a historically disadvantaged institution.

1960|1965|1970|1975|1980|1985|1990|1995|2000|2005|2010|2016|2020

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outh Africa’s number one male pair in beach volleyball needed to reach the final at the African Games in Brazzaville, Congo, to book their place in Brazil but lost in the semi-finals. The African Games winner, Tunisia, was the only African team to qualify, but lost in the pool stage of the Rio Olympics. The host country Brazil beat Italy in the Olympic final.

Williams and Goldschmidt have had considerable success since teaming up, including winning the Flying Fish National Beach Volleyball Series two years in a row.

The two are leading in the competition after winning the first series hosted by UWC in January 2016.

After winning their first Flying Fish series, Williams said, “We are gelling nicely together.

This is the fourth year together and we haven’t lost a tournament yet. I think we’ve found good form and we want to take it to international competitions if we can. We are trying to be consistent and improve on every game and go from strength to strength.”

Before the African Games, the duo took part in the Federation Internationale de

Olympic dream eludes UWC pair UWC alumni Leo Williams and Grant Goldschmidt narrowly missed out on automatic qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympics when they finished third at the African Games (formerly known as the All Africa Games) in September 2015.

Volleyball (FIVB) Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands in June/ July after shining at the African Nations qualifiers in Tunisia in February last year.

Goldschmidt, who obtained his degree in sport and exercise science in 2009, participated in the 2012 London Olympic Games and won a gold medal at the 2012 CAVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in Mauritius. Williams has also been a member of the South African national team for some time. A BCom and honours in Marketing and Management graduate who is completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Management at UWC, he competed in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Finals in Brazil in

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experiences they acquired through sport.

“Sport is one of the tools for developing communities. It opens up opportunities for children to be empowered,” said Goldschmidt.

“We have travelled to countries that we would never have visited if we were not in sport,” added Williams.

Goldschmidt and Williams, who were both able to study at UWC through sport bursaries, appreciate the way the University has assisted their sport and career development. Goldschmidt feels that UWC has opened many avenues for his personal and career advancement. Williams said, “Sport gave me an education, education gave me a job, the job gave me a better salary and I live a good life. I would not have any of these if I was not at UWC and in sport.”

Hoping that their achievements have inspired other beach volleyball players at UWC, they have offered to assist with their training. “Whoever wants to come and play with us is free to join. It’s always nice to have other people to play with,” said Williams.

June 2013 and the FIVB Beach Volleyball Championships in Poland in July of the same year.

As is the case in many other countries, beach volleyball is not a well-supported sporting code financially. Despite its undoubted popularity and crowd-pulling appeal, beach volleyball (and its indoor cousin) does not attract large corporate sponsorship nor are prize moneys large enough to sustain the top volleyballers.

Goldschmidt and Williams consequently often need to raise money to fund their attendance of tournaments and fund other costs out of their own pockets. Despite these sacrifices, they are grateful for the opportunities and

UWC alumni and beach volleyball stars Leo Williams and Grant Goldschmidt missed qualifying for the Olympic Games.

Sport gave me an education, education gave me a job, the job gave me a better salary and I live a good life. I would not have any of these if I was not at UWC and in sport. Leo Williams

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Holistically shaping a first-class future UWC’s innovative Sport Skills for Life Skills (SS4LS) bursary and mentoring programme is helping young people to develop successful cricket and academic careers.

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ince its inception some 16 years ago, the programme has produced a number of players who have turned out for provincial, professional and national teams while performing well in their studies. The men’s cricket programme has produced 29 first-class cricketers, of whom 11 played franchise cricket, two represented the South African A Side, two played for Zimbabwe and one has donned the national cricket colours of Italy.

Aviwe Mgijima, Jason Smith, Zubayr Hamza, Mpilo Njoloza, Lizaad Williams, Lesiba Ngoepe and Francois Plaatjies have all played for the Cape Cobras, Gurshwin Rabie has played for the Cobras and Warriors and Rowen Richards plays for theTitans.

The female component of the programme has yielded four Proteas and 13 provincial players, including Shandre Fritz, who scored the first-ever international T20 century in women’s cricket with an unbeaten 116 runs against the Netherlands in 2010.

The programme has been vital to the success of the UWC Men’s Cricket Club, which reached the Varsity T20 Cricket final in early 2016 (losing to the University of Pretoria, the current World T20 campus champions) with the men’s first team having won 13 league titles on their way to the top of the Western

Province Cricket Association’s Premier League.

Academically, the programme provides access to further education through a scholarship structure that allows recipients to study at any tertiary institution in the Western Cape should UWC not provide the appropriate course. The scholarships are sponsored by several trusts and corporate donors.

A mentoring programme is in place to support participants and poor academic performance can lead to a student being excluded from practices, pre-season tours, national competitions or league matches until the student can demonstrate an adequate improvement in academic performance.

The programme also provides individual academic tutoring to students throughout the year, which has helped participating students to produce more than 350 subject distinctions and assisted more than 115 students to graduate. Innovation and research is encouraged through the sponsoring of postgraduate research in certain focus areas at UWC. The programme recruits budding young cricketers and offers top level coaching clinics by international experts, such as former New Zealand coach Andy Moles. Current professional players are encouraged to transition from playing to coaching. Protea

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bowling coach Charl Langeveldt is an example of an ex-professional cricketer who used the programme as a stepping stone. Former Protea off-spinner Robin Peterson has also tried his hand at coaching at UWC while at the Cobras but has moved to the Knights for the 2016/2017 season.

SS4LS founder and director Nicolas Kock, who is a lecturer at UWC’s Institute for Social Development, recalls that while he was a student at UWC in the 1990s, there were excellent sport science programmes in place “but those were not going to get us to where we wanted to be”.

His research showed that countries with a high development index, such as Norway and Australia, did well in sport. “So the penny dropped for me that if you want to talk about transformation in sport and if you talk about getting youngsters from Khayelitsha to play for a national side, you need to have a different approach. To assimilate a higher development index our programme needed to provide these youngsters with access to quality nutrition, quality medical care and quality education, and have an army of volunteers to support them.”

The SS4LS has grown from just three participants in 2000 to about 45 this year.

A few high schools in the Cape Peninsula have been adopted where the programme assists to improve equipment, infrastructure, coaching as well as academic outcomes of participants. “We hope to create a pipeline towards UWC from those areas,” Kock adds.

Kock commends the many UWC staff members who have helped with applications, registrations, scheduling of special exams and providing feedback on attendance by students.

The Sport Skills for Life Skills programme has helped students to become successful in their cricket and academic careers.

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UWC student and rising football star Thembi Kgatlana represented South Africa at the Olympic Games.

Udubs star’s gritty Olympic debut

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hen Thembi Kgatlana’s parents banned her from playing football with boys, she would escape through the window or hide her soccer boots in her school bag and pretend to be involved in extra-curricular activities after school.

Her love for and commitment to the sport and brilliant skills have seen Kgatlana become

one of the rising stars of South African women’s football. The 20-year-old UWC star striker was in the Banyana Banyana (senior national women’s team) camp in early 2016 in preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympics Games in Brazil in August.

Kgatlana, who was doing her BA in tourism management at UWC last year, had to make the difficult decision to take a break from her

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studies to focus on pursuing her Olympic goal. “Sometime in 2012 [after Banyana Banyana participated in the Olympics Games in London] I told myself I need to be in the next Olympics,” Kgatlana explains. “The minute Banyana Banyana qualified last year [after beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0] I had to review my position. I sat down with my family and they are understanding and supportive of my decision.”

Being a university student and an international athlete at the same time is no child’s play. Kgatlana was named in the Banyana team to compete in the African Games in Brazzaville last year but the University could not release her because of her academic commitments.

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“It was very difficult to balance the two. Sometimes the University could not release me because I had a lot of work and sometimes they would release me but while I was in camp I would have to talk to my tutors or lecturers so that I could submit my work.

Sometimes I wanted to give up but I knew that both are what I love and in order to be successful one needs education. In the end I want to play soccer and I want to go to school and make my parents proud.”

Kgatlana played in the Under-17 and Under-20 national teams before graduating to the senior national team two years ago. She has earned nine caps.

A firm believer in hard work and taking opportunities when they come, she says, “I didn’t believe that someone is too young to challenge for something. A performance will take you where you want to be so I just worked hard to make it into the senior national team.”

Kgatlana played a big role in the UWC Ladies’ team in 2015, which topped University Sport South Africa Western Cape, came second in the provincial SAFA Sasol League and lost in the final of the Varsity Football tournament, where she scored a stunning individual goal and received the Player of the Match award.

Kgatlana did not make the final 18-member Olympic squad but was among four standby players to travel with the team to Rio de Janeiro. UWC alumnae Leandra Smeda, Kaylin Swart and Jermaine Seoposenwe were named in the squad.

Kgatlana got her chance to play after forward Shiwe Nogwanya was injured in Banyana’s 1-0 loss to Sweden in their opening game. She played well in Banyana’s loss to China, and in the final game, had two excellent strikes saved by Brazil’s goalkeeper. Banyana’s 0-0 draw with Brazil ended their tournament.

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Footballer stays focused Having collected six awards in nine games at the 2015 Varsity Football competition, Thulani Mkosi is undoubtedly among the best footballers on the South African varsity football stage.

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ut the 23-year-old Eastern Cape-born attacking midfielder is less concerned with taking his football career to higher levels than completing his degree in education at UWC. “If it happens [getting signed by a professional team] it happens and I will gladly accept it. But I’m more focused on finishing my course this year and then I will spend a year or two to pursue my football career and try to gain a contract with a professional team. If I’m not successful then I will start looking for a job.

“My main priority is to finish my degree and whatever happens afterwards will be an addition. To me education is more important.

As much as football is something I’m capable of achieving in, I will leave it to God to make that a reality. But education is in my hands and it is very important for me to get it done with first. So I’m focused on it entirely.”

This has always been Mkosi’s stance. He had a starting place at Milano United’s ABC Motsepe team, the reserve side for the club’s professional franchise in the National First Division.

“I was a regular at Milano and stood a good chance of getting promotion to the

It’s education first and football later for UWC’s Thulani Mkosi, who was named as the best player during last year’s Varsity Football competition.

professional team,” Mkosi recalls. “But when I started at University it became difficulty to attend classes and travel to training so I decided to put my football dream aside and hope that another chance would come.”

Mkosi got the Player of the Tournament Award at the Varsity Football competition in 2015 in addition to two Man of the Match and three Super Striker accolades.

“I was enjoying playing football last year and was working very hard,” Mkosi remembers. “2014 was my first season in Varsity Football and last year I had experience and I knew what to expect in the tournament.

That helped me a lot in terms of my individual performance. In every match I always gave my best and tested myself on how far I could go.”

Mkosi explains that although he was happy with his performance in the first game, he improved as the tournament progressed.

“After that first game I didn’t want to drop the standard I set myself so I kept on pushing.”

Although the team has yet to assemble in preparation for Varsity Football 2016, Mkosi anticipates a tougher competition than last year. “It’s difficult to go to the top but it is even more difficult to stay there. We are looking to prepare even harder than last year.”

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Book reviews

A Saving Bannister

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rofessor Wendy Woodward released her third volume of poetry, A Saving Bannister, published by Modjadji Press in 2015. Prof Woodward, who retired in 2015, taught Southern African literature, Human Animal Studies and creative writing (poetry) in the English Department at the University of the Western Cape. The well-known poet has had her work appear in the English Academy Review, New Letters, Carapace, New Contrast, the Australian Animal Studies Journal and various anthologies.

Her first collection of poetry was Séance for the body (Snailpress, 1994). Her second volume, Love, Hades and other Animals, appeared in 2008 (published by Protea).

The third volume, edited by Fiona Zerbst,

appeared in 2015. The publisher’s blurb intriguingly describes the poems as “a journey into vulnerability and grace, across terrains inhabited by dogs, minotaurs and leviathans, by puppets and a failed Icarus.”

UWC colleague, Meg Vandermerwe, wrote in a review comment, “Woodward’s poems are wise, beautiful cracks of thunder. They nourish hearts parched by the noise of modern life. They have the power to awaken us to ourselves and a natural world that teeters on a dangerous precipice. These are poems that can save lives.”

Heaping praise too, poet Finuala Dowling wrote, “These beautiful poems, with their pellucid, stripped-down language, deep insights and the affinity they evince with animals both tame and wild, deserve the widest possible audience. Wendy Woodward is a South African Szymborska.”

The title of the book echoes the famous poem ‘Some like poetry’ by Wislawa Szymborska, wherein the speaker muses about the meaning of poetry before concluding that, although not sure what it is, she holds “on to it, like a saving bannister”.

Prof Woodward is recognised as one of the founders of animal studies in South Africa.

Her current research focuses on practices of animal-reading in relation to embodiment, posthumanism and the figure of the outsider.

One of her books, The Animal Gaze: Animal Subjectivities in southern African Narratives (Wits University Press, 2008) was awarded the Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s Book Award for 2006–2008. Prof Woodward convened annual transdisciplinary colloquia on Human Animal Studies at UWC from 2011 to 2015. She is now co-editing a collection of essays based on the 2015 Colloquium entitled Indigenous Creatures: Native Knowledges, Animals and Modernity.

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Book reviews

In our own skins

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he figure of Professor Richard van der Ross looms large in the early history of the University of the Western Cape, which he joined as the first black Rector in 1975. Often at odds with students during his tenure, which coincided with the radicalisation of student and youth activists in the Western Cape, he famously coined the phrase ‘university of the working class’ to describe his vision of a different U-W-C. His new book, In our own skins: a political history of the Coloured people, reflects his lifelong interest in analysing and documenting the history of ‘the Cape Coloured people’, an ethnic identity he accepts without contestation as an actually existing reality, without grappling with any of the historical or ideological contradictions that troubled some of his political contemporaries.

While tracing the colonial and pre-colonial origins of his subject, the book is primarily devoted to the political history of ‘coloureds’ from the significant moment when the franchise was lost by the few blacks who qualified to vote to the arrival of democracy.

Along the way he attempts to provide a comprehensive account of the roles played by individual leaders and organisations in the intervening eighty-odd years of apartheid.

The book is a personal and personalised view of history, one that allows Prof Van der Ross to assign ethnic liberatory roles to a number of historical figures selected more for their ‘colouredness’ than out of any methodological historicism or nod to ideology.

Glasgow-educated Dr Abdullah Abdurahman, his fiery daughter Cissie Gool, the Ghanaian newspaperman FZS Peregrino,

communist trade unionists Jimmy and Alex la Guma and Prof Van der Ross’s fellow Labour Party founder Allan Hendrickse all make the cut but, tellingly, Neville Alexander, Richard Dudley, Dulcie and Reggie September, and other ‘coloured’ political actors who rejected a coloured identity, do not trouble the narrative with their presence.

Prof Van der Ross has written about the political history that interested him, as evidenced by the lengthy sections on the APO and the Theron Commission, and the photograph on the cover (it depicts the then government minister Allan Hendrickse swimming at a whites-only beach in 1987, a mild protest which he later told PW Botha was not intended as an act of civil disobedience). Paradoxically, while this approach would have unbalanced a ‘normal’ history of this period, making these details visible to

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today’s reader may be among the most valuable contributions of the book.

Ultimately, whether one regards it as fantastic ethnology or an interesting participant’s take on history depends on one’s point of view. Particularly young readers who have no experience of apartheid will find much of sociological interest in Prof Van der

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Ross’s effort to chronicle the broad sweep of the lives of ordinary ‘Cape Coloured’ men and women, and their struggle to endure the cruel impact of legislation such as the Group Areas Act during apartheid.

And there is no doubt In our own skins would make a fascinating read for any UWC alumnus, particular those of the older vintage.

The science of parenting A fascinating new book edited by Professor Nicolette Roman discusses how parenting behaviours influence the behaviour of the child.

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he book, Parenting Behaviors, Cultural influences and Impact on Childhood Health and Well-Being, to which Prof Roman also contributed a number of chapters as co-author, explores how the behaviour, wellbeing and health of the child solely depend on the parent.

The cognitive, emotional, social, physical and general development of the child can be positive or negative, depending on the parent or as a result of parenting effects.

These influences are presented from the perspective of Diana Baumrind, an American clinical and developmental psychologist known for her research on parenting typologies.

The studies presented in this book provide a cultural perspective of parenting, and draw on studies conducted in a number of countries, including South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and China, highlighting the similarities and differences in studies focusing on:

• Interventions for parents; • Adoption and foster care; and • The reciprocal nature between religiosity and politics and the family.

UWC colleagues from several departments who co-authored chapters in the book are Simone Titus, Jenny Rose, Anja Human-Hendricks, Edna Rich, Michelle Esau, Eugene Davids and Liezille Jacobs (now a senior scientist at the Medical Research Council), with international collaborators from Western University (Canada), City University of Hong Kong (China), the University of Otago (New Zealand) and the University of Cincinnati (USA).

Prof Roman has written extensively on the topic of parenting in South Africa. She currently heads the Child and Family Studies Programme at UWC where she specialises in family wellbeing, focusing on the parent-child relationship, parenting, family functioning and structure, and hookah pipe use in the family.

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Book reviews

Land Divided, Land Restored

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rofessors Ben Cousins and Cherryl Walker have published a new book on land reform titled Land Divided, Land Restored: Land Reform in South Africa for the 21st Century. The book grew out of the conference, ‘Land Divided: Land and South African Society in 2013, in Comparative Perspective’, which was co-hosted in March 2013

by UWC, the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University. The conference was held to mark the centenary of the 1913 Natives Land Act, that prohibited black ownership of land outside ‘native reserves’. The book, which Prof Cousins and Prof Walker edited and con-

tributed chapters to, is impeccably timed, arriving in the midst of politicians and academics assessing the progress made with redress and land reform. While some politicians indulge in attention-getting calls for confiscation of land from white farmers with no compensation, others obfuscate the issues with noise about curtailing foreign ownership of land or workers sharing equity with farmers. As Prof Cousins has pointed out, “banning foreign ownership of land is neither here nor there for the rural poor, while the 50/50 equity scheme is irrelevant to farm workers, who didn’t ask for equity shares in the first place.”

The authors point out that two decades of land reform have only marginally altered the agrarian structure of South Africa, with only around eight percent of land being transferred to black ownership. Land ownership, particularly of commercial agricultural land, remains deeply racialised and skewed in favour of the beneficiaries of apartheid.

The book thoroughly covers the range of changes and obstacles to improving the system of land ownership. Considering the complexities and impact of related issues – such as climate change, threats to biodiversity, urbanisation, high unemployment, food security and global economic uncertainties – policymakers are confronted with new challenges.

With the government having missed its own 2014 deadline for redistributing 30 percent of commercial agricultural land to black owners, there is little agreement on the best way forward.

Building on the public debates generated by the centenary of the 1913 Natives Land Act, this book presents a major opportunity to review the contemporary significance of land as a social, economic and natural resource

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in South Africa, to pose new questions and search for new answers. The book is illustrated with photographs from the acclaimed Iziko National Gallery exhibition ‘Umhlaba 1913–2013: Commemorating the 1913 Land Act’, curated by David Goldblatt, Paul Weinberg, Bongi DhlomoMautloa and Pam Warne. Prof Cousins holds the Department of Science and Technology/

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National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at UWC. Prof Walker holds a Research Chair in the Sociology of Land, Environment and Sustainable Development at Stellenbosch University and was a Regional Land Claims Commissioner for Kwazulu-Natal.

Incredible Journey: Stories that move you Tebello Mzamo is one of the 20 contributors to Incredible Journey: Stories that Move You. Edited by Joanne Hichens, and published by Mercury (an imprint of Burnet Media), the book is a collection of the best entries in the 2015 ‘Short.Sharp.Stories’ short story writing competition run by the National Arts Festival.

Mzamo’s story, ‘My Room’, focuses on Katiso, a young man whose family is unwilling to accept his homosexuality. Studying towards an honours degree in English at the University of the Western Cape, Mzamo says she wanted to write in a way that the reader listens carefully or tries to imagine what it can be like to be rejected for being yourself.

Mzamo says she decided to title the story ‘My Room’ because her cousin used to talk about how he would sneak his partners

into his room and tell his parents that they were just friends sleeping over. The story revolves around Katiso’s conflict, not only in struggling to come out of the closet, but the conflict with patriarchal and cultural assumptions and expectations of ‘manhood’.

Mzamo, who feels society is beginning to accept the reality of homosexuality, says of Katiso: ”When he’s at home, for example, his parents and uncle make it impossible for him to be who he is, simply because they just cannot tolerate or accept him as he is. They represent a level of authority that he can’t completely ignore. Bearing in mind that he, Katiso, as a man, has to prove his ‘manhood’ to them, along with the generational gap that exists, it is not that easy to own his sexuality around them.” Mzamo is now working on her first novel. She volunteers at Let Us Be Brilliant, a non-profit organisation that teaches literacy to primary school learners. The organisation is run by founder and UWC alumna, Kareemah Abdurahman.

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Book reviews

Support was the key to alumna’s success

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WC alumna Professor Shirley Zinn has published an autobiographical account aptly entitled Swimming Upstream.

Prof Zinn writes about how she ‘swam upstream’ against poverty and other socio-economic conditions of working class Steenberg at the height of apartheid, relentlessly pursuing her goals and forging an impressive academic and corporate career.

She describes a world dominated

by Christian values, the support of a hardworking family and schools where principled teachers were influential, awakening a love for knowledge in children surrounded by the negative influences of unemployment, gangsterism, alcoholism and teenage pregnancy.

Zinn performed well enough to attend UWC, where she qualified as a teacher.

She came into her own academically as a postgraduate student, earning an MEd at UWC and a doctorate in education from Harvard. After a stint in academia, Prof Zinn embarked on an extremely successful international corporate career in strategic human resource practice.

Describing the book on the Times Live website, Free State University Rector Professor Jonathan Jansen said, “What makes this well-written book particularly relevant is that it draws attention to the role of non-material resources in shaping the destiny of disadvantaged youth in circumstances where there was little money and even fewer opportunities.”

Prof Jansen’s point is well made, as the book illustrates how the people around Zinn were among the resources most crucial to her success – first her family, then the high school, then the support of the University (she singles out several academic mentors), and finally, her mentors and colleagues in business.

Prof Zinn is an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences and has served as a director of several major companies and institutions. Her book may be purchased from the publisher, KR Publishing (visit www.kr.co.za or tel. 011 706 6009).

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2015 in a nutshell Major international health project targets type 2 diabetes UWC hosted the launch of SMART2D (Self-Management And Reciprocal learning for the prevention and management of Type 2 Diabetes), a four-year collaborative research project between five institutions from five countries (South Africa, Uganda, Belgium, Sweden and Finland) that aims to develop and test new approaches to tackling and reducing type 2 diabetes among populations in low, middle and high income countries.

Historic agreement signed with Asahi and Meikai Universities in Japan UWC’s Dean of Dentistry, Prof Yusuf Osman, visited Asahi and Meikai Universities in Japan in March, where he signed memoranda of understanding that will open the door to collaboration and academic exchanges to strengthen the programmes of the signatory institutions.

Four UWC Science Learning Centres opened The Education Faculty opened four new UWC Science Learning Centres in Cape Town, that were installed in partnership with the Garden Cities Archway Foundation at Heideveld Secondary School in Heideveld, Khulani Secondary in Langa, Floreat Primary in Steenberg, and Spine Road Secondary in Mitchells Plain.

UWC Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research launched The Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research at UWC was officially launched. The programme included reflections on the Centre’s research activities, performances by artists and a panel discussion with the theme of ‘Multilingualism at the crossroads’.

PLAAS 20th Anniversary As part of its 20th anniversary celebration, the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) hosted an international symposium on ‘Agrarian Change in the 21st Century: Processes and Politics’, where keynote speakers and roundtables provoked lively debate and discussion from the audience.

Energy Storage Innovation Lab launch An Energy Storage Innovation Lab was launched at UWC which aims to cross the “innovation chasm” in advanced energy storage solutions, providing reliable and cost-effective energy storage systems.

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Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport signs agreement with UWC The Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) signed a collaboration agreement with UWC’s Centre for Performing Arts to provide skills development for members of projects funded by DCAS.

Rector signs pledge of ethics UWC launched its Fraud and Corruption Prevention Campaign in May after a policy framework was developed to prevent fraud, corruption, theft and internal irregularities. A pledge of ethics was signed by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, the Executive Director of Finance and Services, the Chairperson of the Audit and Risk Committee, the Chairperson of the University’s Council, and the Chairperson of the Student Representative Council.

UWC’s Rugby Sevens team scores internationally UWC’s Rugby Sevens team competed in an international Centrale Sevens tournament in France in May where the team competed against some of the top university teams in Europe and was placed third.

DST Lifetime Achievement Award for Prof Bharuthram UWC celebrated the latest accomplishment of Professor Ramashwar Bharuthram – he is the recipient of the 2015 Department of Science and Technology (DST)/SARIMA Award for Exceptional Leadership in Research Management.

The Annual David Sanders Lecture Dr Mary Bassett, New York City’s Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene, delivered the Annual David Sanders Lecture in July, where she addressed the link between race and health in her lecture entitled ‘#BlackLivesMatter’.

UWC placed 7th in Africa in latest rankings UWC is one of Africa’s top research institutions, rated seventh in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings – the world’s most trusted university rankings system.

DST WISA Awards 2015 Prof Marla Trindade won a Distinguished Young Woman Researcher Award at the annual DST Women in Science Awards (WISA) in August for her multidisciplinary work on developing useful biotechnologies from bacteria and viruses.

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10th Annual Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture and launch of Institute Advocate Michael Masutha, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, delivered the 10th Annual Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture at UWC. The lecture coincided with the celebration of the Community Law Centre’s 25th anniversary and the launch of its new name, the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights.

Namibia Alumni Chapter launch UWC established its first African alumni chapter outside South Africa in Namibia in August. Namibian Ombudsman, Advocate John Walters, was nominated as the inaugural chairperson.

Jakes Gerwel Foundation Commemorative Lecture In September, the Jakes Gerwel Foundation hosted the second Jakes Gerwel Commemorative Lecture in partnership with UWC. Dr Carlos Lopes, the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, delivered the lecture, titled ‘How does the African continent combine its abundant resources with the best of its cultural and intellectual heritage, to forge a new humanism that goes beyond race, ethnicity and artificial boundaries?’

UWC gets two unique SARChI Research Chairs UWC was awarded two more national research chairs: the SARChI Chair in Visual History and Theory, held by Prof Patricia Hayes, and the SARChI Chair in Health Systems Governance, held by Prof Helen Schneider.

Launch of the DST-NRF Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, delivered the keynote address at UWC’s launch of the Department of Science and Technology-National Research Foundation Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities. The Flagship is designed to host scholars and students from South African universities, public institutions, national and international research bodies in a collaborative initiative to forge the next generation of humanities scholars.

UWC Football Champs 2015 UWC Men’s football club made history when they were crowned Varsity Football champions for the first time after they triumphed over league favourites, Tshwane University of Technology.

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UWC Graduation UWC held its annual Autumn and Spring Graduations where a total of 4 306 students graduated.

UWC researchers honoured at 2015 NRF Awards Three UWC scholars, Professors Andrew Taylor, Romeel Davé and Alan Christoffels, were honoured at the 2015 National Research Foundation Awards, held in Johannesburg at the end of August.

UWC hosts 5th Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture ‘What’s law got to do with it?’ That was the question addressed by Advocate Thuli Madonsela at the fifth Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture hosted by UWC on 7 October, in celebration of former UWC Chancellor Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s 84th birthday.

Six top UWC academics join ASSAf Six UWC academics, Professors Priscilla Baker, Ernst Conradie, Julian May, Uma Mesthrie, Tamara Shefer and Christopher Stroud, were welcomed into the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in 2015, bringing the number of UWC academics associated with ASSAf to nine.

Mary Hames presents the 2015 Nelson Mandela Lecture at Penn State Mary Hames, the director of the Gender Equity Unit at UWC, was invited to be the speaker at the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture at Pennsylvania State University.

BRICS Conference An international BRICS conference, ‘The BRICS Partnership and Multilevel Government in Member States: An Unexplored Dimension’, was held at UWC from 15 to 16 October 2015.

360º PERSPECTIVES | ISSUE 4 Tarucus | 2015/2016 85 blue) thespis (Fynbos

Pieris brassicae (Cabbage white)

the Metisella malgacha (Grassveld sylph)

Zizeeria knysna (African grass blue)

© UWC NATURE RESERVE UNIT

Eicochrysops messapus messapus (Cupreous blue)

Phasis thero (Silver arrowhead)

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www.uwc.ac.za