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8/14/2019 2009 - Edition 8
1/7
Edition 8, 26 August 2009
Distribution subsidised by the Oppidan Committee and the South Arican Post Oce.
Edition 8, 26 August 2009
Eective leadership or dismal ailure?
4>> Racist RhodentsThe Oppidan Press responds to the VCs racism call 5 >> The Naked TruthAn Intervaristy streaker bares his soul
Kholosa Lonis presidency has beenknown or her bubbly and approach-able personality. Shes been the type opresident that most students can iden-tiy with. She received so many votesin act, that she ditched her positionas Vice-President Internal to take upthe presidential reins. Unortunately,
however, the 2009 SRC has not donemuch to change the institutional
culture o Rhodes University, whichLoni calls a white drin king culture.Nor has it addressed the alarminglyhigh ailure rate in the June exams.Lonis maniesto promised more openinteraction and communication withstudents, but we are all still waiting orthe updated SRC website and a copy
o the Purple Press.
One would assume that com-munication is key to the Media
Representatives success, butmany students complain thatthey havent seen the SRC sinceO-Week, indicating that AslamSeedat has completely ailedto improve c ommunication
between the SRC and students.Te SRC website is still outdated
and Te Purple Press did notcome out this year. Te onlyconsistent plan o communica-tion he implemented was aregular hal-page SRC advert inTe Oppidan Press.
Oppidans now have a widerlunch selection and the optiono having supper in the Oppidining hall, as well as a secondOppi bus - all thanks to Op-pidan Representative, JacynMitchley. In her second yearin the position, Mitchley wasanother bubbly and approach-
able SRC member who attendedto the oen-neglected needs oOppidan students. Mitchley isone o a ew councillors whohave actually delivered on theirpromises. Tanks to her eorts,Oppidans are nally represent-ed on the SRC.
Pumeza Mdangayi ran or Presidentbut had to settle or Vice-PresidentInternal. She is, however, quite ex-perienced in her title by now, as lastyear she was internally elected to thesame position aer the resignation oormer SRC president Ricardo Pillayand Bianca Sampson, ormer Vice-President External. Handling internal
matters o the SRC is no easy task, butthis year a new disciplinary structurewas put in place, which revokes SRCprivileges o councillors ound to beincompetent. She does admit that theSRC has burned a ew bridges andthat the next SRC may have to dosome damage control.
Tapelo selapedi may have beennew to the SRC but as ormerDeputy President o SASCO, heis no stranger to student politics.selapedi has a similar job to theSRC President, but his ocus ison strengthening SRC relationswith external sources. He has to
travel extensively to student and
youth political imbizos althoughhis strong ties with SASCO havemade some students questionwhere his allegiance truly lies.selapedi also expressed concernabout the SRCs ailure to changethe institutional culture o theUniversity.
Giuliana Colarossis eorts as Com-munity Engagement Representative
have been one o the most noticeableon campus. Te Community Engage-ment Week in March was a successand the Bring a Learner to Rhodesinitiative was very popular. It is, how-ever, dicult to know how much oan impact these projects have actually
had on the community. Overspendingon her budget by R3 000, Colarossi
explained that serving the communitydoesnt come cheap, and suggests thatnext years Community EngagementRepresentative nds outside unding.
As SRC reasurer, Mabocha Moko-bane is in charge o monitoring thebudget and keeping check o how eachprole spends their allotted unding.She also advises the dierent porto-lios on how to spend money appro-priately. Although she has kept a holdon the purse strings, she has not donemuch more than that. And having
good communication skills is clearlynot a prerequisite or becoming SRCreasurer, as discovered by one o ourreporters who asked to see the budget.ransparency was obviously not apriority or this ye ars SRC.
Garth Elzerman ran a tight shipas SRC Societies Representa-tive, adopting a strict approachtowards society budgets thisyear. He also created a SRCRUconnected link or societiesand is one o ew SRC membersthat has been easy to nd and
communicate with. Elzermanadmits that the SRC societysextravaganza at the Great eldwas a ailure. He is now run-ning or president as he believeshe can provide solutions to theproblems he encountered.
President
Vice President Internal
Treasurer
Community Engagement
Vice President External
Oppidan Councillor
Media Councillor
Societies Councillor
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8/14/2019 2009 - Edition 8
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he Oppidan Press 26.08.09
Got news? Send your news story ideas to us and we will consider
them or publication. [email protected].
The Oppidan Press 26.08.09 3
Extra admin. SHARC is lobbying or the University to appoint a n HIV/Aids ocer.Do you
think this is necessary? Let us kn ow. [email protected]
SeriouslyRatherCrap
NEHAWU strike discussedWhere has the SRCs money gone? TeOppidan Press got hold o the council'sbudget to nd out.
Many societies and individual stu-dents have beneted rom the budget,with a total o R25 168 in sponsorshipgrants to the student body. R4 000 wentto the Masincedane community eed-ing project, and R3 000 to the RhodesDebating Eastern Cape Schools project.
Tey also spent R184 600 on therecent Intervarsity, and over R11 000on community engagement.
Quite a ew expenditures have beenmade on the general running o theSRC and its oces, but some o themseem a little unnecessary.
Te General Account o the SRChas spent R3 000 on tea and biscuitsor council meetings, and R 7 258 ongis and owers. Te SRC leadershipweekend cost R 13 522.64.
SRC money mattersRobinMcCormick
NEHAWU was prevented rom engag-ing in the strike back open discussionon the recent strike last Wednesday by aUniversity interdict received 30 minutesbeore the meeting.
Rhodes took this action because oits concern regarding unresolved issuessurrounding the settlement agreementbetween the University and NEHAWU.
Te students and sta in attendanceexpressed disappointment with the waythe University handled and responded
to the strike. Corinne Knowles, romthe Rhodes Extended Studies Unit,criticised the University or representingthe strikers as irrational and reckless hu-man beings. We know that racism andclassism exists [at Rhodes] and it is timethat we all questioned our c ontributionto it, she said.
Sociology Proessor, Jm O Ad-sn said he had been a hall wardenat Rhodes or our and hal years andwas shocked that the University treatedsome o the most remarkable humanbeings in such a degrading mannerduring the strike. He said the paradox
o the strike was that the people thatwere disadvantaged in the past, are stilloppressed by institutional inequalitiesinherent at Rhodes.
Young Communist League member,Luzuko Buku expressed his anger at thelow pay workers receive at the Universi-ty. Aer [the University] commissioneda company to do the market remunera-tion comparison, they ound that theworkers would actually be getting morethan other workers in their grades atother universities like UC and Wits.But this is like comparing one sweatshop to another.
Gcobani Qambela
No more apathy: Rhodes step up toHIV!
We want an ocer. We demand anocer. Tis was the chant o studentswho marched to the main admin build-ing during the {Red}y For Changemarch, held last Wednesday duringSHARCs HIV/Aids Awareness Week.Students are demanding that the Uni-
versity employ an HIV/Aids Ocer.Te main theme or this years
SHARC HIV/Aids Awareness Weeklast week was {Red}y For Change! and
various activities which ran during theweek oered Rhodes students and sta
the opportunity to show their supportor the cause.
Students were given the opportu-nity to test their HIV/Aids status orree at the NEWSAR tents at EdenGrove throughout the week. First year
journalism student, Ziyanda Ntantisowho tested at the NEWSAR/SHARCtesting drive had nothing but praise orthe acility.
It was really great. Tey counsel youbeore the test and also aer the test.Beore telling you the results, they tellyou what to do i you are inected andhow to keep yoursel sae i you are not.Te test did not even take that long. Iam glad I went and tested.
NEWSAR testing sister, 'Ponds'
Nomampondomise Sihlobo elt thatthe drive was a huge success. We doparallel testing, whereby we get tworesults at the same time, so as to ensurethe accuracy o the results. Te responserom students has been overwhelming.We have had to close a little earlier onsome days because the counsellors were
just too tired rom the large number ostudents who came to test.
SHARC President, Beth Vale saidits disgraceul that we are in 2009and the University still does not havea meaningul HIV/Aids policy. Tepolicy looks good on paper, but there isno substance. SHARC is still doing thework the University is supposed to bedoing," she said.
Gcobani Qambela
Is Rhodes ready or change?
I think the biggest highlight hasbeen my teamwork with [the] Op-pidan Committee, specically BrendaMagwizi, which resulted in a secondOppi bus being attained, says JacynMitchley, Oppidan SRC Representa-tive or the past two years. She also gotResidential Operations to extend theOppidan dining hall lunch menu op-tions to provide suppers to Oppidans.
Mitchley points out that there is alarge amount o work done behind thescenes in her portolio. She representsissues raised at Oppidan Committeemeetings at the University Board meet-
ings. I have also dealt with severalindividuals personal issues whether itbe landlord problems, mental healthissues, or whatever may arise, she says.
Te biggest challenge Mitchleyaced was communicating with the
Oppies themselves. I have ound thatstudent apathy is a huge challenge. Lotso students dont know or care whotheir representatives are, so they ndit easier to complain to other studentsthan to report the problems to therelevant people, thus these issues takelonger to resolve, she says.
But Mitchley says some studentshave noticed what she has achievedin her role as Oppi Representative.Some students who I dont know andhavent seen beore knew exactly who Iwas and what I had done this year andcame to say hi at the Intervarsity party,it really made me smile, she says.
Her advice or the incoming SRCsOppidan representative: Being the
SRC Oppidan Representative is not aglory position, but i you are passion-ate about Oppidan issues and seriousabout serving your ellow students,then it can be incredibly rewarding.
Gcobani Qambela
ou have purple blood, you mustw it, says Kholosa Loni, outgoingident o the SRC. One o Loniss in her role as SRC President was toat the Universitys culture, whichays is perceived to be a whiteking culture. Te presidency hasked to remedy this, conducting aey around issues o race and classnnection with the Union B ar, and
king towards implementing a policyadicate unair discrimination, whichbe implemented on 1 September.oni counts O-Week as one o heress stories. It was a big eye-opener
me. People came here and theyt even know whether they had accepted or not. I got these people
ewhere to stay.oni has also raised the issue o
ncial aid, trying to make it moressible to students. Teres been aneased number o students not know-where to go, how to get nancial aid.have strong ties with the nancial
oce, and have represented the studentsin the University.
Loni has been involved in theresurrection o the SRC website, wheredocuments and inormation will bemore accessible to students, but it is stillnot ully unctional and communicationremains a problem. It is the entire SRCsault. We have to make sure we are notonly doing our job, but looking le andright; we need to hold the whole teamaccountable.
An individual issue which Loni hasstruggled with is time management.Personally, Ive lost the balance withacademics, so one needs to know how to
juggle the two well. Juggling an entireteam has been equally tough. We are
a very diverse group, and you need totake into account that people perhapsarent as outgoing as you may be, or asintroverted as you, and you need to ndthat balance, she says.
I dont think Ive ound that, but asthe year has worn on, we take cognisanceo each others strengths and weaknessesand work together. Not like a well-oiledmachine, but we make it work.
ynMcCormick
resident runs out o time
Societies' boot camp
mmunityengagementisnotaboutgapoorpersona breadroll,apatonack andleaving,says SRCCommu-EngagementRepresentative,Giulianarossi.Tisis apersonslieyourehing.Youshouldbuildpersonalrela-hipswiththe peopleyouworkwith.olarossisaimorthe yearwasto getentsmore involvedincommunitygement.onlyone person,she says,soI trytourageresidencesand Oppiestostartcts too.heimplementedthisstrategybyorga-gCommunityEngagementWeekin
ch,whichbroughtstudentsintocon-withchildreninvolvedin theRhodesentVolunteerProject.Populareventsdedthehumanchain,Bring aLearnerodes,and theun daywherechildren
dplaygameswith students.olarossialsostarteda programmeelocalschoolselected aRepresenta-
Councilo Learners(RCL)whichis
theschoolversiono anSRC.RCL mem-berswere mentoredby Colarossiand othermembersothe committee,whohelpedthemtosolve anyproblemstheyhad.
However,these projectsdontcomecheap.TeCommunityEngagementundisalmostR3000indecitoaR9000budget.Ididoverspendon mybudget,Colarossisays,but hopeullythiswillurgetheincomingcommunityrepresentativetondsponsorship.Nobodyhas moneyortransportand resourceslikeartsupplies.
Whilethereare numerousprojectsinthecommunityportolio,somestudentshavenotseen evidenceothem. Ivebeenkeptinthe dark,says rstyearstudentPhathiswaGaleni.Anotherrstyear,MbaliSebaengagrees.Ihaventseen mucho theSRCsincethey introducedthemselvesinO-Week.
Itsdisappointingwhen youworkyourseltothe boneandstudentsdontevenknow,said Colarossi.Itsreallyup toyoutoreadtheSRCpostersandopenthenewspaperswith SRCnotices thecom-munityrepcantrun upto everystudentand introduce hersel.
ommunit rep worked to the bone
shi Chhabra
roken SRC teephone
m Seedat, Media Representative oRC admits his ailure to recong-he SRC website and to produce thele Press in his term o oce.
Te SRC website and the Purple Presslatorms aiming to ensure optimalication o the SRCs plans o action,are also mediums o communicationeen the SRC and the student body.
n the SRC maniesto, Seedat men-s that the key to the success o theas a representative body depends oning channels o regular conversationhought open. However, this goal
not achieved as he ailed to maintainmediums at his disposal.e o the biggest challenges I haved as Media Councillor has been
student apathy, said Seedat. It is alsohard to juggle responsibilities o being amedia rep and at the same time being anexecutive member o the SRC.
Te media portolio was allocatedR10 000 by the University. Most o thismoney goes into publicity or SRC andUniversity initiated campaigns.
However, there is a general consensusamong students that they were oenunaware o the SRCs plans o action. Idont even know what the SRC has donethis year. Teir existence doesnt seemto make a dierence, said a second year
journalism student. Another second yearstudent said: I didn't really eel themas much as I did last year, last year theywere very much out there.
Best known or his authoritarian looksand military style, Garth Elzerman rem-bers his early days as daunting becausethe role o Societies Councillor neededsome revitalising.
During his term, Elzerman createdan SRC RUconnected link or societieswhere they could access inormationthey needed. He has encouraged societ-ies to be more responsible and account-able or their unds.
President o oastmasters Interna-tional Society, Precious Garayi com-mended Elzerman or his creation osociety workshops. Te workshops heldor societies this year were helpul andhe kept people willing to work with himon point, she said
Elzerman adopted a strict approachtowards society budgets this year. Whena society is in decit, I tend to watchthem closely, said Elzerman. wo so-cieties have been red agged and I havehad their accounts rozen because o badleadership.
Elzerman acknowledged challengeshe aced during his tenure. His goal ocreating more cohesion amongst societ-ies has been as unruitul as the SRCsocieties extravaganza at the Great Fieldat the beginning o the year.
Speaking o the SRC as a whole, Elz-erman elt that, this SRC has collectivelyailed at communication. He is now run-ning or president to provide solutions tothe problems he encountered.
Vimbai Chikukwa
Te previous SRC le the currentone with R52 877.90, which was thenadded to this years budget, eventuallytotalling R877 000. SRC reasurer,Mobocha Mokobane allocated someo this money to projects such as thecommunity engagement conerenceat the University o the Free State, andto contribute to the more general aimo creating awareness on importantissues, like the LGBI pride week.
Tere has been some speculationabout SRC President, Kholoso Lonistravel budget and account. Te travel
budget is used by the president and thetwo vice-presidents or transportationto conerences, ood expenses and ac-commodation. Te presidents accountis used to und those students who goon conerences, and is currently und-ing a post-graduate students travel to ascience expo in Europe.
Honours student, Dale van derLingen requested sponsorship rom theSRC to attend a conerence and wastold that the SRC had no money to givehim. When van der Lingen questionedthis, he was rebued. "She told me thatit's none o my business how the SRCmanages its unds," he said. Mokobanedenies this.
But she did say that the SRC budgetis available or anyone to look at. Tebudget will be published at the end othe year anyway, said Mokobane.
Mokobane said she wished she haddone more to sort out student ees orthis year: I could have done better. Ithink that we shouldnt be expected topay hal our ees by the end o January.She also wishes she could have spentmore time on her academics, althoughshe acknowledged that, my greatestachievement was the advice I gave toall the dierent councillors.
She hopes the next treasurer will bevigorous in the budget committee.
Rochelle vander Merwe
Rhodes cuture has not changed
Outgoing SRC Vice President External,Taphelo selapedi ound the decision-making process within the SRC ratherchallenging. eam work was needed tomake events such as O-week and Inter-
varsity a success.We pushed hard. Not everyone
participated but those that did stayedcommitted, he said. Te SRC now hasto deal with the repercussions o theseevents, such as the racism issue that oc-curred during Intervarsity.
selapedi stated that overall, theSRC has perormed well. We have tomake decisions on a policy level and wehave played a major role in this regard,
especially political events that were heldon campus, he said. But the SRC did notreach some o its specic goals, such asmaking the Union Bar more culturallyinclusive.
My heart pains more at the institu-tional culture o the University, saidsepaledi. In my opinion, Rhodes hasnot begun to be a home or all. We arelosing black students and whether therewill ever be a real transormation, onlytime will tell.
Im tired o the SRC and anyonewould be two months aer O-Week, hesaid.
Overall, selapedi has carried outall that he wanted to during his term ooce. I know that people either love meor hate me, he said.
Khanyisa Titus
Pic:
Sam
Classen
DILDODELIGHT
The sae sex-pocertainly shockedsome students withits display ocondoms,
dildos andavoured lubricants.The SHARC HIV/Aids Awareness Week ocused
oneducating students about sae sexandproviding the opportunity orHIV
testingat EdenGrove throughout the week. Formore onthe sae sex-poturn
toPage 8.
Smith
Obviously, it goes without saying thatthe higher you are, the more work youhave to do, says Pumeza Mdangayi, SRCVice President Internal, as a warning touture Executive SRC members. Me,Kholosa, Tapelo and Mr Charlie (theSRC liaison) arrive at 08:00 and leave at20:00. At Intervarsity we le at 01:00,and at the Street party, we le at 03:00.I a student is stranded at O-Week, weneed to be accountable.
One o the problems Mdangayi hasaced as VPI is the diculty o disciplin-ing members. Te problem with theSRC councillors is that they never makea ormal complaint, its just hearsay.Until I have it in writing, theres nothingI can do, she says.
However, there have been changes.Tere is now a new disciplinarystructure being brought into place. Ac-tions can be taken against the oender,depending on the nature o the crime.Tey will have their SRC privileges,like the use o the oce, invitations toevents, and their stipend removed, saysMdangayi.
She rst joined the SRC as OppidanCouncillor as she was dissatised withthe service that Oppies were receiving,and is now sad to leave. I do not regretone minute o it. O course there aresome things we could have done better,some decisions we should have done di-erently. But all in all, it was antastic.
Good luck to next years SRC. Imnot going to lie, weve burned somebridges this year and amends are goingto have to be made. Just remember thatthe SRC is accountable to students, andno one else.
RobynMcCormick
Burnt
bridges
(but don't forget our O-Week success!)
Oppies on top
SRC pigg bank is empt
8/14/2019 2009 - Edition 8
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OpinionRacism. Have you been a victim of any form of racial abuse at Rhodes?Let us know. [email protected] Oppidan Press 26.08.09
He bared his body, and now he bareshis soul. Te Oppidan Press did someuncovering o its own, asking one o theinamous Intervaristy streakers how iteels to shed your overalls in avour oyour birthday suit.
Rhett Quin:Tis is it. Te moment Ive planned orthe last 20 minutes (Ok, I lie, probablysince rst year). Te threat o spikedences, CPU guards, and disciplinaryaction requires meticulous planning.Having le all but my trusty purple andwhite overall with a Rhodent in thecrowd, I stroll casually and inconspicu-ously down to the edge o the eld.
Nervous adrenalin, spurred on bycopious amounts o Dutch Courage,courses through my veins. aking careulnote o the position o the authorities I
pick a gap in the spiked ence, and withone last swig o the cane and coke thatIve cleverly managed to conceal romthe ever-watchul eye o Te Control, I
jump the ence.Beore Ive hit the ground my overall
is o and Ive let it all hang outwellperhaps not hang as it was a lot colderthan I thought. My eet are moving as
quickly as they can, uelled mostly bywhat is sure to be pure ethanol! Ive beencareul to hold on to my overall and keepan eye out or guards. In my excitementI cant even hear the crowd so, to givethem something to cheer about, I run upto the opposition y hal and show him aRhodes hakka like he has never seen.
urning quickly, I see the authoritiesbearing down on me. I swily elude oneguard and make or the ence on the arside. I I can just make it over the enceand up the benches Im awayI think.I climb the ence and y up the stand.Almost there, I jump to clear the laststep, EFFFF!
Te guard ankle-taps me just as Ileap! I all with a thud on the other sideo the stand as CPU and Te Controldive on me. But its over Ive done it! Ilie there shouting, I surrender!, grin-ning and laughing the whole time. Asthey carry me o I cling tightly to myoverall, covering what is most important
to me.Tey threw me out the grounds, buta happier man I couldnt be! Streakingin ront o hundreds o people duringthe rugby at Intervarsity was the stulegends are made o.
I eel privileged to have joined themany that have gone beore me in thistimeless tradition.
The naked truth
During the last set o exams, Rhodesrecorded some o the worst resultsand highest ailure rates in its history.Some o the blame or this can beattributed to the new school curricu-lum which the majority o rst yearspassed through.
I matriculated in 2008 as a guineapig or the Further Education andraining (FE) curriculum imposedby the education department. At rst,being the governments lab rat was
just an inconvenience and a mildirritation. But the sudden changes tocurriculums and previously never-been-taught work which popped up inthe classroom rom Grade 11 onwards,
as well as the lack o past papers romwhich to study, had a serious impacton our education.
I attended Reddam House, a pri-vate school in Cape own. Althoughthe school had top acilities, and goodteachers and resources, there was aperpetual state o conusion regardingmy years subject matter and how itshould be taught.
Many strange experiments wereattempted in my all-important Matricyear (perhaps because the educationdepartment was making things up as itwent along).
For example, our English Literaturepaper was divided into two essay sec-tions a short piece on our Shake-speare set work, and a longer essay onanother set work. Our short essay only
counted or a third o our mark, takingthe ocus away rom writing the essayand developing the argument so thatall we had to do was write a good planand then t in enough inormation toget by. Small things like this were parto the overall problem shiing theocus rom developing skills to gettingeasy marks.
Another cause o conusion rearedits untried head in the orm o a newsubject, Maths Literacy. None o usreally knew i universities would rec-ognise it or not, but we eared that itmight be awarded less entry points.
As the Mathematics curriculumgot harder, more people dropped toMaths Literacy and the issue was clari-ed when various universities madepresentations at our school.
My ellow learners (the appalling newdescription given to us by the educa-tion department) and I were told by theUniversity o Cape own that they wouldindeed award less points or MathsLiteracy, and that many departmentssuch as Economics would not acceptMaths Literacy students. Stellenboschand Rhodes told us otherwise, conrm-ing that subjects which require mathe-matical competence would accept MathsLiteracy students. We are now seeing thenot-so-ruitul results o this decision.
Te most irritating thing aboutFE was the sheer mind-numbingpolitical correctness o it all romthe horric new label learners to thepainul classes o Lie Orientation,which was essentially brainwashingby people who could not succeed at
anything other than the instructiono bullsh** . From sel-help books, tomaking us explain our ethical leaningsusing a marking grid, the subject wasan utter waste o time. As was theendless stream o politically correctmaterial wheedling and whining itsway into various other subjects.
FE did not adequately prepareme or university it taught me howto bullsh** my way through examsand still get a good mark. Very littleo what I learnt at school has helpedme at university. High school did notteach me how to think critically andI was not challenged to question theworld around me. Rather, I acceptedeverything I was taught and learnthow to repeat it, so I could get an A.
We don't need no (FET) education
On campus I stumbled upon a large no-tice reading only: Hello Larissa, its theguys. Initially I was amused by the na-vet o the message, and then greatly an-noyed by it. It seemed to imply that theguys elt le out, ignored by our StudentServices Ocer, Larissa Klazinga.
Some may orget that there is a mensorganisation/campaign Men as Part-ners. Perhaps this is where guys shouldplace their energies. Do some researchand get involved. Activism doesnt cometo you, you go to it. Women (and men)involved in 1in9 and the Gender ActionProject (GAP) went to these organisa-tions and put their names on lists to dosomething. No one is going to help youout until you mobilise constructively. Inother words, instead o orming an anti-eminist organisation, pull yourselvestogether to challenge gender inequity
and patriarchy.Guys, it is not about you, anyway.
Its about challenging social relations.I youre not up to putting your energybehind gender-based activism, perhapsits because you eel uncomortableabout whats being said. Realise that yourinsecurity, deensiveness and wonderingabout whats being done or the guysis probably directly related to your earo having to give up your positions opower.
You should be targeting the insti-tution o patriarchy, rather than anindividual. Question why it is necessaryto only ocus on womens issues. Perhapsit is because patriarchy is so institutiona-lised that it is natural or invisible. Hence,you are incapable o seeing the necessityor groups o people such as the 1in9campaign and GAP who pull togetherand make it visible. Tis goes back tothe issue o eeling deensive and underattack or reasons unknown to you it is
unknown because you have not steppedout o your space, and are yet to look inon patriarchy.
I you want to address an individual,make your statement upront. Only cow-ards make an unattributed public displayo it. Maybe you realise that Larissa isnot responsible or your neglect. Holdyourselves accountable: what are you do-ing about gender inequity, gender-based
violence, rape, and hate crimes?Tis response is not only addressed
to men, but to women, too. It is easy ormen and women to criticise an individ-ual, an organisation or a movement areasier than it is to criticise yoursel ordoing nothing. Acknowledge that youare yet to contribute to making RhodesUniversity, Grahamstown, South Aricasaer places and more equitable spaces.Stand beside the individuals working sohard at creating a air society, and then,when you have contributed your energyin your own way, you may criticise.
Mobiise then criticiseNicolene McLean
BenjaminFogel
Shea Karssingand
Rhett Quin
BARE BUM
Intervarsity streaker,Rhett Quin, momentarily escapedthe eyes andclutches oThe Control tosprint downthe
rugby eld,cheeredon by hundreds ospectators.
Pic: AmyAttenborough
Pic:WarwickPreddy
Feel like ranting and raving?Let us know what you think.
[email protected] Press 26.08.09
cist Rhodents
melo Tladi
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anager: MohammedShabangu
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ChiefSub-Editor: Cath Boulle
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AbongileFaxi
Dear editor,I would like to comment on the Strikeor strike article and respond to thequestion you posed on what studentsthink o the strike.
Well let me tell you what I think,as an SRC member, but above all, as astudent at thisfne institution. Firstlythis needs to be stated: the problematicaw with the conceptualisation oprogrammes and policies, with the SRCand its substructures, o Universityadministration and others alike isthat we assume that there is onehomogeneous student body, which willact, think, be one.
Although this may make our (SRCmanagements) job easy, it is not so.Our dierent and diverse culturesand backgrounds not only give thisUniversity a cosmopolitan environmentbut it also dictates how we eel andinteract with dierent challenges. Clearexample: depending on which student
you approached, you would have hearddierent views on the consequences oreven on the industrial action itsel. Somewould be pro-NEHAWU or workingclass; others pro-Rhodes UniversityAdmin or scally-sound policies, most(which I ound) neutral (still have notgrasped that one, personally).
So what might be a ood/comortissue to some is bread and butter toothers. With that said let me state that bythe third day o the industrial action byNEHAWU, some students were ed upwith the status quo and were threateningto take matters into their own hands.
Te SRC decided to acilitate the studentprotest (note: NO strike; PROES)to have it run smoothly (security,contacting the Municipality, the police,the rac Department etc under thePublic Gatherings Act) to legalise theprotest. And mostly, to see to it thatwhen the students arrived at the AdminBuilding, there was someone to meetthem and accept the memorandum.
Now I will not waste my timedebating the merits and demerits o thisprotest and why it was held etc but I willsay this: within three hours o studentsmarching to the Admin Building, therewere cup-a-soups handed out at theOppidan dinning hall to top up meals.Cup-a-soup you may ask, is she se rious?Well at least its something. What didyou do?
Within two days, ResidentialOperations publicly apologised tostudents or the inconvenience causedand introduced in the interim, somehot meals. Again I ask: What did
you do? I can tell you what the SRCdid. I anything I have learnt onething in this SRC: in students non-homogeneousness you cannot pleaseeveryone, because everyone is dierent but we sure as hell made a dierence tosome students lives.
Again I repeat: Besides complain onside corners about how ineective theSRC is, what did you do? Tink you cando better? Voting or the new SRC isnow open.
Ms P MdangayiSRC 2008/9 Vice President Internal
Letters to the editor >>Response to 'Strike for strike'
ehassoberedup andrecoveredpurple-ueledweekendo Inter-
Withthe inclusiono WalterSisuluty,Imsurestudentshad oureun. Butthedrunken misbehav-udentshasonce againplacedthe
Intervarsityinjeopardy.houldeelvery embarrassedtocallsRhodiansaer theracistincident
urredduringtheweekend,involv-turer,his amilyandsomerowdystRhodesstudents.hockingthatstudentssubjectedurlecturerstoracial prejudiceanddthe incidentcertainlytaintsthe
onoa neinstitution.Itsprobablyembarrassingincidenttohappenectedmembero theRhodescom-
andsadly,itis notan isolatedcase.ereall outragedby theracistmthe Universityo theFree Stateacedlastyear,and wereno doubtandproudto livein suchan openptinguniversityenvironment.rtunately,asmuch aswe mightliveina purplebubble,wearenot
rom theresto thecountry.act isthatracismnever disap-romRhodes.I knowstudentsampuswho havebeen victimsabuse, andI havepersonallytimto racism.Tedigshunt isoreveryOppidan,but imaginetratingit iswhen dooraerdoored(guratively)in yourace
othe colouroyourskin. Ididntatthiskind othingstill happened,lynotinGrahamstown.mhasbecome aneverydayoc-
eandmany studentsdontsee theportingthese incidentsbecause wenk itwillmake anydierence.Butpassiveresponsetoracismjustit goon?
UniversityAdministrationand thebodyneedto acknowledgethata problemonthiscampus.At
recent incidenthaspromptedDrencourageeveryoneto activelystrac ism.
Oppidan Press wouldthereorelikenanyone,staor student,whonavictimoanyormoracismatospeak out.InpublishingyourTe Oppidan Press wewillbetak-
ndagainstracism.Racialprejudicesecannotbe tolerated.Wewanttoart inbreakingthe silenceabout
astthenwecanallwalkoncampusso theact thatweneed tomake.I weare notconstantlyawareationwewillnevereeltheneedeit.Weneedtoputanendtoeourselves.youraccountsor messagestolet-oppidanpress.comandsay nototRhodes.
Tladi
7230theoppidanpress.com
POSTSTRIKE LIFE
Municipal strikes overthe last
monthhave causedchaos and
disruptionall over the country.
A ministerial strategicteam
has beenestablishedin an
attempt tohelp minimise strikes
inthe country.Co-operative
Governance MinisterSicelo
Shiceka hopes that the team will
look at buildinga relationship
betweenthe employerand
the unions inall sectors othe
economy.
The team will look at the wage
gap betweenthe workers andthe
unions,a problem whichunion
members raisedduring recent
municipal strikes.
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e Oppidan Press 26.08.09
Arts7The Oppidan Press 26.08.09
Budding with creative inspiration? Send us your recommendations on what to doand see on the art scene. [email protected]
Te SHARC Anti-Fashion Show heldat the Great Hall last Friday night wasmore than a display o mainstreamashion culture and did not conorm topeoples expectations. ypical modelsare tall and skinny. Our models weredierent and they had a message, saidone o the show co-ordinators, IthutengMashabela.
Co-ordinated by Mashabela and
Veronica Malebye, the Anti-FashionShow, which will now be an annualevent, was the nale o SHARCs HIV/Aids Awareness Week campaign.
Te show substituted the dramaticconventions o a traditional ashion ex-travaganza with eatures which helpedemphasise o the purpose o the event.Te absence o a ramp, the poetryrecited at intervals, and the appearanceo Condoman reminded the audienceand participants o SHARCs importantcause.
Scantily-clad young men and
women strutted their stu across thestage, donning placards with messagessuch as 'Its sexier sealed', 'Embracingemininity' and 'Real men dont rape'.
Some models showcased some ex-traordinary clothing designed by thirdyear design student, Bonolo Disekorom the University o Johannesburg.But the main attraction was the bodypaint and the newly-coined, CondomCouture.
One o the body-painted models,Nomathamsanqa Mhlakaza said: I didit to show people that you should eel
comortable in your own body. I thinkpeople are still ignorant and take themessage in the wrong way. Its not allabout ashion. Its about you.
Audience members were impressedby the creative use o condoms in thedesign o some garments. It is a niceway you can relate to the issue, sayingthat the condom is there, it exists. Useit, Mhlakaza commented.
According Mpho Raborie, anothermodel in the show, being hal-nakedon stage was liberating. Promotingthe strength that a woman has within
herWe were dierent models and itwasnt only about what the body artwas saying, but we also had to embodythe emotions being expressed in theart.
We wanted to challenge people toreally think about HIV/Aids and toconsider that abstaining is actually anoption, Mashabela said.
Te show was sponsored by Pick nPay and included a rafe or a handySae Sex Hamper. Proceeds rom therafe and the show will go to variouscharities such as the Raphael centre.
Yvonne Nhuta
Ribbons and rubbers on the runwa
Its no surprise that, aer this yearschaos, rumours o Rhodes being bannedrom uture Intervarsity events are y-ing. Rhodents go absolutely mad orthe duration o the tournament: bar asprinkling o black, blue and yellow romother universities, Grahamstown wascompletely purple as Rhodes studentsproudly displayed allegiance to theirteams.
Students take advantage o Inter-varsity to express themselves creativelythrough their overalls and variousunique hairstyles. From purple cornrowsto peroxided mohawks, Rhodents go allout, taking extreme measures with long-term repercussions. Even now, two weeksaer the event, many a purple tinge canbe spotted amongst the student popula-tion.
Tird year BCom student, KudzaiChanakira teamed up with a riend,ManAcc Honours student, Ronald Chin-deka to create a crazy hairdo or theirgrand nale Intervarsity experience.Both dyed their hair blonde, shavinglines as well as the letters R and U onopposite sides o their heads.
Duncan Fleming, a second year BSc stu-dent, has somewhat o a reputation orhis past crazy Intervarsity hairstyle. Tisyear was no dierent. In preparation,Fleming went bald and grew a beard thatput Dumbledore to shame. Te beardwas dyed purple just in time or the bigweekend.
Another digs unleashed their wildsides with streaks o purple and blondein their hair. Management Honours stu-dent, Adam Seager whipped out a rather90s look with a head ull o blond andpurple pigtails, while third year BA, NickLuksich went or the popular blonde/purple not-quite-a-mullet look. DipAccstudent Mark Knox, however, seemed tohave dipped his head into whatever camehis way, and then whipped out somesnazzy razor work on his stubble.
Consider these individuals in isola-tion and they seem supremely odd. Butin the context o Intervarsity weekend,
they t in just perectly.Outsiders casting their eyes over the
rugby stands at the big game on Saturdaycould be orgiven or thinking thatRhodes University is in act a hairdress-ing academywhere rst year practicalswent really, really wrong. Some call itlunacy, we call it art.
NthabisengMoroane
Intervarsit: our head is our canvas
Tis year's Young Directors' Season willtake place rom 26 to 29 August. icketscan be bought rom the Teatre Caor R20. Te ollowing short 30-minutedrama pieces will be showcased:
Revolutionary Roadby Justin Haythedirected by Natasha Lech:
Te pervading thematic concern othis text is the notion o trying to escapethe constant human state o being stuck;the idea that once a career has b eenestablished, a marriage has been realisedand children have been attained; oneends up stuck in the empty routine oday to day living.19:00 on 26 and 20:30 on 28 August
Closerby Patrick Marber directed bySaint-Francis ohlang
Closer is a text raw in emotion, action,eeling and sound. It careully dissectsmodern relationships and questions thecollusion o lust, love, desire and inti-macy in relationships. Te core oCloser,
just as o human nature, is sex.
20:30 on 26 and 19:00 on 28 August
Te Love o the Nightingale by imber-lake Wertenbaker directed by RoshneeGuptar
Te Love o the Nightingale is aboutasking questions. It is about interrogat-ing the past to try and gain an under-standing o the present. It is about sex,guilt, shame, vengeance, gender rolesand how those roles inuence how wethink as men, and as women.19:00 on 27 and 20:30 on 29 August
Withnail and Iby Bruce Robinsondirected by Byron Davis
London: 1969. wo down-on-their-luck actors (Withnail and Marwood) edup with the damp and cold, the piles owashing up, mad drug dealers and psy-chotic Irishmen nd solace in drinking(and other narcotics). Seeking respiterom their uneventul lives they leavetheir squalid at or an idyllic country-side holiday.20:30 on 27 and 19:00 on 29 August
Roberto Bonati & Stent Ensemble
St Andrews, Drill HallSun 30 August16:00R50 Adults, R30 Students/Pensioners
Odeion String Quarte Masterclass
Music Department, Beethoven RoomMon 31 August15:00Free!
Robert Rollin
Lecture Eden Grove BlueMon 31 August19:00Free!
Terence Marais -MMus
Chamber Exam with Odeion String
Quartet Schumann Piano Quintet in Eat major Op 44Music Department, Beethoven Roomues 1 September13:00Free!
Malcolm Nay - MasterclassMusic Department, Beethoven Roomues 1 September15:00Free!Han Jonkers - MasterclassMusic Department, Beethoven RoomWed 2 September13:00Free!
Robert Rollin & Han Jonkers Concert
Music Department, Beethoven RoomWed 2 September19:30R50 Adults, R30 Students/Pensioners
Robert Rollin, Juan Munoz & Mariel
Ilusario in concert
Music Department, Beethoven RoomTur 3 September13:00R50 Adults, R30 Students/Pensioners
Undergraduate Performance
Medelsohn rio Arnold vanWyk 5 Elegies Dvorak Piano QuintetIn A major Op 81Music Department,Beethoven RoomFri 4 September19:30
Spring Music Festiva 30 Aug - 4 Sept
Entertainment
njamin, the 30 year old who bursthe music scene with his debutI am and hasnt looked back since,
med by many to be South Aricassoulul singer.My parents weren't keen on meying music aer school, Benjaminled. I did body double and basict work aer school and aer seeingcruel the lm industry could be, Iinced my parents to let me studyne thing I knew I had always beenat music.
enjamin is both a singer and song-er, but eels that he was denitelya songwriter, as writing his ownc adds sincerity to his peror-ce. He has written or, and with,ray o well-known South Arican
ers, including amara Dey, Lira andny K, as well as idols contestantsn Kortje and Gi Gwe.is latest oering, entitled Swim-in the Soul o Music, was released
this year. Personally this albumserved as a goodbye to note the periodaer my athers death and a ve-yearrelationship which ended in a very uglymanner, Benjamin said. My writinghas always been a reection o my lie,my own diary entry o that moment inmy lie.
Benjamins dad raised him on soulmusic legends like Lou Rawls and BillWithers, and on Jazz artists such as AlJareau. Te songwriter also lists the l ateKing o Pop, Michael Jackson among hismusical inuences: Michael, like manypeople, made me all in love with musicand the dream o being a musician oneday.
Benamin learned a lot, too, romlistening to Prince and Stevie Won-der. He enjoys listening to artistssuch as Maxwell, to whom Be njaminis oen compared, and to DAngelo,Eryka Badu, John Mayer and India Arieamongst others.
Benjamin hopes to work withProverb, Gloria Bosman and producer37MPH in the not too distant uture.
swa Leve
RJ Benjamin:
outh Arica's soul
ensation
Rhodes Music Radio (RMR) celebratedits 28th birthday on 1 August, makingit the oldest campus-based communityradio station in South Arica. Tisyear we want[ed] to celebrate that actby inviting alumni, said RMR StationManager, Gugulethu Mhlungu.
In 2008, RMR celebrated its incep-tion by holding three parties in onenight with dierent styles o musicat the three dierent venues. Tisyear we decided to split the events upduring August, Mhlungu said. Tepoint is that it is a amily aair. RMR islucky enough to have many good DJs,and RMR was the platorm or theircareers, she noted.
Most o the events in celebration oRMRs birthday will involve ex-RMRDJs or musicians. RMRs second andbiggest gig or the month was the highlysuccessul Intervarsity party on theGreat Field, which eatured big-namebands like Prime Circle and Flash Re-
public. Mhlungu said it was the biggestevent ever hosted by RMR.
But lets go way back to August 1,1981 and take a look at the lie and timeso RMR.
Te station began by narrowcastingor the Rhodes University Caeteria,only expanding to residences on campuslater. Six years aer this humble begin-ning, RMR was narrowcasting to 16residences on Rhodes campus.
In 1990, ve RMR presenters brokethe record or the longest non-stopbroadcast by a campus radio station,with a monumental 336 hour show. Telast ew minutes o this groundbreak-ing event were broadcast live on CapitalRadio. Te event set o a revolution orcampus radio.
In June the ollowing year, RMR wasgranted permission to broadcast at theGrahamstown National Arts Festival toGrahamstown listeners within a 15kmradius, and received a temporary licenceas Festival-FM. Tis was anothergroundbreaker or the station as it wasthe rst temporary licence in the coun-
try to counter SABCs monopoly.RMR continued to cover the NationalArts Festival until June 1994 when theirapplication or a temporary broadcastinglicence was rejected by the IndependentBroadcasting Authority (IBA). Te resultwas that, a year later, RMR applied torun as a community broadcaster. Tiswas successul and RMR was givenlicence to go on air or a year.
17 May 1995 was a big day or RMRand the Grahamstown community, asthe station nally went live 24 hours aday as a community broadcaster. A ewyears later, RMR nally received theirour-year licence.
Reecting on RMRs developmentand success over the years, Mhlungusaid: Te act that the station is sodynamic stands out. Te kinds o peoplethat come out o RMR are some o thecountrys best broadcasters. For me it isinspiring. As a station manager, I havea big legacy to look aer. People all overthe world are tuning into RMR. Teaudience is constantly growing. RMR isconstantly growing.
Ettione Ferreira
RMR keeps raising the bar
Slikour from Skwatta Kamp's favouriterecipeBarbecued Baby Back Pork RibsPrep: 10 min, Cook: 2:15 1.8kgsbabybackribs
1cupbarbecuesauce,Preheat oven to 150 C. Place ribs in a shallowpan, cover with oil and bake 2 hours. Preparegrill. Remove rom oven and grill or 12 minutes,turning requently and basting with barbecuesauce.
CElEBRITy RECIPE >>
young Directors' Season 2009
HAIR MARE:
(From clockwise rom top right) Nick Luksich,Adam Seager, Kudzai
Chanakira andMark Knoxdid not hold back ingettingcreative this
Intervarsity.
Rhodes University is hosting a variety o local and international musicians at the Spring Music Festival.
Here is the concert schedule:
Pics: MaryHensman andNthabiseng Moroane
Celebrity recipe. Have you tried any o our celebrity recipes? Let us know. entertain-
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Purple overalls, purple aces and purplestreakers decorated this years momen-tous Intervarsity held at Rhodes. NelsonMandela Metropolitan University(NMMU), Walter Sisulu University,
Fort Hare and Rhodes collided in asporting renzy like none other.
Yet, the highlight or most support-ers, unsurprisingly, was not the sportitsel but rather the classic moments omadness which ollowed the alcohol-induced excitement o the weekend.
Te over enthusiasm o supportersstarted early on Friday 14 August atwater polo: students blew up condoms
and threw them into the pool whilethe water polo was taking place, oneo many instances where studentstook things too ar in support o theirrespective teams.
Another notable act o stupiditytook place at the rugby, where condentand not-so-sober students decided that
nudity was the best way to prove theirstatus as diehard ans.
Four particularly keen supporterstook the opportunity to don their birth-day suits or players and spectators orthe duration o Saturdays games. Andapparently the three emale streakerswere part o our very own student body.
Once again, Rhodes proved itsel atthe oreront o general misconduct,
although reports claim that none othese students was under the inuenceo alcohol.
Sporting disturbance is not particu-lar to Intervarsity, however, nor to Rho-des. In act, streakers have been knownto make appearances in all cornerso the globe and in numerous sports,
ranging rom tennis to the gentlemansgame gol. In the ootball world, how-ever, disturbance is on a dierent levelaltogether.
Globally, soccer ans are inamouslyranked as the most violent and passion-ate supporters in the world, with actualbrawls occurring between rival clubans across Europe and South America.When teams with such intensely loyal
ans come head to head, injuries arenot probable; they are expected. Tesecan range rom broken noses to, onoccasions, loss o lie. Players oen joinin on the madness, like ManchesterUniteds legendary Eric Cantona, whowill orever be remembered or hisying kick into a supporter during a
match against Crystal Palace.Bringing the madness back home
again, the misbehaviour o Intervarsity-goers is generally regarded as beingall in good un by the student body.But that was beore Vice-ChancellorSaleem Badats report o an incident oracism. Now the mischievousness oexcited Rhodents has taken on ar moredisturbing overtones.
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Moments o madness and mayhem
Triumph and
traged
World ootball is undergoing a realrevolution as Real Madrid captures theattention o millions with their extrava-gant transer activity. Te return o theso-called galactico era has become asource o much excitement or ootballlovers, and with the FIFA World Cuponly ten months away, ootball is on a
natural high.Te athletics world is also experi-
encing a coup d tat o sorts: UsainBolt continues to claim the sport orhis own with eccentric yet brilliantsprinting perormances. On the topico sporting greats, it may be prudentto reect on the deserved, or perhapsnot so deserved, winners o the hand deciding nal test o crickets oldestrivalry Te Ashes.
But away rom the glory, screamso ans, and sheer joy provided by ouravourite sportsmen and women, thereis also a ar less pleasant side to be seeno world sport.
Dani Jarque, the captain o FC Bar-celonas regional rivals Espanyol, diedrom cardiac arrest in his hotel duringpre-season training. His death hasstunned the ootball world, and whatsmore, it comes only two years aer thetragedy o Sevil las Antonio Puerta whocollapsed during a league match anddied o multiple organ ailure three dayslater.
But ootball has not been the onlysport to suer. Argentine r ugby player,Juan Cruz Migliore died recently, aerbeing hit on the head at the bottom o aruck. And who can orget the incidentthat nearly cost Ferraris Filipe Massanot only his Formula 1 career but hislie? When a detached suspension onthe road icked up and hit Massa onthe helmet, he was knocked uncon-scious and drove straight into a barrierat ull speed.
Us sports anatics are no strangers
to the joy that sport brings: we gatherin thousands in large stadiums to cheeron our heroes, we sit at home antici-pating the various upcoming sportingattractions, and we gather with riendsto make each game a social event. But itshould be remembered that not too aro rom the excitement that surroundsthe world o sport, tragedy oen lurks.
Anesu Chingono
PURPLE PEOPLE
Supporters, swimmers, sports spats and streakers. All in a day's play at Intervarsity.
Pics: Amy Attenborough
