WORDS FROM THE VICE-CHANCELLOR

CELEBRATING OUR CHAMPIONS

PROF TYRONE PRETORIUS, RECTOR AND VICE-CHANCELLOR

THE NOISE WAS DEAFENING on campus as the champions of Africa came home on an unusually sunny day in August. This was easy to understand because their Women’s African Cup of Nations triumph was as much a triumph for this university as it was for the rest of South Africa.

NO FEWER THAN HALF OF THE SQUAD that collected winners’ medals at the tournament were current or former students of the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Our women’s football head coach Thinasonke Mbuli was the assistant coach for the national team as well.

THE UWC WOMEN’S FOOTBALL TEAM’S SUCCESS must have been infectious for Banyana Banyana. Just a year before their triumph, our Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Development Support, Professor Pamela Dube, and I were ululating and dancing with our women’s team at Cape Town International Airport. They had returned as champions from the women’s Varsity Football tournament for 2021. They had also had a stellar showing in the women’s Hollywoodbets National League.

I HOSTED Regirl Ngobeni, Sibulele Howeni, Bongeka Gamede, Amogelang Motau, Noxolo Cesane, Thembi Kgatlana and assistant coach Mbuli at a lunch the day after their big welcome back to campus. It was clear to all who attended that they have a great affinity for UWC and appreciate how the university has created a platform for women’s football that is a model for the rest of the country.

WE DON’T RECRUIT STUDENTS for them to be Banyana, Springbok or Protea stars. At UWC, we aim to produce great all-round citizens who benefi t from the best of both worlds – a world-class platform to play elite sports as well as access a world-class higher education. If they become jewels in our national side, it is a bonus.

IT IS WITH THIS IN MIND that we launched the She-Bobo at UWC junior girls’ soccer league. The league was announced by our notable alumnus and the South African Football Association President, Danny Jordaan, in September. The league seeks to address the lack of competitive soccer for girls in the Cape Town region.

SHE-BOBO is another metric of UWC’s investment in the women’s game and the well-being of the girl child. Our intention is for girls as young as seven and eight to grow up with the UWC campus being part of their lives. We will be a constant for our little soccer players as they graduate to higher age groups, go to high school and eventually enrol here to study for a degree of their choice and to play for our women’s team.

WE WANT TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY CLUBS to grow capacity in the women’s game. At the same time, our students involved in sports science, sports administration management and development, nursing, physiotherapy and biokinetics will benefit from the practical experience of servicing the league, as will our sports administration staff.

IT IS OUR HOPE that She-Bobo becomes the blueprint for how universities around the country can engage communities through sport and become the drivers for social change as the anchor institutions in our society.

AS WE CELEBRATE OUR HEROINES’ RETURN as the WAFCON champions, we welcome the new cohort of future stars gracing our sporting fields in the She-Bobo at UWC league. We trust you will do your best on the field and make new friends, but mostly have fun in a safe environment. We will be watching with great interest the progress of these little superstars, from goals to graduation gowns. B+G