M i campus magazine
Issue 16 Jul|Aug 2012 Issue 16 July|August 2012
This culture comprises a sacrifice of 67 minutes of good work
Mi ed’s note Hello Go-getters! I must say that this has been the busiest month for me yet this year. And so it should be, with exams over and a new semester upon us, the year is truly flying by so fast. I must first acknowledge a new chapter that is beginning at Micampus Magazine. As we have worked tirelessly and continuously over the years to bring you the best campus lifestyle news around the country, we have moved a step up and I would like to welcome the new group of journalists that would be writing for this magazine. I and most of our readers are excited to have you on board. This group of journalists is to me the epitome of ambitious young people in South Africa and like our cover story young person on page 21 are definitely eager to tell our stories as they are. In this issue we also profile five young philanthropists who dedicate their lives to assisting their communities on page 18.As Mandela Day approaches we at Micampus profile five centres and charity organisations that will definitely appreciate your help on page 15. Please do not hesitate to follow us on twitter and like our facebook page, Micampus Magazine. Wishing you the best winter vacation and stay knowledge driven.
EDITOR: Sylvia Mabogoshi COORDINATOR & SALES MANAGER Marole Mathabatha DESIGN & LAYOUT:
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Yesterday evening I had the enormous honour of delivering a speech at the Youth Day celebration hosted by the South African ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, at his beautiful residence in DC. The party was wonderful, the food and wine were South African and the people were utterly fascinating. The theme of the speeches was youth uniting for economic freedom. And it reads: Good evening to the South African ambassador, Mr Ebrahim Rasool and Mrs Rasool, SAWIP team and guests. Thank you for the honour of addressing you this evening. I am the daughter of a Jewish mother. Most of you will know that few beings are more overprotective, interfering and coddling than the Jewish mother. While carnivores are categorised as meat-eaters or herbivores as planteaters, Jewish mothers are categorized as clingers and naggers – the defining feature of this species being their inability to let their child out of their tight ring of overbearing control. So you will understand my complete shock when one day, my Jewish mother turned to me and yelled “just leave! Move out, get a job, pay your own bills, run your own life; just do it while you still know everything”. I was entirely taken aback. For a Jewish mother to reach a point at which she was prepared to defy her biological urge to cling to her offspring and to dismiss her daughter on the basis that she “knows everything” means that she must have entered a place of unparalleled despair at the teenage indolence of the youth she had produced. My mother’s Jewish-mother-genetic-code ignited soon after the incident and she quickly decided that while I was still an adolescent brat, I was her teenager and therefore she was not letting me go. However, her outburst signaled to me what is a far greater problem in the politics and discourse of youth development. There is a common perception that the youth think they know everything but in reality know nothing because of relative life inexperience. This is a problematic observation. There are a number of ways that the youth are understood, generally. One of the most common perceptions, in my experience, is that of youth being a nuisance – a group that sees everything as entitled to them. The youth are often believed to be dangerous, lazy or simply arrogant ‘know-it-alls’. To some, youth is a phase – an intolerable phase. The ideas of people in this phase of life are discounted, because of their lack of experience, or lack of knowledge, or lack of discipline. On a large scale, this translates to the dismissal and disenfranchisement of the youth. The current situation of youth in South Africa involves approximately 4 million young people not in any form of employment, education
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or training. What does this mean for South Africa’s future? Is it the rebellious radicalization of youth or the total withdrawal and apathy of youth? On the opposite side of the spectrum, youth can be seen as positive agents of change and as the site of novel ideas and enigmatic solutions. June 16th 1976 is seen as the youth positively assuming responsibility for their lives. These young people were empowered with the realization of their own agency. The event we are celebrating tonight is illustrative of the fact that the youth are powerful; our ideas matter. The landscape of the South African resistance movement against apartheid was fundamentally altered by the watershed that was witnessed on June 16th. The youth of Soweto injected new hope into resistance that ended the period of the ‘Silent Sixties’. Youth leaders and student movements rose to the forefront of the United Democratic Front and anti-apartheid resistance movements in the 1980s. Young people – whose ideas were inspired by Black Consciousness and anger motivated by the catalyst of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction – successfully initiated change in South Africa. This is not dissimilar to the United States in the 1960s or the recent Arab Spring.
The parents of these individuals probably decided that these young people thought they “knew everything” too; others saw them as naïve and unrealistic. However, it is clear that the youth “knowing everything” allows the youth to be a powerful force filled with inspiration and energy for change. The current South African landscape is such that the youth need not be dismissed. We need to empower the youth, by stimulating their ideas, inspiring them to think, to solve and to act. We then, quite vitally, need to listen and be prepared to change. People frequently tell me that today’s youth are different to those of 1976 because they are entitled or too selfimportant to accept instruction. I may sound like an arrogant adolescent who thinks she knows everything in saying this, but I suspect that adults have been dismissing the generations below them for centuries. I am involved in a community development project run from the University of Cape Town that uses debating as a means to teach critical thinking, argumentation and confidence as skills to high school learners in townships of Cape Town. The organisation began as an initiative of the youth and aims to develop skills and knowledge for the youth. The high school learners I have encounter in these classrooms have defied every negative view I have been confronted with about the current youth of South Africa. To me, the success of the project illustrates that if young people are provided with the resources and a space to be empowered with knowledge; they will take it and benefit from it. When youth are given the encouragement and skills to create change, they are capable of doing it. Hindrances to economic freedom in South Africa are deeply entrenched in our history of segregation, inadequate education and inequality. This is not something that is easy to change. The only conceivable way I can see of these happening is the youth innovating ways to pave their own way to economic freedom. This requires education and empowerment. This requires a collaborative effort between government, business and active citizens. Programs like SAWIP do an invaluable job in achieving this. I am not here tonight to inspire a youth revolution. Tonight I would like you all to contemplate the magnitude of what economic freedom means in South Africa. We need to stimulate the youth, inspire them to think, solve and act; then we need to listen and be prepared to change. If the youth unite constructively and with the adequate skills and forums in which to achieve economic freedom, it is possible. Considering that every young person knows everything, this knowledge should be harnessed and not dismissed. I would like to leave you with a quote from Maya Angelou: “When you know better, you do better”.
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“In answering the question, what do I think the role of the educated youth in South Africa is or should be in bringing transformation in Africa, I remembered Ken Blackwell’s words as he welcomed Senator Portman at one of the Faith and Freedom Coalition conferences; of course it was necessary for me to paraphrase his words, so as to put them into a more African context; in essence he says we, must have a great sense of what Marten Luther King called the ‘fierce urgency of now’. He says, we cannot sit on the sidelines and curse the darkness, we must in fact look for the better angels in our fellow Africans, and we must light candles so that we, together, as Africans, can punch holes in the darkness of our times. After hearing these words, I asked myself, how many candles had I lit? How many holes had I punched in the darkness of our times? I hope that we as the ‘educated youth’ in our country will realize that we were born for a purpose much greater than the self.”
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“We as the youth need a voice and need to be heard. To be empowered, youth can become part of already existing organizations that empower and build youth leadership, or we as the youth can create our own space and entities to address the challenges we face. We must not always wait for government or other organizations to create platforms for us. As South African youth, we can unite and create entities and platforms that will enable constructive discussion & debate of issues that directly affect us. We need to believe that we can make a significant difference to our lives and our country.�
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Reflecting back on youth day to our courageous previous generation, I see the same distancing between leadership and a disgruntled youth today. Not fuelled by the same issues, but neglected and almost as disempowered. Will this lead to a South African Arab Spring? Do we need an Arab Spring to address these issues? Do we need to march on the union buildings, mass-mobilized and driven by anger? Or do we need a non-politicized platform, where the leadership of this nation enters dialogue with the youth to be held accountable and responsible for their actions and promises? Where we are empowered to seek innovative solutions; where we encounter each other and try and find solutions locally and nationally? A think-tank for entrepreneurs, to solve youth unemployment, combined with the support and investment of the government; a network of young minds who wish to claim our country and have a hand in steering it. The direction the current generation steers it in will after all determine our starting point: whether, ten years from now, we just continue building on a strong foundation or whether we have to demolish and try to salvage something amongst the ruins.
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It was on June 16, 1858, when Abraham Lincoln delivered his well-known House Divided speech while accepting the Republican nomination for the US Senate in Springfield, Illinois. In his speech, Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” As we commemorate June 16, 1976, may we as the youth of 2012 work together to build and grow a prosperous South Africa. As the emerging leaders of our country, may we collectively work in unity to raise an inspired generation of outstanding leadership that brings positive change to our current challenges. In remembrance of the Soweto Uprisings of 1976, the SAWIP Class of 2012 will hear from and share with Mr Ebrahim Rasool, South Africa’s ambassador to the United States. I trust that this, and many of our other experiences in South Africa, Washington DC and beyond, will further encourage our class and our peers to continue standing together to ensure that our country be no longer be divided.
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Mi Career If you are one of the people that love fiddling with computers, downloading different software and love to have the latest software versions on your PC then a career in Computer Science can be a perfect match for you Writes Molebogeng Chokwe.
MiCampus has coffee with Thapelo Motubatsi (21), a third year computer science student at UJ as he shares knowledge on his field of study and experiences. • HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE COMPUTER SCIENCE AS A FIELD OF STUDY? It is the application of theories of good software development and its main focus is software parts. • TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES AND CHALLENGES IN YOUR FIELD OF STUDY. There is a huge demand for Computer Scientists due to the advancement of technology, thus it is crucial that one has the appropriate knowledge
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in basic computer skills in order to be successful in Computer Science as a career. 3rd year is much more challenging than all the other years and it proved the stereotype that the higher the level of study gets, the harder it is to complete a degree. • LOOKING AT COMPUTER SCIENCE AS A CAREER, WHERE ARE YOU LIKELY TO GET EMPLOYED IN THE NEAR FUTURE? MTN and other network companies. Each big company has and needs an IT department to create order in networks, not only that but data analysts are also useful to have as they also sort out network matters.
...devising new and better ways of using computers and addressing particular challenges in areas such as robotics, computer vision, or digital forensics.
• HOW MUCH WOULD YOU LIKE TO EARN IN YOUR FIRST YEAR OF EMPLOYMENT? R 15 000 • WHAT OTHER CAREER WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR SOMEONE THAT WANTS TO BE IN THE SAME FIELD OF STUDY AS YOU, BUT DOES NOT WANT TO DO COMPUTER SCIENCE? Computational and applied Maths, but the only disadvantage in that is that the modules are similar. COMPUTER SCIENCE AT WITS The discipline of Computer Science at Wits focuses on educating the entrepreneurs, decision makers, technical experts and innovative thinkers of tomorrow. Computer Science is about solving problems and using computers to solve problems effectively. Our graduates have a firm grasp of software, networks, operating systems and hardware technology, but our fundamental skill is to use computers to solve problems in the real world - in many varied fields
such as business and finance, engineering, communication, and the biological, physical and earth sciences. For more info on computer science as a career, visit: http://www.cs.wits. ac.za/ Computer Science Career Path Computer science (CS) spans the range from theory through programming to cutting-edge development of computing solutions. Computer science offers a foundation that permits graduates to adapt to new technologies and new ideas. The work of computer scientists falls into three categories: a) designing and building software; b) developing effective ways to solve computing problems, such as storing information in databases, sending data over networks or providing new approaches to security problems; and c) devising new and better ways of using computers and addressing particular challenges in areas such as robotics, computer vision, or digital forensics (although these specializations are not available in all computer science programs). Most computer science programs require some mathematical background. http://computingcareers.acm. org/?page_id=8 Now that you know more about this field how about taking that first step and applying for a career in it.
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Mi Leader
(1) MASIBAMBISANE CENTRE Masibambisane Centre is an orphanage home situated in Johannesburg-Eldorado Park and offers help in life skills training, social support and material assistance to members of the community, children and young adults aged 321. Any individual is welcome to spend their Mandela day with those that need emotional support especially because the programme was started for people living with HIV. CONTACT US Tel 011 298 8500 Fax 011 298 8590 E-mail director@jhbchildwelfare.org.za Physical Address 1st Floor, Edura House 41 Fox Street Johannesburg
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(2) ANGELS WITHOUT WINGS For many of those that feel like giving back in meaningful ways, not only to community centers but to hospitals, Angels without Wings is an organization based in Pretoria, that offers assistance financially and emotionally to families who have children with terminal illnesses or life altering conditions. One can offer their support by reading stories to the children and accompanying them to med-
ical occasions such as chemo-therapy or blood tests. 67 minutes of Mandela day is beyond going shopping, baking, going to a spa- its meaning is entrenched in taking time off to lend a hand and do good for others around you. Contact details- Nadine Voyiatzakis, nadine@angelswithoutwings.co.za, 71 Kapok Street, 38 Glenwood estates, Lynnwood Glen, Pretoria, 0181 (3) CAPE TOWN ASSOCIATION FOR THE PHYSICALLY DISABLED All around the country there is a place that would appreciate your presence. Cape Town Association for the Physically Disabled provides social development services to people of all ages that are physically disabled. Spend some time with people with physical disability and show your fellow brothers and sisters that their disability is not a barrier to success but only a physical difference. Contact person: Mrs Bridget J van der Merwe Phone: 021 637 1204 / 5 Fax: 021 637 1205 Physical address: Reable Centre, 152 Tarentaal Road, Bridgetown, Athlone Postal address: P O Box 12982, Mowbray, 7705 Website: www.apd-wc.org.za (4) I CARE Do you want to learn as you are giving back to the community? The I Care programme educates the public about the dangers of giving money to street kids, creates awareness on abuse and rehabilitates children that are on drugs. KwaZulu Natal’s I Care enables one to learn by listening to other people’s experiences and through lending an ear, you help the next person on their rehabilitation process. Contact person: Mrs Bridget J van der
Merwe Phone: 021 637 1204 / 5 Fax: 021 637 1205 Physical address: Reable Centre, 152 Tarentaal Road, Bridgetown, Athlone Postal address: P O Box 12982, Mowbray, 7705
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CONSTITUTIONAL HILL
As a way to celebrate and embrace South Africa’s democracy, refer back to the structures that are symbolic of democracy and its process. The Constitutional Hill in Hillbrow, Johannesburg is a notable tourist attraction that carries fundamental memories for South Africa’s history. Exhibitions at the Constitutional Hill are created as a participatory experience as one can take photos, record and even ask the facilitators questions. So look back at the country’s history as a whole in order to understand current circumstances. CONSTITUTION HILL Address & Contact Details ADDRESS: Constitutional Court, Johannesburg CONTACT: Visitor Services Manager on +27 (0)11 381-3100.
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Mi Leader
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s always during the month of June, we celebrated youth month in honour of the 1976 generation, which was led by a dynamic generation of young leaders such as Steve Biko and Tsietsi Mashinini amongst many others. Whilst it’s commendable that we see fit to honour the sacrifice that was made on our behalf by this great generation, I was left with a few questions as I was reflecting on the value of youth month and what it means to be a young South African in this day and age. What can we learn from the likes of Biko and Mashinini as young South Africans that will help us become relevant, impactful leaders in this current era? Why aren’t we seeing more young leaders emerging in the different sectors of South African society? Where are the Bikos of our age? There are a few things we can learn as a generation from Biko et al. Firstly, leadership is about rising to the occasion and providing the courage and the vision to address a specific need or issue in society. Biko’s generation took the lead as
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young people without waiting for those older than them to provide solutions and show them the way. The 1976 uprising was started by young people, led by young people and driven and directed by young people. Today, we honour that generation as a heroic generation simply because they understood, in the words of Ernesto Che Guevara, that, “the present is the struggle, the future belongs to us.” Biko and his generation of young leaders took a stand against a system that was geared towards impoverishing and marginalising young black South Africans, to the benefit of a small elite. They challenged the status quo and refused to accept things “as they are.” In other words, they refused to believe that the system that they grew up under was unchangeable and immovable, but instead sought to aggressively change it through their actions. As young South Africans, we have an education system that is still geared towards the impoverishment and the marginalisation of the majority of young Black South Africans. We have
“go where there is no path and leave a trail.” an economic system that is structured in such a manner that it keeps the majority of young black South Africans out of the formal economy. We have a labour system which has prevented the majority of young black South Africans from getting work. We have a political system that has empowered a minority at the expense of the majority of South Africans (most of whom are young black people). The question to be asked is: what are we going to do? Are we going to just keep complaining, moaning and whingeing or are we like the Biko generation going to rise up with courage, vision and conviction and seek to change the status quo? Basically, do we want to be a generation of followers, waiting for someone else to provide a solution for us, or do we want to be a generation of leaders, who take the initiative, show some creativity and lead society in bringing solutions to the most pertinent problems? Biko and his generation where also a daring generation, not afraid to boldly go where others hadn’t gone before. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “do not go where the path may lead,
go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” This type of leadership attitude is what we need as a generation. The problem is that most of what we are taught by society is geared towards making us followers as opposed to leaders. Most universities teach people what to think as opposed to how to think, as a simple example. Very few of the different learning centres of society teach us to “go where there is no path and leave a trail.” This is what Biko and the 1976 generation did and as a result they have left a trail that we are still trying to follow as a generation today. South Africa needs an injection of fresh ideas, innovation, new products, inventions and institutions, and this can only happen when the youth of today take up the mandate to lead in the various sectors of society. We need young entrepreneurs to emerge in order to build new industries and create jobs. We need young leaders in politics, in education, in the arts, in media to be opinion leaders etc. Like the Biko generation, young South Africans need to step up and step on it. The time to lead and make a difference is now.
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Mi Leader Reviews
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une being a youth month, we decided to do a story on young people who are doing it for themselves and making a difference in their environment as part of celebrating the youth. We got up, close and personal with a young Journalist in the making Sthembiso Sithole (20), a second year Journalism student at Tshwane University of Technology. BY SHARON MATHABATHA Passionate, ambitious, go-getter and energetic are few words that describe him. Born and bred in Soweto, Sithole has always wanted to be a Journalist. He is inspired by the likes of Xolani Gwala and McIntosh Polela, whom he affirms they played a huge role in him choosing the career. He was raised by both parents, mother Nomvula Ntshingila and father Paul Sithole but life was not always smooth sailing and easy especially after his mother lost her job and had three kids to fend for. But he did not allow these challenges to stop him from dreaming; instead he was motivated to work harder to turn around the tide. Sithole has a lot of accomplishments under his belt. He is the first Journalism
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student at TUT to have more than 40 articles published on the TUT blog JournTau, he is an academic mentor for first year Journalism students, he writes for TUTLIFE a campus newspaper, he is a co-producer, reporter and news editor for TUTFM’s current affairs show LIVE@6. He was awarded a News Go Getter of the year by TUT’S Journalism department for showing passion and enthusiasm in his first year. Sithole covered several stories for The star and Star Africa Edition. He is also the ambassador for TUT journalism department at future Journalism Programme (FJP) and represented TUT at Grahamstown. It doesn’t end there; he is the founder and reporter for sitholeexpress blog and has recently started a new website with three peers that aim to focus at the whole media spectrum. He just finished writing a book. He has a lot on his plate; one may wonder if he ever gets time to relax. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE JOURNALISM? I enjoy informing people about issues that are of relevance to them and I want to be in the Centre of news, tell untold stories and stories that bring hope. That’s why I
chose Journalism.
as life lessons
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? Eight Day in September the removal of Mbeki by Frank Chikane
DO YOU THINK YOUTH DAY HAS LOST ITS SIGNIFICANCE? It hurts to see that young people no longer understand and celebrate the day appropriately. The day is a symbol of what the 76’ youth went through, it is important and that should never be forgotten.
HOW DO YOU BALANCE SCHOOL WORK AND SOCIAL LIFE? School comes first WHAT MAKES TUT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER UNIVERSITIES? It is one of the best universities in the country that produces well trained Journalists. TUT promotes progressive thinking, innovation, creativity and teamwork, they give every student the opportunity to explore and be well groomed and ready to face the work environment by the time they complete their studies. WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT CAMPUS LIFE? Campus life is where you get to be independent and meet different people. I wish all young people would get the opportunity to go to university and get this amazing experience. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A MATRICULANT WHO IS PLANNING TO GO TO UNIVERSITY NEXT YEAR? Firstly know what you want to study, visit different universities and know the requirements for the course you want to study towards and apply early to avoid disappointments.
HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUTH DEVELOPMENT? It is fundamental for young people to be developed in order for them to be great future leaders, with integrity and credibility. They need to be empowered and offered skills that they can use to upgrade and better their lives. IF YOU WERE A PRESIDENT FOR A DAY, HOW WOULD YOU CONTRIBUTE TO YOUTH DEVELOPMENT? I would offer the underprivileged youth from the townships the opportunity to get first hand exposure at companies they would like to work for, I would create a platform for them to ask questions, to be advised on how to make it big in the industry and get mentors who will adopt and help them not to lose focus.
WHAT CHALLENGES DID YOU FACE IN YOUR FIRST YEAR AT UNIVERSITY? Studying, I did not know which effective methods to use. I have always been one of the top achievers in school, coming to university I realized there are so many smart people so that on its own was a challenge for me. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH CHALLENGES THAT COME YOUR WAY? I pray to God for guidance and take them
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