Times Higher Education ranks UKZN in the Top 400 Page 3

YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 2012LATEST NEWSUKZN MechanicalEngineering Teamraces in SolarChallengeUKZN GolfDay earnsbursaries forstudentsPage 5RESEARCHUKZN researcherco-authorsarticle on firstHIV surrogatetransmission casein SA. Page 2AFIRSTFORUKZNTimes HigherEducation ranksUKZN in theTop 400 Page 3STUDENTSUKZN studentat GlobalTechCamp inSingaporePage 4EXPERTS SPEAKAcademics call for introduction ofindigenous languages in HigherEducation Page 3INSPIRING GREATNESS

2YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 2012UKZN Mechanical Engineeringteam races in Solar ChallengeASHAY NATHOOGROUP of mechanicalengineering students andAtwo academics at UKZN’sSchool of Engineering built avehicle they are racing in theSASOL Solar Challenge.Team members, particularlyexcited as this is UKZN’s first entryin the event, were prepared forserious competition and sometough conditions on the 5400kmacross some of South Africa’s mostdemanding terrain.The Challenge is currentlyunderway, with the route passingthrough several major SouthAfrican cities. There was anovernight stop inPietermaritzburg and the UKZNteam was cheered in by severalmembers of the Universitycommunity.The team comprises of twolecturers, Mr Clinton Bemont andMs Kirsty Veale, and studentsMohammed Mahomedy, MitchellMeyer, Charles Raaff, CameronMcKenzie, Jason Canny, AdhikarHariram, Ndivho Mmbengwa andBongane Sandlane.UKZN’s Apalis solar car wasconceived as a final year designproject in the School ofEngineering under the SolarEnergy Research Group (SERG) byLecturers Bemont and Veale. Thecar has a lightweight carbon fibrebody and chassis supported by analuminium and chromoly subchassis.It is powered by 6m² ofstate of the art silicon solar cells,charging a bank of 464 lithium-ionbatteries, which drive a highefficiency electric motor.Bemont and Veale said that they‘would like the success of thisproject to create futureopportunities for undergraduateand masters’ students to continuethe research into renewable energymethods and electric vehicles.Mechanical Engineering’s Apalis Solar Car Team.‘The project has been great funand an amazing opportunity foryoung engineers. Our goal for thisyear’s race is to successfullycomplete the 5400km course andthen over the next two years refinethe car for the 2014 race. It wouldalso be great to be able to take partin the World Solar Challenge nextyear with a new group of studentswilling to work hard and learn.’The project has attractedsignificant interest andsponsorship from industry. Themajor sponsors for UKZN’s entry inthe race are the UKZN’s School ofEngineering, the Technology andInnovation Agency and Unilever.Other significant sponsors areChemspec, Gochermann SolarTechnology, Krank and PerryYamaha.International hospital design competition to benefit KZNAnswering questions about the design competition are from left: Professor Alan Dilani; Dr Aaron Motsoaledi; Provincial Minister of Health, DrSibongiseni Dhlomo, and Vice-Chancellor of UKZN, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba.UKZN researcherco-authors article onfirst HIV surrogatetransmission case in SALUNGA MEMELADETAILS about the first provenHIV-1 surrogate transmissioncase in South Africa wererecently published in an article -co-authored by a UKZN scientist- in the world’s leading medicaljournal, The Lancet.The case study highlights theneed for safe and appropriateinfant feeding practices inAfrica, including HIV testing ofall breastfeeding surrogates andmothers.Dr Tulio de Oliveira, a SeniorResearcher at UKZN’s WellcomeTrust-Africa Centre, was thesenior author of The Lancetarticle which provides detailsabout a 10-week-old girl who wastaken to hospital by her HIVnegativemother and diagnosedwith the virus. Transmissionwas initially thought to havetaken place in hospital but laterthe mother confirmed her sisterhad been breastfeeding the babyintermittently over a period offour weeks.The sister and her own fivemonth-oldchild weresubsequently found to be HIVpositive.The case is of specialimportance in view of thedecision to halt the provision offormula feeds at public healthfacilities in South Africa.The South African Ministryof Health says the country hasone of the highest HIV and AIDSepidemics and one of the lowestexclusive breastfeeding rates inthe world, where fewer than 10percent of infants areexclusively breastfed.In order to increase the rateof exclusive breastfeeding, theMinistry recently announcedthat formula feeding should beremoved from all public healthfacilities in the country. Thiscontroversial policy is backed bythe expanded used ofantiretroviral (ARV) drugs and arecent decrease of mother-tochildHIV transmission in SouthAfrica.‘In the current case in SouthAfrica, we could clearly showthat the virus infecting the aunt,cousin and infant was linked.This and other evidence ruledout the nosocomial transmissionscenario,’ said de Oliveira.‘The resolution of thesurrogate transmission case inSouth Africa was only possibledue to the work of a team ofmedical doctors and socialworkers. The identities of all theindividuals involved wereprotected and they received thebest treatment and careavailable.LUNGA MEMELAAN international competition tofind a winning design for UKZN’snew medical teaching hospital hasbeen launched by the NationalMinister of Health, Dr AaronMotsoaledi.Fully sponsored by theInternational Academy for Designand Health (IADH), Motsoaledi saidthe competition would savegovernment between R300 and R500million in design fees for hospitalsaround the country.Addressing a gathering on theHoward College campus he saidSouth Africa had during the past 20years produced an average of 1 200medical doctors every year“regardless of the demand andregardless of the quadruple burdenof disease”.Motsoaledi said the countryneeded world-class teachinghospitals in order to meet theDepartment of Health’s target ofproducing at least 3 600 medicaldoctors annually.Construction of the newlearning hospital using thewinning design from thecompetition is expected to begin onvacant land adjoining the HowardCollege campus in 2014. All UKZNHealth Sciences Disciplines andKing Edward VIII Central Hospitalwill be integrated on the newpremises.The new Limpopo AcademicHospital, the Eastern Cape’sNelson Mandela AcademicHospital, Mpumalanga TertiaryHospital and the Dr GeorgeMukhari and Chris HaniBaragwanath hospitals in Gautengwill benefit from adaptations of thewinning design.Professor Alan Dilani, GeneralDirector of IADH, said thecompetition was being run in thespirit of Mandela Day and thewinning design should reflect that.Founded in 1997 by scientists atthe Karolinska Institute inStockholm, IADH is a non-profitorganisation dedicated to thestimulation and application ofresearch concerning theinteraction between design, health,science and culture.Professor Rob Slotow, ActingDeputy Vice-Chancellor for theCollege of Health Sciences, said theCollege looked forward toproducing a new cadre of healthcare professionals, ‘fit-for-purpose’to deliver on the new NHI.Slotow said the six new flagshipprojects would allow academicinstitutions to expand the healthworkforce equipped withknowledge skills and competenciesappropriate to the country’s healthcontext and aligned with thecountry’s health system.Dr Tulio de Oliveira.

YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 20123Times Higher Educationranks UKZN in Top 400UKZN has for the first time been placedin the Top 400 in the Times HigherEducation World UniversityRankingsVice-Chancellor and Principal ProfessorMalegapuru Makgoba said the high rankingwas a fantastic achievement for UKZN. ‘Allcredit must go to the university's academicstaff, students and leadership.‘Nothing is more gratifying thanachievement and success in academia. Thisachievement affirms our strategy. Finally,the African eagle has landed!’The University of Cape Town, theUniversity of the Witwatersrand (Wits) andStellenbosch University are also in the Top400. No other African universities made therankings.The University of Cape Town was placed113th leaving it as the only institution on thecontinent in the Top 200. Wits is in the bandbetween the 226 and 250 positions whileIMRAAN BUCCUSSOUTH Africa is going through a toughtime politically. Having commemorated theanniversary of Steve Biko’s death recently, Ithought it appropriate to reflect on thereflections around Biko and what thismeans for the crisis of leadership that weface in SA. Important I think, especially in acity central to the Biko story.The 12th of September has becomesomething of an unofficial day ofremembering Steve Biko and reflecting onhis legacy. Amidst growing anger in activistcircles about attempts to ‘privatize’ theright to remember Biko it is pleasing to notethe diversity of speakers and events.Barney Pityana, Biko’s close comrade andthe man who actually coined the phrase‘black man you’re on your own’, spoke inPretoria. Here in Durban the eminentphilosopher Dr Percy More spoke to mystudents and in Cape Town the greatNigerian writer, Ben Okri spoke.There are new books out on Biko byDaniel Magaziner and Xolela Mangcu; andNigel Gibson’s new book on Frantz Fanonalso deals extensively with Biko. While thevarious political groups that emerged fromthe Black Consciousness Movement are alltiny, intellectually moribund and lacking inany real popular support Biko himself hasbecome an iconic figure in intellectualcircles.Biko and Rick Turner, a philosopherteaching at Howard College, were theleading intellectuals of the 1970s. They bothcame to prominence here in Durban andwere both murdered by the state. The twomen, who were good friends, became theleading figures in what is now known as‘The Durban Moment’, a brief period inwhich Durban became the centre of radicalintellectual and political life in SouthAfrica.Although Biko inspired the BlackConsciousness Movement, which waslargely a movement of black intellectuals,and Turner was a key figure in theemergence of the black trade unionmovement, they shared an interest incutting edge international thinkers of theday like Jean-Paul Sartre and Paulo Freire.This placed their thought and activismfirmly in the camp of the more democraticforms of radical thought that emergedaround the world under the banner of ‘thenew left’ in the wake of the struggles thatemerged around the world in 1968. In acountry where the left had long beendominated by the twin authoritarianisms ofStalinism and Trotskyism this was a realbreakthrough.Local figures like the late Strini Moodleyand Bishop Rubin Phillip, who were bothStellenbosch lies in the 251st and 275thgrouping.The California Institute of Technology inthe US was ranked first, Oxford and Stanfordwere joint second, and Harvard was fourth.The ranking organisers did not giveUKZN’s exact position saying it would beunfair to do so as the movement at that endof the table was very slight.Times Higher Education takes intoaccount 13 indicators in establishingrankings including the average number oftimes the university;s research papers arevery close to Biko, as well as mypostgraduate teacher, David Hemson, whoworked closely with Turner, have provideda living link to this great moment in ourcity’s history for new generations ofintellectuals and activists.But in all of the new books about Biko,as well as the various talks that were givenaround the country on 12th September, thestress has been laid not so much on payingtribute to heroes of the past but on findingways to meet the intellectual and politicalchallenges of the present. In Cape TownBen Okri said that people get the leadersthat they deserve. And in Pretoria BarneyPityana stessed the gross failures ofleadership that have come to typify ourcountry. Even leading figures in the ANC,like Jay Naidoo, Pallo Jordon and RonnieKasrils have been publically expressingtheir serious concern about the failures ofleadership that we see all around us.The groundswell of public anger atcorrupt and incompetent leaders has nowreached crisis proportions. Now that thecited, staff-to-student ratio and the numberof PhD and undergraduate degreesawarded.Mr Simon Pratt, product manager atThomson Reuters which facilitates therankings, said: ‘We continue to see a highlevel of engagement and collaboration fromparticipating universities.‘This year we had 700 institutionsactively participating in the InstitutionalProfiles project. This is a strongendorsement of the rigorous data collectionprocess and analysis.‘As we enter the fourth year of theInstitutional Profiles initiative we have thebroadest and deepest set of keyperformance indicators on Universitiesglobally, drawing on Thomson Reutersinstitutional reputation and citation data.This is the ideal foundation for the TimesHigher Education World UniversityRanking,’ said Pratt.Steve Biko and the challenges of the presentBantu Stephen Biko was born in Tylden in theEastern Cape on 18 December 1946, the thirdchild of the late Mathew Mzingaye and AliceNokuzola Mamcethe Biko. He attendedprimary school in King William’s Town andsecondary school at Mariannhill, a missionaryschool in KwaZulu-Natal.Biko registered for a degree in medicine atthe black section of the Medical School of thethen University of Natal.Biko’s horizons extended further than themedical profession and he soon became aprominent student leader co-founding the SAStudents Organisation (SASO) in 1968 andbeing elected its first President at theinaugural congress held at Turfloop in 1969.SASO was created out of the frustrations ofBlack students within the liberal and multiracialNUSAS who felt the student body wasunwilling to adopt radical policy positionsand preferred playing ‘safe politics’.rebellion of the poor, which has beengrowing since 2004, has exploded across theplatinum belt our leaders have realised thatthey can’t carry on as usual. But instead ofan attempt to resolve the crisis by takingpublic participation and negotiationseriously our leaders are trying to resolve itwith coercion and violence. There is a witchhunt on to find the ‘third force’ behind theinsurrectionary mood sweeping thecountry. Some have pointed to Malema,others to Britain. Some have even spoken ofa ‘counter-revolutionary’ force like Renamoemerging.We should remember that in the 70’s thenational liberation movement denouncedBiko as a CIA agent. The authoritarian leftin and out of the national liberationmovement has never been able tounderstand that people are perfectlycapable of exercising political agency ontheir own. We have seen this duringapartheid era and in the democratic era.When people have organised themselves ontheir own rather than under the authorityof the official left this has constantly beenresponded to with conspiracy theoriescentering around evil agitators and wildslander rather than attempts to understandwhy it is that people have organisedthemselves.Biko stressed that it was the mind of theoppressed that is the most importantterrain of struggle. If today’s protestorswere engaged as people with minds insteadof with witch hunts for the agitators andconspiracies our democracy would be a lotstronger. What would Biko have done?Imraan Buccus is Research Fellow inthe School of Social Sciences at UKZNand Academic Director of a universitystudy abroad programme on politicaltransformation.Call for indigenouslanguages inHigher EducationLUNGA MEMELATHE College of Health Sciences (CHS) is progressingtowards the development and implementation ofpolicies to ensure UKZN produces a new generationof multilingual and culturally sensitive graduatesskilled and competent to address South Africa’shealth needs.In line with this, the College recently held aNational African Languages Colloquium. Over twodays, representatives from Higher Educationinstitutions and various disciplines at UKZNdiscussed curriculum transformation comprisingeffective discipline-specific communication skills,and the teaching and learning of indigenouslanguages along with cultural sensitivity, therebyproducing sought after graduates.The colloquium promoted African languages aseffective communication mediums in tertiaryinstitutions, shared experiences on the promotionand implementation of policies and strategicallyplanned for the development and implementation ofAfrican language policies.Representing the UKZN Teaching and LearningOffice (UTLO), Dr Rubby Dhunpath informeddelegates that 44 percent of the student body at UKZNused English as a home-language while 46 percentused isiZulu and 10 percent other languages.Dhunpath said there was a perceived dominanceof English as an international language, while in factSouth Africa boasted 11 official languages.Dhunpath highlighted that 81 percent of KwaZulu-Natal’s population were isiZulu speaking. Thispresented various challenges for Western-trainedhealth professionals in the province as doctor /patient consultation needed to rise above the culturalcommunication barrier.Critical issues for consideration in theintellectualisation of African languages in SouthAfrican Higher Education were discussed after anopening address delivered by Professor NobuhleHlongwa, College Dean: Teaching and Learning,Humanities.Hlongwa touched on legislative and policy context;language policy and planning in South Africaninstitutions of Higher Education (HE), and ways oflinking the implementation of language plans tothroughput in HE.‘IsiZulu is not a nice-to-know anymore,’ saidUKZN’s Professor Noleen Turner, who spoke aboutthe implementation of African languages in healthsciences professional training.Turner said UKZN currently had 400 studentsstudying isiZulu as a second language and should thelanguage policy be implemented; the numbers wouldshoot up to 4 000 students competent at least on thebasic level.Professor Fanie Botha, Director for CHSProfessional Services, said: ‘It is hoped that Africanlanguages will soon be recognised on the sameplatform as the English language. This will thenensure greater emphasis is placed on not justlearning the language but also the culture, therebyimproving relationships between health sciencesprofessionals and their clients.’Dr Chris Ellis (right) who discussed challenges incross-cultural communication with African patients.

4YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 2012Discovery of newspecies of batsSALLY FROSTHE scientific community isgoing batty! Four new speciesTof horseshoe bats have beendiscovered in east and southernAfrica, after scientists piecedtogether clues such as DNA data andthe most intense frequency of sonarcalls of each of these flyingmammals.The investigation was led by ateam of bat experts which includedDr Corrie Schoeman of UKZN’sSchool of Life Sciences. Lead authorof the study was evolutionarygeneticist Professor Peter Taylor ofthe University of Venda in SouthAfrica.Other team members were DrSamantha Stoffberg of StellenboschUniversity, Professor Ara Monadjemof the University of Swaziland, DrJulian Bayliss of the ConservationScience Group at the University ofCambridge in the United Kingdomand the Mulanje MountainConservation Trust in Malawi, andDr Woody Cotterill of StellenboschUniversity and the Africa EarthObservatory Network (AEON).The new species are the Cohen’sHorseshoe Bat (Rhinolophuscohenae), the Smithers’ HorseshoeBat (Rhinolophus smithersi), theMozambican Horseshoe Bat(Rhinolophus mossambicus) and theMount Mabu Horseshoe Bat(Rhinolophus mabuensis).Two of the species were named inhonour of dedicated SouthernDr Corrie Schoeman inMadagascar, holdingone of Madagascarsendemic bats, theMadagascar SuckerfootedBat (Myzopodaaurita).African conservationists, MsLientjie Cohen, a scientist of theMpumalanga Tourism and ParksAgency in South Africa, and the lateDr Reay Smithers of Zimbabwe,author of Southern Africa’s mostcomprehensive mammal anthology.The third species was named inhonour of Mount Mabu, the largestrainforest in southern Africa, whichis under threat and where the batsreside. The fourth new species isfound only in Mozambique.The discoveries are described inthe latest edition of the open sourcejournal PLOS ONE and can bedownloaded freely fromhttp://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041744It was previously thought therewas only one type of large horseshoebat, Hildebrandt’s Horseshoe Bat(Rhinolophus hildebrandtii), whichis found throughout east Africa andin the tropical habitats of Zimbabweand the Mpumalanga province inSouth Africa.‘We now know that five distinctspecies of large horseshoe batsoccur in central and eastern Africa,’said Taylor. ‘We also know thatHildebrandt’s Horseshoe Bat, thespecies initially known to science,occurs only in east Africa.’The researchers compared keycharacteristics of the bats,including sonar calls, their skullshape, genitalia, and DNAsequences to diagnose and classifythe new species.Ucwaningo lwezeSayensi lokuhlaziyaizimo eNingizimu AfrikaKUNESIDINGO esikhulusabacwaningi emkhakheniweForensic Anatomy eNingizimuAfrika, kusho owayefunda e-UKZNnowaziwa umhlaba wonkeosebenza njengeSpecialist ForensicPathologist, uDkt Shereen Akoojee.U-Akoojee ubevakashele isikoleseLaboratory Medicine neMedicalSciences, ekhulumaemhlanganweni wabayinxenyeyencwadi yocwaningo iDisciplineof Clinical Anatomy (DOCA).Uthe amacala ocwaningoabandakanya izingane isikhathiesiningi abangwa ukulahlwakwezingane, ngenxa yabakhiphaizisu, nezingane ezintshontshwayokulelizwe.Kusungulwe indlela ebizwangeStreet Law Project yokubhekaindlela umthetho ongasebenzangayo uma kuziwa kwezocwaningonokuhlaziya izimo ezweni lakithi,engaphansi kwe-IndependentMedico Legal Unit (IMLU)yaseNingizimu Afrika. Lapha u-Akoojee uyiForensic consultant,umqeqeshi, nomcwaningi.U-Akoojee uthe ukwazingokwelapha kwezokuhlaziyakuyasiza ekuqondeniukukhubazeka kwemvelaphiyomuntu. Uthe ukufakaezokuhlaziya kwenzaabezomthetho nabezokwelaphababe ngongcweti ngokukhulakwengane engakazalwa nencaneesanda kuzalwa.Ukuba nogqozi kwezokuhlaziyakwezimo kanye nePhysicalAnthropology kwenze u- Akoojeeabonakale ebamba iqhazaekukhulisweni kwamakhononasekuqeqesheni emikhakheniyeClinical Forensic MedicineneForensic Pathology, nabasebenzangalokhu kwezempilonabezomthetho. U-AkoojeewayeyiChief Specialist forForensic Services and BioethicseMnyangweni wezeMpiloKwaZulu-Natali aphinde abeumseshi we-Anatomyesifundazweni.Inkulumo ka-Akoojeebekungukuthi aqale izingxoxo,nanokuthi aqale futhi agqugquzeleucwaningo kulomkhakha.Kuthenjwa ukuthi kuzobanemiphumela ezosiza kusungulweizindlela ezizosebenza eNingizimuAfrika. Abebekhona bakhombiseukuyithanda lenkulumo bafunanokuqala iqembu locwaningokulomkhakha.Uthe ukufunda ngalokhukungasungula kuphinde kwandiseizindlela ezikhona eNingizimuAfrika, kuphinde kuqhathaniswenezinye izinto zokuthola unyakawengane engakafiki esikhathinisokuzalwa. Nabacwaningibangaqala ukubheka izindlelaekungenziwa ngazo eNingizimuAfrika.Iqembu lalencwadi yocwaningoliphinde lalalela uDkt EdwinNaidu noDkt Adeyinka Alabiabenza izifundo zeMastersneDoctrate abethule ucwaningolwabo.UDkt Okpara Azu oyiSeniorLecturer esikoleni seLaboratoryMedicine neMedical Sciences uthebazokwandisa ucwaningo,ukufunda nokufundisa kwabo.‘Sihlele ukwandisa lokhungokumema abantu abahambaphambili, izinkampanineminyango emhlabeni wonkeukuthi bafike bazosipha ulwazilwabo.’* English translation of thisstory on page 6.UKZN student participates in GlobalTech camp in SingaporeA UKZN chemical engineeringgraduate, Mr Stuart Woolley, waschosen from students around theworld to participate in a summerschool in Singapore whichexamined water-related problemsfacing mankind.The Global Alliance ofTechnological Universities, orGlobalTech, held its summer campat the Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity.The 24 students from 10 differentcountries had a busy timetable atthe two-week camp. In the morningsthey attended lectures byinternational experts fromGlobalTech Universities on newwater treatment technologies andwater management techniques andpolicies while in the afternoons theywent on site visits to modern watertreatment facilities and watermanagement facilities in variousareas in Singapore.In the final days of the camp,they took part in a laboratory-basedcompetition where they were putinto groups tasked withconstructing two portable devices -one using membrane technologyand the other non-membranoustechnology – which could be utilisedas water purification devices in anatural disaster scenario.The feasibility of the deviceswere judged on the criteria of howeasy the devices were to operate, therate at which drinking water wasproduced and the quality of thewater.Woolley’s group was judged tohave produced the best waterfiltration devices overall anddeclared winners of the competitionThe GlobalTech Summer Camp winning group with camp organisers. From left: Professor ER Meng Hwa, Sun Siwei, Lee Tai Wei, Zeno Robbiani,Stuart Woolley and Associate Professor Darren Sun.The students’ work was latershowcased at the 4th GlobalTechWorkshop on Challenges andSolutions for Sustainable WaterManagement in Urban Centres. TheGlobalTech Summer Camp andGlobalTech Workshop coincidedwith the International Water Weekin Singapore, which provided thestudents with opportunities toattend world-class seminars and tointeract with experts in the industry.Woolley is currently studying forhis Masters in ChemicalEngineering at UKZN and wasinvolved with the PollutionResearch Group’s research into theBill & Melinda Gate’s Foundations’Reinvent the Toilet Challenge.Woolley said he applied to attendthe Global Tech Summer Camp asan opportunity to further hiseducation and experience in waterpurification technologies andmanagement, knowing theknowledge he gained would beinvaluable in his MSc research.Knowledge of water treatmenttechnologies, water managementtechniques and sustainabledevelopment policies are vital forAfrica and Woolley hopes theknowledge he gained in Singaporeand the connections he made therewill pay dividends for him when heenters the industry.

YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 20125UKZN golf day earnsbursaries for studentsSITHEMBILE SHABANGUIGHT UKZN students fromdisadvantaged backgroundsEwere each awarded a R10 000bursary at UKZN’s 9th Annual GolfDay held at the Royal Durban GolfClub.This year 128 golfers teed off toraise funds for students frompreviously disadvantagedbackgrounds who have excelledacademically.Participants includedbusinessmen, staff, students,alumni, donors, friends of theUniversity and the local golfingfraternity.UKZN Registrar, Professor JaneMeyerowitz, told the participantstheir participation was in aid of areally good cause.Since its inception the Golf Dayhas raised R900 000 providing 90students with funding to completetheir studies. The main sponsor ofthe event for the past few years,Standard Bank, pledged R50 000.‘Nothing gives me more joy thanseeing the excitement on the faces ofthe students when they hear theyhave been chosen to receive abursary. I congratulate the studentsand wish them well in their futurestudies,’ said tournament organiser,Ms Shakila Thakurpersad.‘Next year is our 10th year andthe tournament will be held at theWild Coast Sun. We are hoping tocelebrate in style by giving awaymore bursaries to deservingstudents.’Memorial Lecturehonours Dr MV GumedeLUNGA MEMELAFAMILY and friends of the late DrMordecai Vusumuzi Gumede joinedthe University community as wellas traditional healers tocommemorate the life and times ofthe inspirational medical veteran.The gathering took place at theInaugural Dr MV GumedeMemorial Lecture held by theCollege of Health Sciences duringAfrican Traditional Medicine week.The lecture paid tribute to a manwell known for his work withtraditional healers in KwaZulu-Natal.Gumede played a key role inshaping the recognition anddevelopment of African traditionalmedicine earning him respectamong traditional healers at a timewhen his embodiment ofcollaboration between traditionaland conventional medicine was stillanathema to many. The celebratedpioneer was posthumously awardedan honorary doctorate by theUniversity of Zululand in 1999.Gumede published a number ofpapers in various journalsincluding the South African MedicalJournal, South African Journal ofFamily Practice, and The Leech: WitsMedical Graduate AssociationJournal.He was described as anexceptional medical doctor whocontributed substantially to thepublic service in the province. Hisbook: Traditional healers: amedical doctor’s perspective, isprescribed by several South Africanuniversities.A special tribute was paid toGumede on behalf of the KwaZulu-Natal Traditional Healers Group byBaba Sazi Mhlongo and BabaProtus Cele, who spoke about theimportant role traditional healersplayed in society, telling theaudience there was no ‘short cut’ tobecoming a traditional healer.A keynote address was deliveredby Professor Lizo Mazwai, Chair ofthe Medical Research Council(MRC) Board and SpecialistSurgeon: St Mary’s Hospital,Mthatha.Mazwai commended the Collegeof Health Sciences for having aspecific discipline for traditionalmedicine, saying UKZN hadpartnered with the MRC on manyprojects and he was hopeful thatground-breaking research would bedone on malaria, diabetes, TB andHIV.Professor Rob Slotow, ActingDeputy Vice-Chancellor: College ofHealth Sciences, said: ‘It is fittingat this time during AfricanTraditional Medicine week, for theUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal’sCollege of Health Sciences tocelebrate the life and memory ofDr MV Gumede and in particularhis contribution to theadvancement of traditionalmedicine and public health in thisprovince.Gumede’s eldest daughter DrLindiwe Simelane, said the familywas humbled by the gesture fromUKZN and the College of HealthSciences.Executive Director: Physical Planning and Operations, Mr Charles William Poole (left) and Director ofKwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), Professor Bill Bishai at UKZN’s Golf Day.THANDIWE JUMOTHE former Research Director ofUKZN’s Health Economics andHIV/AIDS Research Division(HEARD), Professor Tim Quinlan,has co-authored and edited a bookwhich explores the gap betweenwhat governments say aboutHIV/AIDS and what they do tocombat it.Recently launched, the booktitled: African Responses toHIV/AIDS: Between Speech andAction, is one of HEARD’s firstprojects on African leadership andfeatures a host of public andscholarly disputes contextualisedby African scholars.The book refers to the record ofgovernments in a wide range ofAfrican countries with case studiesdrawing on the rhetoric ofgovernments and the nature ofleadership in Ethiopia, the Gambia,Morocco, South Africa and Zambia.Quinlan authored and edited thebook with Dr Segun Ige who did hisPHD at UKZN. Ige approachedQuinlan with the concept ofwriting about the rhetoric of AIDSas a way to examine the differencebetween how African governmentspronounce on HIV and AIDS andhow they act to deal with thedisease.‘The book was motivated bypublic anger and frustration inAfrica over the apparent inabilityof many governments to actdecisively in containing thepandemic and the seemingambivalence of many Africangovernments to the right to healthand health care for their citizens.There was also a need to presentAfrican perspectives on responsesto HIV and AIDS (a key concern); toshow the variety of responses inAfrica - the good and the bad; and tocounter a common perception thatnothing has gone right in dealingwith HIV and AIDS in Africa,’ saidQuinlan.‘From that came the hypothesisabout the ambivalence ofFrom left: Professor Rob Slotow; Dr Lindiwe Simelane, Mrs MelodiusGumede, Ms Nana Gumede; Dr Nceba Gqaleni and Professor LizoMazwai.Launch of book examining African Governments’ responses to HIV/AIDSFrom left: Professor Tim Quinlan and Dr Segun Ige with HEARDExecutive Director, Professor Alan Whiteside.governments; then we askedAfrican scholars to write on thebasis of their work and experienceon this seeming ambivalence andultimately the book was produced.The focus on rhetoric andgovernment ambivalence isreflected in part of the title:“between speech and action” whichrefers to the gap between whatmany governments say on HIV andAIDS and what they actually do.’HEARD’s Executive Director,Professor Alan Whiteside, said thebook was a necessary andprovocative critique of leadershipon HIV and AIDS and exposed theambivalence of Governments tothe health and welfare of theirpeople.The book also features aninteresting analysis fromresearcher, HealthCommunications and MediaSpecialist Dr John Lengwe Kundaand UKZN’s Professor KeyanTomaselli on the contradictions informer SA President ThaboMbeki’s African renaissance andanti-’western’ science rhetoric.

6YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 2012The first critical minutes, hours when HIV or TB invade the body’s immune system is the focus of a new chapter ofresearch. LIZ CLARKE spoke to a young scientist who is beginning this journey of investigation in Durban.Big guns out in the fightagainst TB and HIV/AIDSLASDAIR Leslie certainlycould be helpful for diagnostics.doesn’t fit the prototypecannot reach.A three dimensional model ofAFACT FILEdescription of the studiousIn part this is responsible for human tissue that would have beenand bespectacled boffin scientisttucked behind a row of petri dishes.A quirky modernist, with asense of fun, he will be part of aclinical and diagnosticinvestigative team taking up aresearch post at the newlyestablished KwaZulu-NatalResearch Institute for TB and HIV(K-RITH).Career change, marriage andtwo young kids stand between himand the last time he lived in Africabut he makes no bones about thefact that he still has a passion forthe stark and expansive landscapeshe fell in love with some years agoas a volunteer teacher.‘When I returned to the UK in2002 with my now wife, Georgie,part of me was left behind inMalawi where I had met so manyunforgettable people. I just hopedthat one day I would have a chanceto come back to Africa and dosomething useful.’But to get back and ‘dosomething useful’ involved quite anunorthodox passage, particularlyas his knowledge emanated from amasters’ degree in agriculture!Born and brought up in theEnglish county of Surrey, hebelieves that exploration,investigation and new challengesare part and parcel of his life.‘So when I returned to Englandonly to find that there were noopenings for me as a scientist in theagriculture sector, I knew it wastime to change direction.’He came across anadvertisement for a laboratoryassistant based at OxfordUniversity studying the immuneresponse to HIV infection.‘It immediately caught my eye.The devastating effects had beenpainfully apparent in Malawi,where high rates of HIV infectionwere compounded by extremepoverty and a lack of health careinfrastructure. I lost several friendsto the disease during my time there.Dendritic cells are among the firstimmune cells to encounter thevirus, and are essential in drivingan effective immune response.However, it is becomingincreasingly apparent that HIV isable to interfere with thisinteraction in ways that impairinitial immune response andallow the pathogens to hide inreservoirs that medicationAlasdair Leslie.At least, I assumed that’s what itwas. It wasn’t really talked about.’Six months after successfullyapplying for the job, Leslie wasoffered a position as a PhD studentexploring the relationship betweenHIV and the body’s host cells, tryingto understand how HIV manages toavoid being wiped out by ourimmune systems.Recently he extended thosestudies to include the tuberculosiscausingbacteria Mycobacteriumtuberculosis (mTB) – a journey thatthe rapid early viral spread anddamage to the immune systemthat is the hallmark of this deadlydisease.The work at K-RITH will bedone in collaboration with DrMattias Svensson from theKarolinska Institute in Swedenand Dr Ben Owens in Oxford, whohave developed the lung and gutmucosal models respectively.has now brought him to Durbanwith his wife and two young sons,Samora and Julius.‘Getting to grips with both thesediseases, not knowing exactly whatwe will find, or what the impact willbe on halting these pandemics –that is the overwhelmingchallenge.’With the support of a five-yearresearch grant from K-RITH,Leslie’s area of interest, togetherwith a team of researchers, will beto try and unbutton the mysteriessurrounding the responses made bythe immune system cells at themoment HIV and TB pathogensenter the body.It’s pretty clear that pathogenslike HIV and mTB have evolvedways of interfering with this initialsignaling, and that allows them tosurvive. But we need to know awhole lot more.” One of the keys tounderstanding the initial diseasebattleground are the Dendriticcells, explains Leslie.‘They are in the front line of fire,responsible for recognising andsignaling the arrival of both HIVand TB. Once we have built up aclearer picture of the key proteinsinvolved in this recognition processand pin down some of the ways inwhich the invading pathogens areable to modify this interaction totheir benefit, we should have someuseful data.’Knowledge gained, he says,could reveal new targets forpotential drugs, vaccines, orbiological markers of disease thata far-fetched snippet of sciencefiction a few years ago, will soonplay an important role in thisunfolding medical story.Explaining the process, Lesliesays that thanks to recent advances,it is possible to culture varioustypes of human lung or gut cells ina lab dish and “coax them toorganise themselves into structuresthat are virtually indistinguishablefrom the natural tissues.”What does this mean?‘It means that by introducingcells from infected patients into thetissue models we can observe howHIV severely damages the gutmucosa, a process that has beenvery difficult to study in humans.‘We’ve always had to rely on animaltissue or single cells grown in alaboratory, which behave verydifferently.’Leslie also plans to use thistechnique to investigate theformation and maintenance of TBgranulomas. These are the clustersof infected and uninfected cells thatform in the lungs of patients astheir immune systems attempt towall off the TB pathogen.‘Granulomas are a hallmark ofTB infection, yet whether theirformation favours the host or thepathogen, we don’t really know.’The techniques, he says, don’trequire extremely high-techequipment.‘You need the expertise – we’vegot that – and you need access topatient samples – which we have inSouth Africa, and you need anenvironment that is 100 percentfocused on driving the scienceforward – and that is what K-RITHis. It’s exactly the kind of researchthat should be happening in thispart of the world where the effectsof TB and HIV are so keenly felt.”‘Always the ultimate aim is toprovide data that will be useful inthe fight against these terriblediseases. I hope to be part of thatincredible journey’.Healthy CornerTHIS is the first in a series ofcolumns on health issues to assistreaders to take proper care of theirbodies. September was NationalHeart Awareness Month so in thisinaugural column the focus is onthat most vital organ: The Heart.Heart diseaseHeart disease refers to severaltypes of heart conditions includingcoronary artery disease, angina,heart failure and arrhythmias.CausesSome medical conditions as wellas lifestyle factors can put people athigher risk of getting heart disease.The most important of these arehigh blood pressure, high bloodcholesterol, cigarette smoking,diabetes and obesity.Signs and SymptomsThe five major signs thatsomeone is having a heart attackare:• Pain or discomfort in the jaw, neckor back• Feeling weak, light-headed or faint• Chest pain or discomfort• Pain or discomfort in arms orshoulder• Shortness of breath.If you think that someone ishaving a heart attack, you shouldcall emergency servicesimmediately.PreventionYou can prevent heart disease byliving a healthy lifestyle:• Eat a healthy diet. Be sure to eatplenty of fruits and vegetables.Eating foods low in saturated fatand cholesterol and high in fibrecan help prevent high bloodcholesterol. Limiting salt of sodiumin your diet can lower your bloodpressure;• Maintain a healthy weight. Beingoverweight or obese can increaseyour risk for heart disease;• Exercise regularly. Physical activitycan help you maintain a healthyweight and lower cholesterol andblood pressure;• Do not smoke. Smoking greatlyincreases your risk for heart disease;• Limit alcohol use. Avoid drinkingtoo much alcohol. It causes highblood pressure.TreatmentThe treatment for heart diseasedepends on the kind of heart diseaseyou have and how serious it is. Yourhealthcare provider will be able toassist you. – www.doh.co.zaLUNGA MEMELATHERE is a growing need for SouthAfrican researchers in the field offorensic anatomy, says UKZNalumnus and internationallyacclaimed Specialist ForensicPathologist, Dr Shereen Akoojee.Akoojee, hosted by the School ofLaboratory Medicine and MedicalSciences, was speaking at a journalclub meeting of the Discipline ofClinical Anatomy (DOCA).She outlined foetus and younginfant medico-legal cases whichwere often related to illegaltermination of pregnancy,abandoned babies and baby theft inthe country.Currently attached to thecountry’s Independent MedicoLegal Unit (IMLU) – a Street Lawproject established to facilitateaccess to justice through thedevelopment of a democraticforensic service ethos in SouthAfrica - Akoojee serves as a forensicconsultant, trainer and researcher.Akoojee said the medicalapplication of forensic anatomyForensic anatomy research in South AfricaDr Shereen Akoojee (centre) was warmly received by the Discipline ofClinical Anatomy’s Professor Mohamed Haffajee and Dr Okpara Azu.was relevant in understandingcongenital and geneticabnormalities. She said forensicanatomy positioned the medicolegalfraternity as experts inidentifying gestational aging - theage of a foetus or new-born infant.Akoojee’s keen and specificinterest in forensic anatomy andphysical anthropology has seen heractively involved in the facilitationand development of training andskills development programmes inClinical Forensic Medicine andForensic Pathology for legalpractitioners and health careprofessionals involved in theadministration of justice.Akoojee was previously theChief Specialist for ForensicServices and Bioethics in theKwaZulu-Natal Department ofHealth as well as the Inspector ofAnatomy for the province.The purpose of Akoojee’spresentation was to help identifypossible studies and stimulatefurther discussion that wouldgenerate research opportunitiesand topics in forensic anatomy. It isenvisaged that such an outcomewould assist in establishingstandards that are relevant andapplicable in the South Africancontext. Participants showedkeenness to form a forensicanatomy research interest group.Akoojee said prospective studiescould establish and verify existingdata in South Africa, compare localdata in respect of the variousfactors used to establish thegestational age of a foetus, andresearchers could conductpopulation specific studies andexplore ethical issues in the SouthAfrican context.The journal club also listened toDr Edwin Naidu and Dr AdeyinkaAlabi, both Masters and Doctoralcandidates respectively, whopresented stimulating researchwhich is pending.Dr Okpara Azu, Senior Lecturerin the Discipline said they wouldexpand their research, teachingand learning. ‘We intend to achievethis by inviting more esteemedindividuals, companies andinstitutions to come in and sharenew ideas/developments fromaround the world.’

YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 20127UKZN’s ccrri staff member winsHighway Africa New Media AwardVICKY CROOKESMR Niall McNulty, ResourceOfficer for UKZN’s Centrefor Critical Research onRace and Identity (ccrri), was partof a team which won the runner-upprize in the Innovative Use ofTechnology for CommunityEngagement category at the recentTelkom-Highway Africa NewMedia Awards.These unique and prestigiousawards were hosted by the 16thHighway Africa Conference whichtook place at Rhodes University inGrahamstown. Aimed at rewardinginnovative use of InformationCommunication technologies(ICTs) in journalism which serveAfrica and its citizens, the awardswere pioneered to highlight the roleICTs play to enhance journalismand the media, and in the process,to uplift communities.McNulty was recognised for hiswork with the Umlazi Programme,an innovative initiative of theeThekwini Municipality whichuses Web 2.0 technology, the localcommunity and the public libraryinfrastructure to collect anddisseminate indigenous knowledge.Mr Niall McNulty provides training for a volunteer as part of the UmlaziProgramme.This is achieved by trainingcitizen journalists in digital mediaproduction and oral history skills,who then return to theircommunities and collect stories,which are entered onto theCommunity Memory website(developed as a wiki) throughcomputers at any of themunicipality’s 90 public libraries.According to McNulty, theproject has been in operation forfour years and has made a realdifference to the community itserves, through the preservationand dissemination of culturallyspecificlocal knowledge and thedevelopment of useful andtransferable ICT skills.Local knowledge and ways ofdoing things in Africa havehistorically been transmittedorally from one generation to thenext. In South Africa, variousfactors such as urban migrationand the AIDS pandemic inyounger generations havecontributed to a disruption ofthese chains of culturaltransmission.‘Digital technologies, inparticular mobile phones, offersome ways in which thisinformation can be recorded andcirculated. These technologies canfacilitate the preservation anddissemination of local knowledgethrough audio recordings,photographs and articles. Thetechnology allows for multiplecontributions from a variety ofperspectives – male, female, youngand old,’ said McNulty.Education vital for SA’s internationalcompetitiveness, says Arts & Culture MinisterUKZN academicattends first AUAfrican DiasporaSummitVICKY CROOKESDR Gosnell Yorke, a Lecturer in theSchool of Religion, Philosophy andClassics, represented the CaribbeanGovernment (St Kitts-Nevis) asHead of Delegation and HonouraryConsul at the African Union (AU)African Diaspora Summit inJohannesburg.Held at the Sandton ConventionCentre, the central theme of theSummit was: Towards theRealisation of a United andIntegrated Africa and its Diaspora.Government representatives fromthroughout the continent as well asfrom North America, LatinAmerica and the Caribbean werewelcomed at the Summit byPresident Jacob Zuma.Formed in Durban in 2002, theAU is the immediate successor tothe Organisation of African Unity(OAU) which was established in 1963with its Headquarters in AddisAbaba, Ethiopia. Its mandate thenwas to push for the total politicalliberation of the African continent.With the dismantling ofapartheid and the subsequentadvent of democracy in SouthAfrica in 1994, it was felt that thetime had finally come to push forother forms of liberation as well,e.g. cultural, psychological andespecially economic.VICKY CROOKESEDUCATION and knowledge areimportant national assets whichenable South Africa to competeinternationally and theGovernment needs to make moreresources available in this vitalarea, says the Minister of Arts andCulture, Mr Paul Mashatile.Delivering the College ofHumanities’ 9th Annual JohnLangalibalele Dube MemorialLecture on UKZN’sPietermaritzburg campus,Mashatile said he was humbled bythe occasion taking place in theyear the country celebrated thecentenary of the African NationalCongress – the oldest liberationmovement in Africa.Dedicated to celebrating andhonouring the life and legacy ofDube, the ANC’s foundingPresident, the lecture was titled:John Dube’s Challenge to theHumanities and Education in the21st Century.Mashatile urged the country tolearn from Dube, a pioneer ineducation who created the OhlangeInstitute, the first school in SouthAfrica founded by an Africanperson. Dube firmly believed ‘thatthere is no substitute foreducation’.The Minister emphasised theimportance of education andknowledge in equipping thecountry to compete with the rest ofthe world and said the state mustintervene and make moreresources available for education.‘In preserving the vision andlegacy of Dr Dube, we mustcontinue to condemn any actionsthat undermine programmesaimed at providing qualityeducation and teaching in ourschools and institutions of higherlearning,’ said Mashatile.On the subject of theFrom left: Mr Zenzele Dube, grandson of JL Dube; Mr Paul Mashatile, Minister of Arts and Culture, MsThobeka Dube, granddaughter in-law of JL Dube; Professor Relebohile Moletsane, the JL Dube Chair of RuralEducation at UKZN; Mr Langa Dube, grandson of JL Dube; Professor Joseph Ayee, DVC and Head of theCollege of Humanities; and Dr Raymond Kumalo, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics.humanities, Mashatile highlightedthe drop in student enrolments fordisciplines in the humanities aswell as the decrease in graduationsof students from the humanities.‘The Africa CompetitivenessReport of 2011 which argues for amove away from the social sciencesand humanities to an emphasis onscience, engineering, mathematicsand entrepreneurship, does nothelp the situation,’ said Mashatile.‘It is through the humanitiesthat we are able to record our past,with an understanding of it, makesense of our present and planbetter for our future.’ He saidDube ‘saw the humanities as partof a broader set of skills needed toenhance an individual’scontribution to society’.Dr Gosnell Yorke.It was in this context that formerPresident Mandela’s commitment toreconciliation and former PresidentMbeki’s promotion of the AfricanRenaissance and commitment to theNew Economic Partnership forAfrica’s Development (NEPAD)could best be understood.Since the formation of the AU, itsConstitutive Act has been amended(in 2003) to formally recognise thoselike Yorke who hail from the olderAfrican Diaspora as belonging to its6th Region.In particular, Article 3(q),“Objectives” of the Protocol onAmendment to the Constitutive Actof the African Union, now reads asfollows: The objectives of the Unionshall be to: … (q) ‘invite andencourage the full participation ofthe African Diaspora as animportant part of our continent, inbuilding the African Union’.Though this amendment has notyet been ratified by the requisitenumber of African countries to giveit full force and effect, Yorke statedthat members of the 6th Regioncould now participate in the life ofthe AU by sitting as members of itsSocial and Cultural Council.Yorke says the main outcome ofthe Summit is an 11-page DraftDeclaration on the AfricanDiaspora Summit. In essence, theSummit resolved to continue tostrengthen the links alreadyestablished between Africa and itsDiaspora.

8YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 2012US Fulbright Scholar reflects onexperiential learning at UKZNLUNGA MEMELAROFESSOR Neil Prose,Fulbright Scholar andPPaediatric Dermatologist fromDuke University in the UnitedStates, spent six weeks in KwaZulu-Natal hosted by UKZN’s Disciplineof Rural Health to assist withintegrating teaching aroundcommunication.Passionate and committed toteaching empathic communicationbetween healthcare providers andpatients, Prose helped educators inthe College of Health Sciences(CHS) develop sustainable curriculaand explore communication skillsliterature to determine whatfindings and suggestions wereapplicable in different cultures andcountries.After marrying a Durban womanin 2001 and visiting the provinceannually after that, Prose developedan interest in interacting withdiverse groups and individuals. ‘Istarted to wonder if the work I haddone teaching empathiccommunication skills to medicalstudents and registrars in the USAmight have an application at theMedical School at UKZN.’Prose said communicationbetween doctor and patient in SouthAfrica’s multicultural society wasparticularly challenging butpresented wonderful opportunitiesfor teaching and learning. Thismade UKZN his institution ofchoice for the Fulbright Scholarship.At UKZN, Prose tutoredcommunication skills, also lecturingfifth-year medical students duringtheir Family Medicine elective.Prose led a group of 13 medicalstudents on a half-day culturalexperience at the Muthi market,Professor Neil Prose (right) with his wife and mother-in-law during a public lecture in the College of Health Sciences.food market and a mosque atWarwick Triangle in Durban.The students had theopportunity to visit parts of Durbanthey had never seen, and to confronttheir own beliefs and prejudices.‘The following week, we met as agroup to discuss our ownstereotypes and prejudices, and howthey had been affected by theexperience.’Prose said he identified twoparticular challenges facing medicaleducators in South Africa.‘The first is to develop acurriculum and a set of teachingskills that meet the needs ofstudents who come from a verybroad range of cultural andeducational backgrounds. Thesecond is to train a generation ofhealthcare providers whose skill setand career aspirations allow them tomeet the enormous health needs inEdgewood Research Commons officially openedMELISSA MUNGROOUKZN staff and students descendedon the Edgewood campus recentlyto witness the official opening ofthe Research Commons - a state ofthe art facility designed to servemasters and doctoral students aswell as academics and researchers.The Research Commons is alarge, dedicated space with physicalresources including 30 thin-clientcomputer workstations, runningup-to-date software such as wordprocessors, bibliographic software,browsers, and e-mail clients. Thefacility also provides access toextensive online resources, wirelessconnections, an electronicclassroom, a conference room,printing and scanning equipment,and areas for discussion andrelaxation.Access is gained through aswipe card and the area will bemonitored by closed circuitcameras.The project was headed by theformer Deputy Dean ofPostgraduate Studies in the Schoolof Education, Professor DeeviaBhana, with funding provided bythe School.Officially opening theCommons, Deputy Vice-Chancellorfor the College of Humanities,Professor Joseph Ayee, said theSchool of Education had thehighest enrolment of postgraduatestudents. ‘The Research Commonswill help train young researchers aswell as nurture the culture ofresearch and research outputs.’Dean and Head of the School ofEducation, Professor GregoryKamwendo, said the facility wouldensure staff and students were ableto finish their theses on timehopefully leading to more proposals,project grants and postgraduateinitiatives being developed.According to campus Librarian,Ms Roshini Pather, the ResearchCommons will be staffed by adedicated IT specialist andspecially-trained librarians,offering services which directlysupport research endeavours.‘The Commons is not only aboutsupporting research but also aboutshowcasing research done atUKZN,’ said Pather.‘There’s still some way to gobefore realising the full vision ofthe Commons. More conferenceroom furniture and technology willbe added to the space this month.The ICS will later install an AVsystem in the electronic classroomand conference room that will allowfor technology-enhancedpresentations and workshops.’ TheCommons is located adjacent to theEdminson Library with operatinghours similar to those of theLibrary.South Africa.’Dr Paula Diab from the Disciplineof Rural Health said they welcomedthe kind gesture from ProfessorRichard Hift, Dean and Head: Schoolof Clinical Medicine, who is willingto fund Prose’s return next year tobuild on the work already begun.Deputy Vice-Chancellor for the College of Humanities Professor Joseph Ayee officially opens the EdgewoodResearch Commons.

YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 20129UKZN’s French Departmentdonates poetry tree to Eden CollegeMELISSA MUNGROOhe French Discipline at UKZN and theAssociation for French Studies in SouthernTAfrica (AFSSA) have donated the Arbre àPalabres (palaver tree ) – dubbed the ‘poetry tree’ –to the French Department at Eden College.The hand over was done during anentertaining French ensemble performance bycollege students.The palaver tree was made by the UmceboTrust assisted by refugees from French-speakingcountries in Africa and French students at EdenCollege.This tree was decorated with poetry written byFrench pupils from around the world as part of acompetition organised within the context of the13th World Conference of the InternationalFederation of Teachers of French held in July inDurban and generously supported by UKZN.According to UKZN’s Professor FrancescaBalladon, the tree was conceived to figurativelyemphasise that the conference was being held inAfrica for the first time and also to symbolise theWest African tradition of a community comingtogether, under the Arbre à Palabres, to shareexperiences and views and to connect with eachother.During her address to Eden College, Balladonsaid: ‘I hope that in this wonderful enrichingenvironment that is Eden College this tree willinspire you all to communicate your ideas, yourfeelings, your views and your creativitythroughout your school lives, and also when youget out into the real world.’French Teacher at Eden College, Ms AnnLussi, was grateful to UKZN’s FrenchDepartment and AFSSA for donating the Palavertree. ‘We shall definitely look after this symbolictree as it is quite special to us here. It is indeed aprivilege to work with UKZN and to have thissymbiotic relationship with the University’sFrench Department,’ she said.BERNARD DE MEYERFOR the second year running, aFrench student on thePietermaritzburg campus has won thecreative writing competition organisedby the French Embassy in Pretoria.Victorious in the category ‘Frenchmajor university student’, Ms AmyStimson’s prize was an all-expensespaid11-day stay in Paris.Stimson, who recently returnedfrom the experience, said sheespecially enjoyed visiting themonuments as well as mingling withFrench-speaking people in cafés,bookshops and bakeries. ‘My stay inParis has improved my level ofproficiency and given me an eternallove for the language.’UKZN’s French Discipline isparticularly proud of Stimson’sachievement. French Lecturer MsGhyslaine Dye said the courses atUKZN were geared towards theautonomous use of French enablingstudents to compare favourably withtheir colleagues at other South Africanuniversities.Professor Bernard De Meyer, whoco-ordinates third year French studies,said: ‘We introduce current issuesmainly from France and FrancophoneAfrica, and encourage critical thinkingin the language. Our students areparticularly well equipped to face themultilingual world and its challengesand have an added advantage when itcomes to job opportunities, especiallywith French being a main language ofcommunication in Africa.’Ms Stimson plans to register for anhonours degree in French next year.Last year’s winner was Ms LaraWilliams.French students at Eden College with UKZN’s Professor Francesca Balladon.Two in a row for French studentsMs Amy Stimson.Alumnus Associationgathering in LondonFINN CHRISTENSENTHE annual function of UKZN’sAlumnus Association in Europe –attended by about 75 people – washeld at the bright and convenientlysituated Bankside Galleryoverlooking the River Thames inLondon.Guest speaker Professor BrendaGourley, former Vice-Chancellor ofthe Open University and of theformer University of Natal,delivered an address on: Trends inHigher Education.Ms Nomonde Mbadi, ExecutiveDirector of Corporate Relations,and Mr Fanle Sibisi, President ofConvocation, also spoke at thegathering. Mbadi welcomedeveryone on behalf of UKZN andprovided an update on theUniversity while Mr Fanle Sibisispoke on the importance ofConvocation and outlined the plansthe Executive had for their term ofoffice.South African canapés anddrinks were served after the talksand guests were able to networkand catch-up with fellowgraduates. Folders with the latestUKZN information weredistributed.From Left: Mr Len Mzimela, Director of University Relations andMarketing Support; Professor Brenda Gourley, Ms Nomonde Mbadiand Mr Finn Christensen, Alumni Relations Manager.

10YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 2012Workshop on managing obstetricemergencies in rural communitiesLUNGA MEMELAOCTORS, nurses andmidwives working in theDrural health districts ofKwaZulu-Natal were taught theessential steps in managingobstetric emergencies (ESMOE)during a three-day workshop heldat Howard College campus.Made possible by fundingawarded to UKZN’s EnhancingCare Initiative Unit through a fiveyeargrant from the MedicalEducation Partnership Initiative(MEPI), the ESMOE programmewas formulated with the goal beingto assist and supervise interns andcommunity service officers at ruralhealth facilities.A national priority - saving thelives of mothers, babies andchildren – remains a challenge forhealth practitioners in SouthAfrica, especially those working inunfavourable circumstances inrural areas.ESMOE was one of theprogrammes designed by UKZN’sMEPI group to retain an effectiveand competent workforce to servicethe health needs of mothers andbabies in rural parts of theprovince.Dr Mergan Naidoo of UKZN’sMEPI group said it was alarmingSouth Africa as a middle incomecountry was less successful thansome lower income countries inreducing the mortality rates formothers, babies and children.The workshop focused on HIV,maternal and neonatalresuscitation, miscarriage,obstetric emergencies andhaemorrhage, pre-eclampsia andassisted delivery. It also equippedHealthcare workers from the ruralhealth districts of KwaZulu-Natalgot hands-on experience at aUKZN workshop.participants with the necessarysurgical skills in managingobstetric emergencies.‘We want to have a trainer atevery hospital in the province.Almost every hospital in theprovince has been reached duringthe past two years,’ said Naidoo.Mineworkers and compoundsexamined at seminarMELISSA MUNGROOMINEWORKERS and the demise ofcompounds in South Africa wereexamined in research completed bythe University of Pretoria’sProfessor Andries Bezuidenhoutwho outlined his findings at aforum hosted by the School ofSocial Sciences at UKZN recently.Bezuidenhout together withcolleagues conducted extensiveresearch both in the miningindustry and with the NationalUnion of Mineworkers (NUM). Histalk also touched on some of theissues involved in the Marikanamine tragedy.He explained that at the core ofcolonial and apartheid socialengineering was a spatial strategybased on institutions andinfrastructure linking togetherrural homesteads and villages, andmining centres and towns.‘In the case of the miningindustry, single-sex compoundswere set up as the foundation of theinfrastructure of control over blacklabour. In our research endeavourswe examined how various forms ofcontrol operated. We located ourcontribution within the labourgeography literature,’ he said.Bezuidenhout argued that it wasnot only state institutions andmajor corporations that shapedlandscapes of control. In thisregard he highlighted the centralityof workers agencies, specificallyProfessor Andries Bezuidenhoutwho presented a seminar at UKZNon mineworkers and compounds.the way in which the NationalUnion of Mineworkers ‘captured’the compounds and subverted thelogic of employer control.‘The fragmentation of thespatial order of apartheid and theintroduction of choice leads to newforms of exclusion and the erosionof solidarities of old. Forms ofagency that are effective in anhistorical moment may recede, evenerode, on a changed landscape evenif it is one that worker agencieshelped bring about. This is theparadox of worker agency undercapitalism.’‘However, the union’s successesas well as the advent of democracyhave resulted in profound changes,thus presenting the union with newchallenges.’Naidoo said the workshopcontributed to the public sector andhelped the University meet itssocial responsibility commitments.The workshop placed emphasison experiential learning and‘helping participants to work morelaterally so they can handleSITHEMBILE SHABANGUUKZN Libraries officially launchedthe Westville Campus LibraryResearch Commons (RC) which isaimed at enhancing research outputat the University.The RC is intended to serve seniorpostgraduate students, academicsand researchers of UKZN, especiallythe emerging researchers who maynot have the space for researchproduction.Guest speaker, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, ProfessorNelson Ijumba, had the honour ofcutting the ribbon. In his address hesaid the importance of the ResearchCommons was that postgraduatestudents now had a quiet space in thelibrary where they could do theirresearch.In her welcome address, Head ofInformation Services at the WestvilleLibrary, Ms Noni Makhathini said:‘The opening of the ResearchCommons shows how serious thelibrary is in supporting UKZN’sstrategic priority of becoming aresearch-led institution and toincrease knowledge production.’Director of Libraries, Dr NoraBuchanan, highlighted the concept ofthe research commons. ‘The conceptof the Research Commons is a logicalextension of the InformationCommons idea which has had manysuccessful implementations inuniversity libraries in the UnitedStates and in South Africa (the firstwas at the University of Cape Townin 2000).’problems more comprehensively’.Ms Iolanthe Moore, a paramedicin advanced life support and aLecturer at UKZN, said feedbackfrom health practitioners workingin community healthcare centresand clinics in rural areas indicatedthat a lack of facilities, qualifiedShe added this is a “truly SouthAfrican idea” which brings togetherhigh-end technology, access toextensive online informationresources and well-trained staff withthe skills to support researchers in adedicated physical space.‘We are therefore grateful toProfessor Ijumba for making fundsavailable to build and equip a newResearch Commons at Westville andwe know it is going to be well used,’she added.Subject Librarian, Dr RichardBeharilal, thanked all staff memberswho were involved in putting thelaunch together and for the supportthey had received from everyonestaff and delays in transportingpatients in need, presented hugechallenges in managing obstetricemergencies.Poor infrastructure and the lackof necessary equipment in dealingwith emergencies added to theproblem.Westville Library Research CommonsDeputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Professor Nelson Ijumba cuts theribbon at the launch of the Westville Campus Library Research Commons.involved.There are 30 allocated computerworkstations and a laptop area whereusers can use their own laptops andthe facility has wireless connectivity.The RC features a seminar room witha projector and a whiteboard wall forsenior postgraduates to holdpresentations and seminars. Tablesand chairs in the seminar room canbe re-configured to suit the needs ofthe users and can reflect either a‘classroom style’ or ‘seminar style’arrangement.The RC is located on Level 9 of theWestville Main Library (B-Block).Operating hours are similar to theLibrary hours.

YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 201211AIDS Online International Pilot StudyProfessor Fatima Suleman.LUNGA MEMELATHE results of an AIDS OnlineInternational (AOI) pilotstudy were presented to adiverse audience at the College ofHealth Sciences by DistinguishedTeacher and Associate Professor inthe Discipline of PharmaceuticalSciences, Professor FatimaSuleman.The presentation was hosted bythe Women in Leadership andLeverage Committee (WILL).Titled: “HIV/AIDS Education,Prevention, and BehaviouralResearch - a Pilot Study forCombining Innovation in Teaching,International Collaboration andResearch”, the study was developedin the face of the serious AIDSepidemic in KwaZulu-Natal.Suleman said the HIV infectionrate in KwaZulu-Natal was 40percent with a high prevalenceamong people aged between 15 and24.Students in the College of HealthSciences at UKZN along with peersfrom Purdue University NorthCentral, northwestern Indiana,United States, benefited from thepilot study conducted at bothinstitutions.The goal of the pilot project wasto design and implement asustainable and effective onlinemodel for HIV/AIDS education andprevention; assess its impact onstudent attitudes, beliefs, and‘risky” behaviours’; and expand thecourse internationally.The study indicated thatuniversity students were in the highrisk group of becoming infectedwith HIV because they were out oftheir parents’ sight, engaging inrisky behaviour and subject to otherinfluences such as peer pressure.Suleman met Dr SharronJenkins, collaborating author fromPurdue University North Central,between 2006 and 2007 and decidedto collaborate on an InternationalHIV/AIDS module.The general introductorymodule dealt with epidemiology,biology, pharmacology, sociologyand treatment to name just a few ofthe issues, and was targeted at firstyearstudents where it set afoundation.Suleman said timetabling andlarge classes proved to be a problemwhen envisioning ways tointroduce students to horizonsbeyond their immediateenvironment.‘We wanted to look at an onlineoption to see if it could work. Themodule was introduced in thesecond semester of 2009 as an eightcreditbearing module.’The pilot study included a precourseassessment survey andstudents were “hands-on” withvarious weekly activities andexercises leading to a finalexamination and post-courseassessment survey.‘It was an online course. Thestudents never met me. They e-mailed if they had a problem.’Suleman said the institutionshad varied student demographics.‘Their knowledge about HIVtransmission and prevention, andtheir attitudes, beliefs and scientificknowledge varied.’One of the students commented:‘The module changed what Ithought and believed about HIV. Ithelped me to know the facts aboutHIV. I had questions like: Why can’tHIV be cured? How does this HIvirus differ from other viruses andwhy is it difficult to destroy it in thehuman body?The students were often tracedon online discussion boards andalso communicated on socialnetworks such as Twitter.Suleman said approximately 300students in the Health Sciences atUKZN had enrolled since itsinception.‘The workbook becomes a sourcethey can keep for the rest of theirdegree.’Course expansion is in progressat various institutions in Nigeriaand the United States.CATHERINE JENKINTHE Centre for HIV/AIDSNetworking (HIVAN) at UKZN hasjust released the KwaZulu-NatalHIV-911 Directory of HIV-RelatedServices (Series 5) with 5 000 copiesbeing distributed free of charge tohealth and wellbeing serviceproviders.The KwaZulu-Natal Directorycontains information on 2 297organisations actively involved inHIV, TB and STI-related prevention,treatment and support in theprovince. It also includesinformation on organisationsproviding socio-economic, legal andpsycho-social support programmes.Service provider information iscategorised by municipality andtype of service offered. The databaseis updated on an annual basis withthe latest available informationlisted in the directory.According to Miss CatherineJenkin, Media Consultant to theHIV-911 Programme, the Directoryis a useful resource for all membersof society, from service providers toKZN HIV-911 Directory hits the standsThe team behind the compilation of the KwaZulu-Natal HIV-911 Directory of HIV-Related Services.the man on the street.‘The database from which thisdirectory is drawn is also used tocreate and update a variety of otheruseful products, geared towardshelping people to find informationSURF’S UPon service providers anywhere inSouth Africa.‘HIV-911’s database products arealso designed to help serviceproviders to identify otherorganisations in the area that cansupport the needs of their clients.‘In this way HIV-911 is able tosupport networking andcollaboration betweenorganisations – which is critical inareas where there is often dire needand limited resources,’ explainedJenkin.Access the HIV-911 referralnetwork through the following:Online Directory:www.hiv911.org.zaMobile phone friendly directoryservices:Mobisite:http://hiv911.storefind.mobi/Mobile Phone Directory: Call*130*448# to search the HIV-911directory on your cell phone - free onall networks, except Vodacom.Vodacom subscribers need to use:*120*448#, at 60 cents a call.Ask for advice by sending anSMS to 45080.* Contact Catherine Jenkin atjenkinc@hiv911.org.za to request acopy of the Directory.A student from UKZN goes for a surf recently despite the weather.PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREAS MATHIOS

12YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 9 • SEPTEMBER 2012The UKZN GriotOf Bulls and BearsKEYAN G TOMASELLIMY column on “Illiterates”drew a response fromJohann Mouton whoseCentre for Research on Evaluation,Science and Technology, regularlycontracts to undertake surveys ofissues on knowledge productionand post-graduate studies in thetertiary education sector. Ifanybody knows what threats faceuniversities, it is surely he. Johannobserves: ‘We found in a recentstudy that the results ofindiscriminate admissions policy atthe postgraduate level is havingdisastrous effects.’A few universities that havebeen accepting any doctoralstudent (no selection/ no screening)have a drop-out rate of 90 percent!‘Just think of the completewaste of faculty time in trying tosupervise this cohort where only 10percent eventually graduate. Notsurprisingly, top universities areactually going the other route andputting in more stringent selectioncriteria at this level’.I like to think that UKZN isfollowing this ‘other’ route.Johann’s response reminds meof one of the Corollaries ofMurphy’s First Law: ‘It isimpossible to make anythingfoolproof because fools are soingenious’. The ingeniouscomprise two constituencies in theacademic sector: a) the fools whoapply for PhD studies; and b) thefools who admit them.The administrators who setunrealistic ‘targets’ (for admission)are not themselves responsible forensuring throughput. Thatdaunting task is allocated to thehapless, increasingly underpaid,exhausted academic sector, that isdumped with the job of doing theimpossible amongst all the otherimpossible things they are expectedto deliver on. If they fail, they arethe ones who are punished forfailing to achieve their KPAs, notthe ingenious fools who admittedthe ingenious applicants in thefirst place. As Murphy’s Third Lawstates, ‘Nature always takes sideswith the hidden flaw’. Well, nowthat flaw has been exposed byMouton. The fools who admit justanyone to doctoral programmeswork in terms of Wozencraft’s Law,‘If you make all of your plans onthe assumption that a particularthing won’t happen, it will’. So,those institutions that accept PhDapplicants without screening butwho expect success have a 90percent drop out rate when theyexpect a 90 percent pass rate.Why do educated policy makersand senior management make suchgrievous and obvious errors?These start with the way thatuniversities are funded, their needto pay their bills, and the newinstrumentalist notion thateducational institutions are simplyproduction lines that enrol“clients” who are processed via thepromise of learning, and pushedout at the other end of the factory afew years later, whether or not theyare educated or literate.On graduating the students, theuniversity then applies for the statedosh now owed to it, but it does notcalculate the per item cost ofprocessing the finalproduct/client/student. Thisoccurs because universities are notrequired to balance their budgets.Rather, they defer debts –sometimes endlessly, and often forideological reasons. The verycostly production line where 90percent of the products disappearinto the waste bin prior to finalbenefication, is funded by thetaxpayer who – as we all know – is abottomless financial resource. So,some universities accept illiteratesbecause they pay fees (or are trottedout in the name of equity) and thusare exploited as a kind of futuresbull market offering a vicariousdebt security, while the real debt,hidden in the internal accounting,pounds academics in the face, andseriously disadvantages the capable10 percent of PhD students who dopass. And, we all know that the Lawof Asymmetrical SupervisoryDistribution ensures that the 90percent who will inevitably fail willconsume 1000 percent+ of allacademic resources, leaving littleleft over for the 10 percent whosimply and successfully get on withtheir studies – irrespective ofwhether or not they get adequatesupervision.The contradictions, of course,are clear. Rudin’s Law states that ‘Ifthere is a wrong way to dosomething, most people will do itevery time’. As a comprehensivetheory of mistakes, Rudin’s Lawportends worse to come. This formof delusional accounting admitsthe ‘proposition that it is entirelypossible to pick up a piece of shit bythe clean end’. (I cannot referencethis delightful comment as itarrived in email inbox withoutattribution. I do sometimes lovemischievous email.).While the academics know whatthe problem is (no screening,massification, mindlesscorporatisation), management thenblames the academics for the 90percent failure rate. Theypredictably do this by demandingreports from academics, usually ina highly structured format. Thedesign and issuing of uniformforms becomes uniformlyobsessive, setting forth a flood ofreports and policy statements,computer runs, new surveillancesoftware, employing ever moretechnocrats who might know theirsoftware (but often they don’t).Usually they don’t know squatabout education. When this ispointed out to them they retort thatsuch critics ‘are resistingtransformation’. This is the FirstLaw of Academic Management.Punish the academic sector forproblems not of their own making.The second is Merrett’s Caveat onthe Principle of Management byDisorientation. Never let theinstitutional sector settle, andcreate the impression oftransformation by endless (andoften fruitless) restructuring.UKZN has been involved inrestructuring ever since I arrivedhere in 1985. It’s like being on atreadmill that more often than notgoes nowhere. Let’s get theoperational systems workingproperly before we change thestructures!That’s why the state and someuniversities employ consultantslike Mouton to reveal the obvious.The obvious, however, is notobvious when it is so obviouslyobvious. Researchers are able toquantify and reveal the obviousbecause those to whom a problemshould be obvious are obviouslypedagogically illiterate.Management’s optimistic belief inbull markets is counteracted by thepessimistic academic sector’sknowledge of bear markets thatfollow the bull. There has to be abalance.Keyan G Tomaselli is Director ofThe Centre for Communication,Media and Society. He’s used totalking a lot of bull.Disclaimer: The viewsexpressed in this columnare the author’s own.JOMBA!OPENING NIGHTA SENSATIONALDANCE HITMELISSA MUNGROOTHE Elizabeth Sneddon Theatrewas packed to capacity for theopening night of the 14th JOMBA!Contemporary Dance Experiencepresented by UKZN’s Centre forCreative Arts (CCA) with principalfunding from the National LotteryDistribution Trust Fund.The act for the night featureddancers from the Flatfoot DanceCompany and Ensemble BATIDAwho performed A Spring (two)matter, which is the music and storyof Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, partof collective memory for dancersand musicians over the past 100years.It tells of the struggle betweenthe positive and the negative humanbeing in thinking and acting; twoopposites that battle each other,trying to blend and exist peacefully,or convincing one another to aimfor a better co-existence.Patricia van Deutekom, JuliaWilson, and Lerato Lipere of theFlatfoot Dance Companyperformed A Spring (two) matteron the opening night of JOMBA!Produced by the Publications Unit, Corporate Relations Division. Tel: 031 260 8737/8370/4249. www.ukzn.ac.za UKZNDABA is printed on environmentally friendly paper.