An explosion occurred in an organic chemistry laboratory on the seventh floor of UCT’s PD Hahn Building in the early hours of Thursday, 2 September. Nobody was in the lab and there were no injuries. Damage to the facilities is being assessed.

Postgraduate students working in laboratories in other parts of the building alerted campus security staff and were safely evacuated from the building. Emergency services arrived promptly on the scene, secured the fire and determined that nobody was injured in the explosion. UCT’s security staff are working with Fire Department investigators to determine the cause of the explosion and prevent any recurrence.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: No injuries in organic chemistry lab explosion

Assoc Prof Keertan Dheda, a pulmonologist in the Department of Medicine and at the UCT Lung Institute says that drug-resistant TB is one of the biggest health threats facing the African continent

The forced isolation or incarceration of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) will be in the spotlight at a workshop titled Current Practices, Controversies and Clinical Challenges, in the Faculty of Health Sciences from 3 to 5 September.

Valid medical concerns about risks to the community have to be weighed up against the ethical and legal human rights ramifications of enforced isolation of an individual, and the availability of resources. This controversial issue is expected to spark animated debate.

Other topics on the programme include the evolution and epidemiology of drug-resistant TB in South Africa, diagnosis of the disease using current tools, and drugs, and treatment regimes for infected adults and children.

Pulmonologist Associate Professor Keertan Dheda, one of the organisers of the event, said: “I believe that drug-resistant TB is one of the biggest health threats facing the African continent. It has the potential to destabilise an already compromised TB control system in South Africa.” He added: “Consistent failure to identify and administer appropriate treatment for tuberculosis (TB) cases means that a growing number of TB-infected South Africans are burdening an already strained health care system.”

This is one of the findings of a review of the current situation. The review, co-authored by Dheda, was published in the May 2010 issue of The Lancet and focused on developing countries.

The workshop concludes on Sunday, 5 September 2010, with the closing address delivered by Western Cape MEC for Health, Theuns Botha.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Health sciences to lead drug-resistant TB workshop

The face of change: The Clanwilliam Arts Development Project has won a BASA Award for youth development.

The UCT Fairheads Clanwilliam Arts Project took top honours for youth development at the 13th Annual Business Day/Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) Awards, announced in Johannesburg on 31 August.

The project, which was also nominated in the sustainable partnership category, is a collaboration between UCT’s Department of Drama and Michaelis School of Fine Art, as well Magnet Theatre and Jazzart, with sponsorship from Fairheads International Trust for the past 10 years. It started off in the mid-1990s as the Living Landscapes Project under the care of Professor Pippa Skotnes of the School of Fine Art and Professor John Parkington of the Department of Archaeology. At annual workshops, they taught about 100 learners from Clanwilliam about the rich heritage of the area.

As interest and participation grew, Skotnes recruited colleague Associate Professor Mark Fleishman of the Department of Drama to add a performance element to the project. Today, Fleishman and a small army of students and performers run weeklong workshops to prepare hundreds of children, aged between five and 18, for the culminating events – a lantern parade through Clanwilliam, and a performance of /Xam (San) stories first told to the 19th century linguist Wilhelm Bleek and his sister-in-law Lucy Lloyd. (This year, the events take place on Sunday, 12 September.)

Also lending a hand in these preparations is offshoot Comnet, a permanent drama group made up of high school learners from Clanwilliam whose interest was sparked by Fleishman’s workshops. Two of the original 10 Comnet members have since the group’s founding been accepted onto the training programme at Jazzart in Cape Town, and one of the leaders of Comnet receives a trainee bursary from Magnet Theatre to co-ordinate the group.

“For all the other things the project is, it has also become an opportunity for our students, both drama and fine art, to see at first hand the wonderful, transforming, imaginative power of creativity,” says Skotnes.

The BASA accolade, she adds, is just rewards for Fairheads’ continued investment, even after the 2009 death of chairperson Peter Fairhead, who spearheaded the trust’s support for the Clanwilliam project.

“The award is great – it acknowledges our sponsors who have been committed to this project from the very beginning and without whom we would not have been able to take it this far.”

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Lantern and arts project a light for Clanwilliam

G/Crime busters: Attending the GSCID launch were (from left) Antony Davies, John Critien and DVC Prof Thandabantu Nhlapo.

UCT’s R3.5 million investment to combat crime, grime and homelessness in surrounding areas took physical shape on 1 September with the first deployment of security patrols and cleaning staff taking to the streets.

This is the public launch of the Groote Schuur Community Improvement District (GSCID) a project four years in the planning to clean up the business areas, and later residential areas, bordering Main Road, from the South African Breweries in Newlands to Anzio Road in Observatory.

The new cleaning crew is provided by Straatwerk Ophelp, who provide rehabilitation and job creation for the homeless. After a tender process, Orbis Security Solutions were appointed to provide the new security patrols.

Speaking at the launch function, Antony Davies, CEO of the GSCID, thanked UCT for its “massive investment” in the pioneering project.

“This unique partnership shows the value that UCT places on good neighbourliness,” said Davies. “It also shows a commitment to addressing the crime and grime concerns of the community.”

Deputy vice-chancellor Professor Thandabantu Nhlapo said the project was of immediate interest to UCT, because although crime had been significantly lowered on campus, the crime problem in its peripheral areas has resulted in the murders of UCT students and staff.

“Occasionally it’s my job to announce a death to relatives, and believe me, you don’t ever want to do that. It’s the most gut-wrenching thing to do.”

UCT is also upgrading the GSCID offices in Shell Court, Mowbray “as part of UCT’s commitment to urban renewal”, says John Critien, executive director of Properties and Services Department.

“The university is very serious about the upliftment of the area it serves,” said Critien. “We want to be a part of real change.”

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Obs community improvement project takes to the streets

Helping hand: DVC Prof Crain Soudien (centre) receives a bursary cheques from the Hospital Welfare and Muslim Educational Movement, from left, Mohamed Omar, Allie Brey, Nazeer Khalfe, Nur Bawa and Essack Mohamed.

The Hospital Welfare and Muslim Educational Movement (HWMEM) handed UCT the latest in its annual a bursary cheque on 31 August. The donation will go towards the study fees of disadvantaged students.

Nazeer Khalfe, the movement’s education secretary, noted that the cheque of R171 000 was but part of the R600 000 in donations that the HWMEM has dispersed to needy students at the four Western Cape universities this year.

The HWMEM is a community-based organisation that was established early in the 1940s to cater for the nutritional needs of Muslims at Somerset Hospital which later grew to a welfare programme for the community at large. It set up the bursary scheme in the 1960s with a nudge from its political stalwarts, who argued that liberation and education go hand in hand. Beneficiaries are struggling students of all races and creed who have the drive and attitude but may not necessarily have excelled in their primary and secondary studies due to their disadvantaged circumstances.

Receiving the cheque, deputy vice-chancellor Professor Crain Soudien said UCT appreciates the continued support of the HWMEM, adding that it was clear that the award comes from their hearts.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Muslim bursary comes from heart

Going green: Students from UCT and Stellenbosch University planted trees to help improve a new housing development in Mitchell’s Plain.

Rivalry between UCT and Stellenbosch University (SU) was put aside when students from the two institutions braved freezing rain and worked hand-to-hand to plant trees in a new Mitchell’s Plain suburb.

Residents of New Portlands were taken by a pleasant surprise when 150 students arrived early on 28 August to plant about 300 indigenous trees, one on each property. The project was a collaboration between Students’ Representative Councils from both institutions, UCT’s Green Campus Initiative (GCI) and their SU counterparts, EcoMaties Sustainability Society, as well as representatives from the United Nations Association of South Africa, and Habitat for Humanity societies from both institutions.

The aim of the initiative was to help spruce up the newly-built housing development, and raise awareness of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and the environmental benefits of planting trees. Organisers raised over R30 000 for the trees.

Richard Parker of GCI notes that the rain on the day posed some challenges but also saved them from watering the trees. In the end, the mission was accomplished and residents were grateful.

“Doing the final rounds, it was amazing to see a tree at each house, and the impact it made on the neighbourhood,” says Parker.

The SRC’s Erik de Ridder says that the project was in line with the body’s strategic goal to address the issue of environmentalism, and contributed to its aim to be carbon-neutral. He added that EcoMaties will be producing pamphlets for the community on how to take care of the tree.

“Given that almost no gardens exist, this is a crucial component if the initiative is to have a lasting impact,” he explains.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Students plant trees for good cause

Crime science: Dr Sipho Mfolozi is the inventor of the prize-winning NecroChronometer.

A new device set to revolutionise how forensic pathologists measure a body’s time of death at crime scenes is the brainchild of Dr Sipho Mfolozi of UCT’s Division of Forensic Medicine.

The imaginatively named NecroChronometer – still in its alpha stage of development – took second place at the National Innovation Competition, an event held every two years by the Technology Innovation Agency and the Department of Science and Technology.

According to the competition’s rules, the R200 000 cash prize will be divided between research funding and commercialising the device once complete.

Mfolozi explains that the NecroChronometer uses three tried-and-tested methods to calculate time of death, namely tympanic mambrane (in the ear) temperature, liver temperature and the concentration of potassium in the corpse’s eye fluid.
But the NecroChronometer’s claim to innovation is that it combines all three methods, as well as factoring in climate and weather variables, such as wind speed and humidity, which affect the cooling rate of the corpse.

Looking like something out of a 1960s Star Trek episode, the NecroChronometer comprises three probes and a retro-futuristic handheld reader, which includes an anemometer for reading wind speed and a hygrometer for air humidity.

“It’s only a static model, so it’s still a bit more bulky than I would like,” says Mfolozi.

Despite its appearance, the working model will be at one with technology. Bluetooth will wirelessly transmit data from the corpse’s probes to the handheld device, and the NecroChronometer will be able to connect to the internet from anywhere on the planet to download weather history for the area.

“The plan is to combine all these factors to give the most accurate reading possible,” says Mfolozi proudly.

But although with a patent pending. the device is yet to be tested. Mfolozi is confident that this next stage in the birthing of the NecroChronometer will be successful.

“There’s nothing magical about it,” he says modestly. “It’s just science.”

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Corpse measuring methods gets new life

Calling the future: An HSRC study pointed to some worrying contrasts between the employment rates of African and white graduates.

The finding in a recent study that even African graduates who have graduated from historically white universities (HWI) are less likely to find employment than their white counterparts is somewhat unexpected, says UCT’s Professor Haroon Bhorat.

Speaking at the first of the revived Open Planning Forums of the Institutional Planning Department on 30 August, Bhorat and Natasha Mayet, both of the Development and Policy Research Unit (DPRU), drew attention to some of the highlights from a 2009 Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study on student retention and graduation destination, particularly a section conducted by the IPD.

That research looked at what happened to some 5 491 students who had graduated across seven South African universities, including HWIs and historically black institutions (HBI), at the end of 2002. (UCT did not form part of the study.)

In keeping with recent trends, researchers found that, overall, 66% of white students in this cohort had graduated by 2002, far more than the 39% of Africans. Or that African non-completion rates are significantly higher at HBIs (62%) than at HWIs (37%), particularly for African women (71%).

What does stand out is the figure that at the time of the survey in 2004, 42% of African graduates from HWIs had not found work, higher than the 40% of Africans from HBIs. These numbers were also a far cry from the 10% of whites from HWIs and 6% of whites from HBIs who were still unemployed by 2004.

“The notion persists that if you control for a range of variables, including household and parental effects, Africans who go through the same degree, the same course of study and at the same institution as whites, have a lower probability of finding employment,” Bhorat cautiously pointed out.

That said, the study had many shortcomings, he noted. It was at best a once-off snapshot, and more universities would need to be included in a future study to see if these trends persist. (IPD’s Jane Hendry reported, for example, that African graduates from UCT are more likely to find employment than their white classmates.)

Download the full report of the HSRC study, published by HSRC Press as Student Retention and Graduate Destination: Higher education and labour market access and success.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: African graduates struggle to find employment – survey

Entertaining: Learners at the Maths Afternoon enjoy a few mind games.

As the public servants strike continued, scores of high school learners descended on UCT to sharpen their skills at the popular Mathematics Afternoon.

The 200 grades 10 and 11 learners, some from as far afield as Bredasdorp and Mossel Bay, enjoyed a mix of lectures on topics outside the school curriculum, competitions, and maths videos. The event is free to learners.

The brainchild of Professor Christopher Gilmour in UCT’s Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Maths Afternoons have been hosted twice a year since 1987. Gilmour was assisted by Emeritus Professor John Webb, Dr Jurie Conradie and a team of students to organise the latest event on 28 August.

Gilmour explains that although the emphasis was on fun, learners were exposed to topics in a way that was not only entertaining, but also gave them insight into the nature of mathematics, its challenges and uses, as well as its appeal to school learners.

“Many of those who have attended in the past have come to UCT and have excelled in their studies,” Gilmour said.

As usual, Coca-Cola sponsored the event with liquid refreshments.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Fun and knowledge at maths afternoon

Specialist skills: Professor Sason Shaik (right), who launched UCT’s Scientific Computing International Lecturer Series with Prof Kevin Naidoo

Renowned chemist Professor Sason Shaik visited UCT to launch the Scientific Computing International Lecturer Series (SCILS).

Director of the Lize Meitner-Minerva Centre for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, Shaik delivered a number of lectures and hosted hands-on sessions during his four-day visit.

A relatively new discipline, a precise definition of computational science is yet to be agreed upon. But in lay terms, the field involves methods for using supercomputers to study scientific problems, complementing both theory and experimentation components in a scientific investigation.

“The SCILS programme originated because scientific computing is strong at UCT, although this is not generally true for the rest of South Africa,” explains Professor Kevin Naidoo, head of scientific computing in UCT’s Centre for High Performance Computing.

“The idea is to have prominent people in the field visit UCT to interact with both students and staff,” said Naidoo.

Shaik presented a public lecture to undergraduate chemistry students on 23 August, titled Chemistry: A central pillar of human culture, and a special lecture aimed at academic staff and postgraduates, titled Cytochrome P450 and its Reactivity Patterns: What a versatile catalyst!, on 24 August.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: International lecture series for computational science

Great debate: Attending the seminar on agricultural practices were (from left) Nigel Dorward, Rob Small, Monica Graaff, Michael Back, and Dr Peter Johnston.

“One of our concerns is exploring ways in which we think about security, govern it and manage our risks,” said Professor Clifford Shearing, head of UCT’s Centre of Criminology, at the first seminar in the Changing Lives: Agricultural practices series on 5 August.

“Our environment, which has been so crucial to sustaining us, is changing in a way that threatens our security. As a consequence, we are being presented with a whole new series of risks that are requiring us to rethink the nature of our security and how it can be preserved.”

Shearing introduced four speakers who presented diverse and often conflicting views on possible agricultural responses to climate change.

First up was Dr Peter Johnston of UCT’s Climate Systems Analysis Group, who effectively debunked the myth that climate change is a “hoax” with hard facts and statistics.

“Yes, there are natural cycles of change,” he said, “but nobody can explain this level of change. Temperature is now increasing at such a rate that the warmest 12 years we’ve had all fall within the last 20 years.

“However,” he concluded, “we don’t know what climate change is going to look like. We can only act when we understand the full picture.”

Rob Small of Harvest of Hope, an organic urban farming project, said participating small farmers have shown that it’s possible to produce an abundance of food on miniscule plots of beach sand in bad weather conditions.

“So we don’t worry about climate change. Vegetables are easily grown and we can live without fancy fruit.”

Small argued that modern agriculture is only concerned with money, and not with feeding the world.

“But there doesn’t have to be hunger,” he said. “All we have to do is convince you that it’s a good idea.”

Nigel Dorward of the Better Trading Company explained how they act as an ethical agent for entrepreneurial farmers in Africa, connecting them with business interests in the rest of the world, as well as offering training, technical assistance and support.

“We use natural assets such as fynbos and turn them into a viable resource,” said Dorward. “Despite climate change, fynbos should still be here for a long time to come.”

The final speaker was Michael Back of the Backsberg Winery, who expressed the view of modern farmers: “I want to be sustainable, but I also want to be profitable. Of course most professional farmers want to behave responsibly, but that responsibility comes at a cost.”

From this perspective, Back was sceptical of green initiatives. “This whole process of being sustainable and reversing urbanisation? Forget it. It’s not going to happen.

“But people aren’t interested in numbers, they’re interested in emotions, so we have to change our mindsets. But that’s in the hands of the shrinks, not the scientists.”

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Security and shrinks: clashing views on climate change

Renewed friendship: Bheki Mvovo of the Friends of Cuba Society and Dr Heidi Grunebaum of the Centre for African Studies share their views with Cuban ambassador, Angel Villa.

Cuba has had links with Africa for many years, yet it seems there are a lot of lessons that Africa, South Africa in particular, can still learn from the Caribbean country, so suggested Angel Villa, ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to South Africa.

In his lecture, Reconnecting Shared Histories: Cuba and Africa, delivered at UCT on 26 August, Villa outlined achievements in his native country that have enabled it to achieve social indicators that are on par with most first world countries, despite the long economic blockade by US and relative economic poverty.

These include, he noted, Cuba’s success in eradicating the institutional and historical forms of racism (it is still proactive about addressing race issues), its collective approach in politics (described as the essential part of socialism), as well as the implementation of pro-poor policies (Cuba was declared free of illiteracy way back in 1961, among other achievements).

“Literacy is the essential human right – after obtaining education you can decide on your own, otherwise someone will tell you what to do,” he explained.

Villa’s talk marked the closing of the Cuban poster exhibition, Humanity Has Moved On, which chronicled the many important moments towards independence in Africa. Humanity was a collaboration between the Friends of Cuba Society (FOCUS), UCT’s Centre for African Studies and Chimurenga magazine.

In his address, Villa recalled Cuba’s African roots, and the country’s many alliances in Africa. These collaborations had many positive results; for example, 43 000 Africans have studied in Cuba over the years, Cuban academics are teaching in medical faculties in six countries, and Cuban professionals are involved in the rebuilding of a number of African nations.

The links are of mutual benefit, Villa added, and they are still going strong.

In one case, Cuba is involved in a collaboration with South Africa and Sierra Leone to address the shortage of medical specialist in that West African nation (the country has only six such specialists).

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Cuba reconnects with Africa

A cut above: As Prof Graham Fieggen showed, South African neurosurgeons have been pushing the envelope in their field.

Even in a field as technically and technologically demanding as neurosurgery and where most innovations hail from Europe and the US, South Africans are blazing new paths.

That’s not too startling, said Professor Graham Fieggen, the Helen and Morris Mauerberger Professor of Neurosurgery in UCT’s Division of Neurosurgery, when he delivered his inaugural address in August. As Fieggen indicated in his lecture, Brain Matters: Neurosurgery in a developing country, the earliest records of surgery on the brain were found in North Africa. These are 10 000-year-old skulls bearing the marks of trephination – in which holes are made in the skull of a living person – and the papyrus on which Imhotep, the Egyptian physician who lived in the 27th century BC, recorded injuries of the spine and head. In the case of the latter, Imhotep, considered by some as possibly the greatest of all physicians, would prescribe that no action be taken on the grounds that they would be futile.

Not so the treatments of Cape Town neurosurgeons at Groote Schuur and the Red Cross Children’s Hospitals in recent years, showed Fieggen.

Take for example their work in the area of traumatic brain surgery (TBI), very common in South Africa. “It is not widely appreciated that trauma is the number one cause of death for South Africans between the ages of four and 18, and more than half of these deaths are due to brain injury,” said Fieggen. “One can summarise this data in the simple but appalling statement that the risk for a South African child to die from a head injury is eight times that of his counterpart in the USA.”

But with some clinical and management interventions, Fieggen reported, Red Cross has reduced its mortality rates from TBI, which stood at over 40% in the 1990s, to around 25% in 2005 and, today, 10%. They pulled off this remarkable feat through three innovations – the practice of the once-controversial technique of decompressive craniectomy, where surgeons remove part of the skulls to make space for a swelling brain; consolidating the various intensive-care units at the hospital into a single unit; and, finally, by introducing multimodal monitoring of the brain, ie monitoring the recovery of an injured brain using a number of indicators rather than just one.

So, too, South African neurosurgeons at these hospitals have been making breakthroughs in the treatment of epilepsy through hemispherectomies, where an entire hemisphere of the brain is removed or disconnected. And in the treatment of spasticity, which afflicts children with cerebral palsy, they’ve recorded notable successes with a procedure known as selective dorsal rhizotomy, where selected nerve roots in the spinal cord are severed.

These and other examples illustrate the role that neurosurgeons can and do play in Africa, said Fieggen. But there are obstacles – the shortage of trained neurosurgeons, poor infrastructure, linguistic and cultural barriers, and the lack of research funding among them. On the other hand, UCT and other South African institutions are doing their bit to swell the ranks of neurosurgeons on the continent by providing training to doctors from other countries, and scientists are developing technology that is appropriate to conditions on the continent.

In the Western Cape and at UCT, things are also looking up, said Fieggen. The province boasts a very functional healthcare system and a number of well-respected experts, collaborations are afoot between the public and private sectors, and there are cross-fertilisation opportunities rising from the UCT Private Academic Hospital sitting on the doorstep of training facility Groote Schuur Hospital. These factors bode well for the future of neurosurgery at the university and in the region, noted Fieggen.

“This will enable us to retain and grow the expertise we currently enjoy, develop the state-of-the-art infrastructure we need in terms of clinical space, imaging, operating theatres and even shared academic space, ensure we can train colleagues adequately, and serve as a springboard for translational research as well as nurturing a greater interest in basic neuroscience research.”

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Brainy neurosurgery at the foot of Africa

Student-friendly: Independent candidate Kathleen Taylor surprised herself – and perhaps others – by winning the most votes in the SRC elections.

The Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) pipped the South African Students Congress (SASCO) to win the most seats in a tightly-contested 2010/2011 Students’ Representative Council (SRC) elections.

Of the 15 SRC seats, DASO won six to SASCO’s five, according to provisional results released today (30 August). Three seats went to independent candidates, and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), who contested the polls for the first time, managed just one.

The election poll this year was 38%, slightly lower than the last year’s 42%, but way over the 25% requirement of the SRC Constitution.

The winners, in order of the number of votes received, are: Kathleen Taylor (independent), Khanya Gwaza (SASCO), Amanda Ngwenya (DASO), Mike Ramothwala (SASCO), Jess Price (independent), Aboo Kalla (SASCO) , Kim Senogles (independent), Inshaaf Isaacs (SASCO), Lethu Shange (SASCO), Mark Schoeman (DASO), Sean Darge (DASO), Vimbiya Parrafin (DASO), Alexander Spoor (SDS), Kodwa Cengimbo (DASO) and Ross Hare (DASO).

These results will be declared as final if there are no objections by midday on 31 August, after which the current SRC president, Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, will convene a seat-allocation meeting within 10 days. The new leadership takes office on 1 November. September and October will serve as a handover and induction period.

The ‘win’ – she’s in no ways guaranteed the position of president, however – came as a “pleasant surprise”, says Taylor, 20, a third-year business-science student. She ran as an independent partly in response to her previous experiences on Student Parliament, she says. “I was frustrated by the fact that the discussions centred on internal conflicts among groups rather than on what was relevant to all students.” Her platform, then, was to represent students beyond particular interest groups, and to run a student-friendly campaign.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Photo finish for SRC elections

Legal-wise: (From left) Jacqui Yeats, Etienne Swanepoel, Prof PJ Schwikkard & Tshepo Mongalo at the launch of this year’s Acta Juridica.

The dedication of this year’s Acta Juridica publication to the late commercial law professor Mike Larkin is befitting.

Titled Modern Comparative Law for a Competitive South African Economy, the book gives academics and practitioners – the target audience – useful articles on the latest developments in the company law, an area that was close to Larkin’s heart. Larkin was the head of the commercial law department at UCT when he was mugged and murdered in Rondebosch in 2007.

Acta Juridica is an annual thematic peer review (the successor to Butterworths South African Law Review), published since 1958by the Faculty of Law in conjunction with Juta. Each edition focuses on that year’s current legal issue. This year’s edition has been edited by the faculty’s Associate Professor Tshepo Mongalo.

At the recent launch of the book, Mongalo noted that the latest edition reflects on the 2008 Companies Act, and attempts to balance its focus on both large and small companies, without adopting a one-size fits-all approach.

Practitioner Eitienne Swanepoel said the book is “an outstanding collection” of articles that provides insight into the importance of the new company law.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Law book remembers Larkin’s contribution

Under scrutiny: Dena Lomofsky, director of Southern Hemisphere consultants, Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, SRC president, Cal Volks of HAICU , Kevin Kelly of the Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation, Ernest Darkoh, DVC Prof Crain Soudien and Nalini Naidoo at HAICU panel discussion.

UCT recently played host to world-renowned expert in global health and a Time magazine’s ‘global health hero’, Ernest Darkoh, who took part in a HIV/AIDS Institutional Coordination Unit (HAICU) panel discussion examining the implications of a higher education institution (HEI) HIV sero-prevalence study. The study, released by Higher Education HIV/AIDS (HEAIDS) Programme earlier this year, put HIV prevalence among UCT students and staff at 0.2% and at 3.4% at HEIs nationally.

Deputy vice-chancellor Professor Crain Soudien opened proceedings by asking participants to apply their minds to avoid complacency and strengthen the university’s response to achieve 0% HIV prevalence.

Darkoh applauded the institution’s programmatic response that has helped keep prevalence much lower than the national average, and stressed that the good job should be rewarded with further resources. “This is a call to action,” stated Darkoh, arguing that in public health terms, anything over 1% would normally be considered a massive failure and a severe crisis. Efforts at prevention should be maintained as UCT continues “shaping individuals who will define the future”.

Kevin Kelly, one of the survey researchers, spoke highly of UCT’s management response to the HI virus. He detailed the adverse impact of sexual concurrent relationships, alcohol, peer pressure, high age differentials and lack of knowledge of STIs in driving the epidemic at HEIs. He stressed the need for a person to receive adequate counselling when testing for HIV, and also to know their partner’s status – 70% of students have tested on campus – although he referred to research that suggests behaviour does not change if a person tests HIV negative. He also described the elevated risk of men who have sex with men, and emphasised the need for service staff at the institution to receive more prevention messaging, care and support, in line with survey results.

Cal Volks, HAICU director, described favourable evaluation results of student peer education, research on students living with HIV, communication campaigns that are evaluated; and policy co-ordination. She also applauded student involvement and their leadership response. She stressed the need to intervene in the context in which HIV is transmitted, and in particular to explore gender dynamics, alcohol abuse and HIV and AIDS messages around the risks of concurrent sexual partnerships. Also, HIV education that targets appropriate disciplines should be brought into the formal curriculum of all faculties, with an emphasis on the personal and professional aspects of HIV. Volks highlighted the positive impact of some UCT HIV and AIDS curriculum interventions: those in health sciences and commerce, and recent pilot initiatives in the engineering and built environment and science faculties. She spoke of the challenge to implement these pilots as component parts of faculty courses.

In closing, the chair Nalini Naidoo, director of the international communications company Fleishman-Hillard, echoed the words of Darkoh, commenting that even more vigour is needed in UCT’s response to the epidemic. “It would be an absolute tragedy if momentum were lost.”

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: HIV prevalence study – the impact on future programming