On May 8, 2019, South Africa’s General Elections took place and election fever took a hold of much of Wits University. Below are a few images of voters decked our in their political party’s regalia.
Wits Brainwashers bash Midrand visitors
The team hope this win is the beginning of a record breaking season.
As originally published on Wits Vuvuzela, May 8, 2019.
The Wits Brainwashers’ campaign for a fifth Wits Netball Internal League title kicked off with a decisive win at Wits University on Tuesday, May 7. The Brainwashers beat Monash South Africa’s team MSA 1, 35-24.
The Brainwashers had a rough start to the match after losing the first quarter 6-7. Brainwashers coach Klaas Mokgomole attributed this to his players being put in positions they weren’t familiar with.
“We tried moving them around and playing them off-position as a tactic,” Mokgomole said.
After the first quarter loss, Mokgomole returned the players back to their usual positions, a move which immediately changed the tone of the match for Wits.
The fast-paced second quarter opened with a goal from the Brainwashers. MSA 1 quickly equalised before the Brainwashers even had a chance to celebrate. But after their rivals netted their third goal, the Brainwashers raced to beat them before the quarter was up and won it 10-5.
The Brainwashers dominated their opponents for much of the third quarter. Wits’ goal attack Melissa Thando’s name was chanted repeatedly by the crowd as she netted goal after goal for the home side. The Brainwashers took the third quarter 9-6.
The fourth and final quarter saw a surge in energy and co-ordination for both teams.
Dashing from one end of the court to the other, MSA 1 managed to slot a few balls into the net.
MSA 1 coach Fhulufelo Faith Ratshitanga pleaded with her side to stem the tide of Wits goals from the side-lines, shouting “Let’s fix it!” as the Brainwashers ratcheted point after point.
The Brainwashers continued to score right up until the final whistle resulting in a fourth quarter score of 10-6 to Wits.
Ratshitanga attributed her team’s loss to tactical issues and problems with their attitude.
“Our problem is spacing and also their fighting spirit. I think their fighting spirit is lacking just a little bit,” she told Wits Vuvuzela.
“Practicing together more and practicing passes,” are what she said needs to be done to improve the team’s skills.
Mokgomole was happy with the Brainwashers’ win but was disappointed at the goal difference.
“We have a long way to go. They [MSA 1] pulled up their socks because last season we beat them by 20 points and this time it’s only 11,” he said.
A Wits alumnus joins the Royal Society of London
The prolific astronomer was a student at Wits in the 60s.
As originally published by Wits Vuvuzela, May 2, 2019.
A Wits alumnus and former lecturer has been inducted into the Royal Society of London, the oldest scientific institution in the world.
Dr Bernard Fanaroff, 72, joined 50 other eminent scientists who were inducted into the society on Tuesday, April 16.
“I was so surprised. I never considered what I was doing was worthy of being recognised by the Royal Society. It’s a wonderful compliment from the society and I feel gratified,” Faranoff told Wits Vuvuzela.
Faranoff is an expert in radio astronomy and lends his name to the Faranoff-Riley classification together with British scientist Julia Riley. The Faranoff-Riley classification, developed in 1974, is used for the classificaton of radio galaxies and quasars.
President of the Royal Society, Venki Ramakrishnan, described the society’s purpose as being committed to using science for the benefit of humanity. “This year’s newly elected Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society embody this (purpose); being drawn from diverse fields of enquiry; at once disparate, but also aligned in their pursuit and contributions of knowledge about the world in which we live,” Ramakrishnan said in a statement to Wits Vuvuzela.
Professor Joao Rodrigues, the head of school of physics at Wits called Fanaroff’s induction into the society long overdue.
“The fellowship is a recognition of his achievements which are significant. He did not have a standard academic career which tends to be the profile that is chosen by the Royal Society of London. Most of his time was not spent as professor in one of the universities,” he said.
Rodrigues also attributed South Africa’s win in the bid to host the SKA project to Fanaroff himself. “He was in charge of identifying and highlighting to the government the importance of bidding for the Square Kilometre Array. South Africa won that bid and that is thanks by and large to his efforts.”
Fanaroff earned his PhD in radio astronomy from Cambridge University after completing his undergraduate and fourth year degrees at Wits Univerity in 1968.
He returned to South Africa and worked as lecturer in the physics department at Wits between 1974 and 1976. Fanaroff says he felt compelled to join the fight against apartheid and so he left the university to work as an anti-apartheid and labour organiser full time. He joined the National Union of Metal Workers South Africa (NUMSA) and was an active member for 19 years.
“I was inspired by my parents who were organisers involved in the anti-apartheid struggle beginning in the 1920s,” he said. Fanaroff said he wanted to prove that South Africa can contribute to the global canon of innovative scientific knowledge. “The old colonial idea that we can do science in South Africa about things like food security but nothing too ambitious or high tech inspired me to push for the SKA project. It is only through projects like this that we can prove that we are good enough,” he said.
Wits Titans beat Spiker-Roos three sets to one
Women’s volleyball team bags first victory of the season.
Originally published on Wits Vuvuzela, April 10, 2019.
A highly energetic match against Fairland’s Spiker-Roo saw the Wits Titans women’s volleyball team claim their first win of the season on Monday, April 8, at the Old Mutual Sports Hall.
This was their second match in the Johannesburg Volleyball Union League 2019 season after losing the first match 0-3 to the University of Johannesburg on March 13.
The Titans dominated from the beginning, winning the first point of the opening set. Spiker-Roo quickly caught up but conceded a point when a player hit the ball out of bounds into the balcony behind her.
After an impossible-to-return spike, the Fairland-based team’s coach Mthabisi Ndlovu became visibly agitated when the Titans finally took back the lead which put them at 15-14 points.
After a thrillingly long rally, the Titans continued to notch up point after point to win the set 25-21.
The second set saw the Titans take the lead early on, racing past their rivals but after conceding a point to them, putting the score at 20-15, the Titans coach Lenah Fatah levelled her players with a look and an exasperated shout of, “Come on!”
At 24-15, the Titans were serving for the second set but lost the point after an impressive save from Spiker-Roo. Their skills weren’t enough for the Titans who won the set 25-16.
A foul called by the referee in the beginning of the third set but disputed by the Titans, put the Spiker-Roos at seven points to the Titan’s six, only for them to quickly lose it again. The score was brought back down to a tie of 6-6.
This only seemed to motivate Spiker-Roo, and they rallied to take the lead.
The third set ended with the visitors winning 25-23.
The fourth set began with the Titans sailing to a 10 point advantage, putting the score at 16-6.
A series of amazing saves kept Spiker-Roo trailing behind the Titans but after they finally gained a point, the coaches from either side began squabbling.
This did not disrupt the Titans’ focus as they raced to that 25th point and won the fourth set and the match with a 25-11 score.
This is Spiker-Roo’s second loss after being thrashed 0-3 by Quantum Volleyball Club on March 18. Their assistant coach Kevin Fat told Wits Vuvuzela that, “Nerves are the only problem. Nerves get to them. I’m hoping to see more confidence from the ladies in the next match”.
Wits Titans’ captain Angelu Nyathi attributed the team’s victory to them playing to their strengths rather than trying something unfamiliar.
“Being there for each other helped us win the match,” Nyathi told Vuvuzela, adding, “I’m hoping this will be the first of more wins.”
Sketchy Bongo sorry for pro-Israel performance
The South African DJ took to Twitter to apologise.
As originally published by Wits Vuvuzela, April 7, 2019.
Hitmaker Sketchy Bongo has apologised for performing at a South African Union for Jewish Students (SAUJS) concert at Wits University on Thursday, April 5.
Bongo, whose real name is Yuvir Pillay, took to Twitter to express his regret over the performance for which he was paid.
“I want to apologise deeply for performing at Wits today … I didn’t think and do my research. I feel terrible for accepting money for this show I didn’t fully understand, and I will never make this mistake again …” he said.
Bongo, 29, also pledged to make a donation to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) and to post an image of the amount donated on Twitter.
The PCRF is an American non-profit organisation which aims to provide Palestinian children with medical treatment severely lacking in the Middle Eastern region by sending medical equipment and volunteer medical teams and training Palestinian doctors too.
Bongo’s performance at Wits formed part of SAUJS’ weeklong #NoPlaceForHate campaign; the pro-Israel society’s response to the international event, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), organised at Wits by the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC).
Nonkuleleko Mntambo, chairperson of the PSC at Wits, told the Wits Vuvuzela the committee was pleased with Bongo’s swift response and his support for Palestine.
“The PSC is elated. I think one of the objectives of the IAW programme is enlightening people and we did that on a scale that even we didn’t anticipate. People who haven’t heard of the situation are now curious why the artist they’re listening to is distancing themselves from Israel and his performance at the event,” Mntambo said.
Chairperson of SAUJS, Liora Katzew, told the Vuvuzela, Bongo’s apology came after he was pressured by the PSC to do so.
“We are used to these bullying tactics used by the PSC, who put pressure on artists to follow their one sided narrative. Sketchy Bongo was there as part of his desire to bring peace and unity through his music, which was both his and the SAUJS mandate. The SAUJS “Peace and Unity Concert” had no reference to politics or Israel.
“His performance attracted large crowds of students who danced with South Africa flags and created an incredible atmosphere. This was completely destroyed when the hate-filled IAW supporters bombarded the peace, with their usual aggression and intimidatory behaviour,” she said.
Katzew added that SAUJS would be meeting with Bongo to discuss the matter.
“He is his own person with his own freedom of speech and should not be bullied into making quick assertions,” she said.
UPDATE: This article was updated on April 7, 3:52pm to reflect the comments by SAUJS chairperson Liora Katzew which were received after publication.
Peace reigns at Israeli Apartheid Week
The 15th annual IAW continues largely unscathed by direct conflict as different student organisations campaign on campus.
As originally published by Wits Vuvuzela, April 4, 2019.
The annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) at Wits University has passed peacefully since it started on Monday, April 4.
IAW is a global movement that started in Toronto in 2005 and campaigns for pro-Palestinian advocacy stemming from the dispute over land ownership between Palestinians and Israelis in the Middle East.
The week is run by a number of organisations, the most notable being the international boycott movement based in Palestine and called Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), which calls for non-violent disassociation from the Israeli state.
BDS initiated the annual program and because of international solidarity with IAW, each country runs the campaign differently. In South Africa, IAW is run by different organisations including the National Coalition 4 Palestine (NC4P) and BDS. At Wits University, IAW is organised by the Wits Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC), the Palestine Solidarity Alliance (PSA) and a number of different organisations that advocate for the Palestinian state and run programs under IAW.
The South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) is a pro-Zionist organisation that participates and also runs programs during IAW by providing a counter-narrative to claims that Israel is an apartheid state.
“BDS runs a campaign every year called Israeli Apartheid Week on campus and our students don’t feel safe on campus. First and foremost we are running a campaign to provide a safe space for students, while at the same time educating about Israel so that people understand what’s really going on,” said national vice chair of the SAUJS, Kayla Ginsberg.
The two student bodies, the PSC and SAUJS, were physically separated 250 metres away from each other, preventing any immediate altercations.
Former Wits Student Representative Council (SRC) member Fasiha Hassan said PSC’S objective for the week was to lobby more students to participate in IAW by encouraging allegiance with BDS and engaging with the issue on campus.
“Ultimately we want more student organisations to take on the boycott stance [of BDS],” said the fifth-year LLM student.
Part of the PSC’s campaign included the erection of a mock wall at the Wits Science Stadium (WSS) to represent the Israeli border which separates Palestinians from the state of Israel.
Both SAUJS and PSC hosted a number of prominent speakers to lecture on their own experiences in relation to the two states.
Former member of the Wits SRC and candidate for the provincial legislature of Gauteng, Justice Nkomo, spoke at a SAUJS event about his new understanding about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on Monday, April 1.
Nkomo, who described himself as previously 100% pro-BDS, said: “I had a chance to go to Israel in 2014 with other student leaders … I had a chance to interact with community members that side, society in general both from Palestine and Israel, so I have a better understanding of the conflict.”
Badee Dwaik, a Palestinian activist and founder of Human Rights Defenders in Palestine, likened the Israeli occupation of Palestine to apartheid South Africa, on Tuesday, April 2 at the PSC activation on the WSS lawns.
“The situation for Palestinians is that they cannot have freedom of movement. I have been arrested and detained in Palestine more than 70 times for exposing the crimes of the Israeli occupation,” Dwaik said.
On Wednesday, April 3, the PSC held a painting session where students painted their hands in the colours of the Palestinian flag and pressed them to the mock wall.
The handprints accompanied spray-painted slogans reading “Free Palestine” and “End Israeli Apartheid”.
PSC chairperson Nonkululeko Mntambo said the atmosphere of IAW this year had been constructive but not without its unique challenges.
“We do believe that [Wits] management consistently gives SAUJS better space than we do and a better time than we do,” said Mntambo.
“SAUJS operates under the religious cluster so they don’t have to consistently see the Dean to have one event, but because we are explicitly a Palestinian political body, every single event, be it in IAW or in the middle of June, has to go through this body. It’s consistently easier to be a Zionist at Wits than it is to be pro-Palestine,” she said.
Since 2018, Wits management has stopped hosting the two organisations in the same space. SAUJS’s events for this week were hosted on the Amic Deck, while the PSC’s were held at the WSS rather than the FNB building, where they were last year.
SAUJS’s Liora Katzew said accusations of favouritism were false and that SAUJS had also had conflict with Wits management when planning campaigns.
“PSC chose FNB last year and never expressed any concern afterwards or doubt,” she said.
Wits Dean of Students Jerome September said he was surprised that the students felt they had been treated unfairly.
“I met with both groups to discuss the events and the terms of engagement for the IAW activities. I am thus surprised at the claim that we have been harsh on the students, when we are actively assisting all parties to ensure the success of the IAW.”
Wits Titans throttle Green Mambas
The Men’s volleyball team had to dig deep after the teams were level to clinch the win in the fifth set decider
As originally published by Wits Vuvuzela, March 21, 2019.
The Wits Titans recovered well after losing the first set of their match against Centurion’s Green Mambas on Wednesday, March 20, to win three sets to two.
Captain of the Titans, Comfort Munya, formed part of the starting line-up for the team’s second match of the season, but was substituted early on in the first set after coach Qinisa Guyana decided a change in strategy was needed to put the boys back in the driver’s seat at the Old Mutual Sports Hall at Wits.
The Titans started the second set strong and sailed to a 24-18 lead. The Green Mambas rallied to close that gap quickly but after an almost prophetic chant of “ONE POINT!” by the Titan’s captain, the team finished the set with 25 points to the Mambas’ 20.
The third set saw Munya’s re-entry into the game, this time as a receiver and attacker. Explaining this decison, Guyana said, “We shifted positions, taking Comfort out of the setter position and making him a receiver. After that he had good blocks and good attacks. The change really opened up play for him.”
Speaking to the Wits Vuvuzela after the match, Munya said, “I’m sort of the morale booster of the team and moving me from setter to attacker meant I could push the team from behind.”
Munya’s efforts at boosting his team’s morale did not immediately become effective though, with the Witsies losing the set 15-25.
A fast-paced fourth set marked by a marvelous set piece by the Titans was abruptly halted when the lights suddenly went out as the scoreboard sat at 5-5. The Old Mutual Sports Hall was immediately plunged into darkness. Amidst shouts of disappointment from the home crowd, Munya consulted with the referee and after a few minutes while the referee cracked a few jokes with a spectator, the lights came back on and play resumed.
Easily the most exciting set, the Titans earned their 13th point after the Mambas spiked the ball so far out of bounds, it landed in the spectators’ balcony.
The Titans seemed to be dominating the entire set, but the Mambas soon caught up, putting the score at a potentially game-ending tie of 21-21.
Visibly frustrated with his team, Guyana could be seen shouting commands from the sidelines but could do little more than to watch on as the Mambas gained point after point, putting them at 24-22.
Spectators cheering for Wits grew desperate as the Mambas served for the match but a miracle block of a shot by the Titans saw them saving the point and earning three more, to win the set 27-25. That meant the teams were square at two sets all.
The nail-biting fifth and final set was a quick but contentious one with the Titans coming up from behind to win four points in a row, and finally to claim the set 15-13, and the match with three sets to two.
After the match, Guyana said that although he was happy with the final result, the team could have played much better. “We collapse under pressure and fail to rise again so we need to work on that.”
He only had praises for attacker Jayden Magwada though, saying, “He was almost at 100% in his attack!”
Magwada said, “It looks like it is going to be a great season but the team needs to work as a team.”
Munya echoed Magwada’s sentiments, saying: “This win is good for us. The season looks promising. We are heading for the championship and gunning for the gold!”
The final score was 14-25, 25-20, 15-25, 27-25, and 15-13 to the Wits Titans.
Two Wits students win women’s science fellowship
Prestigious fellowship gives the nod to Witsies for excellence in science research.
As originally published on Wits Vuvuzela, March 17, 2019
Two Wits University students have been awarded a prestigious fellowship and research grant by multinational conglomerate L’Oreal in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Harshna Jivan, who specialises in nuclear physics, and Olaperi Okuboyejo, a computer scientist, were awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Africa Regional Programme Fellowship at a private ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya.
“I was rather ecstatic when I received the news that I was one of the fellows selected. It feels great to be recognised for the hard work that I have put in to my studies thus far,” Jivan told Wits Vuvuzela.
“I knew that receiving this fellowship would provide me with the platform to share my research interests with people in different fields to me. And the fellowship grant will be very useful in boosting my future career in nuclear physics,” she added.
Okuboyeju said she felt honoured to have been awarded the fellowship and grant.
“The award has put me on a higher pedestal for more recognition and sponsorship in my research,” Okuboyeju said.
Okuboyeju’s application for the fellowship was supported by her supervisor, Professor Sigrid Ewert of the Wits School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.
Ewert highlighted the historic significance of the award.
“Olaperi is the second student from computer science at Wits to receive this award. She follows in the footsteps of Dr Mpho Raborife who is now senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. If a student receives such an award, it means that not only the student, but also many staff members, both academic and support, must have done something right many times.”
Each of the women will receive a research grant of over R80 000 which Jivan said would help her conduct research with scientists from all over the world.
“The grant awarded will help me with travel expenses so that I can work more directly with some of our international collaborators. The exposure and training that I can receive from participating in experiments in laboratories across the globe will aid in my knowledge growth and will be a great boost to my future career as a researcher in physics,” Jivan said.
The fellowship aims to empower young, female African researchers and to increase their visibility in the hope of creating role models for young women keen on pursuing a career in science. Jivan and Okuboyeju are among 12 recipients out of more than 480 applicants from countries including South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria.
THE CHRONICLES OF SANELE MSIZA 