UCT’s Law, Race and Gender Unit (LRG) has called for new legislation to replace the controversial Traditional Courts Bill.

Introduced by government in 2008, the bill was withdrawn from the National Assembly last year after pressure from opponents. Its imminent reintroduction in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) was announced in mid-December, giving rural people two months to submit their comments by 15 February.

LRG is working with the Legal Resources Centre and local community-based organisations to ensure that people living in rural villages will have an opportunity to speak out against the proposed passage of the Bill, which is considered unconstitutional by legal experts. A consultative workshop involving 100 rural delegates from different provinces came together in Johannesburg in January to discuss the bill and the way forward.

LGR has proposed that new legislation should be drafted, based on the views and needs expressed by ordinary rural people in the process of their consultation. The unit established the Rural Women’s Action Research (RWAR) project to support rural communities, especially women, who live under systems of customary law and traditional governance.

RWAR has played a key role in educating rural people about the Traditional Courts Bill. It has also helped many rural communities and groups to make submissions directly to Parliament on the proposed legislation.

LRG director Associate Professor Dee Smythe said the approach taken by the RWAR project provided an opportunity to build models of practice in legislation that are inclusive and participatory.

The project is one of the recipients of the 2011 UCT Distinguished Social Responsiveness Award, established by vice-chancellor Dr Max Price to promote the university’s commitment to social responsiveness.

Tabling of the bill took place on 26 January 2012 after which members of the select committee took it to their provinces for rural consultations. Once the NCOP has made amendments and a decision about the bill, it will return to the National Assembly.

Dr Sindiso Mnisi Weeks, a senior researcher in RWAR, said many rural people were not aware of the pending bill, nor were they consulted about how it would affect them.

“The bill would centralise power with traditional leaders, and would allow them to singlehandedly decide a dispute,” she said. “It was drafted in consultation with traditional leaders only.

“As the bill now stands, women in particular would be affected, because they would not be assured of their right to self-representation. Should a woman’s husband die, she would not be protected against those who would want to grab her property.”

Limpopo community leader Patric Mashego is one of the rural people working with the RWAR to oppose the Traditional Courts Bill.

“This bill and laws such as the Limpopo Traditional Leadership and Institutions Act destroy the dream we fought for over many years. Instead of making rural people equal citizens in a unitary South Africa, they make us subjects of chiefs who are given the coercive power to get rid of those who try to hold them to account. You may say that not all chiefs are bad. That is true, but only bad chiefs need laws like this.”

Mashego said the bill would create a crisis around the issue of tribal levies.

“We are experiencing a serious problem with tribal levies and the bill will make the problem into a serious crisis if it is enacted.”

Aninka Claassens, the RWAR project leader, added: “If people don’t pay those levies, traditional leaders refuse to give them the proof of addresses that are necessary in applications for identity documents, pension and child grants.”

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Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: UCT unit calls for new legislation to replace Traditional Courts Bill

In the game: When Dillyn Leyds touched down, UCT appeared to be back in the game.	Fumble: All too often, as here with Damian de Allende, UCT’s handling – with the goal line beckoning – let the side down.

The Ikeys were punished for a litany of missed chances and unforced errors as the players from Bloemfontein outscored them by four tries to two. The home team seemed to be its own worst enemy on an unusually windless Green Mile.

Despite creating several clear scoring opportunities, UCT’s pack were outgunned in the set-pieces and tight-loose, forcing the team onto the back foot. The visitors had raced into a 16-0 lead before UCT finally troubled the scorers through fullback Dillyn Leyds, who finished an expansive move in the corner.

UCT conceded a further 14 points before they scored again, but captain Ntsolo Setlaba’s five-pointer came when the match was already lost. How Kevin Foote’s team rued twice dropping the ball with the try-line at their mercy.

Ikeys flyhalf Nicholas Holton, one of the few in blue and white hoops who caught the eye, saw his expertly crafted opportunities squandered by team-mates far too often. Foote was crestfallen.

“Our handling was just atrocious, and we couldn’t get through any phases,” the coach said.

Foote refused to blame match-day nerves for his new-look squad’s defeat.

“We’re better than that,” he said, adding that the next game against the University of Johannesburg was crucial. “We have to fight for our lives going up to Johannesburg. If we don’t, then this campaign is going to finish before it’s even started.”

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Disappointment for Ikeys in Varsity Cup opener

UCT orientation headed down the homestretch with O-Week kicking off on Monday with the plaza baraza, and a whole string of side events.

Despite the mercury pushing unbearable, there was a pool of cool societies and clubs strutting their stuff to potential new members. With many of the more than 80 societies on show, students were spoilt for choice – on offer was everything from tabletop gaming, politics and worship to wakeboarding and gymnastics.

Also part of the day’s line-up was the condom fashion show staged by the UCT HIV/AIDS Institutional Co-ordination Unit (HAICU), in partnership this year with online magazine Vintage Lifestyle, to create awareness around HIV/AIDS.

“It is an important start to the year to get students thinking about prevention messages and making responsible decisions,” said HAICU project officer, Lucina Reddy.

With Craig de Sousa spinning the decks and MC DJ Suga spurring on the crowd, student teams created stylish yet edgy outfits with condoms as the main accessory. Second-year history and law student Phathiswa Magangane walked away with Cavendish Square vouchers for her winning couture and will be featured in the coming addition of Vintage Lifestyle. The runner-up was final-year BCom student Khanyisile Masango.

Jumper: BSc student Kate Hawkridge from UCT Gymnastics makes a backflip look easy-peasy.

A new addition to O-week is the SRC 100Plus sports tournament. Taking place at the Sport Centre and the adjacent Green Mile (rugby fields), greenhorns got a taste of some sports on offer at UCT.

The two-day social event is organised by the Students’ Representative Council and led by sport and recreation co-ordinator Lorne Hallendorf, and sponsored by energy drinks company 100Plus. First-years, new undergrads and international students could try their hand at a range of martial arts, as well as football, gymnastics, netball and volleyball, among other codes.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: O-week off to a sizzling start

UCT’s Ikey Tigers will begin their FNB Varsity Cup title defence this evening when they take on the University of Free State’s Shimlas at UCT.

The match kicks off at 17h00, and will also be televised on SuperSport.

But this year’s Varsity Cup comes with a few innovations. In addition to tightening up on the movement of players between campuses and teams, the organisers have also introduced a new scoring system.

In a bid to encourage running, try-orientated rugby, the value of some the kicks has been reduced. This year, free kicks and drop kicks will count just two points apiece.

More interestingly, a conversion will now be worth all of three points.

The Ikeys’ coach, Kevin Foote, believes this will favour his side, which has earned a reputation for its free-flowing, try-scoring approach. But it also means the other players will have to work that much harder to assist the competition’s top scorer in 2011, UCT flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis, when they do touch down, says Foote.

“It just means you’ve got to score your tries as close to under the poles as you can just to make his job a bit easier.”

Foote is upbeat about his team’s chances in the game against Shimlas, a side over which they’ve had the upper hand. UCT trounced the Bloemfontein side by 57-20 in last year’s semi-final, beat them 26-10 in the season opener, and got the better of them in the 2010 semis as well, if not so convincingly.

And after a few decent friendlies, his players – under new skipper Ntsolo Setlaba – are raring to start their title defence, reports Foote. Even if, as usual with the seasonal change of squads, the sides are unfamiliar with each other.

“The guys are just hungry to go now,” he says.

The Tigers will be on the road for their next three games – against the University of Johannesburg, the Tshwane University of Technology and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University – and will return to UCT on 5 March for their match against North-West University. See full fixtures on the Varsity Cup site.

Watch the video of last year’s celebrations on Upper Campus when the Ikey Tigers won the 2011 chanpionship.

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Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Varsity Cup 2012 just hours away

In what’s now become business as usual, the UCT GSB’s full-time MBA programme has yet again moved up the ranks (by six places to 54th spot) in the Financial Times (FT) of London’s Global MBA Top 100 released in January.

This is the eighth consecutive year the school has been listed.

The GSB programme has also been ranked the best-value-for-money MBA in the world – a title it held in 2011 and 2009.

The business school first got a seat at the top 100 table in 2004, when it joined the illustrious list in 82nd position. Today, the UCT GSB remains the only business school in Africa ranked in the FT MBA Top 100 for its full-time programme.

This year’s list also saw the school ranked 10th in the international experience category and 17th in the career progress ranking.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: GSB MBA’s rising rank

Grants from the US’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) are sought-after treasures, but the application procedures are exacting.

To improve the success rate and management of grant applications from Africa, the NIH is in 2012 funding a series of training workshops. Two of these will involve UCT and three other African universities – Mbarara University in Uganda, Moi University in Kenya and the University of Zambia (UNZA).

The NIH’s supplement grant, from its Initiative on Research and Innovation Management, will allow research administrators from these universities to meet = once at UCT and once at UNZA in Lusaka – to spruce up their grants management skills. Here participants will get a broad overview of the research environment, the role of research administrators in this context, and the links between grantees and sponsors, especially the NIH.

UCT’s Wilna Venter got an early start in 2010. Courtesy of an International Extramural Associate Research Development Award (IEARDA), she spent three weeks at the NIH headquarters in Washington brushing up on NIH policies and procedures.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Research offices sharpen proposal writing skills

All ears: Carl Herman, director of UCT’s Admissions Office, addressed hundreds of out-of-town parents at this year’s Parents’ Orientation.	Attentive: Throngs attended Parents’ Orientations.

This assurance carries more weight when it comes from a senior student like Mike Ramothwala, Students’ Representative Council (vice-president: external). Ramothwala was addressing this year’s event for out-of-town parents on 31 January. (The first Parents’ Orientation, for local parents, was held on 28 January.)

“Students from other universities often ask us why we never strike at UCT. But really there is nothing to strike about,” Ramothwala explained to amused parents who had packed the Jameson Hall.

Ramothwala was quick to encourage parents, urging them to support their children and monitor their progress, saying studying at UCT “is not a walk in the park”.

Acting vice-chancellor Professor Crain Soudien also assured parents that the university would provide the best learning environment in the form of world-recognised lecturers, quality support systems, and a suite of extra-mural activities and services such as the Jammie Shuttles, the Student Wellness Service and Campus Protection Services.

This was good news to parents like Caroline Kadenge, who brought her eldest daughter to UCT all the way from Kenya.

“For every parent it is comforting to know that your child will study in a safe environment,” Kadenge said.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Come on board, UCT urges parents

There was never a doubt that they would choose the same university, they say.

They’ve been best friends since grade 8 and shared the same classes at school; the KZN double act even went on to earn seven As each in matric. Actuarial science first-year student Nomvuso Maitin and BSc mathematical science first-year student Anthea Thompson now have yet another thing in common; they’re residence roomies in UCT’s Graça Machel Hall.

Their story is just one of the thousands you’ll hear as freshers check in to residence life this week. With the addition of newly completed Obz Square, about 6,600 students will take up residence accommodation this year.

Despite the heat and the expected queuing, registration was a cinch, said father John Winfield. “It’s lekker to see how enthusiastic the orientation teams are,” he said. “What a wonderful welcome.”

And even with most expressions reading something betwixt anxious and excited while moms make beds and unpack suitcases (for the boys) for the last time, by the end of orientation – including the Freshers’ Braai, Big Bash and Sax Appeal – the send-offs should be long forgotten. On 13 February it’s all systems go for the start of the academic year.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Residences become home

Seeing red: Prof Marian Jacobs, clean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and orientation leaders Letisha Lalu (left) and Mampho Dlulane made sure first-year students received a warm welcome.	Weighty matters: This morning, law students received a talk on UCT transformation as part of their orientation.

After the humanities and commerce faculties had set the tone with their programmes last week, the majority of the expected 4,200 new first-year students got their first taste of life as a UCT student today. Upper, middle and health sciences campuses were swarming with brightly coloured T-shirts as uniformed orientation leaders (OLs) worked to give the freshers a fun and informative welcome.

The new students were treated to a combination of upbeat receptions from their OLs and useful talks from university officials. During the orientation programme, students will be briefed on just about every aspect of life as a UCT student.

The orientation programme is designed as an enjoyable yet enlightening window on life at UCT, and is packed with a myriad of activities. From curriculum advice from academics, safety tips from the ever-willing Campus Protection Services (CPS) and a low-down on the sport and societies scene, students will be sufficiently equipped to confidently wade into their careers at Africa’s leading academic institution.

UCT expects to have some 25,200 students on campus this year.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Orientation kicks off en masse

Health educators are now set to improve their skills, thanks to a postgraduate diploma in health professional education, launched by UCT in January.

Organised by the Education Development Unit (EDU) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, the one-year programme (it can also be done over two years) sets out to strengthen participants’ knowledge and skills in health professional education, specifically in the areas of teaching and learning within a primary health care system and curriculum.

“The programme will enable working health professionals to reflect critically on the theory and practice of teaching in the classroom and in the clinical context,” says the EDU in a statement. “This will play a part in ensuring that health professionals are competently prepared to meet the health needs of the country.”

Seventeen students from various disciplines, including radiography, emergency services, dentistry, medicine, environmental health, orthopaedics, blood transfusion services and physiotherapy, are participating.

Two weeks of on-campus training ended on 27 January. Students will continue with their studies online until they return for a face-to face block at UCT in November.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Programme for health professional educators

The only thing certain about the future of South Africa’s ecosystems is that they are guaranteed to change.This came to light in a recent workshop titled <>Counting the Cost of Land Cover Change, held at the University of Pretoria and attended by a network of scientists, conservationists and policy makers known as the Land Cover Change Consortium (LCCC).

UCT held its own at the workshop. Professor William Bond of UCT’s Department of Botany described dramatic changes in South Africa’s vegetation that are already taking place. “In many areas woody plants are increasing, impacting on grassland ecosystems and wild and domestic grazers,” he said.

Projections of future climate change and its effects are very unsure, raising challenges for conservationists and land use planners.

“Climate interacts with a multitude of other factors,” said Professor Timm Hoffman of UCT’s Plant Conservation Unit. “Social, political and economic factors all affect how people use land, and this will affect vegetation, biodiversity and ecosystem services.”

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Workshop explores the cost of land cover change

Though there were a few watershed moments, COP17 was, in many ways, a success. So said a panel of experts at a feedback session titled What happened at COP17? Hear the inside story, held at UCT on 24 January.

The panel discussion on the showcase 17th Conference of the Parties, held in Durban at the end of 2011, was convened by UCT’s newly established African Climate & Development Initiative (ACDI) and the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and Sustainable Energy Africa. Professor Mark New, ACDI director and UCT’s pro vice-chancellor for climate change, chaired the event.

One of the main, and exacting, achievements of the Durban talks, said Professor Harald Winkler of UCT’s Energy Research Centre, was the agreement on a second commitment period – aptly dubbed the Durban Platform – under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which holds only developed nations to emission-reduction targets.

The Durban talks also launched a plan toward a global climate accord that will legally bind all major greenhouse gas emitters – including the for-now exempt China and India – to an agreed outcome.

Professor Richard Calland, of UCT’s Department of Public Law, reported that the conference secured an agreement towards a Green Climate Fund. This $100 billion-a-year kitty (be it still empty) will help poorer nations adapt to, and mitigate, climate change.

Mitigation’s little brother, adaptation, also made a vital if belated appearance at the Durban negotiations. “It’s taken much longer to emerge in the negotiations as a significant serious issue,” observed Professor Guy Midgely, chief director of the climate change and bio-adaptation division at the South African National Biodiversity Institute.

And while the spotlight was on the main players, a lot of the action came out of COP17′s side events. “There was a definitive thrust toward flexibility of adaptation pathways,” said Anna Steynor, representing UCT’s Climate System Analysis Group, which participated in several adaptation-type side events.

Also speaking at the UCT discussion was Jon Duncan, an analyst at the Old Mutual Investment Group. “The take-out for us [from COP17] is that it seems there will be a global price on carbon,” he said. “We need to better understand the risk exposure of South African listed equity to a carbon tax.”

Stef Raubenheimer, chief executive officer of non-profit organisation SouthSouthNorth, closed the panel discussion with a word of caution about the fray ahead. “Between now and 2015/20 we are going to have the mother of all fights between the 40-odd countries that produce most of the world’s greenhouse gases about the remaining carbon space.”

Download the podcast of the panel discussion.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: COP17 a success after all, says panel

During a 15-minute meeting, one thing quickly becomes clear about Raenette Taljaard: she is one industrious person. She thinks fast, talks fast, walks fast, and does just everything else at the same brisk pace.

This could explain why she holds so many positions in so many organisations – all with aplomb. Including, since late last year, that of part-time commissioner with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The former shadow Minister of Finance (she was a Member of Parliament for six years) also serves on the Regional Agenda Council for Africa of the World Economic Forum, and on the boards of loveLife and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, to name but a few. “Knowing how to split my time has never been a challenge,” she said of her latest appointment.

The IEC appointment is for seven years. Taljaard, a senior lecturer in public policy with UCT’s Department of Political Studies, was nominated by a Johannesburg bishop. Apart from the general IEC duties in terms of the Electoral Act, the new members’ specific tasks are yet to be determined.

Taljaard chose to be a part-time commissioner – three other full-time appointees were also named – because she still enjoys teaching.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: UCT scholar joins the IEC

Everyone agrees that capacity building is the answer to many of Africa’s development problems.

The Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health (CPMH), a joint initiative between UCT and Stellenbosch University, has put that into practice with the launch of what is Africa’s first postgraduate training programme in public mental health.

The masters’ programme in public mental health is the flagship course of the CPMH’s capacity development programme. It aims to build the much-needed human resources for mental health care in Africa, according to a CPMH statement.

The programme’s 11 participants include psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors, nurses, development workers and programme managers. They come from African countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, and will attend two weeks of coursework at both UCT and Stellenbosch, followed by field research in their home countries.

The participants complete the coursework on 27 January.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Training to boost mental health capacity

Campus tour: A commerce orientation leader leads first-years on their first official walkabout around UCT’s Upper Campus.	Great escape: Students Representative Council (SRC) president Insaaf Isaacs and deputy vice-chancellor Professor Crain Soudien head for the exit as the fun hits the fan in Beattie Theatre.

The 400 of the faculty’s 1,200 projected new students who filled Beattie Theatre on 25 January were treated to a mixed bag of receptions by various university representatives.

Deputy vice-chancellor Professor Crain Soudien led the way, urging the (mostly) bright-eyed students to make full use of the university’s administrative offerings. Soudien assured the freshers that his and his colleagues’ doors were always open.

The yellow-clad Orientation Leaders (OLs) then waited for the most opportune moment to dish up an entertaining official welcome. Their lively skit raised the spirits of a crowd that had grown gradually more restless during the plethora of introductory talks.

OL Don Kwedza says that the Orientation programme is an opportunity for him and his colleagues to give something back to UCT.

“It’s about making a contribution,” he says, adding that the freshers could expect a healthy mixture of fun and learning as they settled into their new environment.

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Commerce orientation right on the money

The blues: Orientation leaders gave first-years a roaring welcome to the Faculty of Humanities.	Rapt: There was plenty to take in for new students.

Jammie Plaza buzzed as blue-clad Faculty of Humanities orientation leaders (OLs) treated its first group of freshers to a roaring welcome on the drizzly morning of 23 January. As the largest faculty at the university, Humanities kicked off UCT’s Orientation 2012, with other faculties joining the fray later this week and next week.

With nearly 2,000 new students expected this year, the faculty had a gargantuan task organising its three programmes. The first saw 450 mainly locally based students being introduced to life at UCT.

OL Jol Nash said that the programme is designed to lay a solid foundation on which the students can build a fulfilling and rewarding UCT career.

“If they have a good experience at Orientation, chances are they’re going to enjoy varsity,” he says.

First-year student Nina Bosse says she planned to make many friends during Orientation.

“I’m hoping to meet a lot of people that know where they’re going, so that we can share information, and get to know some interesting people,” she remarks.

Bosse and her peers were welcomed by deputy-vice chancellor Professor Sandra Klopper and other speakers on Monday.

Once the speeches were wrapped up, the students were divided into smaller groups and ushered into venues around the campus, where OLs would explain the nuts and bolts of being a successful UCT student.

All of this takes serious organisational skills, and Nash and his colleague Niell Strydom admitted it was no mean feat.

“But it’s also a lot of fun,” assures Strydom.

The Faculty of Commerce’s first orientation programme is next in line, beginning on Wednesday, 25 January

Read More on University of Cape Town / Daily News: Humanities gets Orientation 2012 off to a flyer