Author Archives: Kwanele Butana

About Kwanele Butana

Kwanele is a Communication Officer in the Marketing and Communication Department. He writes stories about general news, and the faculties of Business and Management Sciences and Education. Tel: +27 21 959 6916 Email: butanak@cput.ac.za

A first for internationalisation at CPUT

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International Relations Officer Matome Mokoena is the first South African ever to be selected for a sought after training course on management of internationalisation.

Mokoena said he was part of the third cohort of the DAAD DIES Training Course on Management of Internationalisation, which saw only 30 applicants selected from more than one hundred applications.

The DAAD DIES Training Courses offer modular, practice-oriented training opportunities for management-level professionals from universities in developing countries.

He recently returned from Kenya where he attended the programme’s African Regional Workshop at the Jomo Kenyata University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). During the workshop he learnt modules on Internationalisation, soft skills as well as competencies and key tasks of International Officers.

“I feel honoured to be the first South African ever to be selected on the programme,” he says.

Mokoena, who co-ordinates Strategic Partnerships, says CPUT is following up with the JKUAT for possible partnering as they are very strong in terms of commercialisation of agricultural products.

He said he used the skills obtained from the programme to start the Buddy System at CPUT, which seeks to create an environment that will encourage students to invite their friends and families to come to South Africa.

“My office partners with the Student Learning Department which is responsible for the First Year Experience programme. Together we identify and train potential Buddies to be involved in this project,” he says.

After training, the Buddies are paired up with new international students whom they help to fit in to the CPUT culture, find their way around Cape Town and adapt to the local conditions.

The main aim of the system is to provide social cohesion and a safe environment for incoming students.

“The Buddy system can be shared with other under-privileged institutions across the country,” adds Mokoena.

Beating the odds to graduate

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Sive Mfanase was born in a rural village outside Mthatha in the Eastern Cape and into a life of subsistence farming, which saw him growing up as herd boy.

From the tender age of eight Sive would walk barefoot to school – a 12 kilometre round trip on dirt roads.

“During rainy seasons when the creeks rose, I would stop on the nearby bank, strip, swaddle up my books in my clothes. I would wrap this load around my head and paddled across the water floating on any handy log,” narrates Sive.

“If I arrived at school late, the teacher at my one-room school routinely whipped me.”

He recalls how tricky schooling used to be on Fridays as this was the dipping day for the village’s cattle. He would guide the cattle to the dipping tanks where he would wait in a line for a turn to send his family’s herd.

During his high school days he and a friend took weekend bus trips to nearby villages to earn money by doing odd jobs for rich families, an activity he continued until after obtaining his matric.  He took a gap year in 2013 and worked part of the year.

“It was the first time in my life that I had cash of my own, during that year I saved R7 000.”

In 2014 he enrolled at CPUT for a diploma in Tourism using his savings to pay for half of the first semester’s tuition fees.

He began classes with no money and little prospect of earning the other half by midterm.

“Another student told me that even though I did not have money, the university would not exclude me if I earned good grades. I did and soon I was awarded a bursary to continue my studies.”

After obtaining his diploma in 2016 he later changed fields of study to satisfy his business interests.

During Autumn Graduation, Sive graduated with a BTech in Business Administration.

He is currently enrolled towards an MTech in Business Administration and aspires to start his own business.

Campus health clinic remembers Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

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Staff members at the Student Health Clinics commemorated the passing of anti-apartheid struggle veteran, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

The Student Health Clinic on the Bellville Campus lit a candle against the backdrop of a photograph of the icon and the South African national flag. The candle was lit for the two weeks leading up to the funeral day.

“The candle is strategically placed at the main entrance to the Clinic to remember her as the Mother of the Nation who stood firm for her people through many trials and tribulations,” said Andries Slinger, acting Head of the Campus Health Clinics.

Slinger added that Madikizela-Mandela was a Clinical Social Worker by profession and that the clinic wished to commemorate and acknowledge her for the sterling work she did for the profession.

“She was the first black member of staff to fill the position of Medical Social Worker at the now Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.”

He stated that caring for the sick and destitute is the core business of the clinic and that this is the value that stood out in Madikizela-Mandela’s legacy.

“Mam Winnie was banished to a small Free State town called Brandfort where she established a clinic, also referred to as a Health Unit, a Day Care Centre and a Soup Kitchen.”

He added that the Student Health Clinic would like to build on her caring legacy which was unmatched in the Democratic South Africa.

“Mam Winnie did outstanding work as a researcher during the late 1950s, most notable is her research that she conducted in the Alexandra Township where she found that the Infant Mortality Rate was an astronomical 10 deaths per 1 000 Live Births and was cause for alarm”.

Slinger said the research was significant in obstetrics because it highlighted the need for care for infants as well as establishing the cause of death amongst infants.

Cultural Day teaches students to value diversity

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First-year students in the Management and Project Management Department leant a lot from a cultural day they hosted on the District 6 Campus recently.

According to the department’s Communication lecturer Nobuhle Luphondo, the idea came out of a discussion the class had about Intercultural Communication and the significance of diversity in workplace.

“As managers they need to learn how to manage diversity and its value in the organisation,” said Luphondo.

Having initiated the project, the students came donning traditional regalia on the day and served traditional dishes from different cultures.

“This was a platform for them to share and exchange their cultures, the objective was for my students to learn to embrace and appreciate other cultures.”

They also managed to convince others to taste their dishes at costs of between R2 and R5 and their sale proceeds could either be used to donate to an organisation of their choice or to use as a budget for their upcoming Community Engagement Project.

“The event was a success and I am very proud of my first year students, they have coordinated this event not for marks but for them to learn.”

Students could not contain their delight at the different cultures which were exhibited. Nwabisa Madywabe said it felt amazing tasting different traditional dishes such as Indian soup and traditional ginger beer.

Fruda Pumbulu enjoyed the pleasure of serving her Congolese delicacy, Pondu (cassava leaves), with bread. “Some of my fellow students had never tried the dish before, it was a nice idea for us to come together as Africans to celebrate our cultures.”

Tania Jacobs said the family spirit that the students showed each other during the event was inspiring as the students truly embraced each other’s cultures.

Mark Muyumba said he was excited to see the different cultural outfits donned by his classmates as he was used to only seeing such outfits on TV.

Success of records management workshop

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The Registrar’s Division recently hosted a successful Records & Archives Management seminar-workshop which was attended by the university’s Records Coordinators.

Kuselwa Marala, Director: Academic Administration, said the overall objective of the event was to develop an understanding and appreciation of best practices in records management as pointed out in the CPUT’s Records & Archives Management Policy.

“The intention is to enable you as key players, to handle with care records in your custody, right from the time of receipt or creation, maintenance, use and disposal,” said Marala

She challenged the participants to learn as much as they could by asking as many questions as possible during the workshop and to later pass the knowledge to their colleagues.

She added that the kind of legacy left by the current staff members will be determined by the records and archives kept by the institution.

Staffers were introduced to records management practices, preservation of archival and historical records as well as the CPUT File Plan and Records Retention Schedule.

During the workshop the implications of the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act and the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) were also discussed.

CPUT has entered into an agreement with Neopak Recycling to undertake the secure shredding of paper-based records. Neopak has supplied CPUT with recycling boxes and lockable wheelie bins.

Neopak Recycling’s Thembi Botha, said documents will be shredded in front of CPUT’s representatives and a destruction certificate confirming how and when the record was destroyed will be issued.

HEAIDS is upbeat about CPUT

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The Higher Education Aids Project (HEAIDS) complemented CPUT for recovering in a relatively short space of time from a university which was riddled by students’ unrests to the peaceful environment conducive for teaching, learning and innovation that now prevails on the university’s campuses.

This view was expressed by HEAIDS Director, Dr Ramneek Ahluwalia, during a HEAIDS visit to CPUT recently. Accompanied by HEAIDS Project Manager, Alex Semba, Ahluwalia met with Acting Vice-chancellor, Dr Chris Nhlapo, before addressing the HIV Institutional Co-ordinating Committee.

Ahluwalia commended Nhlapo for how he has turned the university around in the last five months. “I met the Vice-chancellor to acknowledge him as well as telling him about our programme and vision,” he told CPUT staffers.

He added that a university’s legacy is that its alumni should live longer and that Dr Nhlapo agreed about the importance of leaving this legacy to the benefit of alumni and society.

“Academia has for a long while ignored issues of gender-based violence, employee wellness and HIV/Aids,” Dr Ahluwalia said.

He added that few universities in the country, including CPUT, have a Gender-Based Violence policy or processes in place to develop a policy. He congratulated CPUT for being one of the institutions in higher education to integrate HIV into its curriculum.

EUHOFA board member visits Hotel School

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International benchmarking and forming strategic partnerships allow CPUT to collaborate with some of the best university consortia in the world.

Gerald Lipman, Chief Executive of the International College of Hotel Management in Adelaide,  Australia, recently visited the Cape Town Hotel School for engagement as part of his annual business trip to Cape Town.

The college and the school are members of EUHOFA INTERNATIONAL, the International Association of Hotel Schools.

EUHOFA INTERNATIONAL is an association which contributes to the improvement of hospitality training and promotes the achievements of its members. The association has more than 140 hotel schools, colleges and universities which are represented by their directors who are full members.

Lipman, who is also an EUHOFA board member, has been visiting the hotel school annually since he recruited it to join the association in 2013.  Each year EUHOFA host a congress that brings together members.

These congresses are hosted by an EUHOFA member school and are a combination of informative and inspiring lectures and presentations, interactive workshops and formal and informal gatherings in the hosting school/institution and cultural events.

During these congresses academic input as well as informal networking are very important and a lot of international exchanges, top-up programs for alumni as well as international projects have been started during these conversations.

Seasoned academic becomes leader of largest faculty

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Prof Paul Green brings a wealth of experience spanning over 24 years in academia to his position as the new Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences and is determined to improve service quality to all stakeholders in the university’s largest faculty.

Green was previously in the employ of the Durban University of Technology, which he joined in1995, and occupied various managerial positions such as Head of Department, Academic Director, Campus Research Co-ordinator, Deputy Dean as well as Campus Director and boasts an impressive track record in supervising students.

He holds a PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal with specialisation in Systems Thinking and is also registered with the South African Institute of Professional Accountants.

High on Green’s agenda for CPUT are building a student-centric faculty with emphasis on effective teaching and learning, research innovation and development, academic development of staff as well as community engagement initiatives.

“I believe Universities of Technology in South Africa have a critical role to play in identifying and exploring niche research areas which leads to addressing societal challenges through applied research,” he says.

He adds that the faculty should not operate in a silo, instead it should be an open system that interacts with industry partners, the community and other universities in the region, nationally and internationally.

“As the dean, what is of utmost importance to me is safeguarding academic integrity and I am a strong advocate of ethical leadership.”

His research focuses on developing applicable frameworks for UOT’s on the evaluation of service quality using a Systems Approach, Service System Interactions at tertiary institutions and application of Analytic Hierarchy Process for the evaluation of Service.

CPUT boxer wins international debut

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A CPUT student, who has defended his Western Cape boxing title three times, has won an international match against an Irish boxer during the Open Boxing International Club Tournament.

Mabhuti Maseti, a second-year Maths Technology student, beat his Irish counterpart, Michael Duggan, on points to walk away with a gold medal.

The tournament was held at Vibrant Sport Studio in Ottery recently, and pitted a selection of Western Cape boxers against boxers from Munster in Ireland.

“I am very excited about the win as this was my first international fight which I have now won,” said the province’s lightweight champion.

Mabhuti is now preparing to take part in the upcoming Western Cape boxing tournament in May, which will pave the way for him to challenge for national honours.

“I want to challenge for South African championship now, I believe I’m ready for it since I have successfully defended my provincial title thrice since winning it in 2016.”

The inter-club tournament was sponsored by the South African National Boxing Organization, Western Cape Boxing, Native Unit Volition and Vibrant Sport.

Vuyani Mtshikana, CPUT Boxing Manager, commended Mabhuti’s world- class performance and said that during the event a relationship between the two countries was made formal.

“It was a very exciting boxing night for all the boxers and the visitors alike. Our boxers had a taste of the international boxing and have learnt a lot from our visitors,” added Mtshikana.

He thanked the Sport Department and the Marketing and Communication Department for their support to the boxing club.

Implementation of records management at CPUT

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A Records and Archives Management Programme will soon be rolled out across all CPUT campuses. Gugulethu Ndenge, manager of the Records and Archives Management unit,  says that on March 2, a seminar-workshop on “Basic Records and Archives Management” will be conducted for all university records co-ordinators that were nominated by heads of departments.

The event will be held on the Bellville Campus. “I urge records co-ordinators to extend the invite to all interested parties in their respective business units,” says Ndenge.

This seminar-workshop is designed to provide records co-ordinators with information on standard policies on records creation and control, maintenance and use, as well as disposition.

Staffers will not only be introduced to records management practices, but also the preservation of archival and historical records.

“The workshop will also highlight how records management principles can benefit administrative practices and sharing information as well as encouraging a uniformed filing system.”

During the workshop the implications of the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act and the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) will also be highlighted.

The seminar will have two sessions. The first session will introduce staffers to effective record-keeping practices and the university’s Records and  Archives Management Programme. “It will provide participants with grounding in basic Records and Archives Management principles and practices and will prepare them for further records management training,” he says.

Another session will highlight records classification principles and file plan development. “Participants will be introduced to the CPUT File Plan and Records Retention Schedule.”

Ndenge encouraged staff members who are no longer the designated records co-ordinator for their department to forward the contact details of the person who will now fulfil this role.

During next term the Records and Archives Management Programme will be rolled out across all CPUT campuses, starting with the departments and units in the Registrar’s Division.