First Semester

MAY 2007 

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EDITION:  VUVUZELA, MAY 18, 2007

De La Rey annoys Karen Zoid

ERICA DREIJER

KAREN Zoid will never speak to Bok van Blerk.

Afrikaans’s best known female rocker said this about Afrikaans’s most popular balladeer at a forum hosted by the M&G and Absa this week.
Under discussion was Van Blerk’s now famous (or notorious, depending on your view) song De La Rey.

Photo courtesy www.katvrou.co.za

Zoid’s annoyance stems from the reaction that De la Rey supposedly unleashed. She said that he, like all South African artists who perform on the platteland, know that racism is still alive and well and that “one man’s hero is another’s oppressor”.

Zoid said that at the Klein Karoo Kunstefees earlier this year she had been told that the night before her appearance 5 000 children had stood, hands on heart, tears fl owing, waving old South African flags and singing along to De la Rey.

She said she was shocked to hear that 16-year-olds were merrily waving the old flag – a symbol of oppression.

It frightened her that they were probably mirroring behaviour from their homes, without understanding its signifi cance in our current situation.

The forum made it clear that De la Rey stirred mixed opinions and strong emotions. As expected, it also opened a debate on Afrikaners and where they saw themselves in the new democracy.

The panel also included Dan Roodt, controversial right-wing author, publisher and editor, John Matshikiza, M&G columist, Dr Theuns Eloff, Vice-Chancellor for North West University, and Mike van Graan, arts administrator and playwright. The discussion was moderated by John Perlman, ex-AM Live presenter and Witsie.

For Matshikiza, the song was more than a stirring melody and he believed that often “true meanings are hidden behind history” and the true intention of the song bother him.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Three profs in line for top awards

ERICA DREIJER

THREE Wits professors have qualified for the finals of the National Science and Technology Forum awards.

The awards celebrate contributions by individuals and groups to science, engineering and technology. The winners will be announced on May 23.
Prof David Glasser, Prof Tshilidzi Marwala and Prof Ramesh Bharuthram have been nominated.

Prof Glasser, from the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, heads up the Centre of Material and Process Synthesis at Wits.

He has been nominated for developing new methods of chemical processes that emit less carbon dioxide.

Prof Glasser’s team is working with teams in China and Australia to help build plants that produce fuel from coal more effectively and with less harmful effects.

Prof Glasser was awarded an A1 scientist status eight years ago.

Prof Marwala, of the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, was nominated for his contribution to science, engineering and technology through research and its outputs.

For the 35-year-old professor it is an exceptional achievement to be nominated for this award at his young age.

Prof Marwala’s area of specialisation is focused on creating intelligent software which has the added benefit of making a decision based on the information it receives. He believes that software that is developed needs to have a practical application and needs to provide a useful function to society.
He has developed a program that detects and flags epilepsy and another that detects the pressure on highways and bridges that serves as an early warning system. One of his students recently developed a voice-recognition system that can translate what is said into another language.

Prof Marwala believes that “aptitude helps, but you need more”. Often in his life he encountered people with aptitude, but because they lacked interest and curiosity they did not end up making the most of their talent. For him “attitude determines your aptitude”.

It is also important for him to be involved and to grow young people. His dream is “building capacity and to increase the knowledge base of this country”.

Before Vuvuzela interviewed him, Prof Marwala was off to attend a graduation function of four of his students. Three had been accepted at Oxford and Cambridge.

Prof Bharuthram, the Dean of the Faculty of Science, is a finalist in a category where the award is to be given to scientists or researchers who have been instrumental in helping grow and encouraging research in areas of interest other than their own.

Prof Bharuthram said development should not depend on ad hoc interventions, but rather that it should form part of a long-term plan that straddles five to 10 years.

For Prof Bharuthram, inspiring and mentoring students to further their studies and going to the top of the ladder in their field, is a passion. He has made it his mission to drive higher education by identifying students that should consider doing their doctorates, helping them find the necessary funding for their studies and supporting them once they have completed their doctorates.

Since he started at Wits in January 2006, he has re-evaluated how funds should be applied and has developed financial opportunities to fast track students. He is also re-looking at how his faculty should operate in the light of Wits’ 2010 vision of becoming part of the top 100 universities in the world.

Prof Bharuthram has been awarded a B rating as a researcher.

Friday, May 18, 2007

EDITION:  VUVUZELA, MAY 11, 2007

Witsie follows Witsie at top of DA

ERICA DREIJER

WHAT started out as an active student life has equipped ex-Wits student Helen Zille to become the new leader for the Democratic Alliance.

Helen Zille
Free image:  wikimedia

Zille told Vuvuzela this week that student life represented one of the best and most privileged experiences which should be fully exploited and used to set the scene for your life ahead and to get to know yourself.

She said that although it was one of the hardest times of her life – she battled with anorexia – it was also one of the best. Wits provided her with a firm foundation and taught her valuable skills. It opened her eyes and taught her to think, to analyze and question everything that life put in her way. It also taught her to be independent and self-reliant.

In 1967 she joined the Young Progressives and later at Wits she was also a member of the Academic Freedom Committee, Rag and was one of the first members of the TV Society. She still managed to achieve a first-class English literature degree.

Zille believes that student life is harder today, with the workload having increased dramatically, but she also says that students have better access to information. In her day, students would race each other to the library to get hold of the limited amount of reading that was available on a subject. The material needed to be returned the next day. This taught her to read fast.

With her involvement in local politics, especially regarding schools, she was appointed MEC for Education in the Western Cape government. Last year in March she won election as Mayor of Cape Town and on Sunday she was elected leader of South Africa’s official opposition, succeeding Tony Leon, another Witsie.

Her high profile recently is only the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of her 30 years in politics.

She will focus on bringing together the different leaders of the DA into a team to take the party to the next level over the next 10 years and to attract more black supporters.

She said that the combination of having a baby and running a business helped prepare her for handling her current jobs: Mayor and Leader of the Opposition.

Friday, May 11, 2007 

How to start a club or society

KIM HAWKEY AND ERICA HIER

WOULD you like to start a student club or society?

In a recent student poll, you told us that you wanted more student support from Vuvuzela.

In response, Vuvuzela has compiled a simple step-by-step guide to opening a club or society on campus.

Before you decide to start a club or society, you should be aware of a few things.

Clubs and societies, other than those related to sport, fall under the control of the SRC. Currently there are nearly 100 clubs and societies, which are divided into various clusters, such as academic, international, social, and political.

The proliferation of new clubs and societies is a result of clubs and societies being started but becoming inactive after the founding members left Wits.

Other problematic issues include financial problems, as highlighted in a previous edition of Vuvuzela, and limited resources such as clubrooms, funding and student development officers that can assist clubs and societies.

As a result of the mushrooming numbers, a moratorium has been placed on the opening of new clubs and societies, according to Dean of Students Prem Coopoo.

However, it appears that the word moratorium has been used loosely. Clubs and Societies officer Selaelo Modiba said that there was no moratorium, but confirmed that the SRC had become more strict in opening clubs and societies in order to limit their numbers.

According to Zakhele Maya, SRC Treasurer, the limited funding received by the SRC for club and society grants was also stretched thinly as a result of the large number of clubs and societies in existence.

Limiting the number of clubs and societies will therefore help to ensure that more funding from the SRC will be available.

So, if you want to start a new club or society, it will be necessary for you to show a clear vision, differentiation and longevity.

Friday, May 11, 2007

The how-to start-up guide

INGREDIENTS:
40 willing students
Constitution
Student numbers and signatures
Minimum annual subscription fee of R50 per member
Schedule a five-minute presentation to the SRC
Sustainability
Originality
Relevance
Wits reputation booster

PREPARATION:
1. Round up at least 40 students who want to join your proposed club or society.

2. Collect the relevant application forms and documents from the SRC reception.

3. Complete and return form 4: Application for a constitution.

4. When the completed form is returned, you will receive a model constitution to fill in.

5. Amend the model constitution by incorporating your club or society’s information.

You may insert additional clauses provided they do not conflict with the rest of the constitution.

6. Complete model constitution and Form

7. Attach Form 8: a list of the names, student numbers, undertakings to pay the subscription fee and signatures of a minimum of 40 members. Note that the minimum subscription fee per member is currently R50 per annum.

8. Constitutions, Clubs and Societies sub-committee to assess completed and returned documents.

9. Schedule a presentation for your proposed club or society at the next SRC general meeting. Maximum time for presentation is 5 minutes.

10. Show the following during the presentation:

(a) Sustainability: that your goals and proposed means to attain them are achievable.
You should show that your club or society will outlast you as founding member;
(b) Originality: the proposed club or society must be unique. If it has similar objectives to an existing club or society, the SRC is likely to suggest that you join that club or society instead and is not likely to approve your proposal;
(c) Relevance: the existence of the proposed club or society should be for the greater good of Wits; and
(d) Ability to enhance the reputation of Wits: the proposed club or society should not disrupt the functions of Wits or tarnish its image.
Also watch out for additional requirements of some of the clusters.
After your presentation, the SRC will then have an opportunity to ask you questions.

10. After considering your application, the SRC will contact you to let you know whether or not it has been approved.

11. If your club or society is approved, you will be:
(a) Required to open a bank account
(b) Allocated to a student develop officer.
(c) Required to meet certain criteria, including submitting annual plans and reports and holding annual elections by a certain date, in order to remain active.

Friday, May 11, 2007

APRIL 2007 

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EDITION:  VUVUZELA, APRIL 27, 2007

Picking wedding music no song and dance

ERICA DREIJER

MUSIC sparks all kinds of emotions in people… it makes us happy, sad and can even be traced back to the root of a fight or two.

So on the day that I was swapping my identity as a single woman to become Mrs Hier (pronounced hire… or is that higher?) it was fitting for music to form a crucial part of the material that our dreams would be made of.

The first step in laying the foundation was to ensure that we selected music that personified two individuals and a merger for our new life together as Mrs and Mr Hier.

We piled hours into this occasion… trying to find a balance between what we love, what people can stomach and what makes for a memorable party. It’s not every day you get married! And we were going to make sure that we were going to enjoy every moment.

We ended up with a list that we were told “is good stuff to play after 10pm, once the older and more respectable crew have settled down for the evening”.

Enough said.

Finally the big day arrived.

After keeping my now nervous groom waiting for 20 minutes, I strode down the aisle to the Wedding March. Although it is traditional, it provided familiarity in a moment of uncertainty as I crossed over from singledom into married life.

It also reminded me that this attractive man would be my husband within the hour.

Afterwards, lively piano mingled with the sound of chatter on the patio of the Laborie estate in the Cape winelands as we shared a drink with our guests and watched the sun go down on the beautiful Paarl Valley.

We entered the dining hall on U2’s It’s a beautiful day.

Our first dance was to the tune of Chasing Cars though we kept on thinking that we should have rather chosen I Want to Grow Old with You by Adam Sandler from the movie The Wedding Singer.

We partied to songs like Bitter Sweet Symphony, Blister in the Sun, Scar Tissue and Rock me Amadeus.

As everyone danced to the last song for the evening; Wonder Wall by Oasis, they were all in high spirits.

But I convinced James (that’s Mr Hier) to allow one of our guests, who had come a long way, to play his choice as the last song, as a favour. So the Blue Bull song by Steve Hofmeyr filled the room and all dancing came to an abrupt halt. It was the wrong song with which to end the night on a high note.

An inebriated guest stepped in and tried to save the day by fast-forwarding through the play list in search of a more inspirational last song.

Our unhappy Blue Bulls supporter (who was not even dancing to his own song) moved in with his fists and started throwing insults about. The evening nearly ended on a low note… But once again, music came to the rescue as we were allowed to select another “new” last song.

U2 we salute you! Emotions were soothed as Pride (In the name of Love) played out.

Friday, April 27, 2007

EDITION:  VUVUZELA, APRIL 13, 2007

Clubs’ R1 million debt

ERICA DREIJER and KIM HAWKEY

AN alarming number of Wits’ student clubs and societies are in debt to the tune of R1 million.

Vuvuzela found the debt had been accumulated by 23 active clubs and societies since 1999 by being overdrawn on their bank accounts. Top of the list was Receive and Give (RAG), a charity organisation that had a debt of R183 419.66.

A possible solution, proposed by the SRC and Dean of Students Prem Coopoo, to help off set part of the debt, was to use a credit created by inactive clubs and societies that were closed down at the end of 2006.

According to Zakhele Maya, the SRC treasurer, an amount of R511 695 is available for this purpose.

The Vice-Chancellor ruled that the current accounts of inactive clubs and societies can be shut down and the funds transferred into a new account, said Maya.

However, according to Maya, two active societies, the Educational Student Council and RAG and one inactive society, Student Education Programme (STEP), will be exempt from having their debt written off. The Educational Student Council is under investigation due to a contravention of a university bylaw, as a personal bank account was used for the Council instead of an institutional account, said Maya.

Maya said that STEP has a debt of R600 000 and is exempt from the write-off as it is currently under investigation for mismanagement of funds.
STEP’s R600 000 debt is not included in the R1 million deficit.

On further probing, Vuvuzela established that STEP doesn’t appear to have a R600 000 debit, but that it has a credit of around R50 000. It is being investigated as a result of a missing R500 000. The money was received by STEP management but was never deposited into STEP’s bank account.

Vuvuzela was told that STEP had fulfilled their duties with the money that was deposited into its bank account and that no debt was incurred in the process.

Vuvuzela tried to consult with Prem Coopoo and Lamese Abrahams, Head of SRC Administration, to understand how the debt was accumulated, the reasons for not including RAG, Educational Student Council and STEP in the write-off and what the plans are to write off the additional R488 305 that will not be covered by the monies provided by inactive societies.

The dean refused to respond to email queries from Vuvuzela and declined an interview. Abrahams referred the email sent by Vuvuzela back to the dean, who is responsible for all student affairs.

It is not clear where the money will be found to finance the debt that won’t be covered by the inactive societies.

Since the SRC does not have sufficient funds to cover the debt, the university has been approached by the SRC to look at finding ways to help fund this amount.

Annually, the SRC provides clubs and societies with a grant, but due to the large numbers of clubs and societies in existence, it is allocated on merit and each receives a limited amount. It is customary for clubs and societies to turn to the SRC to help them write off debt.

According to the SRC and RAG,the new Oracle system will prevent the accumulation of such debts in future, as the money will need to be available before it can be withdrawn from the system. Previously, societies operated on an “I owe you” system whereby money could be withdrawn before the money had been paid into their accounts.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Civil Engineers hit the road

ERICA DREIJER

WITS has increased its intake of first-year civil-engineering students from an average of 40 students in previous years to 133 in 2007, according to Prof Mitchell Gohnert, head of Wits’ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Civil engineering has increased in popularity because of the economic growth in South Africa and the resultant growth in the construction industry, he said.

In order to cope with market growth requirements the Wits School received a boost from the engineering industry.

Murray & Roberts, Grinaker-LTA, WBHO and Group5 provided the school with assistance by upgrading the civil and environmental engineering undergraduate computer facility and by replacing the 12 ageing computers with 56 state-of-the-art computers.

Prof Gohnert said this would give students an opportunity to be exposed to the latest engineering software which would allow them to compete and participate at an international level.

The upgrade also has direct relevance to Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s 2007 budget speech and the university’s vision for 2010.

Both government and industry have recognised the shortage of engineers in South Africa and unless the problem is rectified, it may seriously hamper South Africa’s development going forward, said Prof Gohnert.

The upgrade of the computer facility is also part of the school’s plan to align itself to Wits’ vision of becoming part of the top 100 universities in the world. This goal requires radical improvements in every aspect of the university’s business.

In terms of future improvements that will help the university achieve its vision, the school is also planning to start upgrading the laboratories later on this year. Currently, some of the testing equipment used was outdated and not in line with international standards, said Prof Gohnert. The industry had also committed to invest in these upgrades, he said.

Friday, April 13, 2007

MARCH 2007 

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EDITION:  VUVUZELA, MARCH 23, 2007

Campus Celebrity:  Odette Richards

ODDETTE RICHARD, a first-year business science student, is also an aspiring Olympic gymnast. ERICA DREIJER spoke to her about gymnastics and her hopes and dreams.

What does it mean to be a rhythmic gymnast as opposed to an artistic gymnast?

Rhythmic gymnastics is more balletic. We use apparatus like balls, hoops, clubs, rope and ribbon. There are individual and group acts. Artistic gymnastics uses beams and bars and uses more strength.

Rhythmic gymnastics is more about control and dance.

What does your sponsorship from Olympic Solidarity Funding mean?

They select about 200 athletes from around the world and provide them with funding. They pay for sporting expenses, to help you train for the Olympics.

You still need to make the requirements to go for the Olympics, but they pay for the training to get there. The qualifiers for the Olympics are at the championships in September in Greece. My federation sent in my name and portfolio and they selected me.

How often do you train?

I train for seven hours a day. I have two sessions a day and an hour of ballet training daily. My first session is from 8am to 12am and ballet training is from 2pm to 3pm.

On Saturdays we only have five hours training in the morning.

When did you start doing rhythmic gymnastics?

My mom was working and sent my sister and me to classes when I was five.

Someone made a comment at the Commonwealth Games saying “I wanted to steal her leotards they were lovely”. Do you like dressing up?

I love everything [about rhythmic gymnastics]. I put make-up on, do my hair. I love leotards and dressing up. Last year we got a lot of money from the government for the Commonwealth Games, so I had a lot of leotards made.

The sport is about the whole picture when you walk onto the floor.

If two wishes could come true, what would they be?

I have already been to the Commonwealth Games. But I would like to win a Commonwealth medal and compete in the Olympics.

What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

It’s easier to get started in the competition season when you compete and get to see other gymnasts.

It is much harder out of season when you only train.

First, I think of the end goal and I also think that the coach is going to be there.

I feel too guilty when I sit at home and I have to be training, so I just go to training.

What would you like to achieve from life?

Happiness. There are a lot of things that I would like to do, but ultimately I want a happy life.

Friday, March 23, 2007

EDITION:  VUVUZELA, MARCH 16, 2007 

Murder, she wrote … and then she won

ERICA DREIJER and SEAN RITCHIE

A SENIOR Wits academic has won literary prize for a murder mystery – her first published novel.

Prof Jane Taylor, Skye Chair of Dramatic Art, won the 2006 Olive Schreiner Prize for a whodunit, Of Wild Dogs. The prize is awarded annually by the English Academy of South Africa. Categories include drama, play, poetry and prose.

Of Wild Dogs is about Hannah Viljoen, an artist at a museum, who dies while collecting flora from a wild-dog diorama. A former lover along with police inspector Cicero Matyobeni and Helena de Villiers combine forces to uncover her murderer.

Prof Taylor has previously written on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In 1996 she curated a series of cultural responses to the TRC called Fault Lines which included an art exhibition, a play, a series of readings, a conference and a workshop for journalists covering the commission.

In her murder mystery, Prof Taylor uses the museum as a metaphor to explore the complexities of South Africa. The novel delves into the recent past and the present to understand where South Africa is heading.

The novel keeps readers guessing by creating a sense of infinite possibilities on each page instead of letting a straight-forward murder mystery unfold.

For Prof Taylor this reflects on the way people create narratives in their own daily lives. They constantly construct a story to place themselves in the world. Whether they cast themselves as the villain or the hero is up to them.

Prof Taylor is head of the drama division at Wits School of Arts. She has a PhD in English from Northwestern University, Chicago, on Restoration theatre and the new commodity markets.

Prof Taylor is working on her second novel, the subject matter of which is a closely guarded secret.

Friday, March 16, 2007

EDITION:  VUVUZELA, MARCH 9, 2007 

Get involved, M&G editor tells Witsies

ERICA DREIJER and JACKIE BISCHOF

STUDENT leadership and passive citizenry are serious concerns with which the country needs to deal, said Mail & Guardian editor Ferial Haffajee in an interview this week with Vuvuzela.

The interview followed Haffajee’s presentation at the launch of the Wits Democracy lecture series.

She said she was troubled about current leadership and did not think student leaders were being as thoroughly trained as liberation leaders had been.

She did not believe the current student leadership positions were being taken up by the best South Africa had to offer: “The cream of the crop has gone into the political sector, the public sector or overseas. And I’m not sure we’re getting the top people becoming political leaders”.

The media and the government could do more to encourage students to return to South Africa, said Haffajee.

Slowing down the intellectual diaspora could be done only by making South Africa a “safe, interesting developing country”.

Universities should also do their part to create informed and empowered citizenship among students.

“The universities need to reinvent themselves, reinvent how they do debate, make themselves ‘sexier’,” she said.

“It is vital to graduate [as] an involved, interested young people.”
Empowered citizenship was a core part of Haffajee’s speech entitled “Be Quiet While We Deliver”.

She used the words of Joel Netshitenzhe to illustrate the importance of citizenship: “In simple terms, the question is whether this generation of leaders and members wishes to carry on its shoulders the historical curse of having been the ones who destroyed, in an act of self-serving irrationality, a movement that is the hope of a nation and a continent.”

Netshitenzhe is head of the Presidential Policy Unit and a member of the ANC’s national executive committee.

In her speech Haffajee urged the audience to become more active citizens in fighting for South Africa’s democracy. “The future requires our active engagement, not blind trust…There are a mix of ways to find our voices. We must stand. And deliver. Or we will have failed those who died for this democracy and upon whose shoulders we walk today.”

The speech was well attended and a lively question and answer session was had afterwards. For more information on the content of the speech visit www.vuvuzelaonline.com.

Friday, March 9, 2007

88 keys for sale

YOU can own a stake in a Steinway concert grand piano by buying a key for R12 500.

Selling off the keys is how Wits University aims to raise the R1.1-million that a new Steinway grand, with its 88 keys, costs.

If the money is raised, the piano will stand in the Linder Auditorium at the Education School.

The campaign is a drive by the Linder to ensure that it continues to attract world-class pianists and ensure that audiences keep coming back.

The Linder is presently using a Bösendorfer piano which is 25 years old.

Experts reckon that after 10 years, a piano winds down. Also, a Bösendorfer, does not have the same status and does not offer the same quality as a Steinway piano in music circles.

To acquire a new Steinway grand Wits University and Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) came up with a novel idea of selling individual piano keys.

The Linder hosts world-class pianists like David Helfgott, Yingdi Sun and Konstatin Soukhovetski, and in order to continue attracting them, a new Steinway is necessary. The Bösendorfer is not up to standard for these esteemed guests.

The campaign was launched on February 21 by the JPO with a poster that looks like a piano and has space to indicate individual sponsors on each note. Once all the keys have been sold, the piano will be bought.

The sponsor of each key will be acknowledged on a Steinway sponsorship plaque to be erected in the Linder foyer. In addition, the Wits Foundation will issue each sponsor with a tax certificate which will enable the donor to claim a tax deduction for their donation.

For more information, David Freemantle at the Linder Auditorium can be contacted.

Friday, March 9, 2007

EDITION:  VUVUZELA, MARCH 2, 2007 

Oracle: slow start, big finish?

ERICA DREIJER

MOVING all Wits’ records from an antiquated system to the extremely complex Oracle system will still take time and headaches, but it will make students’ lives easier in the end.

This is the message from Registrar Derek Swemmer, in response to the flood of criticism over the university’s new computer system.

In a campus poster, the Progressive Youth League claims: “The supposedly efficient I-Wits Oracle system is nothing but a system set specifically to frustrate our students and put their futures at stake.”

It forms part of a broader accusation that: “These unfortunate realities further strengthen our view that some reactionary sections of Wits management have secretly and illegally launched an anti-transformation agenda to make the well being of particularly disadvantaged students more complex and harder than ever.”

The Oracle system is based on newer technology, says Swemmer. In time, the plan is for students to have access to their own information and possibly even to register online.

It should serve as an integrated system – serving both students and administration. It has SMS options and modern pull-down menu screens.

However, he says the transition phase is bound to be difficult. The original Student Information Records System (SIRS) was developed in 1983. It was written in an antiquated computer language, and was made up of 6 000 programs. All these had to be transferred.

Upgrades often produced unexpected and embarrassing outcomes. SIRS was at the end of its usable life, says Swemmer.

Oracle consists of 800 different screens. It will take time to learn all the features on each.

Swemmer says staff will all be trained and glitches ironed out before management considers any intervention.

Responding to the Progressive Youth Alliance request for a Commission of Inquiry, Swemmer says: “The implementation of a complex system requires a period of implementation and the ironing out of any elements of the application that are not operating as smoothly as desired.

“It is normal in a system that will only have been fully used by the end of a complete academic year to take stock of its efficiency at the end of that implementation period. An inquiry at this time would be premature and Senate did not endorse the request having accepted this point.”

Any computer programming problems should be reported to the CNS helpline on 011-717-1717. If the problem is not computer-related, students should speak to academic administrators in their faculty offices. For more information, consult http://intranet.wits.ac.za/i-wits

Friday, March 2, 2007

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FEBRUARY 2007 

EDITION:  VUVUZELA, FEBRUARY 16, 2007

Flying by the seat of your pants

ERICA DREIJER

TAKE the Amazing Race, add the car chase from Bullitt and an equal measure of an Indiana Jones adventure and you have an airport drop-off with my boyfriend James (better known as the “most disorganised person in the world”).

James had to fly out the morning before hosting a workshop in Mumbai. Since he travels business class, we arrived at the airport 45 minutes prior to his departure.

I off-loaded James at the drop-off zone but was immediately hauled back. He had left his passport at his parents home in Germiston. His house keys were 30 minutes in the opposite direction in Rivonia and his parents were away on holiday so there was no one to let us in. Business as usual!

We’re in luck, the following flight out to India leaves at 2pm and will arrive just in time for his 9am meeting.

We screech into the complex, break into the house using a garden gnome and neighbours pile out of their homes to see what the racket is all about.
James pays a neighbour to take care of the broken window.

Passport in hand we head back to the airport. As we pull in, the travel agent informs us that British citizens living outside the country now require a visa for India.

Off to the Indian Embassy. They inform us that they will be closing in 15 minutes and that he requires passport photos for a visa, though they at least agree to wait for us! First stop, Rosebank Mall to get photos and finally we reach the embassy!

A visa is issued within 10 minutes – now the embassy’s official record.

With five minutes to spare, James checks in. Erica checks out.

Friday, February 16, 2007