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opinions
v73 e1 – 25 february 2014
Expectation vs. reality The lady doth protest Parusha Naidoo wvv
Dean Horwitz
Image: Charlie Turnley
When Jacob Zuma got up in front of the country to deliver his annual State of the Nation address in Cape Town on February 13th, expectations were running high. This was the first State of the Nation since Mandela’s passing, the last of Zuma’s presidency and was to be delivered months before the next general election.
he did not offer any tangible solutions This year’s address carried even greater significance with this year marking 20 years of democracy in South Africa, a milestone which was expected to feature heavily. In the days leading up to the speech, politicians, analysts and members of the public made their wishes known, but did Jacob Zuma listen? And how will this address translate into reality? The one uniting theme across these expectations was a call for Zuma to address the series of service delivery protests that have been rocking South Africa over
the past few months. Citizens, politicians and political analysts were looking to Zuma to deliver a strong message and announce a range of solutions to these protests. However, all they got was a lousy and weak excuse. Zuma made it clear that his position was that success breeds protests and that the gains in service delivery that the ANC have made since 1994 are the leading cause of these protests. Even if you managed to swallow this excuse he did not offer any tangible solutions that can be analysed for their ability to translate into reality. Another key theme amongst the expectations that were written in the daily newspapers and on the internet was the dual theme of the economy and jobs. Over the past
year, the South African economy has had to deal with a weakening rand, a rising interest rate and a steady increase in unemployment. On both the economy and the employment fronts, Zuma failed to show leadership. Instead of using the address to admit to the failures of his presidency on job creation and economic development, he hid behind the 20 years of Democracy theme and decided to give out a list of statistics indicating how life is better now than it was under apartheid. Taken as a whole, life is definitely better, but the blunt truth is that both Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela managed to deliver more jobs and steer our economy through much rougher seas than our current president. Where he could have admitted his mistakes he hid behind his predecessors and where he could have delivered concrete solutions and plans he used the platform as an attempt to ensure his party wins the next election. It is unfortunate that while our president had a golden opportunity to stop the burning of service delivery protests, to stabilise the economy and to provide solutions to unemployment he chose to hide behind the ceremonial and celebratory nature of the occasion.
New beginnings Sandile Tshabalala
O-Week is a time of growth: a chance to make friends and celebrate being at UCT. O-Week provides you with the opportunity to explore yourself; to try things you’ve never done before. It is also a time for fun. First years are fortunate to be able to take part in events such as Freshers’ Braai, Big Bash and SAX Appeal. Residences pull a leg in ensuring that first years are patriotic and feel at home. O-Week often gives first years the best moments of their life at UCT. The memories that will last forever include your first hookup, changing your degree on the second day into your Orientation Programme, and realising the reality that your dreams are finally coming true. O-Week is undeniably what you make it to be. Each student brings out the best of what O-Week has to offer. It is up to each first year to determine the extent to which they utilise all the crucial information they have been bombarded with. It is no one else’s responsibility but the fresher’s. Orientation Leaders play an incredible role in supporting first years come to terms with the reality of being a university student. Their role is temporary; hence first years are now standing on their own. Whether this is unfortunate is debatable. Where are all the support structures now? It is important
for first years to be familiar with relevant services offered to them in certain circumstances such as DISCHO, CPS, Wellness Centre, HAICU and the Disability Unit. First years must never underestimate the existence of the SRC, Faculty Councils, House Committees and various other societies. These student bodies seek to deal with all issues at the core of student life. UCT has numerous structures such as the First Year Experience (FYE) initiative and Student Orientation and Advocacy Centre (SOAC) that are aimed at giving freshers a sense of belonging and academic and emotional support. These structures will not come chasing after you – you have to go chasing after them. Not all 4 735 first year students who are registered this year will graduate. It is the norm of university life that some students
will be academically or financially excluded, some will have illnesses that will hinder their studies, some will fall pregnant and some will take leaves of absence. It is true that every student that made it through to UCT deserves it and is capable of graduating. As the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof Nhlapho said at the Humanities Orientation, “You are embarking on absolutely the most amazing phase of your life; use this opportunity to the fullest.” It cannot be stressed enough that each first year student has to now take UCT and own it. Allow the reasons that made you apply to UCT be the motivation that will see you through it all. Never forget the lessons you have learned throughout your life time. This is an academic environment, no one can tell you that you are wrong, all ideas and concepts are meant to be intellectually challenged.
Opinions Editor
A tale of two rapes
of scrutiny and interrogation. The stories of Booysen and Pandey not only attracted media attention and public outrage, but also became the symbols for the faceless and forgotten victims before them. More importantly, it proved that violence goes beyond race, class or nationality and instead it begins with gender. Back home we faced the horror story of Booysen with public debate and small marches. It even seemed to be the breaking point for UCT students who mobilised February 2nd may be of very and took to Jammie steps to little significance to many of us hold placards and chant “We say and probably passed by as just enough” in an attempt to make up another day in the three month for every other rape and murder blur we fondly refer to as vac. we had never thought to protest Cast your mind back to the same about. It was an impressive sight but, day a year ago and recall the tweets, statuses and headlines after the last speech was made and of the month. You may instantly after our placards were put in the recycling pile, remember the we returned to tragic killing our own worlds. of Reeva became Steenkamp by our university protest We Oscar Pistorius sufferers of was a tiny dent on Valentine’s shock fatigue Day. – another Attempt day, another to jog your memory and go a mother, sister, daughter and bit further back to the short another rape. In India the case stint before we hopped off one of Pandey sparked country wide bandwagon and decided to protests calling for reforms in devote our conversations to the the attitudes, culture and laws para-olympiad who shot his surrounding the treatment girlfriend. Perhaps the story may of women. come to mind of a 17-year-old Unlike India, we failed as girl named Anene Booysen who South Africans to materialise was raped and disembowelled, our thoughts into visible mass and subsequently died in action against sexual violence, our university protest was a tiny Tygerberg Hospital. Overnight Anene Booysen dent to a bigger problem. Rape became synonymous with South is probably still as rampant in Africa’s daily reality of violence India as it was before the story of against women. A year after the Pandey broke but the difference death of Booysen, rape is still is that a country, and not just a committed every day and each university, rallied together. A year later we can stand on new statistic deepens the never healing wound of violence against Jammie steps and look down on the greater Cape Flats area, women. During the same time that comforted by the stark physical South Africa grappled with the and social distance that assures cold reality of Anene Booysen, us the problem of rape originates across the Indian Ocean protests in a place far from our leafy were ignited by the death of Jyothi suburbs. Instead we must realise Singh Pandey, a student who was it is not an isolated problem gang raped and mutilated aboard and the end to violence against women requires every South a bus in New Delhi. In the space of two months, the African to change their attitude rape and torture of two women and demand nothing less than from separate worlds were caught justice for every mother, sister in an international media storm and daughter.