The blind South African Paralympic and World Championship medal winner in swimming, Hendri Herbst, is receiving his LLM (Master of Law) degree at the sixth graduation ceremony of Stellenbosch University (SU) on Friday (5 April).

Originally from Letsitele close to Tzaneen in Limpopo and now living in Stellenbosch, Herbst managed to obtain his master's degree despite many challenges ranging from swimming practices, master's degree research to visual impairment.

The year 2018 was more difficult than the previous year, he says. He struggled to find a balance between his studies and swimming practices, but with perseverance, he pulled through.

“I adapted to the workload and I actually enjoyed the year. I must say, the academic work received a bit more of my time than the swimming," says Hendri, who does not even consider taking a break before commencing with his doctoral studies.

“I am going straight on to the doctoral studies. I must keep on going while I am in motion," he says like a true champion who does not want to lose motion in a swimming pool.

Herbst was also offered the opportunity to apply for a joint PhD degree between Stellenbosch and Hasselt University in Belgium through the SU International Office. As soon as funding has been finalised, he will commence with his studies. With this joint studies he will spend three months per year in Hasselt.

 Herbst was also in the news last year when he won a discrimination case against a restaurant where his previous guide dog, Stan, had been refused entry. This happened when Hendri and his family visited the restaurant in December 2014. Stan died of cancer in December 2017.

 The Equality Court ordered a settlement between Hendri and the restaurant owner. They paid R50 000 in damages to Herbst and had to make a R50 000 donation to the Guide Dogs Association.

“I am satisfied with the outcome of the court case. I hear some restaurants changed their signage and have new notices stating 'no animals, except guide dogs'."

His new dog, Julian, is growing more and more attached to Hendri, and they are seen together all the time. Julian will even go up the podium with Hendri when his degree is bestowed upon him on Friday.

“This young dog is doing well. I spoil him a bit; he is even sleeping in my room on my bed."

Hendri is presently training for the IPC World Championship in August this year. He will compete in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle items.

• Herbst won bronze at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London and gold and silver at the 2016 European Champs.
• He was born partially blind due to vitreous hyperplasia and secondary glaucoma. Over the years he has lost the rest of his vision.
• Hendri was only six weeks old when his parents enrolled him for a drown-proof course as a precaution for his poor eyesight. His love for swimming started then.
  
  Main picture: Hendri Herbst on stage receiving his degree. Photo: Stefan Els
  Picture with dog: Hendri sits with Julian his guide dog. Photo: Sandra Mulder
  

​​ An interactive discussion which forms part of a series focused on what South Africans would want in a future South Africa will be hosted at Stellenbosch University (SU) on Wednesday, 10 April for members of the public, non-governmental and community organisations.

The event takes places at the Jannasch Lecture Hall in the Konservatorium at Stellenbosch University from 12:00 to 14:00.

Hosted by the Community Chest of the Western Cape, the District Six Museum, the One City, Many Cultures Project and the Faculty of Arts and Social Science at the University of Stellenbosch, this event follows similar discussions at the District Six Homecoming Centre in February and at Paarl Boys High in March. It will be followed by more events across the province in the next two months.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at SU will host the event thanks to the ties that Ms Ncebakazi Mnukwana, a lecturer in the Music Department, has built up as a Board member of One City, Many Cultures and the writing project she participates in at the District Six Museum. The event forms part of the SU100 celebrations within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

The discussion, facilitated by media expert Ryland Fisher and Babalwa Gusha, Programme Coordinator at Stellenbosch University's Transformation Office, will reverse the traditional trend of panel discussions. The discussion will start with inputs from the floor and invited respondents in the audience will be allowed to comment at the end. This is to ensure that more people are able to participate in the discussion within the limited time allocated.

“We started with a discussion on the role of NGOs in an election year and followed this up with a discussion on the South Africa we all want to live in. It became clear that we needed to take this discussion outside of the Cape Town metropolitan area," said Community Chest CEO Lorenzo Davids.

Bonita Bennet, Director of the District Six Museum, added: “We want to know from ordinary people what are the issues we want government to deal with. How do we interact with government in a way that will help them achieve a more equitable society? How do we fix the many things that are wrong in our country so that we can all look forward to a better and more positive future? What do we want the country we live in to look like?"

“We will bring together a group of people who are interested in taking forward the vision of a more equitable society irrespective of political affiliation. Our aim is not to point fingers at anyone but to help in the search for solutions."

Fisher said that after all the dialogues – the final one will be in May, after the elections – the organisers intend to draw up a report that will be circulated to senior politicians and municipalities throughout South Africa to give them an idea of the views of a broad range of South Africans.

The Stellenbosch dialogue will be the third in the “South Africa We Want" series, following the one held in Paarl on 14 March.

The event starts at 12:00 and will run till 14:00. It will be held in the Jannasch Lecture Hall in the Konservatorium in Stellenbosch.

Lights snacks will be served before and after the discussion. For catering purposes, RSVP to reception@districtsix.co.za.

For more information, contact Ryland Fisher (rylandfisher@mweb.co.za or 082 800 5326), Bonita Bennett (bonita@districtsix.co.za or 021 466 7200) or Lorenzo Davids (ldavids@comchest.org.za or 021 487 1500).

Photo: Panellists at the first interactive dialogue hosted at the District Six Museum in January. From left, media expert Ryland Fisher, IEC provincial commissioner Rev Courtney Sampson, Stellenbosch University music lecturer Ncebakazi Mnukwana, Interim Director at the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, Community Chest CEO Lorenzo Davids, District Six Museum Director Bonita Bennett and Human Rights Commissioner Rev Chris Nissen.

Stellenbosch University's (SU) Dr Taboka Chalebgwa has won the AIMS-Fields-Perimeter Africa postdoctoral fellowship, which offers him a one-year postdoctoral position at the prestigious Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences in Canada.

Dr Chalebgwa, who received his PhD in Mathematics during the April 2019 graduation ceremony this week, says he has been greatly inspired by his study leader and senior lecturer in mathematics at SU, Dr Gareth Boxall: “His mentorship not only led to my growth as an aspiring mathematician, I picked up a few attitudinal virtues as well."

Growing up in Botswana, he says his decision to later study mathematics can be traced to his high school days where he prided himself upon performing well in maths.

After completing a BSc degree in mathematics at the University of Gaborone in Botswana, he successfully applied to become part of the African Institute for Mathematical Science's (AIMS) programme in South Africa. He was then awarded a post-AIMS bursary to pursue an MSc in mathematics under Prof Florian Breuer at SU, with Dr Boxall as co-supervisor. After Prof Breuer left to take up a position in Australia, Taboka continued with his PhD under Dr Boxall's supervision.

With a doctoral dissertation entitled “Nevanlinna theory and rational values of meromorphic functions", it is no easy task to explain the nature of his work in layman's terms. According to Dr Boxall, Taboka's work forms part of a general project of showing that, for certain functions, input-output pairs of numbers which are both rational are in some sense scarce: “In fact, for some functions it seems unlikely that a rational input will ever lead to a rational output, but this can be very difficult to prove."

For the near future, the 28-year old plans to remain in academia, working on projects within the international community.

On the photo above, Dr Taboka Chalegbwa. Photo: Stefan Els

Michelle Nell, a visually impaired postgraduate student at Stellenbosch University (SU), will remember the fifth April graduation ceremony of 2019 for a long time as her retired guide dog will be walking with her onto the podium when she receives the degree MMus cum laude.

Michelle started her challenging journey at SU in 2005 when she commenced with her BA studies in Music.

She says studying while having a disability was not always easy, but her faith and the belief that the only way to have a better future is through education, carried her through.

“I am opposed to the stigmas attached to blind people. I believe that nothing should stand in your way to achieve what you want, not even your disability … everything is achievable."

“Perseverance is an important ingredient in my journey to achieve success. I also have a few role models who helped me get along like Michelle Obama and Nelson Mandela. All these people came through difficult circumstances and transcended. They have a lot of wisdom and can be proud of their accomplishments and their lives encourage others to go on despite the difficulties in their lives.

“Apart from my visual impairment, I was also diagnosed with a mood disorder which resulted in me having to prolong my studies because of treatment. This made my studies even more difficult. I believe that whenever you reach a challenge, you just need to persevere and you will pull through.

Her black Labrador guide dog, Donna, joined her in March 2010.

The 11-year old Lab was at Michelle's side for eight years, which included the biggest part of her student years at SU. Michelle says Donna also played a big part in her success.

“Donna has been with me through thick and thin. She was with me every step of the way. She was with me during the late nights that I study, in hospitals, everywhere. Part of my achievement today is thanks to her. She kept me safe and sane."

“Donna will also wear a yellow hood around her neck, just like me," she said.

Donna retired in November 2018 and had to give up her position as Michelle's guide dog to Luna, also a black Labrador.

“I miss Donna every day. Her retirement was like fixing something that was not broken, but I did the right thing to let her retire and rest. She is not far, however, and stays with my parents in the Helderberg area. I see her from time to time."

Michelle worked four years on her master's degree in Music. She will commence with her PhD in Psychology this year.

Michelle will be staying in Stellenbosch because she can easily get around at the University.

Main photo: Stefan Els

Photographer: Chante du Toit

​Prof Lloyd Nicholas Trefethen, a mathematical scientist from Oxford University, was awarded an honorary doctorate from Stellenbosch University during the last graduation ceremony on Friday 5 April 2019. The award was made, inter alia, for his support over 30 years to develop the field of numerical mathematics in South Africa.

In his acceptance speech Prof Trefethen said mathematics forms the foundation of the enterprise of science and engineering and affects society in a pervasive and unexpected way: “Mathematics is a study free from space and time. Mathematics is done today, and was done 1 000 years ago, even 2 000 years ago. It is done everywhere in the world. The discoveries of each era are built on those in the previous era. Always moving forward."

Here follows his commendation, read at the ceremony:

With an astonishing body of work, esteemed mathematical scientist Professor Lloyd N. Trefethen has advanced the global popularisation of mathematics. For over 30 years, he has also keenly supported numerical mathematics in South Africa, contributing to a scarce skill the country desperately needs.

Having obtained his first degree in Applied Mathematics summa cum laude from Harvard College, and his master's degree and doctorate from Stanford, Trefethen spent two years at the well-known Courant Institute at New York University as a postdoctoral fellow of the United States National Science Foundation. Following positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cornell University, he accepted a professorship at Oxford University, United Kingdom, where he continues to break new ground as head of the Numerical Analysis Group.

The contributions of this unofficial global guardian of numerical mathematics encompass over 100 research papers, eight books and multiple practical innovations. These include a 1993 paper on hydrodynamic stability published in the journal Science, which has garnered more than 1 500 citations, and his Numerical Linear Algebra, which has become the standard postgraduate text in the field since it appeared in 1997.  Moreover, numerous scholars have benefited from the convenience and computational power offered by his ambitious Chebfun project, an open-source add-on to the state-of-the-art commercial computational package MATLAB.

Unlike many of his peers, Trefethen also regularly ventures beyond the confines of his field into areas such as physics and health science, where he challenges the conventional wisdom with novel insight. One example is his mathematical analysis of the Faraday cage, the phenomenon that shields microwaves from exiting the gridded window of a microwave oven, while allowing light waves to do so.  Perhaps the most dramatic example is his redefinition of the body mass index as a measure of obesity in humans, which made international headlines.

Generously sharing his expertise, he has established an enduring relationship with South Africa, supporting budding mathematical scientists countrywide. Apart from welcoming our scholars abroad, Trefethen has also become a regular visitor to our shores. From a strenuous national two-week lecture tour, to a number of visits to Stellenbosch as an active participant in the symposium of the South African Society for Numerical and Applied Mathematics (SANUM), he is known for making a special effort to engage with our academics and students alike.

Honours bestowed on Trefethen include his election as a fellow of the Royal Society, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics as well as the American Mathematical Society. Prestigious awards such as the 2013 Naylor prize of the London Mathematical Society and the 2017 George Pólya prize for exposition in mathematical writing speak volumes about his stature.

The University is honoured to confer on him the degree Doctor of Science (DSc), honoris causa, for his remarkable scholarship and his astonishing body of work advancing the global popularisation of mathematics; for challenging conventional wisdom with novel insight; and for generously sharing his expertise over 30 years to help cultivate a new generation of mathematical scientists on the African continent.

The Faculty of Science awarded a total of 307 postgraduate degrees for the 2018 academic year. This includes 156 BScHons, 81 MSc and a new record of 50 PhD degrees.

The University awarded 3 128 degrees and diplomas at its six April graduation ceremonies at the Coetzenburg Centre in Stellenbosch from Tuesday, 2 April to Friday, 5 April 2019. This includes 953 master's degrees and 158 doctoral degrees

On the photo, from left to right, Prof André Weideman (Applied Mathematics Division), Prof Louise Warnich (Dean: Faculty of Science), Prof Lloyd N Trefethen (Oxford University) and Prof Ingrid Rewitzky (Head: Department of Mathematical Sciences). Photo: Stefan Els

​He wants to play a role in the development of sport at universities and colleges in South Africa, Africa and the world.

That is why Mr Jerry Laka, Maties Sport Director: Support Services at Stellenbo​sch University, didn't hesitate to indicate his willingness to serve on the 2019-2022 Confederation of University and Colleges Sports Associations (CUCSA) Executive Committee.

With 24 years' experience in sport management, he was elected as Secretary General of CUCSA.

CUCSA is made up of the national university and college sports associations of the Africa Zone VI countries, which are: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

CUCSA's main objective is to coordinate and develop sport at universities and colleges in the region and to organise the biennial CUCSA Games. 

As Secretary General Mr Laka has to ensure that CUCSA functions effectively at all levels and communicates efficiently with its members.

“Now is the time to make an impact by bringing knowledge and expertise to the table. I am exposed to a variety of programmes, knowledge, management styles and diversity at Stellenbosch University which will help me in my new position," says Laka.

“We have to engage all countries to develop university and college sport and we must offer our assistance where challenges arise. Our goal is to impact the region through sport at universities and colleges. Our responsibility is to collaborate in opportunities, and to be open and willing to learn from one another. Our primary goal should be to emphasise the role that sport at universities and colleges can play in each of the CUCSA member countries.

“I'm very excited and I'm looking forward to contributing and becoming part of the bigger picture of university and college sport. We should align ourselves with the vision and mission of the country, for sport on all levels."

Stellenbosch University's School of Accountancy is thrilled with the 88% pass rate obtaine​d by the BAccHons class of 2018 in the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA)'s first professional exam, the Initial Test of Competence (ITC).

This is the first of two exams conducted by SAICA that individuals who want to qualify as chartered accountants in South Africa have to pass. The students took the exam in January this year.

With an average pass rate of 76% nationally, SU is in the third place among the 16 SAICA-accredited universities in the country. SU's Ms Anja Kanzler also achieved tenth place in the country.

The Universities of Pretoria and North-West are in joint first position with pass rates of 94% each.

Prof Pieter von Wielligh, professor in auditing and Deputy Director: Learning and Teaching of the School of Accountancy, explained that the exam had been taken by a record number of SU students, namely 280. Among the residential universities, only the University of Cape Town – with its 372 students – had more candidates.

"The excellent achievement by our BAccHons students in the ITC not only underlines the quality teaching offered by the School in a very concrete and visible way, but also the quality of students the School draws," Prof Von Wielligh said.

"The School of Accountancy is proud of its honours class of 2018's excellent performance.”

Prof Ingrid Woolard, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, congratulated the School, including all its academic and administrative staff. “It is not just those that teach directly on the honours programme that contribute to the success of our students; the scaffolding provided in the earlier years is just as important.”

Additive manufacturing technology, also known as 3D printing, has shown tremendous growth and development over the last few years.

Today it is possible to print not only plastic prototypes, but serious functional end-use mechanical parts can be produced in a variety of material types including a large range of polymers, composites, ceramics and metals. While it is an expensive process, the main advantage is the complexity of design that can be realised by this method. This is where biomimicry comes in.

Biomimicry is “innovation inspired by nature," or “the conscious emulation of nature's genius", as described by Benuys in 1997. Nature has been optimising complex, beautiful and functional structures over more than 3.8 billion years, so it makes sense for us to learn from these structures and use the principles for engineering design.

A team of researchers led by Prof Anton du Plessis from the Department of Physics at  Stellenbosch University, compiled a comprehensive review of the topic of biomimetic design for additive manufacturing, focusing on functional end-use parts. The paper,  titled “Beautiful and Functional: A Review of Biomimetic Design in Additive Manufacturing" was published in the journal Additive Manufacturing this month.

The authors present a summary and categorisation of the different forms of biomimicry currently in use in this field, highlighting the advantages of each approach by using examples from the recent literature. Most of the examples are focused on metal parts produced using the technique of laser powder bed fusion, a special form of additive manufacturing allowing especially high-detail and complex designs. However, the principles and especially the categorisation of biomimetic approaches are applicable to all forms of 3D printing. For example, the graphical abstract of the paper demonstrates an example of a metal part (titanium alloy) designed using a combination of two biomimetic design approaches: simulation-driven design and latticing (cellular design). The simulation-driven design process starts with structural mechanical simulations in an initial design space, to identify the areas of highest and lowest stress, and removes material in low-stress areas. This is followed by another iteration of simulation and the removal and addition of material. This iterative process is similar to evolutionary processes in nature, where in each iteration an improved structure is revealed. Finally, the lattice design is itself similar to cellular structures in nature, such as cork or wood cells, but optimised here for providing not only lightweight but also good stiffness of the structure.

For more information on this work please access the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2019.03.033

Or contact the lead author here - Prof Anton du Plessis – anton2@sun.ac.za

Research group: http://blogs.sun.ac.za/duplessis/

On the images above, an example of a biomimetic titanium bracket – the obvious advantage here is light-weighting of the structure compared to a traditionally designed component. The result is both beautiful and functional. Image: Anton du Plessis

​

“We all have a responsibility. I cannot change the whole world, but if I can change one person's life through music, I have done my job and I can go to heaven."

This is the fervent hope expressed by Xander Kritzinger, who received his MMus degree on Thursday (04 April 2019) during the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences graduation ceremony at Stellenbosch University (SU). Kritzinger graduated from the Department of Music and his research focused on the vocal training during male puberty, a topic that is very personal to him.

“I grew up singing in choirs and attended Drakensberg Boys Choir School. During that time, my voiced changed and I struggled with the technical side of singing. For a long time I had wanted to do a Masters focusing on the change of boys' voices. I had this absolute desire to know how to work with these chaps, because the people who worked with me had little knowledge on the matter."

Kritzinger believes that if more research had been conducted on the change in boys' voices while he was singing in choirs as a young boy, it could have helped his vocal training and progression. “The main reason I started doing this research was because I didn't know enough. Working with young singers, especially boys with a changing voice, is important to me. As much as I fell in love with the research process, the kids that I work with will gain much more from my research."

Kritzinger has been passionately involved in choral music since 2004. While growing up in KwaZulu-Natal, he was involved in various choirs and started conducting when he was still in high school. Being a fourth generation choral conductor and seeing his parents play instruments and share their love for music with him naturally propelled Kritzinger also to pursue a career in music.

“For me the medium is choral music. If I can build a relationship with a child, a healthy relationship with boundaries as both a mentor and a teacher within a safe space, I can have a bigger impact. To create a space where a child or young adult can develop through music and walk away with a smile – that's why I do it."

Kritzinger is currently the choral conductor and voice teacher at Stellenbosch High School, a post he says brings him immense joy.

“It's a long process and when you start building a relationship with kids, it is not necessarily about them being the best musician or singer or whatever. You want them to be healthy, psychological sound individuals as well. I want to see children develop into healthy adults."

Kritzinger will be continuing his research on the vocal training of boys' voices during puberty when he commences his PhD studies in Music at SU next year.  

Photo by Stefan Els.

​​​

When S'nothile Gumede was growing up in the rural parts of KwaZulu-Natal, she always thought that her dreams were too far-fetched and that it would never become a reality.

“Growing up as a black person in South Africa, we are limited to certain dreams. Most of the time, the expectation is that you will become either a lawyer, a medical student or a science practitioner. They don't really know that you can be a viticulturist, an oceanographer, or even an artist. As a result, many young people's dreams are often undermined."

According to Gumede, her family and friends were not always in support of her dreams and goals. In 2014, she secretly applied to Stellenbosch University (SU), because she didn't want those close to her to remind her that things will not work out or be negative about her application and dream of studying at SU.

“When I got in at Stellenbosch I did not know what to do with the outcome. I got the recruitment bursary at the University, but even with that, I did not know how I was going to tell my parents, because they were expecting me to go to a local university. At the time, I was one of the first twenty recipients of this bursary and the University invited us to come to Stellenbosch and experience the University before we started our studies. The thing that blew me away when I got here was the underground library and all the opportunities at the University which made me decide that I really wanted to be part of this place."

Gumede subsequently went on to complete her BA in Humanities in 2017, triple majoring in Politics, English and Visual Studies. Even though her family eventually started adjusting to her new life in Stellenbosch, the journey was not always easy.

“I lived my whole undergrad in fear, and didn't want to check in with family and friends back home, because what if I messed up and then people would be so happy that they were right about me not getting far. I was living in isolation and had this one specific goal of passing and proving everyone wrong."

Gumede says it was during this stressful time that her marks started to drop as well. Thankfully, through the support of staff and peers on campus she managed to overcome this period and successfully continue with her studies.

Gumede graduated on Thursday (04 April) with an Honours degree in Visual Studies during the graduation ceremony for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

She is currently completing her Masters in Visual Arts, a rare feat given that she does not have a background in Visual Arts nor was she an undergraduate in Visual Arts. But through the support and confidence of her lecturer and the Visual Arts department, Gumede was able to accomplish her dream of pursuing the arts.

“Me getting this far, challenged my family's world. It challenged their thinking and their dreaming not just specifically for themselves but for people around them. My obsession has always been in proving my family wrong, but instead I feel that they trust me more now. They never question my decisions and dreams anymore. I believe that sometimes we are not only caged in by our environment or by circumstances but we are caged in by words, things that people proclaim over our lives. I want to ensure that people know their dreams are valid."

After completing her studies, Gumede plans to plough back into her community and help expose others coming from similar communities as herself to the world of visual arts.

“I personally believe as a person that if your dream only caters for you then you are a smaller person, because your dream has to benefit people around you. It has to change lives. I sometimes imagine what it would have been like if I had gone to a career fair or had access to visual arts and other opportunities when I was younger. I can only imagine the amount of impact it could have had on my life. I hope that one day I would be able to set up spaces for art creation in rural areas and empower people artistically. I believe that being exposed to different things and the arts could help validate the dreams of people from disadvantaged areas from a young age which could change their lives forever."

Photo by Stefan Els.

In the April 2019 issue of the magazine Accountancy South Africa (ASA), the cover story by Lisette Lombard is about three alumni of the SU School of Accountancy, Louw Barnardt, Dana Pretorius and Jacques le Grange.

They are the founders of Outsourced CFO (OCFO) and, at just 30 years old, have helped entrepreneurs raise over half a billion rand in seed and growth finance in an annual venture capital investment market of R872 million in 2016, according to South African's Venture Capital and Private Equity Association's 2017 survey.

Read their remarkable story in ASA here.

​

Prof Thuli Madonsela, the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice in the Faculty of Law at Stellenbosch University (SU), in partnership with the Division for Social Impact, SU, will lead expert panel discussions at the second thematic dialogue of Madonsela's Social Justice M-Plan, which takes place on Thursday, 11 April 2019, at STIAS in Stellenbosch.

“The Social Justice M-Plan initiative brings women together in the sharing of ideas for advancing social justice as a national and global imperative that transcends gender, racial, class and other divides," says Madonsela.

Under the programme direction of Karyn Maughan, the summit aims to enter women into dialogue on land reform so as to generate solutions that can realise South Africa's Constitutional objective of healing the divisions of the past through land reform. The dialogue aims to reach a resolution, implemented under the leadership of women that will move the land reform discourse forward.

Speakers will include: Prof Nico Koopman, Vice Rector: Social Impact, Transformation and Personnel, SU; Prof Nicola Smit, Dean of Law Faculty, SU; Mrs Bridgette Radebe, Founder, Executive Chairperson and CEO of Mmakau Mining (Pty) Ltd; Prof Juanita Pienaar, Department of Private Law, SU; Prof Cherryl Walker, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, SU; Prof Zsa-Zsa Boggenpoel, South African Research Chair in Property Law, SU; Dr Mpho Tlale, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, South African Research Chair in Property Law, SU; Dr Neva Makgetla, TIPS; Ms Thato Moagi, Director: Legae La Banareng Farms & Nuffield International Farming Scholar; and Ms Phephelaphi Dube, Independent Legal Consultant. The panel discussions will be chaired by Dr Tsakani Ngomane (Department of Environmental Affairs Affairs DDG, Climate Change, Air Quality and Sustainable Development).

For any further enquiries, please liaise with Marna Lourens, Project Manager: Social Justice M-Plan under leadership of Prof Thuli Madonsela: Trust Chair for Social Justice at tel 021 808 3186 or e-mail: mlourens@sun.ac.za

The summit takes place at Wallenberg Research Centre (STIAS), 10 Marais Street, Stellenbosch from 08:30 to 17:40 on Thursday 11 April 2019. 

Photo by Stefan Els.

At a special award ceremony hosted by the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) to celebrate its top performing postgraduate students last week, Dr Jaco Franken, Manager of the Graduate School of Economic and Management Sciences, received the award for the top MBA student overall.

The degree MBA (cum laude) was conferred on Franken on Wednesday, 3 April 2019.

“It is a truly stunning achievement if one considers that Jaco studied while working full-time," Prof Ingrid Woolard, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences said.

Franken, who holds a PhD in Biotechnology from SU, also received the MBA award for outstanding achievement in the module Business in Society in 2018. In addition to his qualifications in Biotechnology, he completed an MPhil degree in Science and Technology Studies (cum laude) in 2016 at the SU Centre for Research on Evaluation.

For his MBA thesis, Franken looked at private return on post-school technical and vocational education in South Africa. His study leader was Prof André Roux of USB.

Franken said he was very happy about receiving the award and grateful to PPS for sponsoring his prize. “The biggest challenge during my MBA studies was to find a balance between family, work and studies," he added.

No wonder he is taking a break from studying this year!

• Photo provided by USB (f.l.t.r.): Top overall MBA student Dr Jaco Franken and Ms Danielle Muller of PPS, sponsor of the top MBA student prize, with Mr Martin Butler (far right), Head of MBA programmes at USB.

​Stellenbosch University's Division for Research Development recently played host to a colleague who works thousands of kilometres away at the University of Turku in Finland. Research funding specialist Lauri Keskinen's ten-day visit was possible through an exchange programme between research managers and administrators at universities in Southern Africa and the European Union (EU).

It flows from the Strengthening of Collaboration, Leadership and Professionalisation in Research Management in SADC and EU project (also known as the StoRM project) of which Stellenbosch University (SU) is the lead institution and involves a consortium of ten partner institutions in Southern Africa and the EU. It is funded by the EU Erasmus+ programme and supports the professional development of staff members involved in managing and administrating research endeavours in Southern Africa and the EU. 

Since its inception in 2017, it has allowed two types of staff exchange programmes to be run. One is between the ten partners who are formally involved in the international StoRM consortium, while another is administered by the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA). The latter provides opportunities to staff members of institutions that are not part of the international consortium.

Keskinen is one of nine people who have been granted work-related exchange opportunities through the SARIMA exchange programme. At the University of Turku, he is a research funding specialist, and helps researchers in the field of social sciences and humanities apply for suitable grants to support their work. Keskinen did a PhD on the cultural history of sport in Finland. The experiences he gained as a newspaper journalist often comes in handy when he provides advice to researchers about how to pitch and edit a specific research proposal.

He is in all likelihood the first visitor from the University of Turku to Stellenbosch. His home institution has seven faculties and around 25 000 students.

Keskinen says he chose Stellenbosch University to visit because the institution is similar in size and structure to his own. During his visit, he also spent time at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC). He did presentations about Turku and its research administration structures and participated in a seminar on EU funding along with SU, UCT and UWC colleagues during which ideas and experiences could be exchanged.

“One of my main tasks is to continually motivate researchers to keep positive about writing research proposals, because only about one in every 10 are ever successful," he explains the reality that researchers in his country also face.

He says the exchange programme has provided him with a much needed opportunity to spread his wings and benchmark himself professionally. He was also able to gain valuable insights into the functioning of other research offices.

He had, for instance, taken for granted that all universities have a central database such is used at Turku to process and store funding proposals. He says it makes project management and the internal approval process much easier. Colleagues with whom he interacted during his stay in South Africa were very interested in it, and he could help with some advice.

He hopes that future collaborations will stem from his visit to the Western Cape. “There is so much more to gain than to lose when working together and building networks," he believes.

For more information about the StoRM project, visit the Facebook page RMA Professionals or the project website.​

​

Every year, many South Africans die on our roads despite safety awareness campaigns and threats of tougher penalties for reckless driving. Among the numerous fatalities are pedestrians who remain the most vulnerable road users. The Department of Transport's 2017 statistics show that pedestrian deaths represent approximately 38 % of all traffic deaths recorded in the country.

Although human factors play a role in pedestrian crashes, research has shown that the design of the built environment, especially in and around cities, influences the way people use roads, and as such has the potential to impact the incidences and the severity of pedestrian crashes.

This is according to Dr Pascal Nteziyaremye, a recent doctoral graduate in Civil Engineering at Stellenbosch University. Nteziyaremye, a transport engineer at GoMetro (Pty) Ltd in Durbanville, investigated the link between the built environment (land use, urban design, transportation systems, and patterns of human activity within the physical environment) and incidences of pedestrian crashes in Cape Town.

Land use refers to the distribution of spatially located activities across a geographic area, including the location and the density of different activities, where activities are grouped into relatively broad categories, such as residential use, commercial use, industrial use, offices, parks, transport facilities, schools, brownfield sites, open spaces, etc.

Nteziyaremye says that in South Africa, a few attempts have been made to investigate the relationships between pedestrian crashes and site-specific elements (e.g. intersections, schools, etc.) or street-scale elements (e.g. crosswalks, sidewalks, intersection design elements etc.).

“My study focused on pedestrian safety because they are most vulnerable road users and most at risk of sustaining fatal and serious injuries as the result of accidents. They need protection through safe design solutions."

“Understanding the influence of the built environment on pedestrian safety is of vital importance for both research and practice in an effort to address pedestrian safety problems and develop safer walking environments in urban spaces."

Nteziyaremye used different analytical methods and modelling techniques to determine, among others, the extent to which the frequency of pedestrian crashes are associated with the built environment and population characteristics; to identify hotspots for pedestrian crashes; and to describe pedestrian crash profiles and contributing factors.

In addition to collecting data on pedestrian crashes, the built environment and population characteristics, he gathered information on the geographic coordinates of crash locations, the type of facility at the crash location, the type of intersection controls at the crash location, etc.

Poorer areas

“I found that more pedestrian crashes are likely to occur in suburbs with more people; a greater degree of land use mix; more intersections controlled by traffic signals; more roundabouts and mini-circles; a greater intensity of industrial use (e.g. restaurants, service stations, motor repair garages, scrap yards, agricultural industry among others); more intersections with at least four approaches; and more freeways and arterial roads. 

Geospatial analyses of important hotspots of pedestrian crashes show that they mostly occur in the densely populated and socio-economically disadvantaged South Eastern areas of Cape Town."

Nteziyaremye points out that the highest frequencies of pedestrian casualties were during morning (07:00 to 8:00) and evening (16:00 to 18:00) peak traffic hours.

“The average daily frequency of pedestrian casualties peaked on Fridays and Saturdays with the lowest average daily frequency observed on Wednesdays. The frequency of pedestrian casualties was highest during the pay week followed by the second week after the pay week and the lowest frequency is observed in the other remaining weeks of a month."

Nteziyaremye says possible reasons for this may be a higher level of alcohol consumption as well as increased mobility and pedestrian activity during the pay week.

According Nteziyaremye, pedestrian crashes happen in these socio-economically disadvantaged areas because the built environment in South Africa has been shaped by past policies of racially segregated human settlements and this has inevitably affected the way people travel as well as the extent to which pedestrian safety was prioritised.

“Apart from the built environment, fewer people own cars in these poorer communities and residents rely solely on walking and public transport which are the most unsafe transport modes in South Africa. Poorer areas also lack adequate road infrastructure, work and economic opportunities, social services and recreational facilities."

“My study found that 244 children were playing in the streets when they were hit by vehicles and the majority of these cases occurred in economically-disadvantaged areas that lack safe play areas and other recreational facilities."

Nteziyaremye says this, together with a lack of coordination between the way land has been used and transportation systems, led to higher vulnerability of pedestrians being run over by vehicles particularly in urban environments.

He does point out, however, that both pedestrians and motorists are at fault.

“For instance, in my study, it was found that 88% of pedestrian crashes occurred outside a designated crossing point (e.g. zebra crossing). The data shows that between 2012 and 2014, 790 pedestrians were hit by vehicles while crossing at designated crossing locations in Cape Town. This shows that motorists also play an important role in vehicle-pedestrian crashes." 

“There are, however, instances where pedestrians are left with no other choice than to jaywalk if there is no crossing facility. In this circumstance, the fault lies with planning and design," adds Nteziyaremye.

Better design and education

As to how the number of pedestrian crashes can be reduced, he says we need roads that are more user-friendly for all road users for example, separated walking paths, overpasses, underpasses, traffic signals, sidewalks, etc.

“It would also be important to minimise waiting times at traffic signals, provide safe play areas, enhance pedestrian conspicuity on the road (e.g. street lights, marking and signage  and design cities in such a way that residences, workplaces, schools, shops and other facilities are in walking distance from each other."

Nteziyaremye adds that pedestrians need to be educated about the risks associated with, among others, jaywalking, ignoring red lights, running, stopping midway, crossing between stopped cars, drinking and walking and being inconspicuous on the roads.

“Speeding, drinking and driving, and drivers' disregard of pedestrians on the road must also be addressed."

“We also need stricter and effective law enforcement, a comprehensive road safety management system and more research on road safety in South Africa."

Nteziyaremye says his findings are useful for future planning and design of the built environment in urban areas and can be used to predict future pedestrian crashes.

“Knowledge of the expected number of pedestrian crashes and where they are likely to occur would help to proactively plan interventions before they happen. A reduced number of pedestrian crashes also means a decrease in total costs of road accidents in South Africa."

• Main photo: Pedestrians crossing a street. Courtesy of Pexels.
• Photo 1: Dr Pascal Nteziyaremye at his graduation ceremony.

FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES ONLY

Dr Pascal Nteziyaremye

GoMetro (Pty) Ltd

Durbanville

Tel: 021 824 3345

Cell: 073 789 4321

E-mail: pascal@gometroapp.com 

            ISSUED BY

Martin Viljoen

Manager: Media

Corporate Communication

Stellenbosch University

Tel: 021 808 4851

E-mail: viljoenm@sun.ac.za

​The Department of Forest and Wood Science has formed a strategic and fully funded partnership with SAPPI, Mondi and York through the formation of a specialised Forestry Operations Research Unit (FOR). It is headed by Simon Ackerman, former research scientist at the Institute for Commercial Forestry Research. Ackerman is a widely respected researcher and brings an extensive research network to FOR and the industry which will be to the benefit of all the industry partners. FOR became an entity as from the beginning of July last year and will be part of the Forest Engineering/Operations discipline in the Department of Forest and Wood Science.

FOR will concentrate on high level research and will complement SU's long-standing collaboration with the Forestry Industry. It will take advantage of new disruptive technologies and analytical methodologies, in the form of “Big Data analytics," to aid decision making within the forestry supply chain.

FOR's main objectives include research on compartment characterisation and the effect on end of rotation processes and the forestry value chain; fulfilling the role as South African co-ordinator at the EU 2020 Tech4Effect initiative and maintaining the partnership with NIBIO through the project, and continuing to contribute to the management and execution of the productivity improvement initiative developed by SU in 2015. FOR will also serve as a resource base for testing trending technology and techniques, and will address shorter-term research questions from industry partners.

An elective in Public Health with the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) in Washington was all it took to make fifth-year medical student Yonela Kentane more determined than ever to pursue a career in public health. 

Kentane, who did the elective under CUGH executive director Dr Keith Martin in Washington last October, said the four-week stint was a life-changing opportunity and a turning point for her. 

She was accompanied by fellow fifth-year MB,ChB student Lethukwenama Letsoalo.

“When I went over to Washington, I didn't really have a clear idea about what public health was. I was initially open to a clinical career in medicine, but after seeing first-hand how public health impacts on people's lives around the world, I'm now convinced that's where I'm supposed to be," Kentane said. 

“CUGH is an organisation with the aim of improving global public health. A key focus is to improve teaching resources in public health. Dr Martin, an inspiration in himself, is passionate about improving public health in Africa. 

Based at the CUGH offices in the UCLA building in Washington, the two worked with Dr Martin who made sure they increased our knowledge of the public health field in the global hub of public health. “We met a number of people working in public health and learnt first-hand what they deal with every day. We also attended a number of conferences on global health issues, such as primary health care; global health funding; increasing access to vaccines; and on the Ebola crisis in Congo." 

Kentane who is from East London, decided early on to study medicine. “At 16, I watched helplessly when my cousin had a seizure at my grandmother's house in the rural Eastern Cape. There were no cars to transport us to hospital. We were completely isolated. My grandmother, a nurse, was the only one able to help. I decided I'd never feel that helpless again," she said. 

Kentane started thinking seriously about a career in public health while doing her clinical rotations in her third year. “I saw so many patients with such heart-breaking stories. They were coming for help to a system that was not helping them. It broke my soul. I also learnt a great deal in the course on Health in Context. That was when I first started becoming interested in public health." 

This year, Kentane is part of a team doing research on female reproductive health. “We have partnered up with UCT's department of Public Health and are looking at attitudes of medical students to abortion and at their intention to provide the services in the future as medical practitioners." 

Kentane said one of the highlights of the elective was a trip to West Virginia, “the poorest state in the US… and the state with one of the poorest health outcomes in the country". “It was previously a coalmining state. Poverty and drug abuse have really affected the communities. Most of the people there are white. We're so used to poor people being black. That visit really brought home how social circumstances really impact your health. I learnt so much." 

Kentane credits the “amazing and fascinating" elective trip with helping her to firm up her decision to go into public health. “The trip helped me decide where I want to be." 

She paid special tribute to Professor Jimmy Volmink, who helped her to set up the elective in Washington. “He is the reason I was offered this opportunity and I am so thankful."

Caption: Fifth-year medical student, Yonela Ketane, with CUGH staff members during her visit in Washington.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the full article here.

By some measures – healthy life expectancy, obesity and depression, among others – South Africa is the unhealthiest country on earth. That's a sobering fact to consider. How has the country got here? To what extent can its unenviable position be regarded as a failure of primary health care?

Primary health care can refer to the care offered by general practitioners or primary care nurses at your local clinic. But there's more to it than that. Primary health care is underpinned by a vision. This sees health as an essential ingredient in the social foundation of society. It recognises that health is also interdependent on other ingredients: food, education, clean water, energy, social equity, safety, income and housing.

The healthy space for humanity to flourish is between this solid social foundation and our ecological ceiling, as issues such as climate change may also impact on health. Primary health care, then, requires a whole-of-society approach and is not just about health services.

South Africa is struggling with many of these issues. This means that in the broadest sense, the country has failed at delivering primary health care.

While those in the health care sector can't fix all the interrelated issues I've described, they can address the quality of primary care.

So how can this be achieved? Despite a failure to adequately address the broad social and environmental determinants of health, South Africa has the potential in its current policy to improve primary care across the board. But policies on paper are not enough. These must be properly implemented.

Access to health care

About 80% of South Africa's population depends on the public sector's primary care services. But access to this primary care in the public sector is often limited by the sheer number of patients. It's also restricted by opening times that do not cater for people who are working or become sick during evenings or on weekends.

South Africa has developed a policy to implement National Health Insurance (NHI). This would ensure improved access to primary care for the whole population. However, many general practitioners in the private sector are worried that the government will not be able to effectively implement and efficiently manage NHI at scale. Access is also not enough. The care that's offered must be of a good quality.

The NHI proposals are not the only plans that have been developed to try and provide good primary care to all South Africans. The discipline of family medicine is doing a great deal in this regard. Family physicians are qualified doctors that have completed additional training to become specialists in family medicine and primary care. Despite being slower on the uptake, South Africa is now finally seeing family physicians entering the health system in increasing numbers and joining primary care teams. Their inclusion in these teams brings additional clinical skills, commitment to person-centred care, clinical leadership and improvement to the quality of care.

Ongoing care

Ongoing care refers to the continuity that patients have with their primary care providers over time. This continuity is based on a trusting relationship between primary care providers and their patients and an accumulated knowledge of the person.

A recent study of both nurses and doctors in Cape Town found that providers failed to even greet patients in more than 60% of consultations. In 90% of consultations, they made no attempt to understand the patient's perspective. This poor provider-patient relationship is a fundamental problem that fuels poor clinical outcomes, poor adherence to medication, patient dissatisfaction, litigation and a lack of job satisfaction among providers themselves.

In Cape Town as many as 76% of doctors in primary care are suffering from burnout. The symptoms include depersonalisation: they no longer see patients as people. It is clear that the health system needs to transform to be more people-centred – for both carers and cared for alike. Again, the inclusion of family physicians in the health system can help with this.

Community orientation

A renewed focus on community-orientated primary care is also important. This approach changes primary care: rather than health workers sitting in a clinic and waiting for people to ask for help, health workers in the community pro-actively prevent disease, promote health and identify people at risk. This has worked very well in other middle-income countries like Brazil.

South Africa is taking some steps in this direction, too. Cape Town's metropolitan district health services are busy learning how to implement community-orientated primary care at scale over the next few years.

Thinking about the community as a whole and not just individual patients is a game changer. Health workers can identify and prioritise community health needs, and address the social and environmental determinants of health in an inter-sectoral approach with other stakeholders in that community. Community participation in this process is also a key principle. If South Africa can implement this approach effectively, it could transform the health services – and the health of local communities.

Photo: Pixabay

​In a rare and remarkable achievement, a Stellenbosch University medical student has graduated with not one, but two degrees which he managed to do simultaneously. 

Nelius du Plessis has graduated with an MB,ChB as well as an MSc in Neuroimaging for Research from the University of Edinburgh, which he completed on a distance learning basis. 

On top of this, Du Plessis – a “mature student", who is married with a teenage son – completed many of his modules with distinction in the notoriously difficult MB,ChB programme. 

“I don't really see this as an achievement," Du Plessis said. “I think I'm very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to become a doctor, and also to explore what has become an all-consuming passion." 

Du Plessis, who is currently doing an internship at the Karl Bremer Hospital, said he will be spending as much free time as possible at the neurosurgery department at Tygerberg Hospital, and looks forward to spending more time with his wife and son “without the demands of studying for the next test!" 

“I will be plotting the next step towards qualifying to become a neurosurgeon and expanding my skill set towards that," he added. 

Du Plessis, who grew up in Germiston and matriculated in 1996 from Hoërskool Elsburg, went on to study maths and applied maths at the then “RAU" (now University of Johannesburg). He completed an MSc in Financial Mathematics jointly with Edinburgh University and Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, before doing a Postgraduate Diploma in Actuarial Sciences. He worked in various positions in investment banking in the UK and SA. His last job was with JP Morgan in Johannesburg, where he headed their SA equity derivative trading business. 

His decision to study for an MB,ChB and an MSc in Neuroimaging came about through his disillusionment with his banking career. “I realized it was a poor fit for me. Personal experiences including the birth of my son, as well as various family illnesses sensitised me to the role the healthcare professional can play in serving others. I realized this must be incredibly satisfying."

One of the family illnesses he encountered was that his father developed melanoma which eventually metastasized to his brain. “While this was obviously traumatic, I was also deeply impressed by how the skill of the neurosurgeon who resected the tumour gave him a final year of good quality of life. At this point I knew that if I was going to get into medicine, then it was going to be to become a neurosurgeon. This MSc seemed like a great opportunity to gain additional insight into clinical neurosciences. 

Du Plessis decided on Edinburgh University, which has one of the oldest medical schools in the world and is also renowned for its neuroimaging research. 

So, what did his work and study programme look like? “While I love gaining and using knowledge, I detest having to sit and study. However, I'm equally single-minded and stubborn to work through it, and by the grace of God, there always seemed to be just enough time and energy to fit in everything." 

In between studying, Du Plessis enjoyed watching films, relaxed with his family, walked his dogs and did some distance ergo rowing – “a pursuit equalled only by studying in its ability to induce apparently endless pain". He also took time out to cook and listen to music. 

Du Plessis said he will, more than likely, work in South Africa in the long term. “I would love to do a fellowship overseas but, based on the positive experiences with training and colleagues here, I know I will happily work here. However, my wife is Scottish, so there is always that factor. I love the people of Scotland – they are truly socialist-minded, and the people regard the NHS as a national treasure to the benefit of everyone – we can learn so much from that mind set."

Caption: Nelius du Plessis with his clinical partner, Kirsten Kingma.

Photo: Wilma Stassen