on mbchb student prestigious international achievement at k ......justice mogoeng mogoeng taking...

INSPIRING GREATNESS

YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 10 • OCTOBER 2012

High level praise for UKZN’stransformation achievements Page 2

Journey ofdiscoverybegins forK-RITH

Page 6 & 7

Research resultson MBCHB studentachievement atUKZN

Page 9

LATEST NEWSUKZN researcher winsprestigious internationalMedical Sciences prize

Page 4

NEW RESEARCHINITIATIVENew UKZN unit geared torevolutionise the maritimeindustry Page 4

AWARDSProfessorMalegapuruMakgoba receivesprestigious awardPage 3

RESEARCH


TTHHAANNDDIIWWEE JJUUMMOO

THE School of Law’s academic andsocio-legal programme, InConversation With, was launchedon the Howard College campusrecently with South Africa’s ChiefJustice Mogoeng Mogoeng takingpart in a high profile debate.

The inaugural session of theprogramme opens a forum in whichleading legal luminaries will beinvited to discuss topical legal andjudicial issues.

The first part of theconversation was a one-on-oneconversation between the ChiefJustice and the Dean and Head ofthe School of Law, ProfessorManagay Reddi.

The conversation saw Reddi askMogoeng, a School of Lawalumnus, about his main prioritiesin respect of the judiciary, hisconcerns about the delays andconsequent costs in finalisingcases, the on-going debate in thelegal profession about theundergraduate four-year LLBdegree and the most urgentchallenges he faces as Head of theConstitutional Court.

The Chief justice responded byoutlining plans about theimplementation of the monitoring

performance system to address thebacklog of cases, the issue oftransformation within thejudiciary and skills developmentwithin the judiciary. He alsoadvised law academics to fosterlinks with the Justice Department

which would expose students to thepractical side of law.

‘We need to reach out more toinstitutions such as this one andour communities as this is one ofthe ways we can ensure everyone iseducated about their rights and

justice is accessible to everyone,'said Mogoeng.

‘I am honoured to have beentaught by lecturers, such as EllieNewman, who empower students sowhen they leave this Universitythey are better prepared for the

world of law,’ said Mogoeng. Mogoeng told students they

needed to embrace education forthe sake of the nation. ‘My appealto you is that once you havecompleted benefiting frompractitioners in this Institution,you avail yourself as a fountain ofwisdom for those who are yet topractice law.’

The second part of the eventinvolved Reddi calling for questionsfrom law students and academicsfollowed by the unveiling of theHonours Board of the EllieNewman Memorial Moot FinalCompetition which he participatedin as a finalist in 1985.

Referring to the Chief Justice’saddress, Reddi said: ‘The School ofLaw at UKZN is one of the mosttransformed law schools in SouthAfrica. Our students range from thevery sophisticated to those whohave had very little, if any, contactwith luminaries in the legalprofession.

‘The Chief Justice’s visit to theSchool and the advice he dispensedto our students will no doubt serveto inspire every one of them tostrive for levels of greatness theymay have not thought possible.’

The event was preceded by theMoot Final Competition.

SA’s Chief Justice “presides” at UKZN legal forum

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RRAAYYLLEENNEE CCAAPPTTAAIINN--HHAASSTTHHIIBBEEEERR

UKZN’s achievements in thearea of transformation werepraised by the Minister of

Higher Education and Training DrBlade Nzimande during the recentlaunch of the University’sTransformation Charter.

Speaking at a launch function atWestville campus, Nzimande saidhe had been told Africanscomprised 62 percent of the totalstudent enrolments at UKZN thisyear while in 2011 62 percent ofgraduates and 33 percent ofacademic leadership had beenwomen. ‘This is a very importantachievement.’

It was necessary, Nzimande said,to move towards definingtransformation beyond overcomingracial divisions and rather towardsseeking radical change in oursociety – including the educationand training system.

Outlining the process ofdrafting the Charter, Professor DeoJaganyi, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: College of Agriculture,Engineering and Science, explainedit was commissioned by theUniversity Council in response tothe recommendations emanatingfrom the Governance andAcademic Freedom Committee ofCouncil (GAFC) and the MinisterialCommittee on Transformation andSocial Cohesion and theElimination of Discrimination inPublic Higher EducationInstitutions.

Jaganyi said the consultationprocess was broadly inclusive. ‘Theinputs and comments from thedifferent constituencies werecollated and independentlyanalysed including compliancewith University policies beforeincorporation into the draftdocument to enrich the Charter.’

The Chair of Council, Ms PhumlaMnganga commended Professor DeoJaganyi for driving the process.

Professor Renuka Vithal, ActingVice-Chancellor, said lessons for the

Higher Education system could bedistilled and shared from UKZN’stransformation experience.

‘Transformation of universitiescan be achieved in our life time. It is

not easy, it is not for the fainthearted but has to be pursued withleadership, commitment anddedication at all levels,’ addedVithal.

The evening’s entertainmentincluded a rousing performance byJunior Mambazo, the children andgrandchildren of renowned musicgroup, Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

High level praise for UKZN’stransformation achievements

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3YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 10 • OCTOBER 2012

GGRREEGGOORRYY DDAARRDDAAGGAANN

HOPES for the discovery of avaccine against AIDS have risensubstantially following research– led by a Durban scientist –which shows that antibodiesmanufactured by some HIV-infected people have thepotential to destroy 88 percent ofHIV strains found throughoutthe world.

The AIDS study published inthe journal, Nature Medicine,describes how a unique changein the outer covering of thevirus found in two HIV-infectedKwaZulu-Natal womenproduced the potent antibodies.

The South African researchconsortium, led by ProfessorSalim Abdool Karim of theCentre for the AIDS Programmeof Research in South Africa(CAPRISA) at the University ofKwaZulu-Natal (UKZN),comprises scientists from theNational Institute forCommunicable Diseases (NICD)in Johannesburg, the Universityof Cape Town, the University ofthe Witwatersrand and UKZN.

For the past five years theteam has studied how certainHIV-infected people develop verypowerful antibody responses.

According to a statementfrom CAPRISA, the antibodiesare referred to as broadlyneutralising antibodies becausethey kill a wide range of HIVtypes.

The team initially establishedthat two KwaZulu-Natal womencould produce the antibodies.Follow up research by NICDscientists, Dr Penny Moore andProfessor Lynn Morris, revealedthat a sugar, referred to as a“glycan”, on the surface proteincoat of the virus at a specificposition formed a site ofvulnerability in the virus,enabling the body to mount abroadly neutralizing antibodyresponse.

‘Understanding thiselaborate game of “cat andmouse” between HIV and theimmune response of the infectedperson has provided valuableinsights into how broadlyneutralizing antibodies arise,’said Moore.

Morris, who is Head of AIDSresearch at NICD, said they hadbeen surprised to discover thevirus which caused infectionoften did not have this antibodytarget on its outer covering. ‘Butover time, the virus waspressured by the body’s immune

reaction to cover itself with thesugar that formed a point ofvulnerability, and so allowed thedevelopment of antibodies thathit the weak spot.’

Abdool Karim said broadlyneutralising antibodies wereconsidered to be the key tomaking an AIDS vaccine. ‘Thisdiscovery provides new clues onhow vaccines could be designedto elicit broadly neutralizingantibodies.’

The CAPRISA statement saidhighly potent forms of broadlyneutralizing antibodies againstHIV were identified about threeyears ago but until now it hadnot been known how the humanbody made the antibodies.

‘To make this discovery, theresearch team studied the targetof some of these antibodies, asugar that coats the surfaceprotein of HIV, forming a site ofvulnerability.

‘By tracing back theevolution of the virus thatelicited these antibodies, theyshowed that the particular weakpoint was absent from the virusthat first infected the KwaZulu-Natal women. However, underconstant pressure from otherless powerful antibodies thatdevelop in all infected people,their HIV was forced to exposethis vulnerability over time.This allowed the broadlyneutralizing antibodies todevelop,’ said the statement.

‘Analysis - performed incollaboration with scientistsfrom the University of NorthCarolina and HarvardUniversity in the United States -of a large number of otherviruses from throughout theworld, suggest that thevulnerability at position 332 maybe present at the time ofinfection in about two thirds ofsubtype C viruses (the subtypemost common in Africa).

This research was funded bythe South African government’sDepartment of Science andTechnology, the US NationalInstitutes for Health and the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation.

The long-term follow-upstudies of the women inKwaZulu-Natal wereadditionally funded by the SouthAfrican Technology InnovationAgency as well as USAID(through CONRAD) and CDC aspart of PEPFAR. Fellowshipsfrom the Fogarty InternationalCentre and the Wellcome Trustalso played a key role in enablingthe research.

UKZN-led researchraises hopes forHIV/AIDS vaccine

Professor Malegapuru Makgoba receives prestigious awardVICE-CHANCELLOR ProfessorMalegapuru Makgoba has receivedthe first South African-GermanScience Award at a specialfunction held recently inJohannesburg. The award honoursProfessor Makgoba for hiscontribution as one of SouthAfrica’s “top researchers andscientists”.

The presentation of the awardformed part of the 60thanniversary celebrations of theSouthern African-GermanChamber of Commerce andIndustry at which South AfricanDeputy President Kgalema

Motlanthe and Vice-Chancellor ofthe Federal Republic of GermanyDr Philipp Rösler, were present.

In a letter to the Universitycommunity, Mrs PhumlaMnganga, Chair of Council,congratulated Professor Makgobaon the prestigious achievement.‘This serves to reaffirm the globalrecognition and respect that hecontinues to earn for hiscontributions to science. Councilacknowledges his leadership inadvancing the scientific endeavourat the University of KwaZulu-Nataland in South Africa,’ saidMnganga. PPrrooffeessssoorr MMaalleeggaappuurruu MMaakkggoobbaa..

Groundbreakinginvestigation LLIIZZ CCLLAARRKKEE

RATHER than doingexperiments in test tubes orconical flasks, bioscience

complex bioscience can now bedone on a chip not much bigger thanyour thumbnail. Liz Clarke spoke toan international scientist, now inKZN, who is involved in this ground-breaking work.

Imagine a bank of medicallaboratories filled with white-coatedtechnicians performing anynumber of clinical tests. Nowimagine that those tests could bedone for thousands of patients in atiny computer chip, and the resultsreturned within minutes.

Dr Frederick Balagaddé, aUgandan researcher, who hasworked in the US for much of hisacademic career, has shown thatthis type of mind-numbing cyberspace technology is not onlypossible but is close to becoming aneveryday reality.

He has now embarked onanother critical step in the process,taking up a five-year investigativeresearch role at the new KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for TB andHIV (K-RITH) international facilityin central Durban.

One of his goals – ‘call it more apassion, even an overridingcommitment’ he says – is to developHIV/TB computerized microfluidicchip-based platforms, torevolutionise the way testing,treatment and research is done,particularly in resource poor areaswhere clinics and healthprofessionals are few and farbetween.

‘The current dilemma the worldfaces is that the poorest countriescarry the biggest disease burden,made worse by limited health-careand poverty. They are also the leastcapable of dealing with theseproblems,’ says Balagaddé.

‘At the same time the world isshrinking into a global village. Thecontinents have morphed intoorgans of the same organism. As weshrink, infectious diseases thatafflict one organ start to affect thewhole world collectively. It’s an issuethat needs to be addressed globally.’

This 30-something investigator isno stranger to the impact of HIVand the misery and destruction itcauses in Africa.

‘In the 1990s when I was aschoolboy in Uganda, it was asthough as young people we wereliving in a dark and terrifying hell-hole with little or no escape.Friends, mums, dads, uncles, aunts,brothers and sisters were dying themost hideous deaths. There were no

ARVs. People were counseled butjust to help them accept they weredying. Many committed suicide.Unimaginable suffering is what Iremember.’

But it was, he says “a uniquetype of awareness for that time” andone that made the young andimpressionable schoolboydetermined to find answers.

The first part of that journeywas to secure a scholarship toManchester College, Caltech andStanford University in the US wherehe was able to combine his interestin human biology with thedevelopment and invention of newforms of biotechnology.

It is at this point that one has tothink about things so tiny that italmost beats humanunderstanding. Immersed in thismicroscopic world Balagaddé wasable to develop the microchemostat,the first of its kind in the world,that could mimic the biological cellculture environment found in anyconventional laboratory – on aminiature scale.

But what good would that be toordinary people, you might well ask?

‘In basic terms a computer cantake over tasks that humansgenerally can’t do. If we can trainmachines to conduct complexmedical analysis, it will help toalleviate the global shortage ofdoctors and health professionals.’

He believes that if rapidstreamlined computerizedmicrofluidic testing reduces the

long queues of people having to waitfor hours at clinics, the greater thechance of bringing these epidemicdiseases under control.

‘It is part of the new age ofpersonalized medicine. Not onlywill the patient be tested swiftly, butthe correct medication will also beadvised using appropriateinformation systems.’

(K-RITH says it is currentlyrecruiting exceptional students andoutstanding researchers to helpbring visions like this to a practicalreality).

Analogies are pretty importantwhen it comes to explaining thenuts and bolts of this discovery.

‘Think of a gadget the size of acell phone,’ he says. ‘Think of thechip inside it which miniaturizesthe process of receiving andsending mountains of informationacross vast distances. This is thesame principal. Using circuitrythinner than human hair we can setup a miniature network that canrun thousands of tests very quicklyand accurately and at the same timecut costs to a fraction.’

Might sound simple the way heputs it, but the gadgetry requiredhim to design a complex web of tinypumps and human hair-sized waterhoses that could react toinstructions from a “Big Daddy”multitasking computer, do the testsand provide answers, not in days,but in hours or minutes.

It’s a brave new world – andhappening right on our doorstep!

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PPrrooffeessssoorr SSaalliimm AAbbddooooll KKaarriimm..


JJUUDDIITTHH AANNNNAAKKIIEE--EERRIIKKSSEENN

UKZN scientist and renownedresearcher ProfessorQuarraisha Abdool Karim

has won the Academy of Sciencesfor the Developing World (TWAS)’s2012 Prize for Medical Sciences ‘forher exceptional and distinguishedcontributions to HIV preventionand women’s health’.

TWAS awards are among theworld’s most prestigious scientificprizes recognising scientificexcellence in the developing worldin the fields of agriculturalsciences, biology, chemistry, earthsciences, engineering sciences,mathematics, physics and medicalsciences. The prize includes aninscribed plaque, a certificate andan award of US$15 000.

Abdool Karim is AssociateScientific Director of the Centre forthe AIDS Programme of Researchin South Africa (CAPRISA),Adjunct Professor of Public Healthat the Nelson R Mandela School ofMedicine at UKZN, and AssociateProfessor in Epidemiology at theMailman School of Public Health atColumbia University in New York.

The TWAS award is inrecognition of her significantscientific contributions spanningtwo decades of the HIV epidemic insouthern Africa, especially herground-breaking research ontenofovir gel as the first HIVprevention technology for women.This research, which was firstpresented at the International AIDSConference in Vienna, was hailedby the Science journal as among theTop 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of2010.

‘I am deeply humbled by theTWAS Prize in Medical Sciences. Ithas been an arduous but fascinatingjourney of scientific discovery forme,’ said Abdool Karim.

‘Every bit of the effort wasworth it because the need for HIVprevention methods for women,especially in Africa, is critical andurgent. I hope my findingscontribute to the dream of an AIDS-free generation and inspire today’s

young scientists in Africa to pursuetheir dreams.’

Abdool Karim’s distinguishedcareer is marked by her pivotalresearch achievements in HIVprevention at CAPRISA, her globalleadership role as Co-chair of theNIH funded HIV Prevention TrialsNetwork, and being Co-chair of theScientific Programme of the 2012International AIDS Conferenceheld in Washington recently.

MMEELLIISSSSAA MMUUNNGGRROOOO

PROFESSOR Keyan Tomaselli ofthe Centre for Communication,Media and Society (CCMS) has beenawarded a LifeTime AchievementAward for CommunicationResearch by Johns Hopkins Healthand Education in South Africa(JHHESA).

The award was made at a recentgala dinner hosted by the JHHESA,USAID and the Johns HopkinsUniversity School of Public Health.

The Alan Jaffe HumanitarianAward for Lifetime Achievementwas presented to Tomaselli inrecognition of his significantcontribution towards theinstitutionalised and stablecontinuation of training, researchand capacity building in healthcommunication for academics andpractitioners in the field.

The late Alan Jaffe was a Doctorworking on HIV issues in rural

KwaZulu-Natal. ‘It is trulyhumbling to be recognised in thecompany of great scholars andpractitioners such as Jaffe andresearchers such as Larry Kincaid,Maria Lena Figouera, ProfessorLynn Dalrymple, the JohnsHopkins University contingent andmy own colleagues,’ said Tomaselli.

Tomaselli has played a crucialrole in the development of a publichealth communication programmeat the CCMS funded by theJHHESA through USAID for thepast 10 years.

In partnership with a group ofCCMS graduates, he wasinstrumental in developing anational AIDS campaign in the mid-1990s, using acommunication/culturalperspective which moved beyondawareness to provide valuableresearch into cultural/socio-economic constraints to effectiveresponses.

Leading academicreceives LifetimeAchievement Award

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UKZN researcher winsprestigious internationalMedical Sciences prize

PPrrooffeessssoorr QQuuaarrrraaiisshhaa AAbbddooooll KKaarriimm..

TTHHAANNDDIIWWEE JJUUMMOO AANNDD HHAAZZEELL LLAANNGGAA

THE SA maritime community isfirmly behind ensuring the highlyspecialised Unit of Maritime Lawand Maritime Studies launched atthe University of KwaZulu-Natalrecently is a hub for research in thefield.

The Unit – officially opened byUKZN’s Vice-Chancellor andPrincipal Professor MalegapuruMakgoba – is a strategic researchinitiative located in the College ofLaw and Management Studieswhich makes UKZN the onlyUniversity in South Africa to offerthis amalgam of maritimeofferings.

Makgoba regarded the Unit asthe University’s unique signatureinitiative and a signal approachtowards maritime studies andmaritime law.

‘We are making the maritimesector a business for the Universityand this Unit is very important aswe are preparing for the academiccatwalk which will be the maritimesector in five years to come,’ saidMakgoba.

Located on the threshold of thelargest port-related maritimecommunity in any city in thesouthern hemisphere, the Unit hasbeen established at UKZN to offer aconsolidated postgraduate teachingsite and research portal for theprofessional and commercialmaritime community.

In her address, UKZN Alumnusand non-executive Director of theNational Ports Regulator of SouthAfrica, Ms Thato Tsautse, said themaritime community was

committed to ensuring thesustainability of the Unit.

‘It is inspiring to see that UKZNis playing a leading role in trainingpeople to address the shortage of

skills within the maritime sector.This Unit will be able to producewell researched papers that give anaccurate concept of wheremaritime really is.

‘However, its most importantfunction will be to inform the city ofDurban about careers in themaritime sector. I would like tomake an appeal to the maritimecommunity to ensure that this Unitis a success,’ said Tsautse.

Its focus will be on – but also wellbeyond – the boundaries ofeThekwini and the Durban portcommunity. Principal areas ofteaching excellence at apostgraduate level range frommaritime law, maritime transportand port economics to customs andexcise.

Professor Trevor Jones,Academic Co-ordinator of the Unitsaid: ‘The University has committedsubstantial financial resources tothe establishment of the Unit whichincludes an extensive maritimelibrary as well as a large collectionof maritime related materials. All ofthese will benefit postgraduatestudents, researchers and themaritime community.’

This interdisciplinary Unitboasts teaching and researchexpertise from various schools anddisciplines within the College ofLaw and Management Studies suchas maritime law, environmental law,international trade law andinternational economics, maritimeeconomics, transport economics,taxation and maritimemanagement which arecomplemented by practicalindustry expertise.

New UKZN unit geared to revolutionise the maritime industry

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LLUUNNGGAA MMEEMMEELLAA

STUDENTS from UKZN’sSchool of Health Sciencestogether with various

governmental and non-governmental organisationsrecently offered free primaryhealthcare services to childrenliving with disabilities in the ruraldistrict of iLembe.

The intervention programmeheld at the Ntathakusa PrimarySchool in Ndwedwe was the first ofits kind.

The partnership was formedwhen representatives from theTongaat Hulett group approachedthe Health Sciences Disciplines atUKZN on behalf of desperateparents and caregivers of childrenwith disabilities who are membersof the local sugarcane farmingcommunity.

Ms Nkonzo Mhlongo, Socio-Economic Development Managerfor Tongaat Hulett, said theprovincial Departments of Health(DoH) and Social Developmentteamed up with the local KingShaka non-governmentalorganisation for people with

disabilities. Final-year students from the

Disciplines of Audiology, Dentistry,Occupational Therapy and SpeechLanguage Pathology joinedStanger Hospital nurses in theprovision of a variety of primaryhealth screening services.

Mhlongo said the interventionaimed to assess children withdisabilities in the community. Theresults would be evaluated and leadto programmes being designed toassist parents, caregivers andeducators in the community toaddress children’s specific needs.

Parents and caregivers alsoused the opportunity for freescreening and hospital referralswere made in special instances.

Dr Penelope Flack, AcademicLeader for the Discipline ofSpeech-Language Therapy atUKZN, said the University wouldcontinue to play its part indeveloping educationalprogrammes for parents andeducators to better understand howto manage children living withdisabilities.

Flack said iLembe had a strongcommunity structure and in line

with the DoH re-engineering ofprimary healthcare, suchinterventions were critical.

Flack said a holistic approach tohealthcare was needed and recalledtwo successful projects being runin the School of Health Sciences atthe neighbouring KwaDabeka andMarianridge communities. Shesaid experiential learning wasessential for students in the School.

Mrs Nobuhle Nzimande, HOD ofthe hosting School, said theintervention was vital as manyparents struggled with raisingchildren with disabilities.

Mr Sibongiseni Chamane, anEducator at the School, said theywere very grateful health serviceshad been brought into theunderdeveloped community whichhad limited access to basichealthcare. ‘We hope to see moreand more interventions of thisnature.’

Ms Nadhira Ramnat and MsFathima Suleman, students fromthe Audiology Discipline, said theyboth had family members whowere deaf, and screening forhearing loss on the day had been anuplifting experience.

Improving quality of life forchildren with disabilities

GGRREEGGOORRYY DDAARRDDAAGGAANN

THE three-dimensional structure ofa cosmic filament has been revealedfor the first time using highresolution images from the Hubbletelescope.

The breakthrough was made bya University of KwaZulu-Natalastronomer Dr Mathilde Jauzac, inpartnership with internationalcolleagues.

The cosmic filament forms partof the cosmic web which traces thedistribution of matter in theuniverse, similar to the complexsystem of neurons in the humanbrain with filaments playing therole of nerve fibres.

The international teamcomprising scientists from SouthAfrica, France, the United States,Japan, Denmark and the UnitedKingdom, discovered the filamentwhile studying the distribution ofmass around the massive galaxycluster MACS J0717.5+3745 knownas MACS J0717.

Galaxy clusters, the largeststructures in the universe whichare held together by gravity, containthousands of galaxies and arebelieved to lie at the nodes of thecosmic web. In time they grow asmatter is funnelled into them alongcosmic filaments.

‘From our earlier work onMACS J0717, we knew this clusterwas actively growing and thus aprime target for a detailed study ofthe cosmic web,’ said co-author DrHarald Ebeling of the University ofHawaii in the USA.

Dr Jauzac, who earlier this yearstarted a research fellowship atUKZN’s Astrophysics andCosmology Research Unit, used themethod of gravitational lensing tomap out the distribution of thedark matter in the cosmic filament.

Dark matter, which has eludeddetection by astronomers to date,makes up 90 percent of the matterin the universe and forms thebackbone of the cosmic web.

The technique of gravitationallensing has its foundation inEinstein’s theory of generalrelativity which predicts that lightshould bend around large

concentrations of mass - in thisway the galaxy cluster acts as alarge gravitational lens. It is asubtle effect and the study requiredvery precise images from theHubble Space Telescope of thegalaxies around and behind thefilament as well as new toolsdeveloped by the team to reveal thehidden dark matter filament.

‘The challenge’, explains co-author Dr Jean-Paul Kneib of theLaboratoire d’Astrophysique deMarseille in France, ‘was to find amodel of the cluster’s shape whichfitted all the lensing features weobserved.’

Observations by the HubbleSpace Telescope gave the best two-dimensional map of the massdistribution. However, to see theshape of the filament in three

dimensions required furtherobservations from the Subaru andCanada-France-Hawaii telescopesto locate thousands of galaxieswithin the filament and getmeasurements of their velocitiesusing the Keck and Geminitelescopes.

Dr Jauzac, who recentlyobtained her PhD from Laboratoired’Astrophysique de Marseille inFrance, said: ‘Filaments of thecosmic web are extremely extendedand diffuse, which makes themvery difficult to detect, let alonestudy in three dimensions.’

The first convincing detection ofpart of a cosmic filament was madeearlier this year by a team ofastronomers led by Dr JorgDietrich.

The filament discovered by Dr

Jauzac’s team is so extended that abeam of light would take about 60million years to travel across it.

The team’s findings have backedup the view of how smallirregularities in the universe at thetime of the big bang grew overbillions of years to form the largecosmic structures seen today andhave provided astronomers withfurther insights into how theelusive dark matter is spread acrossthe universe.

Professor Sunil Maharaj,Director of UKZN’s Astrophysicsand Cosmology Research Unit,confirmed the impact of this study.‘The team has shown insight andoriginality in making an excellentcontribution to a difficult problem.We are indeed pleased that DrJauzac from our research unit at

the University of KwaZulu-Natalhas led this pioneering study.’

Dr Jauzac plans to continue herwork on a larger sample of galaxyclusters, with similar interestingfeatures, using observations fromthe Southern African LargeTelescope (SALT).

The forthcoming James WebbSpace Telescope will be a powerfultool for detecting filaments in thecosmic web, thanks to its enhancedsensitivity over the Hubble SpaceTelescope.

The research is presented in apaper titled: “A Weak-Lensing MassReconstruction of the Large- ScaleFilament Feeding the MassiveGalaxy Cluster MACSJ0717.5+3745”,which will be published in nextmonth’s issue of Monthly Notices ofthe Royal Astronomical Society.

UKZN astronomer charts cosmic filament in three dimensions

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SSIITTHHEEMMBBIILLEE SSHHAABBAANNGGUU

NGENHLOSO yokwakhaubudlelwano nokubambisanakwezocwaningo, abafundisiababili abavela e-IslamicUniversity of Gazabavakashele e-UKZNukuzoxoxisana ngalokhu.

IzihambelibekunguSolwazi MohammedM. Shabat oyi- Vice-President for AcademicAffairs noDkt As’ad Y oyi-Vice-President for ExternalRelations abahlanganyelenabafundisi abahlukene kubalwakubo noMphathi wezocwaningo e-UKZN uSolwazi Cheryl Potgieter.

I-Islamic University of Gazainabafundi abangu 21 000, izikoleezingu 11, kugxilwa kakhulukucwaningo kwezobunjiniyela.

Izingxoxo ziveze izindawokwezokufunda ezihambisanayophakathi kwamaNyuvesiwomabili, kwenza nezihambelizakujabulela ukuthi bangalethaabafundi babo abaneziqubazoqhuba izifundo zabo.

Abafuna ukukwenzangokushesha ukuba iGaza iletheabafundi babo abenza izifundozePhD bazobhalisa laphaeNyuvesi. Ophethe ezocwaningo

ekolishini lakwaHumanities,uSolwazi Sarojini Nadarukhulume ngemikhakha yabonangezindlela abangabambisanangazo ezingeni labafundiabaneziqu.

USolwazi DereshRamjugernath wesikolesezobunjiniyela e-UKZNukhulume kakhulukazingezindlela okungabanjiswanangazo nangendlela womabiliamanyuvesi angazuza ngayo.

Umhlangano uphothulwengesivumelwano sokuthi i-UKZNizosayinda isivumelwanosokusebenzisana (Memorandumof Understanding) nenyuvesiyaseGaza.

* English version available onpage 10.

Abafundisi basenyuvesi i-IslamicUniversity of Gaza bavakashele e-UKZN

IIzziivvaakkaasshhii eezziivveellaa eeGGaazzaa bbeezziihhaammbbeellee ee--UUKKZZNN..

7YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 10 • OCTOBER 2012 YOUR MONTHLY CAMPUS NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 10 • OCTOBER 2012

6

AAnn aaeerriiaall pphhoottooggrraapphh ooff tthhee KK--RRIITTHH TToowweerr BBuuiillddiinngg.. PHOTO: STEVE MCCURRACH

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LLIIZZ CCLLAARRKKEE

IT took just seven years frominception to reality – a record inthe sphere of scientific

development. But the big day has arrived.

The new global KwaZulu-NatalResearch Institute forTuberculosis and HIV is now openfor business in the grounds of theUKZN Nelson R Mandela School ofMedicine. The highly modularbuilding with its distinctive woodinterior and unique mosaicdesigns houses nine universitydepartments that will now be thelinking hub between threeexisting UKZN Medical Schoolbuildings.

The establishment of K-RITH asa major player in the global fightagainst TB and HIV has set apowerful and fundamental newprecedent in terms of collaborativescience.

In his welcoming address RobertTjian, President of the HowardHughes Medical Institute (HHMI)emphasised the need to translateresearch into novel treatment forthe “twin scourges” and new waysto manage the diseases.

‘It is fresh thinking that has ledto the creation of this internationalresearch facility - the first of its

kind outside the US and filled withextraordinary scientists,’ he said.

The opening of the new airy andattractive building on TuesdayOctober 9 was a joyous and proudoccasion with celebrated storyteller,Gcina Mhlope, bringing a uniqueblend of traditional magic to theevent. Other crowd-pleasinginterludes were a performance bythe KwaZulu-Natal Youth WindBand, the rhythmic andharmonious Kholwa Brothers andthe Wiggins Secondary SchoolChoir.

Among the VIPs celebrating thebirth of this international facilitywere the National Minister ofHealth, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi; KurtSchmoke, Chairman of the HHMITrustees and Vice President ofHoward University; Dr ZweliMkhize, Premier of KwaZulu-Natal,K-RITH’s new Director ProfessorBill Bishai; UKZN Vice-Chancellor,Professor Malegapuru Makgobawho outlined the history of the newbuilding and those who had madepossible a far-reaching dream.

The high point of the openingceremony was the official unveilingof the K-RITH Tower Building.Pressing the start button were DrMotsoaledi, Professor Makgoba,Professor Tjian and ProfessorBishai.

Journey of discoverybegins for K-RITH

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AASSHHAAYY NNAATTHHOOOO

MS Annaliza Moodley, whocompleted her honours inComputer Science at

UKZN last year, received the awardfor the best fourth year honoursstudent at the conference and prizegiving ceremony of the OperationsResearch Society of South Africa(ORSSA).

Moodley was nominated for theaward by her Supervisor, DrAderemi Adewumi, who receivedthe prize on her behalf.

Moodley’s project, whichfocused on financial portfolioselection with heuristicoptimization, had earlier beenaccepted and presented byAdewumi at the IEEEInternational Conference onComputational Intelligence for

Financial Engineering andEconomics (CIFEr 2012) in NewYork.

CIFEr is the majorcollaboration between theprofessional engineering andfinancial communities and one ofthe leading forums for newtechnologies and applications inthe intersection of computationalintelligence and financialengineering and economics.

In addition to the recognitionand prestige the award holds,Moodley was given a cash prize forher achievements. It was the firsttime since the merger that a UKZNstudent has won the prestigiousannual award which places theUniversity’s name in the ORSSAHall of Fame.

It was also the first computerscience project to scoop the award.

UKZN’s School of Mathematics,Statistics and Computer Sciencemade its presence felt at the eventwith several academics andstudents - including Adewumi andProfessor Nelishia Pillay -presenting at the conference.

The UKZN delegationpresented research papers in thearea of optimisation and modelingwhich provided practical solutionsto problems of nationalimportance including annual cropplanning, sports leaguescheduling, blood assignment inblood banking, financial portfolioselection and the early detection oftype two diabetes.

The Conference was also anopportunity for the UKZN group tonetwork with other academics andindustry partners, seeking waysfor future collaboration.

MMEELLIISSSSAA MMUUNNGGRROOOO

THREE UKZN students havecompleted five-month overseasexchange experiences which theydescribed as both exciting and aneye-opener.

Fourth year Social Work studentMs Nokuthula Ngubane, whoattended Jönköping University inSweden, said: ‘The campus life inSweden is very relaxed - you havetime to complete assignments andprojects while still being able toenjoy socialising.

She said despite the obviouslanguage barrier students had beenwelcoming and easy to interact

with. Sisters and postgraduate

students in Theoretical Physics andEnvironmental Science, Humairahand Zaakirah Bassa, studied atKonstanz University in Germany.

‘The University and its coursesare very student-driven. You get atwo-week trial period to study whatyou feel you might want to take onas a major. There’s also a lot ofsporting activities such assnowboarding and skiing,’ saidHumairah.

‘We took a climate change courseand one of the topics discussed wasarea studies in South Africa.Students asked us a lot of questions

about our country’s politics and thepopulation statistics.’

The sisters also had theopportunity to travel to Spain,England, Denmark and Scotland.

They advised other students totake up any opportunity to studyabroad as an exchange studentbecause it was an amazing learningexperience which taught one tobudget and be independent.

‘It changes your way of thinkingand opens you up to experience newplaces and cultures,’ said Zaakirah.She said exchange students neededto be flexible and prepared to learnas much as they could of the hostcountry’s language.

SSAALLLLYY FFRROOSSTT

UKZN’s Mr Nhlanhla Mathaba wasnamed the Best PerformingAgricultural Sector Education andTraining Authority AgriSETAbursary student during theorganisation’s annual gala dinner inJohannesburg.

A variety of awards recognisingvarious role players in theagricultural sector were made at theevent.

Mathaba, a Science FoundationProgramme student, has recentlysubmitted his thesis for a PhD inHorticultural Science.

The AgriSETA evaluatednominees by interviewing students,their supervisors and project

industry partners which inMathaba’s case is the Citrus Industry.

Mathaba’s PhD projectinvestigates the events leading tochilling injury in lemons, aphysiological disorder of fruit andvegetables leading to severe peeldiscolouration, thereby reducing themarketability of produce.

The project resulted in a deeperunderstanding of the occurrence andmitigation techniques of chillinginjury in citrus fruit.

‘This achievement would beimpossible without the guidance andsupport of my Supervisor, Dr SiaBeetling, and my industry partner,the Citrus Academy of the SouthAfrican Citrus Growers’Association,’ said Mathaba.

Students share their exchangeprogramme experiences

EExxcchhaannggee ssttuuddeennttss ffrroomm lleefftt:: MMss HHuummaaiirraahh BBaassssaa;; MMss NNookkuutthhuullaa NNgguubbaannee aanndd MMss ZZaaaakkiirraahh BBaassssaa..

Computer sciencestudent winsnational award

Horticultural Sciencepostgraduate studentwins AgriSETA Award

MMrr NNhhllaannhhllaa MMaatthhaabbaa..

MMss AAnnnnaalliizzaa MMooooddlleeyy..


VVIICCKKYY CCRROOOOKKEESS

UKZN’s Alan Paton Centre andStruggle Archives adopted the themeCartoons, Satire and South AfricanPolitics for its 7th Peter BrownMemorial Seminar.

Manuscript Librarian of the AlanPaton Centre, Mr Nazim Gani,presented the keynote address titled:“Cartoons, Satire and South AfricanPolitics: A Case Study of Zapiro’sCartoons”.

Gani said cartoons, satire andSouth African politics generatedmuch interest and debate locally aswell as internationally. ‘Obviouslywith Zapiro being South Africa’smost celebrated and publishedcartoonist, I felt it was necessary tocase study his cartoons especiallysince he had been actively involvedwith the United Democratic Frontand the End ConscriptionCampaign.’

Gani traced Zapiro’s cartooningcareer from the time he was a youngchild, drawing pictures of monstersto exorcise them from his dreams,through to his portrayal of Madiba asa father and moral guardian of thenation and Jacob Zuma with hisfamous showerhead.

He touched on how difficult it hadbeen for Zapiro to criticize formerPresident Nelson Mandela.‘According to Zapiro, the first time hedid so felt like a son criticizing his

father.’ Gani said Zapiro argues that‘his unflattering portrayal ofPresident Zuma is entirely based onactual quotations where thePresident has said outlandish,chauvinistic, and ignorant thingsabout AIDS, women and the rule oflaw.

Zapiro had said that Madibaencouraged him personally as acartoonist and gave him thenecessary space to express himself.

‘Zapiro feels there is an importantrole for cartooning in South Africa.He is of the opinion that cartoonistsare being taken more seriously thanever. This is evident by the fact thatPresident Zuma is suing him andfurthermore by the recognition ofcartooning in journalism circles,’said Gani.

In conclusion, Gani said hebelieved political cartoonscontributed to the understanding ofmedia representation of issues,people and events. As a result, futurestudies ‘should focus on thefeasibility of political cartoonstowards understanding a particularsocial phenomenon and how they canbe harnessed to build and shapepublic opinion’.

The seminar ended with aquestion and discussion session anda vote of thanks by retiredManuscript Librarian, Mrs JewelKoopman, who highlighted theimportance of having a free Press.

Seminar focuses on cartoons,satire and South African politics

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LLUUNNGGAA MMEEMMEELLAA

RESEARCH conducted by anexpert in pedagogic factors inthe medical curriculum at

UKZN, Professor Ted Sommerville,has revealed that students withprevious tertiary educationexperience tend to do better thanothers in the MBChB programme.

During a study investigatingseveral demographic influences onMBChB student achievement,Sommerville found that whenexamined individually, age, sex andfacilitator background had nosignificant impact on the success ofstudents being studied.

Students’ first language and thefinancing of their studies did seemto influence their achievements.However, only high school quintile(socio-economic status of thecommunity), previous tertiaryexperience, assessment marks anda student’s matric points weresignificant independentdeterminants of how well studentsprogressed through their medicaldegree.

Sommerville presented thestudy at the College of HealthSciences’ Annual ResearchSymposium, saying the findingscould have implications for studentadmissions for curriculumstructuring, planning therapeuticinterventions and for the pre-medical education sphere.

Sommerville said variousstudies at school and universitylevel had documented factors thatcould influence students’assessment marks – ‘the ultimatemeasure of academic success orfailure’.

The study was inspired by hispassion to teach a new generationof critical thinkers who would jointhe medical fraternity and meet thespecial healthcare needs of thecountry. He was concerned that

students of today were a lot morerelaxed than older generationsabout the comprehensive andpacked information passed on tothem by lecturers.

Sommerville’s analysis of thenine demographics came afterholding focus groups with medicalstudents from diverse backgroundsand listening to their perceptionson teaching and learning in theMBChB programme.

‘Most of the obvious indices ofthe diversity that we strive for showsignificant differences whenexamined independently. However,in combination, several turn out tofade into the background comparedto schooling, tertiary education, thestandards of difficulty ofsuccessive assessments and lastly –and minimally – the more directlycognitive aspect of students’ matricperformance.’

Commenting on the smallimpact of matric performance,Sommerville said he suspected thattoday’s average high school studentmight have an advantage in theMBChB programme over some of

the high fliers. His observation wasthat at university, some of the latterdid not cope because they knewfrom high school that they couldopen their books the night beforeand excel in the next day’sexamination.

Sommerville mentioned thatmedical schools in a number ofcountries evidently believed thatachieving ‘straight As’ was notenough to excel in medicine andadded pre-selection interviews totheir recruitment process.

Sommerville said, however, thatit was not easy to measure anapplicant’s dedication,commitment andconscientiousness simply from apre-selection interview, particularlyin South Africa, as students comefrom very diverse backgrounds.

A firm believer in problem-based learning, Sommerville saidstudents with previous tertiaryeducation experience were morelikely to do well throughout theMBChB curriculum, possiblybecause they had already developedsome independence of thinking.

Research results on MBCHBstudent achievement at UKZN

PPrrooffeessssoorr TTeedd SSoommmmeerrvviillllee..

SSAALLLLYY FFRROOSSTT

UKZN academic staff andpostgraduate students walked offwith the lion’s share of awards at therecent national Conference of theAgricultural Economics Associationof South Africa (AEASA) inBloemfontein.

Mr Garreth Sparks, whograduated summa cum laude with anMScAgric (Agricultural Economics)degree in April 2011, ProfessorGerald Ortmann and Professor MikeLyne won the prize for the Best Paperpublished in Agrekon – the officialISI-accredited journal of AEASA – in2011/12 for a paper titled: “Anormative economic analysis of co-operative biodiesel production usingsoybeans produced by smallholdersin KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa”.

Sparks, Ortmann and Mr LouisLagrange, formerly a SeniorLecturer in AgriculturalEngineering at UKZN, won theProtein Research Trust BestScientific Article award for 2011/12for their paper titled: “An economicevaluation of soybean basedbiodiesel production on commercialfarms in KwaZulu-Natal, South

Africa”. It was published in AgrekonVol 50(3) in September, 2011.

Senior Lecturer Dr EdilegnawWale won the prize for the best articlepublished in a scientific journalother than Agrekon for his papertitled: “Explaining farmers’decisions to abandon traditionalvarieties of crops: empirical resultsfrom Ethiopia and implications foron-farm conservation”. This paperwas published in the Journal ofSustainable Agriculture (2012).

Lecturer Ms Grany Senyolo was

awarded a South AfricanAgricultural Economics ProfessionalFellowship, which is administered bythe National Agricultural MarketingCouncil and AEASA.

This award will enable Senyoloand two other young researchers tovisit well-known Americaninstitutions, including CornellUniversity, USDA or other USgovernment agency researchfacilities, the World Bank, TuskegeeUniversity, not-for-profit institutionsand international research centres,

for two weeks inDecember.

Senyolo presenteda poster titled:“Examining thehouseholdpurchasing decisionof underutilizedleafy vegetables(ULVs) in Limpopoprovince, SouthAfrica”.

Ms Michelle Browne, whograduated in April with an MScAgric(Agricultural Economics) degreecum laude, shared first prize with astudent from the University ofPretoria for the 2011/2012 AEASABest Masters Thesis award. Herthesis is titled: “Measuringhousehold resilience in developingcountries: evidence from six Africancountries”. Browne was supervisedby Ortmann and co-supervised byProfessor Sheryl Hendriks of theUniversity of Pretoria.

Lecturer Dr Lloyd Baiyegunhiand postgraduate students MrStanley Sharangua, Mr BinganidzoMuchara and Mr Royal Mabe alsopresented papers at the Conference.

Ortmann presented a paper by

Akankwasa et al. Thetitles of the paperspresented and the authorswere:

“Social capital andhousehold poverty inrural KwaZulu-Natal”, byL Baiyegunhi;“Smallholder maize valuechain in the Eastern Cape:constraints andopportunities for chain

development”, by M Muchara, GFOrtmann, E Wale & B Letty; “Thevalues rural households attach toforest products and services: the caseof three communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa”, by SSharaunga, M Mudhara and E Wale;“Mentee and mentor competenciesfor forming and sustainingmentorship: perspectives from theSouth African sugar industry”, by RMabe, E Wale & SRD Ferrer; “Theeffect of banana cooking qualitiesand other consumptioncharacteristics on consumers’intentions to purchase East AfricanHighland Banana hybrids inUganda”, by K Akankwasa, GFOrtmann, E Wale & WKTushemereirwe.

MMrr GGaarrrreetthh SSppaarrkkss..

FFrroonntt ffrroomm lleefftt:: MMrr SSttaannlleeyy SShhaarraanngguuaa,, MMss GGrraannyy SSeennyyoolloo,, aanndd DDrrEEddiilleeggnnaaww WWaallee.. BBaacckk ffrroomm lleefftt:: DDrr LLllooyydd BBaaiiyyeegguunnhhii,, PPrrooffeessssoorr GGeerraallddOOrrttmmaannnn aanndd MMrr BBiinnggaanniiddzzoo MMuucchhaarraa..

Agricultural Economics staff and students scoop awards


SSIITTHHEEMMBBIILLEE SSHHAABBAANNGGUU

TWO academics from the IslamicUniversity of Gaza visited UKZNrecently to discuss and establishpartnerships for researchcollaboration.

They were the Vice-President forAcademic Affairs, Professor

Mohammed M Shabat, and theVice-President for ExternalRelations, Dr As’ad Y, who met withseveral academics and UKZN’sDean of Research, Professor CherylPotgieter.

The Islamic University of Gazahas 21 000 students and 11 Schoolswith Engineering being a very

strong research focus area.Discussions revealed common

academic areas of interest betweenUKZN and Gaza whoserepresentatives expressed a stronginterest in growing theirpostgraduate component.

An immediate goal for Gaza isto send PhD students to register

here for degrees. The Dean forResearch: College of Humanities,Professor Sarojini Nadar spokeabout the College’s academicprogrammes and the commonareas of collaboration in thepostgraduate discipline.

Professor Deresh Ramjugernathof the School of Engineering

addressed the issue of potentialareas of collaboration between thetwo institutions and the potentialbenefits.

The meeting ended with UKZNcommitted to signing aMemorandum of Understandingwith Gaza in order to formalize thepartnership.

Islamic University of Gaza academics visit UKZN


THE School of Management,Information Technology andGovernance (MIT&G)

recently hosted the American-African-European (AAE) SummerSchool Programme.

The two week-longinterdisciplinary and interculturalMasters study hosted by UKZN andthe University of theWitwatersrand catered for theCollege of Law and ManagementStudies key priorities of improvingpostgraduate enrolments bypromoting internationalcollaborative scholarly workopportunities between UKZN andpartnering universities.

It also created a platform forUKZN academics to engage withInternational postgraduatestudents and academics fromGermany’s Chemnitz University ofTechnology and the University ofthe Witwatersrand on globalbusiness management trends,economic forums and politicalleadership in South Africa.

Mr Taahir Vajeth, SeniorLecturer and Academic Leader:Human Resource Management, IR& ER, encouraged students doingtheir masters to take advantage ofthe various scholarship packagesoffered to international students by

the University. ‘Masters students can use this

opportunity to network and discusscollaborative research possibilitiesbetween themselves and otherUKZN students.

‘There are also opportunities toembark on a full research mastersor a 100 percent fee remission forfull research or doctoral research.Please think about this and sharethe news of these excitingopportunities with other students,’said Vajeth.

Students also participated in theinformation sharing sessions bydelivering presentations and beingpart of team building events. Thestudents also enjoyed a tour to theSAB-Miller Plant and Nampak inDurban and a Heritage andFreedom Route tour inPietermaritzburg.

Strengthening internationallinks through the AAESummer School Programme

PPaarrttiicciippaannttss ooff tthhee AAAAEE SSuummmmeerr SScchhooooll..

STAFF and students from theCollege of Agriculture,Engineering and Science bravedwet and misty weather to take partin a fun run at the UkulingaResearch Farm.

A fun run has been part of theFaculty of Science andAgriculture’s tradition for yearsbut this was the first time theentire College participated.

Teams from the variousSchools and Offices dressedaccording to their chosen themes.Colourful attires were donned by

the College Office’s Witches andWizards and the Cowboys andIndians from the School of LifeSciences, while the bright green ofthe School of Mathematics,Statistics and Computer Sciencestood out.

Prizes were awarded for thebest dressed team and the bestteam spirit. First Man and Womanhome, Mr Thulane Singwane andMs Wendy Janssens, won prizes asdid the last to finish.

A lunch was held in Ukulinga’smain hall after the run.

College Fun Run a great success

CCoowwbbooyyss aanndd IInnddiiaannss ffrroomm tthhee SScchhooooll ooff LLiiffee SScciieenncceess..


THE School of AccountingEconomics and Finance inpartnership with accounting firmErnst and Young recognised topachievers at the Accounting 300awards ceremony held in Durbanrecently.

The event rewards theachievements of top students andalso gives them a platform toshowcase their skills to Ernst andYoung in the hope of futureemployment.

In the presentations, studentswere required to analyse financialstatements of a top 100 listedcompany on the JohannesburgStock Exchange.

Working closely with theirlecturers for guidance the groupshad to creatively translate theoryinto practical scenarios.

Accounting Lecturer, Ms Salma

Vanker, said the exercise helpedstudents enter the workplacebetter prepared.

‘The project is of great value asit brings together the theorytaught and the application thereof.It allows students to hone in onreport writing skills, master theirpresentation skills and providesan outlet for students withcreativity.

‘The project has been runningfor many years as a joint initiativebetween UKZN and Ernst andYoung and we would like to thankthe firm for their continuedsupport,’ said Vanker.

Team 006 chose to examine thefinancial aspect of NetcareLimited while the CorporateSupremacists group looked atWoolworths Holding Limited’sratio and share analysis.

The Supernova group decidedto adopt a business news bulletin

format to make their presentationon Pick n Pay.

The Cash Cow group won afterimpressing the judges by adoptinga game show theme titled “Investor Don’t Invest” which analysedthe benefits and risks of investingwith Mr Price Group Limited.

Ernst & Young Director, MsJane Oliva, said her company wasscouting for future employees whohad energy, enthusiasm and thecourage to lead and theAccounting 300 event capture allthose elements.

‘It is not only about technicalcontent but also aboutpresentation skills, creativity andthe energy of the students.

‘Everyone who has presentedhas produced quality which hasgiven them an edge over theirpeers that is why we continue tobuild a relationship with UKZN,’said Oliva.

Accounting students impress prospective employers

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AFEW years ago on a field tripstudents recurringly usedthe word "random" to refer

to anything that grabbed theirattention, something that wasnovel, an odd event that requiredsome kind of colloquial signifier.“Random” was soon evacuated ofany meaning – like a well knownexpletive – and simply became amarker that marked some emptyexclamatory rhetoric. Being seento be using cellphones here, thereand everywhere, irrespective ofcontent, meaning or relevance, isthe gesticular equivalent ofnothingness taking on significatoryvalue. “We’re connected – seems tobe the message to onlookers’”. Buteven the concept of “zero” hasmeaning – even if it signifiesemptiness.

Another student foible is thequestion: "Is it compulsory"? Thismight be called the First Law ofStudent Procrastination. Realisingthat evasion is not an option, theCaveat becomes: "Is it for Marks?"It is at this point that the Corollaryof the First Law kicks in, especiallywhen lecturers try to respondintelligently and patiently to theFirst Law and its Caveat parroted atthem by students.

The Corollary states that"Students Asking these kinds of

Questions Indicate that all theyhave Learned is How to WriteExams". This brings us to the 2ndLaw of Procrastination, thatstudents who only know how towrite exams have yet to learn howto learn. Also, they don’t know thatthey don’t know – they are runningon empty/zero. The lecturer's stockresponse to these kinds ofquestions is found in the Law ofIrritated Reaction: "A Register Willbe Taken!" This Law suggests thatstudents attend a class to sign aregister rather than to learn orparticipate.

So, what's the point of thisexercise in Academology?

Learning is a collectivesocialization process. Participationhelps to get a foot in the door – i.e.employment. As Jonathan Jansenkeeps telling unemployedgraduates in The Times, volunteer,do, get experience, take up unpaidinternships to fill in your CV.Waiting for top-payingmanagement posts only works forthe small class of self-righteouspolitically connected. The rest haveto work for their living. This isknown as the Law of MundaneExistence. Most of us have to knowhow to slog where the elite just haveto cash their paychecks.

All this reminds me of agraduate class we taught in theearly 1990s. Many of the MA

students, the first batch co-terminous with the first election,refused to read, work or participate.They were simply doing ‘time’. Noneed, they assured theirincreasingly exasperated lecturers,“Soon, the ANC will be ingovernment and socialism willprovide”. This conclusion wasoffered after the lecturers hadlocked the seminar room door. Theclass would be allowed to leave onlyafter they explained their otherwiseinexplicable refusal to learn.Thirty minutes of excruciatingsilence loosened their lips. “OK, Iresponded”, now we have a startingpoint. My colleague, Eric Louw, Isaid would examine thisproposition. He had, after all, justfinished a PhD on Marxism, in theaftermath of the Soviet meltdown.

Louw’s response was that acontributing factor to the failure ofcommunism was the myth that‘socialism would provide’. Whowill pay the taxes, I asked, for this tooccur? The students werehorrified to learn that as part of theemployed middle classes that theirown salaries would contribute tothe tax base. Were they prepared forthe 45 percent marginal tax that wewere paying? Even as they livedmiddle class lifestyles they hadfoolishly assumed that they wererevolutionaries who would beexempt. Indeed, a new staffer had

complained bitterly that her firstpay slip reflected a tax deduction.What was I going to do about it, shedemanded.

The class became visiblyanimated and distressed onlearning that they were tax fodder.Why not re-distribute Anglo-American’s profits one asked. Astudy just reported revealed that ifeach individual was to get an equalshare, the income per head in 1994would be just R17. The questionwas posed by a student who is nowa head honcho in the advertisingindustry. And so it went, untilenlightenment dawned. Socialismis flawed because people veneratingpassivity want to benefit but notcontribute, participate and learn.Resources are finite in this systemand marks mean nothing whenlearning and problem-solving is notoccurring. The Soviet Union wasrunning on empty/zero in moreways that one. Successful socialismis not just a matter of signing theregister, being seen to be doing‘time’ or paying fees to get acertificate. Wealth creation isneeded no matter the type ofeconomy. Then, it’s a question ofredistribution, and the rich arerequired to support the poor,though in many societies, like ours,it is the poor who support the rich.The question is how and underwhat conditions can redistribution

occur? We had a great seminar andthis class came to the academicparty big-time as a result of thisconversation.

Suffice it to say that themechanism of redistributioncannot be “random”. To get back toeducation. A variation of Terman’sLaw (Stanford University), wouldstate that “There is no directrelationship between the quality ofan educational program and its cost(or the ‘time’ spent doingnothing/something in theclassroom)”. Time is like using cellphones , if it’s question of being‘seen’ to be ‘doing’ even if nothingis being done, then we are runningon empty Active participation in acollective learning environment isthe key.

* Keyan G Tomaselli is Directorof the Centre for Communication,

Media and Society. He hasoutgrown the idea that exam

marks measure anything otherthan rote learning.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column

are the author’s own.

The UKZN Griot Of Marks and Socialism

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