Lwazi Cedrick Ngcungama (29) from Gcilima, is a self-taught graphic designer who focuses on sports design.
He went to Phathwa High School and is currently in Johannesburg seeking greener pastures.

Lwazi said he’s been designing football jerseys for years and posting them on social media. Recently the South African Football Association (SAFA) and its jersey technical sponsor, Lecoq Sportif created a rare opportunity for members of the public to design a jersey for South Africa’s national teams.

“The winning jersey will be first used for the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 to be held in Australia next July. Currently I’m a top five finalist in the competition.”

He is asking South Coasters to vote for him, the voting will close on November 8.

To vote, go to lecoqsportif.co.za, click on sports, then on voting now open, choose design 3 and fill in the form and submit. Or you can use the voting link: http://bit.ly/3DztZZF

“I am the only one from the KZN South Coast left in the competition, I would appreciate every vote so I can bring this one home and achieve one of my ultimate dreams, to design a jersey for our national team that will be worn by all South Africans.”

Earlier this year he designed golf day shirts for the 1996 Bafana Bafana Legends.

STAFF REPORTER

PHUTI MOSOMANE

SOUTH African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) says the Department of Basic Education must make available psychosocial support to learners writing the examinations.

The continued power cuts have caused a wave of anxiety and unnecessary stress for dozens of learners writing their matric exams.

“The issue for us is that load shedding impacts learners’ emotional and mental health. We would like the department to appreciate that and step up to offer psychosocial support to mitigate Eskom problems,” SADTU General Secretary Mugwena Maluleke said.

Maluleke said it is unacceptable for the department to want learners who missed a particular paper to only get a chance next year.

He said contingency papers should be used this year so that learners can receive their results come January 9th, 2023.

“Each and every paper has a contingency paper. This is the flexibility we are looking for from the department.”

“Learners who were not able to write exams because of protest actions should be afforded an opportunity this year to write. Learners will be traumatized if they have to wait for May next year. It’s not their fault,” he added.

No leaked matric papers so far

“We have not seen any reports. We hope it remains the same way, we have requested parents to sign commitment agreements to work with us to ensure exams are clean. Learners have signed the pledges.”

“All delays were sorted out without delays. If there is loadshedding, there is likely going to be delay,” said Department of Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga.

Maluleke says there are areas where the union is in agreement with the Department of Basic Education, especially on calling on those embarking on protest actions to allow for smooth running of the examinations.

“In 2020/21 these Grade 10 learners today in Grade 12 were attending a rotational timetable. For schools with less equipped resources, learners were attending once or twice a week, we can’t say that’s enough but we need to give thanks to teachers.”

“We thank the teachers for sacrificing their time and families in making sure that afternoon and evening classes are there, Maluleka said.

The basic education department’s director-general, Mathanzima Mweli, hosted a session on the progress of the exams during a media briefing.

In Gauteng, 53 learners couldn’t write Economics paper 1 on Tuesday from Etwatwa in Ekurhuleni due to protests.

“We’ve also picked up that there are some parents, and some schools that denied learners from writing exams because some of them fell pregnant and some of them had not paid school fees. Again, this is unlawful.”

“Our policies are very clear on these matters. The issue of school fees should be dealt with by parents or guardians. No learner should be prevented from writing exams because of having not paid school fees,” Mweli said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

UNSAFE infrastructure at schools is not only holding back the potential of tomorrows leaders, the crisis is a violation of learner’s right to dignity, equality, a safe environment and basic education.

According to a National Education Infrastructure Management System (NIEMS) report published in 2021, 69% of ordinary public school do not have basic libraries and close to 80% do not have laboratories. What is even more shocking, and dangerous, is that out of 23 276 ordinary schools, more than 12 000 still have unlawful pit toilets, more than 5 000 do not have a reliable water supply, and over 3 500 do not have reliable electricity. Our country is facing an infrastructure crisis, and those most vulnerable are on the front lines – some have even lost their lives due to collapse of buildings and unsafe sanitation.

With an average of 65 students per classroom, teachers are overwhelmed, overworked and schools can’t provide the most basic facilities. But there is help.

Founded in 2020, the FEST Foundation is a project-based non-profit company providing education-based solutions to public schools across South Africa’s impoverished communities. Their solutions will be able to create sustainable change to students and educators, and to alleviate the problems associated with poor educational infrastructure and limited support.

“27 years after the end of Apartheid, little has changed for impoverished communities in South Africa when it comes to education and infrastructure”, says FEST Founder Anwar-Yasser Rassool. “Having to attend schools with poor infrastructure is not only degrading to students, but also severely limits their chances of receiving the essential education needed to unlock their future potential. With the right funding, we can change the reality for thousands of children. Our sustainable model continues to grow impoverished schools long after we complete the project. We need to bring the future of education to our schools – and we need to start doing it today.”

The FEST Foundation is committed to creating better learning environments through its innovative approach to leveraging technology with innovation in ICT technology and sustainable building practices. Instead of operating per school, FEST operates within communities and works on both primary and secondary schools to ensure that students benefit from a technological advantage from start to finish.

“Our approach means that FEST can intervene at critical education points and provide strategies for these points that will assist teachers and students in technological training and syllabus utilisation”, continues Rassool. His out-of-the-box “new generation” thinking has allowed him to shed a new and innovative light on problems the education sector has faced for years.

The foundation is currently planning an infrastructure upgrade at Masakhane Tswalepele School that will address and establish a development network for services, buildings and landscape in order of necessity as funds become available. A maintenance programme that involves students, staff and the community will then be implemented to ensure sustainable upkeep of the school and programme.

FEST utilises strategic partnerships to assist in the development and implementation of the projects, and funding is critical to truly shift circumstances. “The meaningful gain we are able to empower communities with when doing these programmes is priceless. Every child deserves a safe and functional space where they can thrive. Yes the task is mammoth because there are so many schools in need, but the solution is simple. Just start. Start with one school – one project. Investment from funders have the power to start a revolution. Let’s change tomorrow by starting today”, he concludes.

Public and private partnerships are critically needed to save the future workforce of South Africa – if you would like to get involved as a partner or donor, or would like more information on current projects, visit the Fest Foundation today.

iAfrica.com

A study conducted by a professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT) shows alarming vaping trends among matriculants of affluent schools in South Africa, with the expert calling for the speedy implementation of vaping regulations.

The research, conducted by Professor Richard van Zyl-Smit at UCT, studied the vaping habits of over 5,500 high school students from several high-income schools.

High-income schools were selected taking into consideration that vaping products are expensive and, therefore, students at these schools would be more inclined to own such a device.

The study revealed very concerning numbers, finding that more than one in four matric learners are vaping.

Additionally, three out of 10 respondents said they use their electronic smoking device within an hour of waking, and nearly a quarter cannot get through a school day without vaping.

“These schools were chosen as a good starting point as they are the most likely to have high levels of vaping, but we didn’t expect it to be this high, and it’s very worrying,” said Van Zyl-Smit.

Van Zyl-Smit added that while the South African demographic health survey, released in 2016, showed that 2.5% of adolescents were vaping, this most recent study showed exceptionally higher figures than that.

“In some matric classes, we see as much as 30% of the total year group are vaping,” he said.

He also noted that the nicotine levels within the vaping liquids the students are inhaling are exceptionally high, and because of the pleasant flavours vapes offer, learners are exposing themselves to higher nicotine levels than what they would be if they were to smoke the odd cigarette.

Of the 5,500 students involved in the study, the majority said that they vape to deal with stress and anxiety, with very few participants pointing to social pressures as the reason for taking up the habit.

Van Zyl-Smit said that the study overall is very alarming and that schools need to pay more attention to vaping awareness and must clamp down harder on what seems to be an epidemic.

He also noted a significant concern around the habit is the discussion around the safety of vaping – especially when comparing them to traditional cigarettes.

He added that while there is evidence to argue both sides of the contentious debate, it’s one that shouldn’t even be considered in a high school environment, saying that the real discussion should be focused on nicotine and its effects on the adolescent brain.

“Whether vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes is not a debate that should be happening at school levels, and it’s irrelevant. The actual concern should be around exposure to nicotine. Adolescent brains have synaptic plasticity [that’s why teenagers learn new tasks much quicker than adults], and nicotine can interfere with that, hindering their learning development,” said Van Zyl-Smit.

Van Zyl-Smit called for the government to fast-track the implementation of regulations surrounding the vaping industry, as there are no guidelines or regulations for vaping production in South Africa.

The government has noted that vaping is a very grey area, and it has tabled a bill to regulate the sector.

Chief director for health promotion at the Department of Health, Dr Lynn Moeng-Mahlangu, said that the bill, when enacted, will be an ‘enabler’ for stricter smoking regulations in South Africa, with a particular focus on ‘new generation’ smokers.

She also flagged a growing concern over vaping among the youth. While she said the government wants to address this before the country ends up like many other countries where, in some cases, as many as 27% of young people are hooked on vaping, it may seem that we’re already at this point.

Van Zyl-Smit reiterated that any form of regulation is urgently needed and is appealing to the government to conduct up-to-date research on the vaping epidemic to help push through any relevant bill that will help address the issue.

BUSNESS TECH

WENDY MOTHATA|

THE Department of Basic Education says that service delivery protests, rolling blackouts and weather conditions are some of the challenges that are faced by the matric class 2022.

DBE director-general, Mathanzima Mweli briefed the media on the progress of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams on Sunday.

According to the department, 119 centers were affected by Eskom’s rolling blackouts.

Mweli said that service delivery protests were also becoming a big threat to Grade 12 learners writing exams.

He said that 53 leaners in Gauteng have missed the exams due to service delivery protest.

“Fifty-three learners in Gauteng could not write their exams simply because of service delivery protests. The learners were involved in an area where there were even shooting incidents,” said Mweli.

In Mngungundlovu in KwaZulu-Natal, police had to be called to escort education officials to the examination centres due to a service delivery protest. While in Etwatwa on the East Rand, some learners could not sit for their exams last Monday.
There were also reported disruptions in parts of the Northern Cape, where writing eventually took place.

Mweli appealed that learners should not be prevented to write their exams.

“We want to make an appeal that learners shouldn’t be prevented from writing exams for any reason whatsoever,” he said.

“We want to make an appeal that learners shouldn’t be prevented from writing exams for any reason whatsoever.”

Meanwhile, Chief Director for Exams at the Basic Education Department, Rufus Poliah, said a total of 199 centres have been affected by the rolling blackouts since the start of the exams, affecting almost 4000 learners.

“In total, the number of learners that were impacted in some way by load shedding was 3956 but as we mentioned last week, only 14 learners are coming from Computer Applications Technology that has to rewrite the paper. And that was because of load shedding when they switched to a generator resulted in the power surge and that damaged the computers that they were using.”

Poliah also reminded learners about the penalties of cheating in the exam room.

“If you are caught in possession of an examination question paper, are too ghastly to contemplate. It is going to ruin your entire future as a student. So, do not even attempt to venture into that direction.”

“To our parents and members of the public, we are dependent on you to be our eyes and ears wherever you are. If you have any information that may appear suspicious, remember our hotline number: 069 335 2818 and I promise we will respond.”

According to Basic Education Department, schools that have refused to let students sit for their matriculation exams because of things like not paying school fees or being pregnant may face consequences.

“This is unlawful. Our policies are very clear on these matters. The issue of school fees should be dealt with by parents or guardians and no learner should be prevented from writing exams because of not paying school fees,” said Mweli.

“Payment of school fees is an issue between the parent and the school. No learner should be prevented from writing an examination because of non-payment of school fees.”

INSIDE EDUCATION

Will artificial intelligence mean the end of doctors? AI is merely a useful intelligent tool, just like magnetic resonance imaging. AI will not replace radiologists; instead, it is spawning a new discipline that requires the understanding of both medicine and technology.

In his book Deep Medicine, Eric Topol writes: “Eventually, doctors will adopt artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms as their work partners. This levelling of the medical knowledge landscape will ultimately lead to a new premium: to find and train doctors who have the highest level of emotional intelligence.”

Recently, a cohort from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) went on an exploratory partnership trip to the US. Intriguingly, Topol’s words spoke to the crux of the trip. For some time now, UJ has toyed with the idea of starting a medical school. Yet, we knew this offering had to differ vastly from other medical schools in South Africa.

I have long been an advocate of the use of digital technology in higher education. A few years ago, my colleague Bo Xing and I detailed the changes that higher education institutions needed to adapt to keep up with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). As Xing and I wrote, “Higher education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (HE 4.0) is a complex, dialectical and exciting opportunity which can potentially transform society for the better.”

We have certainly witnessed a hastening of this during the Covid-19 pandemic. Naturally, a new medical school would have to speak to this shift. The medical field is embracing AI with open arms, and so are medical schools.

Our 10-day US trip, covering Case Western University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Thomas Jefferson University, indicated that the injection of digital technology into the curriculum is quite remarkable. For instance, manikins that simulate medical conditions are used to ensure students have practical experience from the get-go. Elsewhere, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) provide a more holistic and immersive experience for students.

The University of Illinois even launched its first AI in medicine certificate programme for hospital workers last year, indicative of the shift towards reskilling that 4IR promotes. Another lesson was that rethinking the packaging of knowledge holds great promise. Much like the US, UJ intends to offer medicine to students who have completed a relevant undergraduate degree. As the proliferation of the 4IR has already demonstrated, a mix of stackable skills is key for the future of work.

Although these exciting shifts are accompanied by great fear and trepidation, we must adapt. As a university, we already encourage reskilling and upskilling to meet the demands of the 4IR. For example, doctors could benefit from courses in engineering to enable them to use AI technology.

Google clinical informatician and research scientist Martin Seneviratne asked at a conference in 2019 why, given the enormous amount of AI research, doctors are not currently understanding and using machine learning.

“Will AI mean the end of doctors? Most researchers couldn’t disagree more,” he said. He added that doctors who employ AI would replace doctors who do not use this technology.

AI is merely a useful intelligent tool, just like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). AI will not replace radiologists; instead, it is spawning a new discipline that requires the understanding of both medicine and technology.

A study by The Lancet Digital Health suggested that the diagnostic performance of deep-learning models is equivalent to that of healthcare professionals. In 2018, a custom-built AI machine designed to diagnose brain tumours and predict hematoma expansion scored 2:0 against its human competitors, comprising 15 senior doctors from China’s premier hospitals. In 2019, researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of California at San Francisco announced that they had created an algorithm that can detect brain haemorrhages with an accuracy higher than two out of four radiologists.

This week, Boston University School of Medicine researchers found that AI may be as accurate as clinicians in diagnosing dementia. In fact, the AI model surpassed clinicians at differentiating the type of dementia in patients who had been diagnosed.

This does not mean doctors are obsolete. Instead, AI takes over many of the time-consuming and tedious aspects of the profession while faster and earlier diagnoses give doctors scope for more patients. As Topol argues, AI’s significant opportunities include reducing errors and workloads, accurately diagnosing diseases such as cancers and fixing the precious and time-honoured connection and trust.

A 2019 study in the Annals of Family Medicine shows that primary care doctors spend, on average, two hours on administrative chores for every hour they spend in direct patient care. Physicians reported an average of between one and two hours of after-hours work per night, usually on administrative tasks. Then, of course, there are limitations to current AI technology which is focused on reading pictorial scans such as ultrasounds, X-rays and CT scans.

As The Lancet Digital Health puts it, “Scans are never interpreted on their own, they’re analysed alongside blood results, historical data, prescriptions from GPs and previous hospital admissions, referral letters, taking the patient’s history and then taking it again, what the nurse told you before they went on their lunch break, and any number of other sources of information.”

This, in part, also addresses concerns of a shortage of doctors, particularly in the public sector. For example, the increased speed and accuracy of cancer diagnostics through analytics that can characterise tumours and predict therapies has not replaced doctors, but rather, quickened their efforts and given them the space to attend to more patients.

New technology will decrease the cost of healthcare worldwide. Almost two-thirds of healthcare costs come from non-communicable diseases, like cancer and heart failure, which, if caught early, can be treated more effectively and for less cost.

Amid these shifts and in our quest towards the creation of our own medical school, there are two key lessons we must bear in mind.

First, in an ever-shifting context and with the proliferation of digital technology, we must adopt technology that adequately prepares our students for the future of work but also gives them a more well-rounded higher education experience. We already have extensive experience with technology and blended learning models that can be replicated and improved on.

Second, we have to emphasise the importance of partnerships.

The movement and enrolment of staff and students across higher education institutions in various parts of the world challenge perspectives and allow us to learn from each other. As the economist Ricardo Hausmann tells us, this is the key to skills-building and employment creation in the country. The future of medicine and education alike is rapidly changing in front of us. As the pandemic has demonstrated, this is an opportunity we must jump at in order to stay relevant, and as UJ’s tagline reminds us, we must constantly reimagine the future.

The views expressed in this article are that of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect that of the University of Johannesburg. This article first appeared on https://www.uj.ac.za/

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is one of the partners in a €40 million (approximately R718 million) three-year research project that aims to develop and improve next-generation catalysts that will play a large role in decarbonising the aviation sector by creating sustainable aviation fuels.

Professor Michael Claeys, the director of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Catalysis at UCT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, is the principal investigator of the UCT team that is partnering on the Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene (CARE-O-SENE) project, which is led by Sasol and Germany’s Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energy, HZB).

CARE-O-SENE is a German–South African research project which will see seven German and South African partners working together on fuel catalysis research and technology development. Their goal is to make large-scale production of green kerosene possible by 2025.

“The aim is to decarbonise the aviation sector and make it sustainable over the long term.”

“The CARE-O-SENE project is about making the future fuel for aviation,” Professor Claeys said. “The aim is to decarbonise the aviation sector and make it sustainable over the long term, by focusing our research efforts on the catalysts that are needed to produce green kerosene on a commercial scale. We are undergoing a huge change in our global energy systems, and every country has to play a role in that. If we can replace kerosene with a defossilised alternative, carbon dioxide emissions will be greatly reduced overall. If we are successful, this research will make it possible for the aviation industry to become carbon neutral.”

The project’s goal of producing sustainable aviation fuels more efficiently relies heavily on Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology, which is a way of converting synthesis gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide to hydrocarbon products. 

“While conventionally kerosene is made directly from oil or indirectly from coal or natural gas as fossil-starting materials, sustainable fuels can be made from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide from hard-to-abate industrial, biogenic or atmospheric sources. 

“Our catalysts speed up chemical reactions, making it possible to produce more fuel and improve the quality of the end product. I have worked closely with Sasol, the forerunner in industrial FT technology, for many years, and it is a privilege to work with them and our other international partners on this important project. The technology needed to develop sustainable fuels at large scale from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon sources is an area in which South Africa can become a world leader,” Claeys said.

Funding released in October

With the project’s funding being released in October, the group’s research can now get fully under way. Claeys’ team will ultimately comprise seven or eight people, including two professors, two postdoctoral fellows, two PhD students, and other researchers. The UCT team’s work will focus on finding ways of improving the catalysts being used.

“These catalysts have to be stable over a long period of time so that it makes sense to use them on a large scale. The UCT team studies them at working conditions; we run reactions over the catalysts and have developed tools that allow us to characterise how they change in the reaction environment. We want to understand how the catalyst functions so that we can optimise it and ultimately make it usable on an industrial scale.”

According to Claeys, the three-year timeline is unusual for a project of this scale which aims to commercialise a catalyst, but the team has vast experience and expertise on its side. “Luckily, Sasol is very heavily involved, and they already have a lot of catalysts they’ve developed. 

“So, our international consortium is building on this expertise. If we were starting from zero, this type of project would take 15 to 20 years.  Also, we have to act faster these days in order to make the energy transition a reality.”

Ramaphosa at launch

The CARE-O-SENE project was announced at a ceremony held at Sasol’s global headquarters in Johannesburg in May, with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in attendance. 

Speaking at the launch, President Ramaphosa highlighted the importance of green fuels for global sustainability, and for South Africa’s economic recovery.

“The Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene project focuses on the development of catalysts for green jet fuel.

“This is one of the several areas of cooperation between companies, universities, and government agencies on the technology that will in the end shape and reshape our economies,” Ramaphosa said. 

He added that the government had chosen the economic path of pursuing green hydrogen options “to further develop our economic development. 

This includes the opportunity to supply green hydrogen to the European Union, which is looking to import ten million tons a year by 2030 … The development of a green hydrogen economy is a national economic priority for us.”

Other CARE-O-SENE project partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and INERATEC GmbH, with €30 million in funding provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and a further €10 million by Sasol.

Claeys, who’s been working with and researching Fischer-Tropsch processes since doing his PhD thesis on the topic 25 years ago, said South Africa and Sasol are world leaders in the technology, and it is exciting to be part of a team and a project that could play a key role in creating a more sustainable world.

And although the timeline is tight, he thinks CARE-O-SENE is on track to change the world.

“I believe we ought to be able to do it in three years. We are building an excellent team here at UCT, and our partners are leaders in the areas of the work that they are tackling. It’s an honour to work with some of the best in industry and academia on such an important project,” Claeys said.

– SIERAAJ AHMED

This article was accessed from www.news.uct.ac.za.

The University of Limpopo’s (UL) Sesotho sa Leboa Lexicography Unit and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) have set aside R950 000 for a research project that will investigate and document 15 dialects spoken by various communities in Limpopo Province, in preserving and enriching the Sesotho sa Leboa language

The research project is led by the Sesotho sa Leboa National Lexicography Unit at UL, a subsidiary of PanSALB, and the project will run for the next 12 months.

Director of Lexicography Unit at UL, Motlokwe Mphahlele, stated that their research aims to source archaic and cultural words and domains in order to capture the meaning of those dialectical words in a General Monolingual Dictionary.

“This is a way of preserving both our dialects and the indigenous knowledge system that our dialects are rich in; some of those dialects will be reduced into writing for the first time,” Mphahlele explained.

The research project has already begun and will involve visits to various districts of Limpopo where various dialects of the Sesotho sa Leboa language are spoken by various communities.

Mphahlele noted that among the 15 dialects that will be documented are SeMamabolo, Setlokwa, Sepulana, Khelobedu, SeMoletji, Sekone, Sehananwa, Sekororo, Setebele-Sotho, and SeMatlala.

The unit has recruited thirteen (13) language interns to serve as project foot soldiers. Promise Themane, the project’s intern and researcher, stated that the opportunity will prepare her to be a researcher and language specialist.

“I am delighted to be a part of the incredible team putting together a Sesotho sa Leboa monolingual dictionary.  It is an honour and a privilege to be entrusted with the retention and preservation of the Northern Sotho language, particularly its dialects, as is the vision of PanSALB. I believe this work will provide me with experience and exposure in the field of research and lexicography,” Themane concluded.  

Thobelang!
Here’s a video from the Sesotho sa Leboa National Lexicography Unit, introducing the language and where it is spoken. We have a full range of dictionaries for Sesotho sa Leboa available for purchase now on our website: https://t.co/kqi3g3wRPB#SesothosaLeboa pic.twitter.com/Ed1JJcEkaR

— SA National Lexicography Units (@SALexiUnits) June 24, 2021

Reuben Maake

Canada’s House of Commons unanimously voted to approve a measure condemning the country’s notoriously abusive government-funded residential schools for indigenous children as a genocide on Thursday.

“Today I lift up survivors, families, and communities who have sacrificed so much in order for people across Canada to know the truth; that what happened in residential schools was a genocide,” Winnipeg Center MP Leah Gazan, who introduced the motion, said in a statement following the vote. She thanked her fellow lawmakers for “recognizing the truth of Canada’s history.” 

“I look forward to working with the government to ensure the will of parliament is honored by formally recognizing residential schools as a genocide,” she continued, adding that “survivors deserve no less.”

The motion states that the schools, which the Canadian government forced some 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children to attend between the 1870s and 1997, met the UN’s definition of genocide, meaning an intention to destroy “in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.” 

While popular understanding of the term generally interprets it to mean killing members of the targeted group, the definition also includes “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group,” and “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” 

While Gazan had previously attempted to introduce such a measure in June, it failed to receive unanimous assent the first time. Lawmakers’ shift in opinion could be attributed to the words of Pope Francis, who used the word “genocide” to describe the schools – many of which were run by the Catholic Church – after his visit to Canada in July.

A 2015 report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission detailed egregious physical and sexual abuse, poor living conditions, and malnutrition at residential schools, describing them as “cultural genocide.” Some 3,200 pupils were found to have died from tuberculosis and other diseases, though the real number is believed to be higher. Despite some 37,951 claims by survivors of sexual or physical abuse, fewer than 50 former staffers were ever convicted of abusing the students. 

The schools uprooted indigenous children from their families and communities and sought to assimilate them into Canadian society, including through religious conversion. While the Roman Catholic Church operated about three-fifths of the schools, they did not have a monopoly on converting the natives – the Anglican Church operated a quarter of the schools and the United and Presbyterian churches split the rest. Students were strongly discouraged from adhering to their cultural traditions, often even receiving new names.

–

Former Wits Chancellor and Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke says the university has produced great leaders in the past and must continue doing so in future.

Universities in South Africa have a leading role to play in the socio-political landscape of South Africa, where a dire lack of political leadership is dragging the country down.

Moseneke, who said recently that South Africans need to “rethink how we relate to the state” and move away from “statism”.

“We need to go back and tach our people how to look inward; how to grow their own vegetables; how to build their own homes; how to paint them when they get dirty; how to pick up their litter, and their dignity will be restored – not by a ruling elite that is ever-evasive and ever-and often unethical.

“We must, in other words, cultivate a system of progressive activism, because we have no reason to trust those who call us ‘our people’, and in vain promise us that they will eradicate triple burdens. We have no business in believing in the ruling elite. We have no business to be this gullible,” said Moseneke.

Speaking at Wits University’s Founders Tea during the university’s Centenary Celebration, Moseneke said universities must take a lead in the reformation of the country.

“Universities must remain a safe crucible of independent and critical thought. You must remain a bastion of research and new knowledge. You must continue to hone generational succession of leadership that is informed, that is ethical, that is people centric, that is development centric. 

“A true university must be an incubator for social, industrial and financial innovation. A true place of higher learning and teaching must all the time be asking ‘why all the poverty around us? Why is poverty increasing? Why is it so stubborn? Why is it so endemic? Why are there fewer and fewer people who are capable of being innovative – creating new wealth and new ways of better living?’.”

Universities must also be probing the social arrangements that continue to burden the country, like why are our public institutions so fickle, so susceptible to subversion and inaction, and, why is there such a “damning leadership” deficiency in the country?

“If you care to watch the discussion in parliament, you would know just the level – the low, low level – of leadership that we have to stomach and suffer.”

Quoting former Wits Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adam Habib who said South Africa’s single biggest bane or curse is a paucity of quality leadership, Moseneke said that Habib should have qualified this statement by saying there is no quality leadership “within politics”.

“Our biggest curse is just not having the kind of leaders that we need most at a time that we have to make the most of our conceptual notions of our just, good democratic society.”

Naming the names of several leaders who came from Wits University, such as Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe and Duma Nokwe, Moseneke said that Wits has produced great leaders in the past, and should be able to produce them again in future.

“So as Wits celebrate’s its 100th year, it must continue to produce more and more special leaders, because that is what we need most.”

Following up on Moseneke’s speech, Wits Vice-Chancellor Professor Zeblon Vilakazi said while South Africa has great leaders, they are not in politics. Naming leading academics such as Professors Glenda Grey and Shabir Madhi who helped government mitigate the impact of COVID, Vilakazi said you can find many “wellsprings” of leadership in the academic and private sector, and that unlike in the past, you don’t find the top students going into politics anymore.

“The Greek warrior leader Pericles said: ‘If you run away from politics, politics will come to you’, and ‘if you are not interested in politics, you will find yourself being ruled by your intellectual inferior’.”

This article first appeared on Wits University website.