TWENTY-TWO teenagers were found dead early Sunday morning in a tavern in the coastal city of East London, South Africa, the police said, in a tragedy that remains something of a mystery and that has left much of the country, including top officials, reeling emotionally.

Initial reports were that the teenagers, who the police say ranged in age from 13 to 17, died from a stampede.

But Bheki Cele, the national police minister, said investigators had not confirmed that theory.

He was overcome with tears as he spoke about the victims, nine girls and 12 boys.
“It’s a scary thing,” Mr. Cele said outside of the mortuary where the victims were being examined.

“I got inside but could not go any further to where they were opening up the bodies,” he added, his voice trailing off as he buried his face in his left hand and began to cry, turning away from the crowd.

President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his sympathy in a statement.

And senior officials from across Eastern Cape Province and the rest of the country descended upon the Scenery Park neighborhood, northwest of East London’s city center, to help attend to the fallout from the tragedy.

Television news footage showed local residents, many of them seeking information about loved ones, gathered on a dirt road outside the modest building housing the bar, Enyobeni Tavern, which is tucked in a residential community.

“We really cannot understand what has happened here,” the Eastern Cape premier, Oscar Mabuyane, told reporters.
“It just can’t be. It should not happen like this.”

Brig. Tembinkosi Kinana, a police spokesman, said the police had received a call about 4 a.m. reporting deaths at the tavern.
Unathi Binqose, the spokesman for the Department of Community Safety in the Eastern Cape, said the tavern had hosted a large party on Saturday night, featuring two DJs who were celebrating their birthdays.

The party was also billed as a celebration of South Africa’s dropping its mask mandate for public places, which had been in effect since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Binqose said.

“It attracted huge numbers, more than the tavern can accommodate,” he said of the party.

Bouncers told investigators that in an effort to control the crowd, they closed the doors to the venue, Mr. Binqose said.

People outside were said to have tried to push their way in, setting off a panic and a stampede, which may have been exacerbated by someone releasing pepper spray, he said.

But the theory of a stampede seemed inconsistent with what forensic experts had found so far in terms of injuries to the victims, Mr. Binqose said.

Victims were found sprawled on the gray tile floor, but also on a sofa and a coffee table.

“In terms of physical evidence, nothing points to a stampede,” he said.

He said the police had seized surveillance footage taken at the bar.

Speaking to eNCA, a South African television news network, the bar’s owner, Siyakhangela Ngevu, said he was not there when the deaths occurred.

He rushed there after his security guards called him, he said, and found chaos, with children everywhere.
Some had forced their way into the tavern, he said.

He said he could not dispute that pepper spray might have been used and contributed to the deaths.

In South Africa, the minimum age for patronizing a bar is 18. Mr. Ngevu told the station that his establishment did not allow minors in, but that they sometimes hung out outside.

Mr. Cele and other public officials admonished the parents of those who had been at the bar.
“As parents, we all have to be responsible for our children,” he said. “How can you go to bed knowing that your child is not in the house?”

NEW YORK TIMES

THE Department of Basic Education has confirmed that it will adjust its existing regulations to align with South Africa’s new regulations around mask-wearing and gatherings.

In a statement on Thursday, Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga said she supported the repealing of the mask mandate for learners and that the department will make regulatory changes to align itself with the new changes.

“In line with this decision to repeal the regulations, wearing of face masks by learners in classrooms, and indoor gatherings is no longer a requirement. Those learners and staff who wish to continue to wear a face mask in schools will be allowed to exercise this option,” said the minister.

She said the department will also continue to support the Covid-19 vaccination of all learners aged from 12 years, with parental consent.

The announcement comes after health minister Joe Phaahla repealed several Covid-19 regulations on Wednesday relating to the wearing of face masks, gatherings and persons entering the country.

The gazetting of the regulations means that the wearing of face masks in any public-use indoor space or when on public transport to contain the spread of Covid-19 has now fallen away.

People congregating in public spaces will no longer be limited to certain numbers. Requirements for entering and leaving the country have also been scrapped.

“We want to take this opportunity on behalf of all government to thank South Africans for their support and cooperation over the last two years and three months,” Phaahla said in a media briefing on Thursday.

“While there was a lot of common ground and agreement even across political lives early in the pandemic when we all thought it would be short and over within a few months, the longer it took more fatigue and disagreements on strategy started to surface. We appreciate the fact that notwithstanding the disagreements even leading to threats or even actual court actions the mainframe of our collective action remained until today.”

BUSINESS TECH

THE North-West University (NWU) Council has elected a new chairperson and deputy chairperson.

Bert Sorgdrager, a seasoned legal professional with more than 30 years’ experience in the private sector, was elected as the sixth chairperson of the NWU Council.

Obakeng Mongale, an experienced public servant and the current superintendent general for the North West Department of Health, will serve as deputy chairperson.

This follows the resignation of the previous chairperson, Dr Bismark Tyobeka, who has since been appointed principal and vice-chancellor of the NWU.

“I am proud to continue serving my alma mater and consider it a privilege to be looking after the interests of the NWU, both currently and in the future,” says Sorgdrager.

His association with the university goes back to his enrolment in 1977 for, and his completion of the BJuris (1979) and LLB (1981) degrees at the then Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, now the NWU.

Sorgdrager, currently an attorney at Van Deventer Dlamini Inc, previously served the NWU Council as acting chairperson and deputy chairperson.

He has been a Council member since 2017 (elected from the ranks of the Convocation) and has been a member of the executive committee of the NWU Council since September 2018.

His association with the NWU includes serving on various committees and being an exco member since August 2014, and president of the NWU Convocation since April 2018. He has also been the chairperson of the NWU Alumni Association since August 2014 and the representative of the Potchefstroom Campus alumni since 2012.

Sorgdrager spent most of his career in banking, specifically at Nedbank, where he served as legal adviser and also held various management positions in risk management.

Mongale, on the other hand, is also a proud alumnus of the NWU, having obtained a Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Management, and a master’s degree in Industrial Psychology.

He holds an honours degree in Industrial Psychology and a bachelor’s degree in Administration from the former University of Bophuthatswana, now the NWU.

He is an Oliver Tambo fellow (Postgraduate Diploma in Health Management) at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Mongale is currently studying towards a master’s degree in Philosophy in Conflict Transformation at the Nelson Mandela University.

“I am honoured to serve as deputy chairperson and am committed to fulfilling this essential role in the Council,” says Mongale.

His previous experience includes serving on various Council committees such as the executive and tender committees, as well as on the medical school task team and the extended exco.

He became a Council member in 2017 after being appointed as ministerial representative and started serving his second term from September 2020.

Mongale is a former head of the Department of Public Works in North West, and of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure in the Limpopo provincial government. During his tenure as the head of department at Public Works in North West, the department won several awards.

He previously served the North West Department of Health as director for Human Resources, then as chief director for Corporate Services and as head of department. From October 2010 to September 2013 Mr Mongale returned to the North West Department of Health, where he was responsible for health support and specialised hospital services.

Mongale served as board member at the Johannesburg Property Company (April 2019 to March 2020), which is a company of the City of Johannesburg. He was also a member of the board of trustees of the Health Systems Trust, where he served as chairperson of the board’s HR committee and as a member of the finance committee (2010 to 2013).

INSIDE EDUCATION

A NEW optical telescope in South Africa that will measure the brightness of transient sources will begin operation in mid-July.

Located at the Boyden Observatory in Bloemfontein, the telescope – a collaboration between South Africa’s University of the Free State, University College Dublin (UCD) and the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain – will be used to study the afterglow from extremely energetic astrophysical events.

Transient events often appear in the sky briefly before disappearing. The telescope – dubbed the Burst Observer and Optical Transient Exploring System (BOOTES 6) – is equipped with an extremely sensitive CCD camera to detect these faint events and it has an incredibly fast “slew rate”. This means that when an alert of a gamma-ray explosion is reported, the telescope can observe it within a few seconds, which is crucial when monitoring transient events.

Astronomer Pieter Meintjes, who is head of astrophysics at the University of the Free State, says the group is “ecstatic” about the fast slew rate as it will allow quick data collection and give the team an edge over rival groups. 

Studying extreme events

One of the main aims of the telescope will be following up on the afterglow that is produced during gamma-ray bursts that are created when very massive stars form black holes or when neutron stars collide.

“By observing the afterglow and monitoring how it fades away over time allows astronomers to pin-point the location of the explosion and also establish what kind of explosion it was,” says Meintjes, who adds that the researchers are planning to put a spectrograph on the telescope, which will allow them to determine what elements are forged in these extreme events.

Work began on the telescope two years ago, but efforts were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic with engineers only being able to assemble the telescope in April. The telescope’s hardware was funded by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia while the University of the Free State built the observing dome.

The Boyden telescope joins other BOOTES telescopes that are located in China, New Zealand, Mexico and Spain – in the search for transient events. 

The new telescope is the second observatory to be hosted by the University of the Free State after the 0.41 m Watcher telescope, which has been managed by UCD since 2001. 

Physicsworld.com

STADIO, the JSE-listed investment holdings company with investments in three private higher education institutions, has set its sights on creating an alternative to the University of South Africa, the largest university system in the country, with in excess of 400,000 students.

Larger universities including the likes of Stellenbosch University, UCT, Wits, and North-West University range between 30,000 and 70,000 students.

Stadio started as a subsidiary of Curro Holdings, but was unbundled in 2017, and listed separately on the Johannesburg exchange.

In 2013, Curro acquired Embury, a registered private higher education institution, which offers accredited teacher education qualifications. This was Curro’s first acquisition in the post-school education environment.

It has since acquired further prestigious registered higher education institutions, namely AFDA, Milpark Education, LISOF, Prestige Academy and Southern Business School, as well as the business of CA Connect. AFDA and Milpark Education operate independently, and the other institutions were consolidated with Stadio to form one Stadio Higher Education institution.

In a note on Wednesday (22 June), Stadio chief executive officer, Chris Vorster said the group is set to enter a growth phase with its eye firmly on widening access to quality education. It currently boasts 9 schools, over 50 accredited programmes and both on and off-campus options.

Stadio, with its current three investments in Stadio Higher Education, Milpark Education, and AFDA, has, from 2016 to 2020, focused on establishing and positioning the business.

Vorster said that in 2022, the group is still focused on the consolidation phase of the business and is positioning to implement its growth strategy, aiming for sustainable growth in profit of more than 20% in the long-term, with minimal capital requirements, whilst investigating the possibility of new markets, and further refining its systems and processes to enable continued innovation and efficiencies.

Addressing shareholders in a virtual AGM, Vorster, said that the foundation for this growth phase has been laid and is visible in the first semester with student numbers up by 11% to 38,414  at the end of May 2022 in comparison to 30 June 2021, with distance learning numbers increasing by 15%.

These figures exclude students enrolled in short-learning programmes, Stadio said.

“Of particular significance, is that new students increased by 16% relative to June 2021 with contact learning students growing by 2% to 2,355 and distance learning by 19% to 11,137 students.

“This is a good illustration of our strategy for growth, by taking new programmes to new sites. In general, new student growth provides Stadio with a good pipeline of roll-over students for the next few years,” Vorster said.

Stadio is on track to achieve its target of 56,000 students by 2026, with an 8% annual growth rate required to achieve this. “The ultimate goal is to provide top-class education to 100,000 plus students over time with a minimum of 80% distance learning students and a maximum of 20% contact learning students,” Vorster said.

“Stadio is well-positioned to achieve these goals with its overall strategy underpinned further by its purpose of widening access to education, taking cognizance of the world of work and student centredness,” he said.

The group’s latest campus in Centurion opened its first phase in 2022 at a build cost of R200 million.

Fees vary greatly, depending on the course, type of learning, location, advancement, and year of study.

Divine Mavungu (14) of Hoërskool Alberton has huge sports ambitions and the future is bright for this young athlete.

This Grade Nine learner was awarded a gold and silver medal at the South Africa Schools Athletics earlier this year, which was an incredible honour for him.

“It was an amazing dream come true and I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Divine remarked.

Divine represented his school this year at the SA Schools Athletics where he came sixth in the 200m, sixth in the 100m and received a gold and a silver medal for his relay performance.

He recorded his personal best time, which was 10.91, at the provincials this year. He was also awarded his SA colours.

“Clocking my personal goals and representing my school at such a massive event is a most pleasurable feeling.”

Divine started athletics in Grade Three at Colin Mann Primary School.

“I made it to the provincials where I claimed fourth place. I qualified for the SAs, but I could not compete that year as I was too young.” His highlights include competing at the district and provincials every year since Grade Three. He qualified for SAs four times in his athletic career.

Covid-19 made it hard for him as there were no school athletics events.

He is also a member of the Boksburg Athletics Club and he competed at a provincial competition this year where he received first place and qualified to go through to the SAs but due to unforeseen circumstances, he could not compete.

It is one of his goals to compete in the Junior Olympics one day.

“I train six days a week for the whole year,” said Divine. He said he feels like he does not have enough hours in a day to do what he wants to do.

“I take my school work very seriously and that is why I always make sure that there is a balance between my academics and my athletics.”

When he gets the chance, he will focus on his school work to make sure that he knows what is going on and that he doesn’t fall behind.
Athletics is part of Divine Mavungu’s life.

“Running and exercising is what I do best. It is my happy place and where I can escape reality,” he said.
Divine said being an athlete is hard work as you don’t just train for the athletic season, but you train throughout the year to stay fit.
“I train a lot and I do need to watch what I eat and drink,” he said.

Short distances and relay are what Divine is passionate about.

Older athletes inspire him because he finds it fascinating to see how they train and compete.

“Athletes are fueled by non-believers. They possess the ability to overcome adversity like no other. Where others see fear, they see the symbolism of what they want and go for it.”

Divine was born in Germiston and grew up in Elsburg with his two brothers. He is the middle child.

In 2011 he moved with his family to Lambton where they are currently staying. When he is not busy training or catching up on school work he enjoys making gifts.

“I like being creative and making stuff. I also like inventing new things.”

He also enjoys watching TV and listening to music. When he grows up, he wants a career in the sports industry.

Something people don’t know about him is that he is frightened of birds, cockroaches and dogs.

“I also want to take this opportunity to say thank you God for blessing me with this talent. Thank you to my parents, my friends, my school and my coach, Lindie du Plessis for supporting and believing in me,” he concluded.

THE National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will in the 2022 financial year spend R47.3 billion in funding the tertiary education of 691 432 students.

This was on Friday revealed by Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Blade Nzimande, during a press briefing.

Of the approved applicants, 462 983 were female and 227 072 being male.  

Addressing reporters, the Minister said: “There has been a new intake of 240 790 SASSA students… and we will continue to support 1 770 students with disabilities who receive quite a comprehensive set of allowances from the NSFAS Fund”.

Of this allocation, he said, 362 482 was for ccontinuing students and 136 460 for new students.

He said that students registering in multiple institutions continue to be a challenge.

“We have found that 2 481 students have registered in more than one institution and NSFAS has received registration claims from more than a single institution,” he said.

To rectify this problem, students are required to deregister in institutions that they are not studying at and submit evidence to NSFAS so that funds can be released to the correct institution. 

Another big challenge identified, he said, was with regards to funding conditions not met, students following incorrect academic pathways, registering on non-aligned qualifications. He said this was the case with even new students who were registered on qualifications that were being phased-out.

“The above requires all institutions and all students to strictly adhere to the approved NSFAS Eligibility Criteria and Conditions for Financial Aid funding without deviations. NSFAS will continue to work with institutions to ensure resolution to the anomalies in the system,” she said.  

TVET CollegeStudent Funding

For 2022 TVET college bursaries, he said NSFAS projected a 10% growth in student numbers across all TVET academic cycles to an estimated 395 000 students. In this regard, NSFAS made provisional funding for 380 000 TVET College students. 

To date, he said NSFAS received registration data for close to 200 000 students. This is at about 52% of expected and provisionally funded students in colleges, he said.

“In seeking to close the gap and understand the issues at College level, NSFAS deployed its staff in May to assist TVET colleges to submit registration data according to NSFAS requirements.

“This intervention assisted in the improvement of data quality submitted by the TVET Colleges. However, this intervention is not sustainable as NSFAS does not have enough capacity to adequately support TVET colleges at various campuses in this particular way in the long-term,” he said.

The Minister said there was a need to capacitate TVET college staff on NSFAS processes.  In the regard, he said NSFAS had committed to support colleges with a contribution of R500 000 per college in the short-term period to appoint financial aid officers.

The main issue affecting the processing of students in TVET colleges, like universities, is the problem of multiple registration status and students following incorrect academic pathways.

“There were 4 287 unprocessed students not processed for payment by NSFAS because of these exceptions.  NSFAS has started a reconciliation and data sharing exercise with institutions for the resolution of these identified exceptions,” he said.

The Minister said this issue would be sustainably resolved through “systems integration between NSFAS and institutions”.

“I am informed that already there is on-going work to resolve this issue,” he said.

Nzimande said the NSFAS Board recently proposed new policy reforms to improve the efficiency of the scheme. He said had considered and agreed to these, saying the changes had proven to be positive in improving service delivery.

NSFAS administrative, student accommodation and other related challenges

After being inundated by student complaints on accommodation and being evicted by landlords, he said from next year, NFSAS would take a proactive role in NSFAS funded student accommodation in order to ensure value for money. This included standardizing the cost and quality by grading student accommodation, thus paying a standard rate based on the grading of each type of accommodation.

He said: “Through numerous engagements with students, student leadership bodies, educational institutions, and accommodation providers, it is clear that student accommodation remains a major challenge to resolve. This is the case in both private accommodation and institution owned-accommodation”.

He said there were insufficient beds to accommodate students, while some institutions did not have sufficient quantities and quality of own accommodation.

“The building of more infrastructure for student accommodation remains a priority for government, and I intend to accelerate such construction, including through partnerships with the private sector,” he said.

Further announcements will be made in this regard later this year.

This included pilots to test various strategies and plans to significantly increase the number of student beds for both university and TVET college students.

SA NEWS

Prompting students and teaching them self-management strategies reduce disruptive behaviors and increase classroom engagement in adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD) more effectively than do allowing frequent breaks or fidgets, according to a small study published in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

The study found that redirecting students with ADHD back to a task (prompting) and teaching them strategies to independently regulate their behavior (self-management) decreased disruptive behaviors and task initiation time and increased task engagement more than implementing popular classroom strategies such as breaks or use of sensory items or fidgets.

According to the study’s authors, prompting, taking breaks, and sensory proprioception are widespread accommodations used for students with ADHD. The first two often appear as part of Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). On the other hand, self-management strategies are a frequently recommended intervention that is not typically found in IEPs. The authors noted that research supporting specific practices over others is lacking, and such research could inform IEPs.

The researchers evaluated the efficacy of prompting, teaching self-management, encouraging sensory proprioception, and taking breaks in 15 sixth and seventh graders during 20 sessions, each one lasting 20 minutes.

Students were randomly assigned one of the following four strategies in each session.

Prompting condition: Researchers pointed to the task or told a student to continue working if they went off-task for five seconds.Self-management condition: Students checked “yes” on a paper form if they stayed on task for five minutes (indicated by a timer alarm) or “no” if they were off task when they heard the timer ring.Sensory proprioception: Students selected a sensory item (fidget toy, stress ball, etc.) to use throughout the task.Breaks: Students took a five-minute break after working for ten minutes.

Data analysis showed that prompting and self-management strategies delivered the most desirable outcomes in student behavior and engagement, while sensory proprioception resulted in minor or no desired effects.

However, researchers noted that participants were not “fans” of prompting or self-management, viewing the former as “annoying” and the latter as “distracting” (even though it encouraged them to pay attention to their work).

According to the study authors, the effectiveness of self-management aligns with recent research indicating that teaching students with ADHD how to independently manage their behavior is more effective than implementing strategies such as allowing extra time on tasks or distributing a copy of the teacher’s notes.

The findings of this study also build on research supporting prioritizing classroom interventions for students with ADHD above accommodations.

Additudemag

STAFF REPORTER|

THE Servest management company has provided critical support and COVID-19 provisions to learners and teachers at the Grace Christian Private School in Siyabuswa, Mpumalanga.

“Many neighbourhoods have felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the financial burden that it has imposed on communities. Our school has not been spared,” said Hendrik Mahlangu, the principal and one of the founders of the school.

The Grace Christian Private School opened its doors in 2003 with 32 learners, and has grown to 650 learners, providing education from Grade R to Grade 12.

The running operations for the school are funded by parents paying school fees, donors from the local Christian community, as well as assistance from donations from the United Kingdom (UK).

Mahlangu explains: “The cost of personal protective equipment (PPE) became too big a burden for the school, and the support provided by Servest could not have come at a more opportune time.”

“We were paying a lot on PPEs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as it is the responsibility of the school to provide PPE to the teachers and learners. This has been an unexpected cost, and we could not include it in the school fees or impose the financial burden on parents who are already financially overburdened.”

He says that then, as if by a miracle, a UK friend of the school put Servest in touch with the school and the company came to the rescue, offering to donate the necessary PPEs.

The provisions included hand sanitisers, masks, and cleaning products to disinfect classrooms.

The donation from Servest is estimated to the value of about R354 691.

“We have been using the supplies from Servest over the past two years, and this has saved the school a lot of money,” says Mahlangu.
Grace Christian Private School says because of the generous donation from Servest and UK donors, it has in turn been able to help two other nearby schools with some surplus masks and sanitisers.

“This has reduced the strain on the educators who were trying to find funds to help protect the children,” said Mahlangu. “Educators from our schools as well as the other two schools in the area can now focus on their primary role of teaching, and not worry about operational things like PPEs. More support of this nature will go a long way for our schools.”

He explains that the school has been able to continue operating during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the PPE provided by Servest, as the school was able to make the necessary adjustments to minimise risk of COVID-19. Online teaching and limited live classroom teaching with alternating classes became the order of the day.

Grace Christian Private School is one of only three schools in the Middelburg region that attained a 100% matric pass rate last year. Mahlangu attributes this success to the grace of God, the dedication of teachers and learners, and the support of kind donors like Servest.

INSIDE EDUCATION

THE Eastern Cape will send six teams to the nationals of the DStv Schools Netball Challenge (DSNC) Nationals that are set for 8-9 August in Johannesburg.

Youth Day saw 16 Botho and Ubuntu schools come together to vie for the top three positions available to progressing to the final stages of the competition.

The group stages saw the schools play against each other before they branched off to play in their different stream.
Despatch High School, Pearson High School and Hoërskool Grens have qualified in the Botho division while kwaZakhele High School, Humansdorp Senior Secondary School and Ngangelizwe Senior Secondary School will play in the Ubuntu stream.

Eastern Cape Schools Netball secretary Satara Ferreira says they are satisfied with how the competition went.

“It was a wonderful day with teams coming all over the Eastern Cape. It was a day marked with players celebrating their talents, celebrating their achievements and just growing as netball players and as people. Thank you to our officials for helping make the day a wonderful success as well as our coaches for preparing their teams. The day was a wonderful success and it was enjoyed by everybody,” says Ferreira.

Free State netball is also sending six schools to the nationals. C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje in Bloemfontein was the venue where 12 schools competed for a chance to represent the province at the nationals.

Also held over two days, 16 and 17 June, the schools were divided into three pools, two Botho and one Ubuntu with eight and four schools respectively.

Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje, Hoërskool Sentraal and Bethlehem Hoërskool Voortrekker have qualified in the Botho division while Teto Secondary School, Ikaheng Zakheni Secondary School and Thakameso Comprehensive Secondary School will represent the province in the Ubuntu section.

The schools had to first battle in their respective groups and the top two schools in the Botho pools proceeded to play in the cross semifinals the schools that finished in the top three in the final round moved to the nationals.
While the Ubuntu teams played against each other in a round robin format in their group the teams that finished from first to third progressed to the final round.

SUPERSPORT