Thanks to an initiative from the University of Cape Town's 80-member strong cycling club, the university has declared the week of 9 to 15 March UCT Cycling Week. With the Cape Town Cycle Tour ride of solidarity still fresh in our minds, UCT students will be made aware of the importance of exercise as part of a balanced student life throughout the week.

"UCT Properties and Services department are also working towards making UCT more cycling-friendly with bicycle lanes being painted and safe areas being created where bicycles can be kept during the day," says Kylie Hatton, Deputy Director for Marketing and Communications at UCT. "Sustainable transport is one of the main focus areas for making UCT a more sustainable campus and this week will serve as an impetus to make students aware of the advantages of cycling."

Two competitions

Students are invited to take part in two competitions during the week. From Monday to Friday (9 to 13 March) they will be prompted on social media to find a lost bike on campus, take a picture of it and email it to socialmedia@uct.co.za. A strange looking bicycle might pop up at unexpected places on campus, so students need to be looking out for a bike that will definitely not make it to the start of a cycling race.

On Thursday, 12 March from 12h00 to 14h00 students can test their fitness during lunch hour on Jammie Plaza when they will compete against each other on stationary Jammie bikes to see who can ride the fastest 1km. Five stationary Jammie bikes will be on the Plaza and the Cycling Club will have reliable and honest timekeepers to ensure the competition is fair. The winner, as well as the 2nd and 3rd place positions will be announced at 14h00.

For both competitions the winner walks away with a pair of Oakley sunglasses and the 2nd and 3rd place will each receive a Jammie Bike rent free for one year!

Then of course, the highlight of UCT Cycling Week is on Sunday, 15 March, when UCT will play first-time host to the Absa Cape Epic Prologue taking place on the rugby fields from 06h45 until 13h30. Students are urged to come and watch this premier mountain bike race, coined the Tour de France of mountain biking. There will be a special UCT student chill area at the bottom of Jammie Steps. Come join in the fun.

For more information contact Petro Mostert at petro.mostert@uct.ac.za or 082 334 6193.

Return to UCT hosts Absa Cape Epic Prologue hub

True leaders must get to grips with the challenges of operating in an organisation and should be willing to take risks.

Trevor Manuel is a senior fellow of the Building Bridges programme, which over the next two weeks will host 24 participants from five African countries enrolled in the Leading in Public Life course.

This was the advice from former finance minister Trevor Manuel at the launch of UCT's inaugural Leading in Public Life course. Manuel, who has the distinction of being one of the longest-serving finance ministers in the world, addressed participants at a dinner that marked the beginning of this two week residential course.

A group of 24 exceptional young Africans from five countries is taking part in the course hosted by Building Bridges, a programme of UCT's Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice (GSDPP). Manuel is a senior fellow of the programme.

Manuel hailed these participants for already being leaders in their respective communities before defining some of the challenges they would face as leaders. He argued that contrary to law and medicine, leadership was not something that could be learnt from a textbook.

"Leaders operate in organisations and ... sometimes these organisations are the places that help to resolve leadership challenges," he explained.

He said it was important for leaders to manage resources and that this function of a leader is frequently overlooked.

"Leaders must be able to listen, share and persuade. Strong leaders are confident in their being. You must understand the nature of risks, but unless you're prepared to take risks you might as well stay in university doing course after course on leadership," he stated.

Manuel urged the participants to base their leadership on "integrity, honesty and a commitment to serve".

UCT Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price echoed this sentiment and advised the young leaders to always make decisions with ethical implications in consultation. "It is easier to rationalise a decision to yourself, but much harder when you have to justify it to a group of people whose judgments you respect."

Story by Abigail Calata. Photo by Je'nine May

The University of Cape Town will for the first time play host to the Absa Cape Epic Prologue on Sunday, 15 March 2015.

In the photo are this year's firm favourites to win, Swiss rider Christoph Sauser (back) and his Czech partner Jaroslav Kulhavy from the Investec-Songo-Specialised team. The photo was taken at last year's prologue at Meerendal by Nick Muzik.

The lush green sports fields in front of the main UCT campus will be seen by television viewers around the world when the 1 200 participants will ride 20km and climb 600m on the slopes of Table Mountain to earn their seeding in the seven days of stage racings to follow.

Since its beginning in 2004, the annual eight-day Absa Cape Epic has become the world's foremost mountain bike stage race, attracting the world's leading professional riders and amateurs keen to test their limits in the rugged Western Cape countryside.

Dr Max Price, Vice-Chancellor of UCT, says: "This occasion gives us opportunities, before and after the race, to showcase the phenomenal research UCT is doing in various sport and sport development fields, and to display the university's most important asset: the people of UCT."

Some of the best athletes in mountain biking will be riding on and around UCT, which has been acclaimed as one of the most beautiful campuses in the world.

UCT is currently home to 33% of South Africa's top-rated researchers. They have been given a National Research Foundation (NRF) A-rating for being unmistakably recognised by their peers as leading international scholars in their respective fields.

With more than 40 sports clubs, UCT's sports and recreation programmes provide for all levels of competition: from purely social programmes to high-performance and endurance sports. UCT students are actively engaged in promoting sport in the local communities and within their clubs on campus.

'Growing champions on and off the bike'

The UCT Cycling Club is actively involved in a mentorship programme with 13 children from the Velokhaya Academy in Khayelitsha. With this programme, coined "Growing champions on and off the bike", members of the club are helping children with their school work, teaching them life orientation skills and providing them with knowledge on how to stay on top of their school work while training hard and racing competitively.

Hosting the Absa Cape Epic will also help to emphasise the various sustainable initiatives on campus, like the UCT Green Campus Initiative where, amongst other projects, cycling on campus is being encouraged.

Thanks to an initiative from the UCT Cycling Club, the university has declared the week of 9 to 15 March the UCT Cycling Week, UCT is using the opportunity presented by the Cape Epic to emphasise the importance of exercise as part of a balanced student life.

In the build-up to the Cape Epic there will be two competitions for students to take part in to raise awareness of the event but more importantly the benefits of cycling. From Monday to Friday (9 to 13 March) students will be prompted on social media to find a lost bike on campus, take a picture of it and email it to socialmedia@uct.co.za. On Thursday, students are going to test their fitness during lunch hour when they will compete against each other on stationary Jammie bikes to see who can ride the fastest 1km.

For more information, please contact Petro Mostert on +27 (0)82 334 6193 or petro.mostert@uct.ac.za.

Media release issued by the University of Cape Town.

Return to UCT hosts Absa Cape Epic Prologue hub

A few hands went up when the question was asked: "Do you think the economy in South Africa will be better in five years' time?" David Lipton, the first deputy managing director of the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, was speaking to a packed School of Economics' seminar room on a whirlwind visit to UCT earlier this month.

Engaging students: left to right, fourth year UCT economics students Felicia Ajose, Ruby Sam-Kputu and Louis Moussi Sopp speak with David Lipton, IMF's first deputy managing director.

During his address, Lipton reviewed the country's challenges and offered a message of hope. He also confided later that the show of optimistic hands in the crowd was an important indicator – if people believed the future would be better, they would be prepared to work harder at it. If they were pessimistic, they would be less likely to try to make a difference.

He also admitted that South Africa's low growth was a challenge.

"Last year your economy grew only 1.5%. That meant that individual income did not rise at all. It also meant that the unemployment rate – among the highest in the G20 countries – is still about one-quarter," he said.

Together these indicators suggest that South Africa faces an uphill path to building a stronger economy, according to Lipton. South Africa's sluggish growth and the absence of crucial reforms leave the country vulnerable.

"This may sound a bit bleak, so I would actually like to offer you an optimistic message. There are many things your country can do to continue transforming your economy and society."

Reviewing South Africa's challenges

To understand local economic challenges, it was necessary to look at the global economy, as it has an important impact on South Africa's fortunes, Lipton said. Global growth had been weaker than expected and the forecast for 2015 was down to 3.5%. The downturn was due to a number of factors, including shockwaves from Ukraine and the Middle East.

There have been home-grown shocks as well, such as the growing disruptions to the electricity supply and protracted strikes. This explained why the IMF is now estimating that potential growth in South Africa was forecast "in the two's" – despite projected growth in sub-Saharan Africa being pinned at around 4.75%.

Noting the country's low growth trajectory, high inequality (where the average white household still earns about six times the average black household), and high unemployment rate (about one in four South Africans is out of work, and among young people this ratio rises to one in two), Lipton also asked the audience to imagine what was possible if this workforce were employed.

He suggested that lower oil prices – which was giving a lift to oil consumers in South Africa – together with falling inflation provides an opportunity for South Africa to address some of these challenges, said Lipton.

Front row seats: IMF's first deputy managing director David Lipton (middle) is flanked by Prof Hiroyuki Hino (30 years in IMF and now a visiting professor at Southern African Labour and Development unit at UCT) and Prof Mark Ellyne (25 years in IMF and now lecturing macroeconomic policy at UCT). The full IMF delegation included (from left) Axel Schimmelpfennig (senior resident representative), Felicia Dlamini-Kunene (advisor to executive director), Antoinette Sayeh (director of African Department), and advisor Ben Kelmanson (far right).

Reforms for a brighter future?

"In essence, what is needed is a fundamental shift in a core dynamic of the South African economy that brings together insiders and outsiders across product and labour markets. This can lift investment, growth, and employment.

"Improving electricity availability is of paramount importance. The growing problem of power outages is debilitating for people and companies alike."

Describing South Africa's current energy crisis as a "wake-up call for South Africans", he said: "Urgent action is needed to improve energy availability in the short term, while also working to address them medium- and longer-term issues. Bold leadership is needed by all stakeholders to address these challenges. Business, labour and government each have a role to play," he said.

If these three stakeholder groups could envision a shared future, the country could find itself on an upward path, he concluded.

Story by Carolyn McGibbon. Photos by Michael Hammond.

Have you ever wondered why the Hoerikwaggo Building is so named, or what it means?

Or why the statue of Cecil John Rhodes stands at the foot of Africa's leading university?

The statue of Cecil John Rhodes on UCT's upper campus has been the subject of much debate – and defacement. For some, it's a symbol of imperialism and a marker of what remains untransformed about UCT. For others, it's an undeniable part of the university's past.

Should we expunge campus's historic symbols of Eurocentrism, colonialism and imperialism, or keep them, lest we forget, for our children's children's children's sake?

These are the kinds of questions UCT will be tackling in a new series of discussions, under the banner of transformation, starting on Monday 16 March from 16h00 to 18h00 in Kramer LT2, and continuing throughout the year.

And as a member of the university community, you're invited.

Each event will focus on a single issue in a discussion that will be led by invited speakers. Members of the audience (that's you) will also have an opportunity to express their opinions – and ask others about theirs.

The topic of the first discussion on 16 March will be heritage, signage and symbolism. As deputy vice-chancellor Professor Crain Soudien noted, debate is vital to how UCT is managing the challenge of transformation.

"We hope these meetings will help identify ways that we might move forward," he said in a message to the campus community.

(And by the way, Hoerikwaggo means "Mountain of the Sea". After a Council decision, the old Chemical Engineering Building was renamed in 2005 when the chemical engineering department moved to a new home and Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) moved in.)

Photo by Michael Hammond

Fifteen universities from eight African countries have launched an alliance of research universities, at the African Higher Education Summit (from 10-12 March 2015) in Senegal's capital Dakar. The focus of the group will be to build African research excellence as a "vital precondition" for the continent to develop and exert control over its future.

Chair of the African Union Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (middle), gave her support to the formation of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) which was founded this week during the African Higher Education Summit in Dakar, Senegal. Dlamini-Zuma is flanked by co-initiators of the alliance, the Wits University and UCT vice-chancellors, Prof Adam Habib (left) and Dr Max Price. Habib represents the south of Africa in the alliance's founding executive committee, while Price was selected as the ARUA's first chair.

Leading institutions with strong research and postgraduate training joined the African Research Universities Alliance, or ARUA, with its first chair being Dr Max Price of the University of Cape Town.

The initiative got powerful support at its launch on the sidelines of the summit from the chair of the African Union Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma – who, ARUA said, had inspired its formation with her recent comments on the urgent need to strengthen African research and universities.

The alliance follows in the footsteps and shares the aims of other research university consortiums around the world – such as the League of European Research Universities and the Group of Eight in Australia – that advocate for strengthening research and postgraduate training in higher education.

Also, Price said: "The intention is to bring together our distinctive fields of expertise to achieve complementary and coordinated programmes of research and training, including addressing the key development priorities of the African continent."

The universities include Lagos, Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo in Nigeria, the University of Ghana, Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Nairobi in Kenya, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, the National University of Rwanda, Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal, and in South Africa the universities of the Witwatersrand, Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Pretoria, KwaZulu-Natal and Rhodes.

Professor Adam Habib, vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa who represents the south of Africa in the alliance's founding executive committee, said: "The primary focus of ARUA is to build indigenous research excellence with the intention of asserting Africa as a powerful global force."

At its founding meeting in Dakar, ARUA agreed to establish a small secretariat comprising a secretary general to assist with implementing alliance initiatives, and an executive committee of one vice-chancellor each from the African regions represented among its members and from Francophone Africa.

Catalytic not elitist

The vice-chancellors stressed that the alliance should be seen as a catalytic rather than an elitist group. It will use the strengths of member universities to boost research and higher education across the continent – nipping in the bud the primary criticism they knew would be levelled against ARUA.

While the number of universities in the group will not expand much – experience has shown that large groups can become unwieldy and ineffective – ARUA will also identify research nodes and centres of excellence around Africa to work with.

The idea is not only to strengthen research in alliance members but for strong research universities to form a hub that supports excellence in other institutions across the continent "through advocacy for research, joint research projects, postgraduate training, providing access to research facilities, and linkages to research universities globally", said an alliance release.

Dlamini-Zuma said she was excited about the idea of ARUA as a catalyst for igniting research across Africa. The alliance also raised the "key issue of the need to cooperate".

The alliance agreed that while no individual university had the capacity to make a difference to research and PhD production on a continental level – together they did. Rather than look only to the North for support, Africa could also draw on what existed internally, for example for co-supervision and research equipment.

Main areas of work

There will be three main thrusts to the work of ARUA – improving training and support for PhD students, capacity building to enhance research management, and collaborative research.

Cooperation, said Price, could lead to joint PhD programmes, better support for young researchers and the ability to keep them within Africa, and research initiatives that spanned several universities – such activities could be a game-changer for African research.

"We asked, is there something unique that gives universities a reason to belong to the alliance? We believe that research infrastructure – equipment and people – at each of our universities is not strong enough but together we are."

One of the first actions of ARUA will be to conduct an audit of what is available across member universities. "Then we will be able to make this capacity available to doctoral students across the alliance." There will also be a focus on research management and support.

The alliance will identify a few big research programmes that will span a large number of member universities, and seek funding for them. Research areas will be selected in line with African priorities, as articulated in the African Union's recently approved 'Agenda 2063'.

Research will be multidisciplinary and span the social sciences, humanities and sciences. Professor Cheryl de la Rey, vice-chancellor of the University of Pretoria, will lead the work of identifying the first major research programme, working with the top research executives of alliance universities. Habib gave space sciences and Big Data as examples of areas that could be promising for major research.

Need for support

One extremely important aspect of ARUA's strategy is that it will be owned and driven by African universities. Its work will draw primarily on African resources – including, down the line, the resources of member universities themselves – rather than be completely reliant on international donors.

"The alliance can only be successful if we have the commitment and support from key stakeholders in government, the higher education sector, and local and global funding agencies," said Habib.

"Africa's time is now – this is an opportunity for Africans to thrive and to contribute towards finding the solutions to the complex problems facing the development of our continent today, and in the future."

Written by Karen MacGregor for University World News. Republished with kind permission.

UCT PhD student Marc Brighton will be competing in the 2015 Absa Cape Epic with his team mate, UCT alumnus Steven Mitchell. Here's a quick Q&A with the cyclists before the big event.

Pictured above are Absa Cape Epic Team Nexus, Marc Brighton and bike partner Steven Mitchel (left) after an incredibly muddy Sabrina Love Challenge MTB race in 2014 in Plettenberg Bay.

What are you studying at UCT?

Marc: I am doing the final (hopefully) year of my PhD in Chemical Engineering. I also graduated from UCT in 2010 in Chemical Engineering.

Steven: I completed my degree BA Film and Media Production in 2009.

Are you a member of the UCT cycling club?

Marc: Yes, probably the longest serving member (since 2009).

Steven: Nope!

Do you cycle on campus?

Marc: Sometimes I do. Cycling up to UCT (especially if you include a detour onto the tracks behind Rhodes Memorial) is decent training and a good way to beat the traffic.

Steven: Yes, I used to cycle to lectures every now and then.

How do you feel about UCT being the first-time host of the Absa Cape Epic Prologue this year?

Marc: I am quite chuffed. This should be an interesting event.

Steven: I think it is great. The Absa Cape Epic is the most televised mountain bike race in the world, so it will provide fantastic publicity for one of Africa's top universities.

Is this your first Absa Cape Epic?

Marc: No, I've completed an Absa Cape Epic in 2012.

Steven: Yes!

Why did you enter?

Marc: It is a pinnacle of endurance mountain biking and quite addictive.

Steven: It's been on my bucket list. I've always wanted to face this challenge.

Have you trained together? Will you make a good team?

Marc: Steven is based in Johannesburg. We managed to train together for a week over the New Year when we were in Plettenberg Bay. I think we will make a good team as we have been friends for years and had some good adventures together.

Steven: We have been able to do a bit of training, but unfortunately live in different cities so have done most of our training apart. We have done many adventures together so far in our lives and are getting on very well with each other.

Have you trained enough?

Marc: I am quite confident that I have done enough training. I am at least as fit as I was for the Absa Cape Epic in 2012 and have had the benefit of three more years of mountain biking experience.

Steven: I don't think you can ever train enough, but hopefully what I have managed to do, will do the trick.

How would you encourage fellow students and alumni to start cycling?

Marc: I'm not quite certain, but I think the traffic congestion is doing that all on its own!

Steven: I will absolutely encourage them. It is a great form of exercise that puts no strain on your joints. It is also a great way to travel without damaging the environment.

How are you feeling about the Absa Cape Epic starting on 15 March 2015 here on UCT's campus?

Marc: A bit nervous, but mainly very distracted.

Steven: Petrified and excited – it is going to be a great adventure.

Photo supplied

Does existing research on the impact of parenting programmes show promising results? UCT's Children's Institute and the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Graduate School of Business recently collaborated on a seminar focused specifically on parenting programmes, and their critical role in early childhood development.

Assoc Prof Cathy Ward from the Department of Psychology describes the Sinovuyo Caring Families programme.

Parenting programmes are high on the global agenda. The UN's Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda recognise the critical role these programmes play in early child development (ECD). Targeting priority groups, scaling up effectively and using evidence to inform programme design and population-based delivery were all key themes discussed at a recent UCT seminar on parenting programmes, hosted by UCT's Children's Institute and the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Graduate School of Business.

A key question that the seminar sought to address was whether existing research on the impact of parenting programmes is showing any promising results, especially for vulnerable families.

An evaluation of the Sinovuyo Caring Families programme is currently under way, led by UCT's Associate Professor Cathy Ward. Sinovuyo, a parenting programme that aims to improve child behaviour and reduce maltreatment in low-income households, targets caregivers of children aged 2 to 9 years. Parents are supported through weekly group meetings run by trained community facilitators. Ward said that findings from a pilot randomised control trial (RCT) show that there's been an increase in positive parenting, although the programme's impact on child behaviour remains to be seen.

Developing a reliable evidence base on the effectiveness of parenting programmes remains a challenge. While RCTs are perceived as the 'gold standard', the cost and length of time required to conduct such studies, and the financial and human resource investment needed for programme efficacy, can be significant barriers.

Mark Tomlinson, professor of psychology at Stellenbosch University and an associate of UCT's Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, described his experience with Thula Sana, a home-visiting parent programme targeted at mother-infant pairs in Khayelitsha, which underwent an RCT 15 years ago. The programme trained mothers how to engage their children in a sensitive, interactive way. There was a noticeable improvement in levels of attachment and sensitivity between the mothers and their children participating in the programme. That said, noticeable reductions in maternal depression were not consistent.

Nearly 80% of the initial Thula Sana study participants were enrolled, 13 years later, in a follow-up study. Programme participants showed a marked improvement in maternal depression, but whether this improvement translates to better child outcomes remains to be determined. Tomlinson also described an RCT, completed in 2013, on a book-sharing programme that targeted children aged 14 to 18 months and their caregivers. The programme encouraged storytelling – particularly that with a high element of child engagement (eg: pointing, naming and demonstrating). Programme participants showed a noticeable improvement in language, while improvement in attention was considered exceptional and especially noteworthy.

Both Thula Sana and Sinovuyo appear to be promising interventions for the promotion of early child development.

The success of ECD interventions often depends on the appropriate targeting and comprehensive assessment of families who need intervention. There is an overwhelming need for interventions that support caregivers in the South African context, particularly for those parenting under conditions of poverty, exposure to violence, ill health and other stressors.

Professor Ria Reis of Leiden University Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam and honorary professor at UCT's Children's Institute, described an assessment tool developed and widely used in the Netherlands that promotes a shared language between social service practitioners and programme participants.

Reis' research suggests that the tool removes the care professional?s monopoly on insight into care needs, instead encouraging both the professional and participant to identify needs and make joint decisions on appropriate responses.

Overall, the seminar noted the value of investing in the first 1 000 days of a child's life (from conception to two years of age), and emphasised the merits of providing parenting interventions to pregnant women and caregivers of infants. Panellists also recommended the piloting of 'lighter touch' programmes: low-intensity, low-cost adaptations that can enable wider (and possibly universal) roll-out in high demand, poorly resourced contexts. This approach, combined with scaling up more intensive programmes for targeted groups as the evidence base grows, seems a more acceptable plan in the long run.

Story by Barry Panulo. Photo by Bev Meldrum

With more than 6 000 enrolled students from over 100 countries, UCT's first free online course or MOOC (massive open online course) starts today, with enrolment open until the very last day of the course.

The six-week course, titled Medicine & the Arts: Humanising Healthcare, explores the intersection of medicine, medical anthropology and the creative arts.

In the first week, participants will be introduced to the course conveners, Assoc Prof Susan Levine and Prof Steve Reid, who will outline the premise for the course. The theme for the week is The heart of the matter – a matter of the heart, with Reid interviewing a heart surgeon, a poet, and a transplant recipient, in the theatre where Dr Chris Barnard performed the first successful human heart transplant in 1967.

Participants will engage with the material through video lectures, comment spaces and short written assignments, and connect with other students through the course discussions, Twitter, Facebook and other social media.

Three body maps on the outer wall of UCT's Medical School library trace the outlines of a story of health and HIV – how the virus entered the body, and how a life journey has changed course since that time. These illustrations were made by three women in the Bambanani Group, and translated into mosaic by Lovell Friedman.

Assoc Prof Laura Czerniewicz, director of UCT's Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), believes that the university's involvement with MOOCs will be a means of addressing the imbalance in how knowledge is produced and disseminated around the world.

"The vast majority of MOOCs being produced in the world are offered by universities in the global north; while their students come from all over the globe. This has the effect of rendering local knowledge and curricula invisible. It is really important for universities in Africa and other countries in the global south to produce MOOCs based on local knowledge, experiences and curricula," she explains.

Registration for the next MOOC, What is a mind?, is now open. The course starts on 11 May, and hopes to bring participants to a fuller understanding of what a mind is through four aspects – subjectivity, intentionality, consciousness and agency.

To register for these courses, go to:
www.futurelearn.com/courses/medicine-and-the-arts
www.futurelearn.com/courses/what-is-a-mind

For more information on MOOCs:
Making a MOOC
MOOCs around the world

Story by Abigail Calata. Photo by Michael Hammond

Rifumo Mdaka, a third-year student in Media Studies at UCT, had the opportunity to visit the Absa Cape Epic Media Centre during the Prologue hosted at UCT on Sunday. Here is his story.

Absa Cape Epic Marketing and Communications Manager Sarah Harrop with Rifumo Mdaka after the race.

Covering the world's most televised mountain bike race may seem like a daunting task, but if my experience at the Absa Cape Epic Prologue at UCT has taught me anything, it's that all it takes is a team effort.

On Sunday 15 March, over 1 200 bikers took to the dirt along Table Mountain after traversing the UCT grounds. Around 60 international and 40 local journalists were at the ready to capture all the cycling action from the early hours of the morning right into the late afternoon.

Cape Epic Marketing and Communications Manager Sarah Harrop is on her feet throughout the morning ensuring that riders, sponsors and fans alike are enjoying what is her ninth Cape Epic. Later, I am introduced to her and she explains her responsibilities to me. Every poster, press release, advertisement and social media decision is her job to manage – which is an epic challenge in itself.

The day before the event, I familiarised myself with Cape Epic's website. The site gives you a simple overview of the entire event but Sara points out a nifty feature – a livestream along with a 'biker-livetracking' feature powered by Tracker. The need for the livestream is more than just a convenience in case fans can't reach a television; since DStv subscribers are the only people who get to watch the Prologue live on Supersport 7, the rest of the world get to tune in via the website's livestream.

Supersport plays an integral role at the Cape Epic. By Thursday (three days before the race), Supersport's two state-of-the-art outdoor broadcast (OB) trucks had begun camping out at UCT's upper campus – these trucks are the life of the live broadcast. Sara kindly arranged for me to take a tour inside one of the trucks and, if I hadn't known any better, I would have believed that I was entering a spaceship.

Over 20 people are responsible for running this 'spaceship' and it's a mammoth task. The Supersport OB truck team is monitoring, syncing, editing, colour-correcting, directing and uploading feeds from 18 cameras (split between crew members on the ground, radio frequency cameras planted along the mountain, and a helicopter camera). A director and VT (video tape) operator work in tandem to decide what appears on your home television when you tune in to Supersport 7 to watch the Cape Epic.

The budget for staging an operation as large-scale as this is set to the tune of R3 million; but the experience of having learned about the media machine behind the world's most televised mountain bike race is invaluable.

Story by Rifumo Mdaka (a third-year student in Media Studies at UCT). Photo by Petro Mostert.

The 12th edition of the Absa Cape Epic literally took off with a bang at the University of Cape Town on Sunday morning when Jonathan Stones, UCT's head of Sports and Recreation, fired the gun at 06h45 to send the first team off.

Overall leaders Martin Gujan and Fabian Giger of Novus OMX Pro at the Prologue of the 2015 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race held at the University of Cape Town on the 15 March 2015. (Photo by Gary Perkin/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS).

The 15th of March saw UCT playing host to the Prologue of the world's most televised mountain bike stage race for the first time.

During the live broadcast on SuperSport, commentators agreed that seeing the start on the UCT campus from the air was an iconic view that would be remembered for many years to come.

Capetonians and visitors from all over the world enjoyed the early morning cool weather on UCT's Green Mile where riders were set off in teams of two in short intervals. The route meandered through UCT's beautiful campus, across Jammie Plaza and up Table Mountain where the riders had to negotiate a few steep climbs towards Table Mountain Road before they could enjoy a single track down to Newlands forest and UCT.

The UCT Cycling Club had a chill area at the bottom of the Jammie steps where students could enjoy the race from a distance. The club also played host to 13 young enthusiasts from the Velokhaya Life Cycling Academy in Khayelitsha, who had cycled to UCT to enjoy the race. As part of their outreach programme, the Cycling Club members visit the academy and mentor this group of children on various topics from school work to life skills and how to maintain good marks while still training and racing hard.

Tough course

Many of the top riders described the course as being tough and without any opportunities to rest. Riders who went out late in the day (especially the professionals), had the worst of the conditions after earlier riders had dragged their brakes through sections of the course – particularly the tricky downhill to Newlands picnic area where the UCT Cycling Club hosted one of two vantage points.

Swiss riders Fabian Giger and Martin Gujan (Novus OMX Pro) surprised all as they swept into the yellow zebra jersey in the Prologue. Four-time winners Karl Platt and Christoph Sauser were second and third with their teammates.

The elite women set off just as the temperature in Cape Town started to rise. Ariana Kleinhans and Annika Langvad (RECM Specialized) took the top position on the podium in a time of 53.38,7. Jennie Stenerhag and Robyn de Groot (Ascendis Health) came second in a time of 57.14,5 with Milena Landtwing and Hielke Elferink (Meerendal Wheeler Cannondale) in third place with a finishing time of 57.25,8.

Dr Mike Posthumus, senior researcher in the division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, and his partner Derrin Smith finished in a time of 54.17,3 putting them 39th in their category and 46th overall. Speaking to him after the race, Mike said it was an amazing feeling to start his race on the UCT campus. Mike is blogging dailyabout his experience during the Absa Cape Epic.

UCT student Kristina Murray and her team mate Sergio Madonna finished 19th in the mixed category with a good time of 1.10,48. The UCT team Nexus of Marc Brighton and Steven Mitchell finished in a time of 1.13,37.

Climbing high

The riders are currently tackling Stage 1 at Oak Valley in Elgin. They will ride 113km and climb a staggering 2 800m throughout Monday's route. The race will finish on Sunday 22 March at Meerendal Wine Estate outside Durbanville.

The Absa Cape Epic is the world's premier mountain bike stage race. The route changes every year, leading aspiring amateur and professional mountain bikers from around the world through roughly 800km of unspoilt scenery and 15 000m of accumulated climbing, over some of the most magnificent mountain passes in Western Cape in South Africa.

It is also the only eight-day mountain bike stage race classed as hors cat?gorie by the Union Cycliste Interacionale (UCI). This official UCI status makes it a highlight on the professional racer's calendar. The Absa Cape Epic also attracts aspiring amateur riders wanting to test themselves against the best. It is a full-service race, meaning that everything is taken care of from the start – all riders need to think about is riding.

The Absa Cape Epic Prologue was the highlight of UCT Cycling Week in which students were made aware about the benefits of cycling to and from campus.

On 16 December 2014, a few of us who are academics committed to transformation in higher education in South Africa were present when Mrs Graça Machel addressed postgraduates at the graduation ceremony for the Faculties of Law and Health Sciences. Others watched the address later online. We were heartened by the recognition of the work that the University of Cape Town, through its staff, performs daily to nurture, teach, and learn with students. We agree that the struggle for transformation in which the Chancellor, many of us, and others still participate has won considerable gains. And yes, twenty years into this hard-won democracy, we have made considerable strides.

UCT Chancellor Graça Machel at the 16 December 2014 graduation ceremony for the Faculties of Law and Health Sciences.

However, as a group of concerned black academics at UCT, and as we take stock of where our university is at the start of 2015, we feel it necessary to challenge one aspect of the Chancellor's speech – namely, that the composition of the student body is more important than the composition of the academic staff. It is our understanding that the Chancellor would have been informed of the current discussions around staff transformation at the university; consequently, we are disheartened by the statement that she made. On 5 February 2015 we sent a letter to Mrs Machel to raise our concerns directly with her, to which we have received no response.

The Chancellor is correct to point out that diversifying the demography of our students is vital to transformation, but we cannot agree that the composition of the student body is more important than the composition of the academic staff. We lack both a diverse student cohort AND a diverse academic cohort – equally significant aspects of the many-headed hydra that is thwarting transformation in South Africa, certainly in higher education. The argument that we are advancing in the debate about transformation – that more black academics are needed in all tiers of university life – does not presume that only certain academics can be transformational; however, we ask that the executive recognise that the lack of diversity in the academic staff complement has much to do with institutional racism, cronyism, and the need for new discourses and practices that can take these into account.

Many of the black students the Chancellor addressed – brilliant, and brimming with potential – though celebrated as students, are often denied access to academic careers. Code words and phrases such as 'potential', 'not yet ready', and 'not UCT material' often make their path from promising black postgraduate to academic colleague an obstacle course, haemorrhaging them out of the PhD-to-professor pipeline. The Chancellor's address was a missed opportunity to invite them back to remake this relationship between those who have been traditionally understood to be the 'recipients' of knowledge and those who are the 'producers' of knowledge. If we continue to close our eyes to this, the South Africa that the Chancellor asks us to envision twenty years hence may maintain the same contrast that we witnessed that day: a growing number of black postgraduates, and little change among the majority of white experts on the stage.

Under-representation of black people among the academic staff, particularly in the professoriate, is a central hindrance to transformation at UCT. It limits access to the Senate and other centres of power at the university, which goes against the founding values of building inclusive and diverse institutions in our country. It also has ramifications, both in terms of the knowledge projects that are made possible and in terms of students' academic achievement and aspirations. Indeed, a transformed university is one in which scholarship actively includes our knowledge and experiences as black people.

As we begin 2015, the turbulent times that the Chancellor refers to are certainly still upon us, and have consequences beyond the classrooms and lecture halls. We await the fate of at least one UCT student who may have been involved in a violent, race-based attack on a 'coloured' cleaner. We know of a black taxi driver who was urinated on by another one of our students. Both students were white. We believe that what happens in classrooms and lecture theatres – 'who teaches' and 'what is taught', as well as to whom – is vital to building a healthy, diverse university and city for all who participate in it.

The signatories of this letter are all academics from different departments and faculties at UCT and part of TransformUCT, a grouping of black academics at UCT:

Shose Kessi, Mbongiseni Buthelezi, Shadreck Chirikure, Horman Chitonge, Berni Searle, Victoria Collis-Buthelezi, Floretta Boonzaier, Lungisile Ntsebeza, Harsha Kathard, Zethu Matebeni, Kevin Thomas, Jay Pather, Adam Haupt, Imraan Coovadia, Maanda Mulaudzi, Collet Dandara, Meryl du Plessis, Roshan Galvaan, Harry Garuba, Shamil Jeppie, Daniel Munene, Elelwani Ramugondo, Rael Salley, Xolela Mangcu.

New and creative ways are needed to engage students and build a climate of trust before transformation can be discussed and debated on campus.

This sentiment was expressed after the first in a series of transformation seminars stalled yesterday afternoon (16 March) following a student walkout led by Students' Representative Council president Ramabina Mahapa.

UCT SRC president Ramabina Mahapa addresses the audience before leading a student walkout at the "Heritage, signage and symbolism" seminar on 16 March. The seminar was to have been the first of series of discussions about transformation-related issues. Seated are (l-r) Assoc Prof Nick Shepard (African Studies and Archaeology), UCT Council member Alderman Owen Kinahan and spatial historian Sally Titlestad.

The topic of the first seminar, "Heritage, signage and symbolism", had been intended to foster vital debate on how UCT manages transformation, said deputy vice-chancellor Professor Crain Soudien, who was leading proceedings.

A group of panelists, including heritage management consultant and spatial historian Sally Titlestad and Alderman Owen Kinahan, had been invited to participate in the discussions.

Heritage has been at the centre of protest on campus during the past two weeks and has been directed at the statue of Cecil John Rhodes on upper campus. The statue, with its Eurocentric and colonial overtones, has become a focal point for many students of all that remains untransformed at UCT.

The new series of transformation discussions was to have continued throughout the year, each focusing on a single issue in a discussion led by invited speakers and engaging with members of the campus community.

"UCT is not alone in dealing with these problems," said Soudien. "The seminars were intended to identify ways we [UCT] might move forward."

Left with an option to continue with the seminar, Soudien put the choice to the remaining assembly of panelists, students and staff. It was concluded that the debate should not continue without representation from students involved in the protest.

"We have to create a space to restore trust," observed one attendee.

Watch the full video

Story by Helen Swingler. Photo by Michael Hammond.

A desire to work with government and other stakeholders to collaboratively improve the status quo was the main thrust of the recent three-day civil society led summit on sexual offences, held in a community centre in Delft.

Organised by the Gender Health and Justice Research Unit (GHJRU), and the University of the Western Cape's Centre for Disability Law and Policy, this community based dialogue attracted over 150 participants each day. Based in UCT's Faculty of Health Sciences, the GHJRU promotes evidence-based advocacy for legal, policy and programmatic reform.

Prof Lillian Artz, director of UCT's Gender Health and Justice Research Unit, addresses participants at the three-day summit on sexual offences held in Delft recently.

Speakers and participants provided written and oral submissions on a number of issues, including legal accountability, the review of sexual offences case law, budgeting for the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act, parliamentary oversight of state departments rendering services to victims, sexual violence in schools, and medico-legal and clinical responses to rape.

The extent and impact of sexual offences against prisoners, people with disabilities, children, refugees, asylum seekers and the LGBTI community also came under the spotlight.

"The consistently high numbers of participants and the constructive level of dialogue between community members, NGOs and government representatives during the summit was unexpected and truly remarkable," said GHJRU director, Professor Lillian Artz.

"We had hoped to develop a process that recognises civil society as both transformative and relevant to the process of ensuring access to justice for rape survivors. Given the deep level of community/state engagement, not to mention the pragmatic approach to law reform and improved service delivery submitted by the speakers and community members, I believe we achieved our objective," she said.

Government accountability

Artz added that the aim was to promote accountability in government, particularly where it has committed itself, through law, to ensuring fair, equitable and speedy access to justice for victims of rape and other sexual offences.

Community members, NGOs, representatives from the state criminal justice system, social development and health departments as well as researchers, experts and practitioners in the field of sexual offences were well-represented.

GHJRU senior researcher and summit co-ordinator, Hayley Galgut, said that it provided a much-needed space for constructive dialogue and reflection.

"It also highlighted the local community's poignant sense of alienation in relation to policy and resource allocation decisions, which directly affect their lives, as well as their desire to be heard and to work collaboratively with government and other relevant stakeholders to improve the status quo."

One community member thanked the organisers for not bussing participants into town to a "five- star hotel away from our families and commitments".

"You brought the debate here and gave us the opportunity to speak on our own terms, right in the centre of our own community, where it happens."

Director of UCT's Safety and Violence Initiative, Guy Lamb, agreed.

"The GHJRU needs to be commended for taking socially responsive scholarship to the next level by holding the event in an epicentre of sexual violence and presenting knowledge and analysis [of sexual offences] in a respectful and empowering manner," Lamb said.

A report on the written and oral submissions by speakers and participants at the summit will be published. The GHJRU will disseminate the findings to relevant government departments and parliamentary committees as well as to national human rights institutions and oversight bodies.

Interest in the summit's methodology and outcomes has also been expressed by the GHJRU's regional partners in Central and East Africa.

Hydrogen fuel cells, a fire detector for informal settlements and computational fluid dynamic software, all developed at UCT, generated much interest from potential investors and commercial partners at the Department of Science and Technology's (DST) recent expo.

Dr Andrew Bailey and Dr Revel Iyer of the RCIPS team with the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, and the DG of Science and Technology, Dr Phil Mwjara. The UCT stand stood out, with a simulated shack, highlighting where the Lumkani fire detector is making an impact.

The three innovations were showcased by UCT's Research Contracts and Intellectual Property Services (RCIPS) at the DST's inaugural Innovation Bridge Technology Showcase and Matchmaking, held in Pretoria.

The expo gives national and international technology-based companies, technology development partners, entrepreneurs, investors and financiers first-hand insights into the country's premier publicly funded technologies. These are aligned to the DST's goal of supporting South African technologies that have a social impact.

Working with local manufacturing partners, HyCat hydrogen fuel cells are positioned to develop a local fuel cell supply chain in South Africa for the global market.

Two wins for UCT

The Elemental CFD software is an 'all-South African' computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code that allows for the rapid development of complex multi-physics devices and represents lucrative opportunities for industry.

The Lumkani fire detector offers an affordable and easily implementable solution to reducing the risk and impact of fires in dense informal settlements.

The detector bagged two wins for UCT: for the best pitch (by UCT mechatronics graduate Paul Mesarcik), and the innovation most likely to have an impact on inclusive development. Lumkani's pitch was well attended, mirroring interest in the innovation.

The first of its kind, the event was an opportunity for private meetings with representatives from Eskom, Anglo, Engen and Alan Gray, as well as NGOs, government and science councils.

RCIPS used the opportunity to launch Innovation Opportunities, a publication that profiles other technologies UCT wants to develop, but still needs commercial partners to bring these to fruition.

Some technologies are still in the early stage of development; others offer mature licensing opportunities, where a commercial partner is needed to realise the innovation.

In addition, there are incubated virtual companies and new ventures that have already made their products available commercially.

The Academics Union Executive met on Tuesday 17 March to discuss the #rhodesmustfall campaign. As the Executive, we support the substance of the campaign. We appreciate the expressions of alienation articulated by student representatives and recognise the importance of the sentiments that have motivated the campaign and the wider issue. However, as academics, we also believe that contentious and emotive issues are best dealt with through reasoned debate and argument and that due process should be respected as we consider what should be done with the statue.

Urgent campus-wide discussions, that seek to secure the broadest possible consensus among all stakeholders, are required to set out a clear roadmap for the process of transforming the physical environment of the university including the symbolism of objects and the names of buildings. We need a serious engagement about 'heritage that hurts'. The question of what should be done with the plinth, should the statue be removed, should also form part of those discussions. The AU Executive calls for, and wishes to be a party to, a clearly-defined process, which must set urgent but realistic time frames for its resolution. Inconclusive talkshops and seminars are not the solution. As part of trying to reach consensus, the AU Executive will seek to meet student and other groupings that are supportive of the campaign in the coming days.

This will take time. External parties – including for example, the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) – may have to be consulted prior to any final decision, and it is imperative that all legally mandated procedures are followed. To this end, we support the timeframe and process proposed today by the Vice-Chancellor, and call on our members to participate in the online and public fora over the coming days.

While important in its own right, we also recognise that the campaign around the statue (and its symbolism) raises much broader and more difficult questions about institutional transformation at UCT. We share the view that this has been painfully slow. In this regard, redoubled efforts are required to address all vestiges of an institutional culture that perpetuates existing iniquities and imbalances, or that marginalises members of the university community. We should not lose sight that this must be our end goal. We recognize that the student profile has changed and a new set of cultural norms and historical values are prevalent. The administration accordingly needs to review its priorities to take account of our increasingly diverse student and staff cohort.

The AU's members have positive and meaningful contributions to make to the discussions on both the immediate matter, as well as the broader question of institutional transformation. In the coming week, the Union Executive will call a meeting of its members to debate the matter further, and to secure a mandate for further engagement on the issue.

Issued on behalf of the Academics Union Executive Committee

Tom Moultrie (President)
18 March 2015

 

Photo by Danie van der Merwe, via Wikimedia Commons

The statue of Cecil John Rhodes overlooking the UCT rugby fields must go, say students. UCT's Student Representative Council (SRC) is planning various protest action unless a date is set for its removal.

Political science student Chumisa Maxwele addresses students attending last week's transformation debate following his public protest action at the Rhodes statue.

In the latest development the SRC is planning a march to Bremner building to ask for the date of the statue's removal. Should no date be given to them the student body will resort to an "indefinite occupation of Bremner and the withdrawal of SRC participation in university committees".

The announcement of these plans follows a student debate at Jammie Plaza on Thursday 12 March around the topics of structural racism and white privilege at UCT. The debate ended with students chanting "we want a date".

The chant was started by Chumani Maxwele, a political science student, who last Monday (9 March) threw human faeces at the statue in protest to the perceived lack of racial transformation at the university.

According to Kgotsi Chikane, one of the student organisers, the debate was not an opportunity for students to vent. "This space has been created so that we can come up with ideas. When you take this mic you're not just venting your frustrations, you're sharing a tangible way for us to go forward."

Assoc Prof Xolela Mangcu put his weight behind students' call for the removal of the Rhodes statue.

Another speaker Assoc Prof Xolela Mangcu from the Department of Sociology felt that as a member of the staff, it was important for him to stand in solidarity with the students: "Too many times the issues raised here have completely been disregarded. I hope that this gathering will be the energy not just behind the removal of the Rhodes statue, but the transformation of this institution for its own good."

He called for the university not to view the issue of symbols in isolation, but to see it "tied to staff transformation and curriculum [change]" among other things.

In his speech, Maxwele thanked Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price for "igniting a spirit of activism" in students. He recalled a debate organised by humanities dean Prof Sakhela Buhlungu in October last year, where Price spoke of the statue in relation to the Eurocentricity prevalent at the university. "Interestingly also was Dr Price's observation that black people at UCT feel uncomfortable," he added.

Many black students participating in the debate referred to this discomfort, which they said became particularly acute when walking past the statue. One of the alternatives debated was to move the statue from upper campus to a less prominent place on campus. Another student suggested that all "apartheid paraphernalia" on campus be rounded up and put together in a space where it can be "critically engaged with" on a regular basis.

The comments and suggestions gathered from the debate will be put together in a document and handed to Council, said Chikane.

Story by Abigail Calata. Photos by Michael Hammond.

Chevening scholar and UCT fine arts alumnus Wandile Goozen Kasibe comments on the Rhodes debate:

Edward Said once observed that, "appeals to the past are among the commonest of strategies in interpretations of the present. What animates such appeals is not only disagreement about what happened in the past and what the past was, but uncertainty about whether the past is really past". It is this sense of not so 'pastness' of the past, its controversial legacies, that have come to haunt the University of Cape Town (UCT). Colonialism's deadly agenda of dispossession, dehumanisation and denial of rights live on its 'elephant in the room', the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, an ardent believer in colonialism. This has been called out by students who view the statue as a disturbing feature and a glaring reminder of African black people's genocide whom Rhodes had killed mercilessly in his lifetime. Renewed student protests have called for the dethroning of the statue of Rhodes from the centre of UCT's public space.

Rhodes spent his lifetime sustaining the institutionality of the British colonial empire, a racist bigot who in 1887 told the House of Assembly in Cape Town that "the native is to be treated as a child and denied the franchise. We must adopt a system of despotism in our relations with the barbarians of South Africa".

It is this belittling denial of Africans' right to life and human liberties that Rhodes stood for; he privileged colonists' interests and championed the intergenerational transfer of wealth, sustained over centuries. Therefore the image of Rhodes invokes the intergenerational agony that black African people have endured for centuries, and represents the toxic collusion between the institution and the broader colonial project whose legacy still exists today.

He was a capitalist and colonialist par excellence, whose socio-political and economic dealings led to forced removals and genocidal acts against indigenous and native peoples in Southern Africa. Rhodes hunted down and killed those who dared stand in his way as he usurped Zimbabwe land by land as his own property in racist 'land grabs', terrorising local people with scores of lynchings – now recognised as acts of genocide, thus supporting the colonial agenda to take by force land and resources that belonged to African people.

When Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in 1890 he "implemented laws that would benefit mine and industry owners", thus pushed black people from their lands to make way for industrial development. This was a precursor to the devastating Land Act of 1913. Rhodes had reduced black people as a race to units of production for exploitative profit. It is this glaring painful legacy that Rhodes invokes, which led to the cataclysm of 20 June 20 1913, when the "South African native found himself [herself] not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth" as Sol Plaatje accounts in his classic account, "Native Life in South Africa".

Rhodes may represent heroism to those who have benefited from his unethically stolen inheritance, but to the majority of black people, he is a national shame not a national hero. His wealth was acquired through the sweat and dehumanisation of our people, and black students and academics who have received or receiving Rhodes scholarships should not be ashamed to receive those scholarships, because that is the money that was acquired at the expense of their forebears. And in fact it is their money. When Rhodes arrived in Southern Africa he had nothing and all that he had acquired was as an outcome of black people's exploitation. So black people don't owe Rhodes anything.

The disturbing irony, however, is the realisation that the statue of Rhodes, fixing his gaze out over the rugby fields of UCT, still stands tall, symbolising whiteness, its comfort, wealth and control of means of economic, cultural and academic production right at the 'heart' of UCT's upper campus. Students who walk into campus are reminded every day of this ancestor, whose deadly racist ethos has injected itself into the institutional 'DNA' and 'heartbeat' of UCT, thus its continued refusal to transform and to be transformed. Why must students be subjected to continued psychological colonialism in an institution that claims to embrace transformation and it's decolonial agenda? How can UCT hold on to Rhodes' statue as a reminder of black people's collective genocide, and yet wish to be seen to be pushing for transformation? There is no middle ground here, it's either the statue comes down to be relocated to Rhodes Cottage in Muizenberg, or UCT risks being revealed as the last fortress of academic colonialism and racism that continues to privilege white power at the expense of human progress and the country's constitutional demand.

Chumani Maxwele and his fellow students have remembered the words of the African philosopher, Frantz Fanon who once said, "Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it" and that "what matters most is not to know the world but to change it".

Through his institutional critique, Maxwele has opened our eyes to see the unseeable, echoed the silenced voices of the marginals to reason towards dismantling the monolithic statue of institutional racism as embedded in the fibre of institutions of higher learning such as UCT, Rhodes University and others. He has united students around a common cause: for progressive students the call "Rhodes Must Fall!" or "Down Rhodes Down!" will become part of their daily vocabulary as they redefine the mission in their generation. Although you may disagree with his strategy, there is no disagreement that Maxwele has made visible the legacy of Rhodes, dramatically showing the filth of inhumanity with which Cecil John Rhodes treated our ancestors.

At a psychological level Maxwele has managed to re-ignite debate, thus reminding the institution of the fact that one cannot claim to be on one hand interested in issues of transformation and on the other celebrate symbols that undermine the very rationalisation of that transformation. At a symbolic level this is a very powerful gesture, as it attempts to critique the psychological effects of these colonial references in public spaces that are meant to produce future leaders. His intervention cannot be seen in isolation from the many attempts by black scholars who have continuously questioned the seemingly untransforming culture of UCT: starting from a council that remains mainly white, lack of black South African academics, lack of full-time black South African women professors, and a curriculum that fails to align itself with the African agenda with its bias towards the Global North. The time has come for UCT to 'decolonise' itself, if it is to respond to the evolving challenges of our time.

To those who do not see value in students' demand to have the statue of Rhodes pulled down, they should be reasoned with patience and courtesy so as to see the unseeable, to imagine the unimaginable in order to avoid being seen to be standing in the way of young people whose time to define their mission has come. In what they (students) have identified to be an intergenerational cause: an inherent struggle of generations past, present and future, they call for collective reasoning and action on matters of historical justice.

Don't fight with us; join us in our efforts to transform UCT into becoming the university of the 21st century, built on values of the Freedom Charter and the Constitution of this country, students appeal. No matter how small their blow to colonialism and institutional racism may seem, the effect of its collective performativity will, however, linger for a long, long time. It shall echo through the institution's boardrooms, staff and council meetings, thus reminding us and the powers that be of the filth and disgust with which Rhodes treated black people.

In what seems to be a tough road ahead, Martin Luther King Jr reminds students that, we "must learn to live together as brothers [and sisters], or we are going to perish together as fools ... alone, be yourself enough to stand apart, but be wise enough to stand together when the time comes".

By Wandile Goozen Kasibe

Results for the final board exam for prospective new chartered accountants in South Africa show that students who completed the UCT College of Accounting Board Course APC Professional Programme did better than students who participated in other programmes.

Top notch: Celebrating the exemplary accountancy results are head of the College, Prof Mark Graham; CEO of GetSmarter (and commerce alumnus) Sam Paddock; and Dean of Commerce, Prof Don Ross.

Of the 467 UCT Board Course students (including students from all universities), 94% passed the APC exam; 8% higher than the national average.

"We are celebrating with our students," said Paul Maughan, senior lecturer at the college. "These results show what the hard work of students and the tireless efforts of the team of lecturers and markers can achieve."

College head Professor Mark Graham agreed. "We structured our programme according to the new South African Institute of Chartered Accountants requirements to ensure that students were presented with the best possible learning environment and personal support."

Blended learning triumph

He said the results were also a victory for blended learning and the interactive educational approach that the COA had adopted. It was the first time that UCT offered its APC Professional Programme, which combines online lessons and special contact sessions, in association with online education pioneers GetSmarter.

This means that students from all over the country can participate – and even those on secondment in countries like the UK and Australia.

"In a way, these results are a coming-of-age for online education and the blended learning methods," said Graham. "They show that more flexible and innovative teaching methods are extremely effective in specialised academic fields and can reduce drop-out rates significantly."

He said that the new APC exam ensures that future chartered accountants are prepared and able to apply the strategic and managerial aspects of the broader accountancy discipline – and able to integrate and apply their knowledge and skills as fully rounded professionals.

While students writing the previous PPE or Financial Management Part II Board Exam did so on one day, students in the new APC got a case study in a limited format five days before the written test. Students then had five days to gather information and prepare themselves for the final examination involving the case study.

All in a day's work

The examination replicated an eight-hour working day and students were asked to complete assignments as if they were working in an office, using the same materials and competencies required in a work setting.

"This kind of examination tests particular skills and focuses on insight and practical application," said Maughan. "It's is not about attaining a certain mark but about proving an appropriate level of professional competence."

"To become a CA (SA) is an outstanding achievement and passing this kind of rigorous exam means students are really ready for the professional working environment."

Nine former presidents of the Student Representative Council (SRC) support the widespread call for the immediate removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes situated on UCT's upper campus. Their letter follows below:

An open letter to Chancellor Machel, the Chairperson of Council, the Vice-Chancellor, and members of Council:

We, nine former presidents of the Student Representative Council (SRC), support the widespread call for the immediate removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes situated on the university's upper campus.

We wish to remind the university that this debate is not new. Recent events only serve to confirm that UCT can no longer justify defending the statue's existence, nor can it ignore its political significance. We also believe that this is a poignant opportunity for the university to reaffirm its own stated aim of "making UCT a place that is 'owned' by all its staff and students, and by the community".

We reject as revisionist the idea that removing the statue would 'erase' Rhodes from the university's history. Instead, it would simply end the unreflective public glorification of Rhodes at the expense of the legitimate feelings of those the statue offends on a daily basis.

We also reject as ahistorical the idea that UCT 'owes' anything to Rhodes, since the land that he purportedly 'donated' was not his to 'give' in the first place. Further, Rhodes' vision of a university built exclusively for white males could not be further from UCT's supposed aspiration today. Such a vision is also at odds with the Constitution; a Constitution born out of the collective struggles of many, black and white.

As an important educational institution, UCT has a duty to play a meaningful role in our country's process of collective healing. In this respect, the university has a particular responsibility to listen to the voices of those against whom – with the help of Rhodes – it systematically discriminated for decades.

The university has not made sufficient progress in transforming since we were student leaders. We acknowledge that addressing the full legacy of centuries of racial bigotry will take time, and that removing the statue is not a panacea. Still, we believe the statue's removal presents an opportunity for progress, and we see no reason not to take it. This should not detract from the other dimensions of transformation to which the university is committed.

As former presidents of the SRC, we urge you to act with the necessary haste in addressing this issue.

Sincerely,

Jerome September, SRC President 1999
Nqobizitha Mlilo, SRC President 2005
Andiswa Magadla, SRC President 2006
Zukiswa Mqolomba, SRC President 2007
Thulani Madinginye, SRC President 2008
Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, SRC President 2010
Insaaf Isaacs, SRC President 2012
Lorne Hallendorff, SRC President 2013
Nommangaliso Gondwe, SRC President 2014