​In this article that appeared in Rapport of 22 August 2021, Dr Leslie van Rooi, SU's spokesperson on language, responded to an article of the 'Helpmekaar Studiefonds that was published in Rapport a week earlier. '​

-------------------

The sentiments about how to save Afrikaans as expressed in the open letter from the Helpmekaarfonds to Maties' Chancellor Edwin Cameron are significant, writes Leslie van Rooi.

The role of Afrikaans at Stellenbosch University (SU) has indeed become an emotional focal point, especially for Afrikaans speakers. This is because language is related to our identity, our place and role in South Africa and our variety of life stories.

But it is also more than that.

This conversation is also about being together in relation to others within the context of diversity and a variety of experiences. It is about cultivating healthy skills, unlocking knowledge, student success and establishing a human rights culture that shows that my rights should be recognised. But also that my rights are always in relation to those of others.

Language is therefore very important to SU. Through its language policy as well as the second draft version thereof, the University confirms language diversity at various levels in the learning and living experiences of students such as staff on our campuses.

Afrikaans is part of this because it forms part of the story of our University community. Indeed, Afrikaans has built up an academic repertoire over decades, to which SU has made a significant contribution and continues to contribute. Think of the Woordfees and the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT) in addition to the academic offer. SU remains committed to the utilisation and expansion of the academic potential of Afrikaans, together with English, as languages of teaching against the background of multilingualism.

Therefore, SU continues to emphasise that we believe that our students have more choices, greater access and a better future thanks to this approach.

We also reaffirm that Afrikaans ensures access and success for a large number of our current and future students' across borders. But we also know that language diversity enables Maties to acquire skills that make them sought after for appointments here and elsewhere.

The Helpmekaar Study Fund will agree that it is critically important for SU that access should lead to success. No wonder our throughput and pass rates are among the highest in the country. SU does not want to deprive mother tongue speakers of a learning and living experience that confirms the richness of language diversity. And that is precisely why the discussed second draft of the new policy confirms this!

 Read the full article, in Afrikaans, here.

• ​Dr Leslie van Rooi is Senior Director: Social Impact and Transformation and the language spokesperson at SU. 

​

​

South African higher education teaching, learning and assessment in the digital age creates both opportunities and challenges. At the Centre for Learning Technologies (CLT) we strive to inspire the meaningful, innovative and socially just use of digital technology for student learning at Stellenbosch University (SU). Read more to find out what guidance and support the CLT offers in the integration of learning technologies at SU.  ​

The CLT: Guidance and support in the integration of learning technologies

 Teaching, learning and assessment in the digital age within the South African higher education context create both opportunities and challenges. One example of an opportunity is the ability to continue with the academic project at Stellenbosch University (SU) amidst the emergency and/or augmented teaching and learning circumstances. During ERTLA, we had to draw on pedagogies relating to a fully online mode of delivery – a not so familiar space in the SU context. During these times, and especially now in ARTLA contexts, many lecturers could draw on knowledge gained from previously engaging in blended learning as mode of delivery at SU (i.e., the pedagogically sound utilisation of digital learning technologies, combined with the integration of a variety of learning and teaching methodologies and the best features of face-to-face interaction) to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of fully online learning. Another example of an opportunity created by the digital age within the South African higher education context, is hybrid learning as a mode of academic delivery at SU. This mode of delivery makes higher education accessible to students for whom the cost of full-time residential studies is unaffordable.

Despite rapid exposure to online learning during the pandemic, it can remain an unfamiliar and even daunting space for students and lecturers alike. Often, students in higher educational institutions are mere passive receivers of information and not active creators of knowledge (Nilsen, 2018). Some lecturers might have experienced students refraining from participation when lecturers push for more active engagement and collaboration. Students refraining from engagement in such circumstances could be due to feelings of anxiety and/or feeling too stressed out to take part (Nilsen, 2018). The use of learning technologies can potentially lead to feelings of disconnect, fear and anxiety amongst students and lecturers. These feelings often result in lack of engagement by students or asking for help, feeling alone or lonely, anxiety of failure, looking stupid or missing out (Nilsen, 2019). In return, lecturers could experience their own anxiety or doubt their own teaching abilities when students don't engage in the digital learning spaces, drop out or just “disappear" from our digital teaching and learning spaces. It also highlights the importance of digital wellbeing (Koch, Sinclair & Strydom, 2021), and collaborative engagement on creating safe spaces that allows for academic and social integration by students in their multidimensional contexts (Do Carmo Nicoletti, 2019) where students (and lecturers) can learn, develop and transform.

At the Centre for Learning Technologies (CLT) we strive to inspire the meaningful and innovative use of technology for learning at Stellenbosch University (SU). This implies inter alia strategic leadership, guidance and support in the integration of learning technologies at SU to ensure that lecturers are supported to critically engage with learning technologies in the curriculum. At the CLT we provide professional learning opportunities, resources (provided by the Academic Development & Research [ADR] offering at the CLT) and learning technology support (offered by the Learning Technology Support [LTS] offering at the CLT) that could guide and support lecturers in the integration of learning technologies in their teaching, learning and assessment practices. In addition, lecturers can also make use of services provided by the CLT such as streaming of interactive lectures / tutorials, video productions or multimedia services provided by the Operations (OTP) offering of the CLT.

Visit the CLT webpage for further information on guidance and support in the integration of learning technologies, contact the Blended Learning Coordinator in your faculty or contact any of the CLT advisors for a consultation.

References

Do Carmo Nicoletti, M. (2019). Revisiting the Tinto's Theoretical Dropout Model. Higher Education Studies, 9(3), pp. 52-64. Retrieved September, 02, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v9n3p52   

Koch, C., Sinclair, E. & Strydom, S. Entering the world of Digital Wellbeing. Retrieved August, 25, 2021 from http://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8487

Nilsen, G. (2018). Masterplan to Differ and making all students feel safe. Retrieved June, 12, 2021, from https://medium.com/differchat/masterplan-to-making-all-students-feel-safe-1babe68a3941

Nilsen, G. (2019). Digital Learning Arena. BI Norwegian Business School in collaboration with EdTech Foundry 2015-2019. Retrieved June, 12, 2021, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zWqNz2n3AaKOdhHFxJHnFQdxdeUnr754/view  ​

​

​When creating content for our courses and/or modules in the digital learning environment (but not limited thereto), other people's creativity and knowledge, for e.g., literary, dramatic and artistic works are often used in addition to one's own work. When creativity and knowledge, that are available as an open access resource, are used, the question is often raised – what are the copyright and/or other legal implications, if any, when using these open resources? Visit the CC-page for more information on the Creative Commons licenses and the Stellenbosch University context in relation thereto.

​​​​Stellenbosch University's (SU) ranking position has increased and it is now second in South Africa according to the 2022 Times Higher Education (THE) World Universities Rankings (WUR) that was released earlier today.

SU is ranked in the category 251–300 (for a third consecutive year) and moved up one place from last year (2021) when it occupied the third spot in South Africa. More than 1600 universities from 93 countries are ranked on the THE WUR.

“Stellenbosch University's consistent performance on the THE World Universities Rankings bodes well for the institution's vision of being 'Africa's leading research-intensive university, globally recognised as excellent, inclusive and innovative, where we advance knowledge in service of society'," says Prof Hester Klopper, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Strategy and Internationalisation.

“What is even more encouraging is that SU managed to improve on most of the indicators used by THE World Universities Rankings. This is no mean feat taking into account the pandemic and especially the challenges faced by universities in emerging economies."

She reiterated that while universities are aware of the importance of rankings in the overall perception of an institution's global academic and research standing, “at Stellenbosch University our focus remains on academic and research excellence that will shape a better world for all. It is, however, very gratifying when we gain international recognition in our quest to provide solutions to societal problems through world-class research and scientific programs. "

Indicators

An authoritative ranking of the world's best universities, the THE World University Rankings are the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions namely teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. THE WUR does not include the subjective perception indicator used by several other rankings..

SU improved again on the indicators Industry Income (knowledge transfer and a university's ability to attract funding in the commercial marketplace), Teaching, Research (number of published academic papers, reputation for research excellence, and income) and Citations (number of times a university's published work is cited by scholars globally).

The most significant improvement was on the industry income * and teaching** scores with an increase of 8.8% and 5.6% respectively. With an increase of 8.8%, the industry income score improved from the  previous (2021) score of 73.1   to the 2022 score of 79.5. The 5.6% growth brings the teaching score to 30.3 compared to 28.7 in 2021.

*THE WUR defines the 'Industry Indicator' as a university's ability to help industry with innovations, inventions and consultancy has become a core mission of the contemporary global academy. This category seeks to capture such knowledge-transfer activity by looking at how much research income an institution earns from industry (adjusted for PPP), scaled against the number of academic staff it employs. The category suggests the extent to which businesses are willing to pay for research and a university's ability to attract funding in the commercial marketplace – useful indicators of institutional quality.

** The 'Teaching' category is underpinned by the annually run Academic Reputation Survey that examines the perceived prestige of institutions in teaching and research. As well as giving a sense of how committed an institution is to nurturing the next generation of academics, a high proportion of postgraduate research students also suggests the provision of teaching at the highest level that is thus attractive to graduates and effective at developing them.

• Click here for the THE WUR methodology.
• In March the 2021 Times Higher Education (THE) Emerging Economies Universities Rankings ranked SU number 23 out of 606 institutions from countries or regions classified as “advanced emerging", “secondary emerging" or “frontier" – having improved steadily since 2017 when it came in at number 42. 
  
• Photo: Stefan Els
  

​Wednesday 8 September is International Literacy Day. In opinion pieces for Daily Maverick and Cape Times respectively, Drs Pauline Hanekom (Stellenbosch University Centre for Pedagogy) and Zelda Barends (Department of Curriculum Studies) write about how to equip all South Africa's children with the necessary literacy and digital skills for the 21st century. Click on the links below to read the articles.

• ​Dr Pauline Hanekom (Daily Maverick)
  
• Dr Zelda Barends (Cape Times)
  

​

​​The Toyota SU Woordfees TV pop-up channel was launched on 1 September with a simulcast on the Woordfees Facebook page and the DStv YouTube channel. Fees TV, as it will be known on DStv, is the first ever arts festival on South African television, and it will be on air from 1 to 7 October 2021.

Fees TV brings all the variety and vibrancy of one of South Africa's biggest arts festivals, the Toyota SU Woordfees, to television. The programme content displays a broad range of genres: theatre, writers and books, dance, lifestyle, stand-up comedy, contemporary and classical music, film, discourse, and visual arts. The pop-up channel celebrates the arts and the diversity of talent and creativity of local artists, with a strong focus on quality-Afrikaans books, theatre, music, and film. 

Fees TV will be available in South Africa on DStv Channel 150 from 1 to 7 October 2021, 24 hours a day, to all DStv Premium and Compact Plus subscribers. In Namibia, it will air on GOtv channel 15, with access for all GOtv Max subscribers. The Fees TV pop-up channel will also be available on DStv Now, and a selection of content on DStv Catch Up.

“A large variety of content by local producers has been curated to reflect the interests of our loyal festivalgoers. The programme will appeal to the culturally curious and all lovers of the arts, books, music, good food and wine. People from different walks of life, backgrounds and languages will be able to come together around their love of the arts to experience beauty, spectacle, debate, provocative ideas, and community. Lifestyle-orientated content will focus on scenic Stellenbosch and surrounds where the festival usually takes place," says Toyota SU Woordfees festival director, Saartjie Botha.

Highlights and anchor productions featured in the programme launch presentation include the following:

Writers' festival

The Woordfees started 21 years ago as an all-night poetry festival, and books and writers are still at the heart of the festival programme. Writers, poets and thought leaders on the Fees TV channel include Lien Botha, Andries Bezuidenhout, Nataniël, Nathan Trantraal, Joan Hambidge, Zandra Bezuidenhout, Bernard Odendaal, Ashwin Arendse, Veronique Jephtas, Dominique Botha, Jolyn Philips, Hilda Smits, Rudie van Rensburg, Erns Grundling, Ingrid Jones, Reuben Riffel, Max du Preez, Oscar van Heerden, Albert Grundlingh, Louise Viljoen and Willem Anker.

Theatre

See a variety of South Africa's most celebrated talent on stage – on your screen. The theatre series includes:

• The multi-award winning Valsrivier (based on Dominique Botha's acclaimed novel) with Anna-Mart van der Merwe, Tinarie Van Wyk Loots and Stian Bam, theatre direction by Janice Honeyman, and film direction by Christiaan Olwagen
• The 2020 Fiësta Award winner for Best Production: Die poet, wie's hy?, a celebration of poet Adam Small's work, starring Dean Balie with theatre direction by Frieda van den Heever, and film direction by Christiaan Olwagen 
• Reza de Wet's classic play Mis with Nicole Holm, Martelize Kolver, Jane de Wet and Laudo Liebenberg, theatre direction by Wolf Britz, and film direction by Jaco Bouwer
• Adam Small's celebrated Krismis van Map Jacobs with June van Merch, Ilse Klink, Dann-Jacques Mouton and Elton Landrew, theatre direction by Jason Jacobs, and film direction by Jaco Bouwer
• Ferine and Ferase with theatre legends Andrew Buckland and Sylvaine Strike, theatre direction by Toni Morkel, and film direction by Jaco Bouwer
• Satirical game show Off the Record with Standard Bank Young Artist winner Jefferson “J Bobs" Tshabalala and guests
• Hannes van Wyk in the popular one-man show Sê groete vir ma

Classical Music

Viewers are spoiled for choice with a variety of concerts including the world-renowned Stellenbosch University Choir; pianist Megan-Geoffrey Prins; Italian opera arias with baritone Theo Magongoma, soprano Kimmy Skota, and tenor Arthur Swan; Cape Town Baroque Ensemble with Handel's London operas; mezzo-soprano Minette du Toit Pearce accompanied by Phillipus Hugo; pianists Nina Schumann and Luis Magalhães; and Zorada Themmingh on the organ of the Moederkerk in Stellenbosch.

Contemporary Music

Highlights of the contemporary music series include:

• A celebration of David Kramer's 70^th birthday with Emo Adams, Loukmaan Adams, Robin Auld, Schalk Joubert and friends in the tribute: Boland to Broadway.
• Karen Zoid performing 20 of her greatest hits with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra
• Karoo Suite – an ode to the beauty of the Great Karoo in word, music, and spectacular images with Coenie de Villiers and Deon Meyer
• Luna Paige, Ramon Alexander, and Frazer Barry exploring the origins and showcasing the variety of Afrikaans music in Smeltkroes.

Also on the music menu: Amanda Strydom, Spoegwolf, Die Heuwels Fantasties (with Francois van Coke, Tarryn Lamb and Jack Parow), jazz, cabaret, folk, swing, and poems set to music.

Stand-up Comedy

Enjoy the sharp wit of 13 of the country's most popular stand-up comedians: Marc Lottering, Schalk Bezuidenhout, Nik Rabinowitz, Shimmy Isaacs, Alan Committie, Bennie Fourie, Alfred Adriaan, Melt Sieberhagen, Kagiso Mokgadi, Joey Rasdien, Hannes Brümmer, Conrad Koch and Wayne McKay.

Woordfees TV will broadcast predominantly in Afrikaans but will also include English and multi-lingual works. All Afrikaans narrative works produced by the Woordfees festival, such as plays and discussion, will have English subtitles.

Non-subscribers can buy one of several one-month subscription packages for the month of October and enjoy the Toyota SU Woordfees on TV and DStv Catch Up in the safety of their homes.

The launch broadcast of around 20 minutes is still available to be viewed on the Toyota SU Woordfees Facebook page and the DStv YouTube channel.

• https://www.facebook.com/woordfees
• https://www.youtube.com/dstv

 * Toyota SU Woordfees TV pop-up is aired from 1 to 7 October on DStv channel 150 in South Africa and on GOtv channel 15 in Namibia. Watch woordfees.co.za and the Woordfees social media platforms for new highlights and information on Fees TV.

For enquiries, contact Danie Marais: danie_marais@sun.ac.za               

​A photo novel developed by a Stellenbosch University (SU) lecturer in collaboration with the Western Cape Department of Health to improve awareness around diabetes, will soon make its way to healthcare workers and patients in the Cape Winelands, a region where many people are affected by the disease.

Photo novels portray a dramatic story using posed photographs and text bubbles or captions and are usually set in everyday life.

Dr Burt Davis, a senior lecturer at the Africa Centre for HIV/Aids Management at SU, says his photo novel, Gertie's Big Secret, aims to improve understanding of how to take responsibility for one's diabetes diagnosis, raise awareness around how the healthcare system can support diabetics and increase general knowledge levels related to diabetes. It will also serve as a prevention tool.

The story revolves around Gertie whose life is turned upside down when she finds out she has diabetes. The diagnosis not only has ramifications for her health, but also impacts her confectionery business, her friendships, and her troubled brother.

Davis says the reason why the photo novel will be distributed in the Cape Winelands District is because feedback from healthcare institutions in the area points to a high prevalence of diabetes among people there.

“Especially recently diagnosed patients struggle to accept their diagnosis. Part of the reason relates to myths around diabetes, such as that one cannot live a full, productive life with this disease. Another persistent myth is that diabetes only affects old people. People are also overwhelmed by the suggested lifestyle changes that often accompany a positive diagnosis. This results in many patients defaulting on their medication and/or failing to adopt a healthy lifestyle."

Two versions of Gertie's Big Secret will be made available: one featuring an older protagonist and the other a younger protagonist. This is as a result of recent research which suggests that age similarity of the reader to that of the protagonist can play an important role in how a message is received.

Gertie's Big Secret came about after a previous photo novel by Davis on the tik problem in the Western Cape, Regret Fixes Nothing, came to the attention of Dr Lizette Phillips, director of the Cape Winelands District for the Western Cape Department of Health. The concept resonated with her and she commissioned Davis to develop something similar about diabetes.

Sandra Maritz, Communication Officer of Western Cape Department of Health in the Cape Winelands District, says the photo novel will be used as a tool by healthcare workers to provide counseling to patients in clinics and hospitals in the Winelands District.

“This photo novel is an indirect way of discussing matters that can be difficult for someone to discuss with their family and friends. This support is very important for the management of this condition and one's overall journey with diabetes.

“Dr Davis was able to create characters that people can easily relate to, while incorporating health information and keeping it light-hearted. We are confident that this photo novel will be a great conversation starter about diabetes."

Western Cape Department of Health's Dr Colette Gunst and her medical team were also instrumental to help guide which health information should be included in the booklet, as well as with the development of realistic and believable characters and a storyline. Other key stakeholders included the staff and patients at Cloetesville Community Day Centre (the setting for the stills of the photo novel), Prof Carel Jansen from Groningen University in the Netherlands and the production team (film crew, art director, actors, storyboard artist, graphic designer, and language editors).

Maritz says Gertie's Big Secret will be distributed as soon as “final adjustments to the design and translations" have been finalised.

The photo novel will be made available in Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa.

Davis also plans to partner with SU's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences to develop an interactive, digital booklet of Gertie's Big Secret, using existing messaging apps such as WhatsApp. He is also in the process of exploring ideas for photo novels related to other illnesses, such as epilepsy.​

• ​Photos supplied: The cover of the photo novel on diabetes in Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa. Right: Dr Burt Davis, developer and author of the booklet.
  

​

​“In the first wave you applauded us.

In the second wave you sympathised with us.

In the third wave you ignored us.

In the fourth wave we gave up.

We've fought a disease half the world doesn't believe in. We've fought the despair of watching you slowly die, powerless to intervene. We've fought the waves of disinformation, the ignorance, and the arrogance. We've fought for you. We've fought for our families. We've fought for us. We don't have much fight left in us.

We are exhausted and we need your help. Get vaccinated. Prevent the fourth wave."

This impassioned plea by a frontline clinician echoes the voices of staff in the Covid-19 ICU at Tygerberg Hospital and forms the thrust of a vaccination rally by Stellenbosch University's (SU) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS). The rally calls for all South Africans, and the healthcare community in particular, to join the fight against Covid-19 by getting vaccinated and encouraging family, friends and colleagues to do the same.

With the rallying call 'No one is safe, unless everyone is safe', the chorus of voices supporting the rally ranges from the FMHS leadership to its student body.

A poignant reminder by Dr Therese Fish, Vice Dean: Clinical Services and Social Impact, stresses the plight of healthcare workers since the start of the pandemic and the need to support them: “They have lost many of their colleagues and so many more were affected by becoming ill, while many have suffered mentally. They work tirelessly to help save our family, friends, colleagues and neighbours."

Stressing the need to urgently reduce the burden on hospitals, Dr Paul Ciapparelli, Director of Clinical Services at Tygerberg Hospital, points to the proven effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines in preventing severe disease, hospitalisation, and therefore the need for ICU-level care.

“Vaccination will help to reduce the Covid-19 load and enables us to provide more care to our entire patient constituency. I urge all our staff at Tygerberg, as well as the general public, to please get vaccinated without delay – it's by far our best weapon against the pandemic."

Leading the FMHS chorus is the Dean, Prof Jimmy Volmink: “We urgently call upon all South Africans to whole-heartedly embrace all evidence-based measures that will decrease transmission of the Covid-19 virus, and reduce the risk of serious disease, hospitalisation and death. Covid-19 vaccination offers us the best hope of overcoming the current threat to our lives and livelihoods. Please do the responsible thing and get the shot!" 

Prof Soraya Seedat, executive head of the FMHS Department of Psychiatry, urges colleagues and students in the health care community to join forces for vaccine solidarity. “Together we are stronger catalysts to increase vaccination momentum and 'normalise' vaccination in our work spaces and beyond. As a health sciences faculty we should be at the forefront of increasing vaccination rates on campus, among staff and patients at the hospitals and clinics that we serve, and in our wider community." 

Prof Wolfgang Preiser, head of the FMHS Division of Medical Virology, dispels fears around the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines. “People are sceptical about the speed at which the Covid-19 vaccine was developed, but in truth it was based on decades of rigorous scientific research into vaccine development efforts for other diseases. Since its development, hundreds of millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally, revealing an excellent safety profile and very good protective effect against severe and possibly fatal disease."

He adds that he personally knows dozens of people who had severe Covid-19 and at least 20 who died from it – “and hundreds who had the vaccine with nothing more than perhaps a day or two of feeling a bit off".

“Do it for yourself (first and foremost) but also for your family, friends, colleagues and others. You probably deplore the effects of the pandemic on the economy, on school-age kids and much more (as you should). The key to society going back to (almost) normal is in your own hands: You and everyone else must get the vaccine. No more excuses – go for it, and go now!"

Adding his scientific opinion, Dr Jantjie Taljaard, head of the FMHS Division of Infectious Diseases, sympathises with the public's uncertainty about the vaccine – particularly with the deluge of conflicting information going round – but implores people to look at the bigger picture.

“We are 18 months into a pandemic that has impacted every fibre of society, not only affecting our health, but destroying households and economies, not sparing anyone. And the end is not in sight yet…"

He explains that there are two proven strategies to mitigate the impact: the first is non-pharmacological measures such as lockdowns; and the second is vaccination. “The first is effective but not sustainable and has a profound impact on livelihoods, industries, mental health, and education. Vaccinations, on the other hand, are now proven to be safe and effective in preventing hospitalisation and death due to Covid-19 and considerably decrease the chances of getting Covid-19.

“This is by no means the final answer, but is indeed a massive breakthrough in addressing the many evils of the pandemic. If you want to contribute to ending the scourge of the pandemic, get vaccinated and assist your family and friends to get vaccinated."

Medical ethicist and director of the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law, Prof Keymanthri Moodley, highlights individual and social responsibility in the pandemic.  

“We owe it to ourselves, our families, our colleagues and our patients to vaccinate, mask and be safe. A public health ethics approach based on collective responsibility and solidarity is critical to save lives, revive the economy and end the pandemic."

Advocating for public health solidarity, Profs Taryn Young and Portia Jordan, reiterate that citizens of South Africa have a social responsibility to ensure that no harm is done to others.

“We are all affected by Covid-19. No one is spared and through collective action we can make a difference," says Young, who is the executive head of the FMHS Department of Global Health. “We have safely been vaccinating for measles, rubella, polio, mumps, and many other diseases, and now we have to unite and do it again to reduce the impact of Covid-19."

She is supported by Jordan, head of the FMHS Department of Nursing and Midwifery: “We need to actively advocate for vaccination, and encourage communities, family members and colleagues to take the vaccine. Do the right thing: vaccinate today and only share truthful messages about the safety and benefits of being vaccinated."

Representing the Tygerberg student community, fourth-year medical student Jessica Davies urges her fellow-students to get vaccinated, since all of them interact with patients in some way or another or are in close contact with other students who do.

“If we want to be responsible health care practitioners and model the behaviour we wish to see in our patients, our friends and our families, we need to be the first to set the example and get vaccinated. In order to ensure all patients receive the best care, and the system is not over-burdened, we need vaccinated health care workers, as well as vaccinated patients."

In a final powerful message, Dr Fish expresses yearning for a return to close human contact and the need for vaccination to achieve that.

“As health care professionals we have supported vaccination for centuries. We have all been vaccinated, our children all get vaccinated, and we know vaccines work. I encourage everyone – health care workers, our families, our community and religious leaders to stand together on this issue. Our country needs it.

“I yearn for the days when we can hug each other, and that will only happen when we are all vaccinated."

The following FMHS and Tygerberg Hospital staff members have added their support to the statement as signatories:

​

​​​Scientists and public health officials in Africa join forces to expand genomic training and facilities so the continent can respond robustly to the global pandemic. If left behind, Africa could become a breeding ground for new variants.

Science published a detailed analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants produced by hundreds of African scientists and public health officials across the continent, today (9 September 2021). This is the first major output of Africa's top scientists to increase the continent's capacity to produce and analyse genomic data.

Genomic surveillance has been crucial to identify SARS-CoV-2 variants and guide the global public health response. Unfortunately, when the pandemic started, Africa was soon left behind. Its fragile health and scientific infrastructure, weak purchasing power, and the fact that diagnostics and reagents were being hoarded by developed countries, made Africa the world's least vaccinated continent. It did not have access to the technology required to fight the pandemic.

In order to close this gap, 112 African and 25 international organisations, in close collaboration with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), worked together and created a detailed analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants and lineages in Africa. The detailed Science paper describes SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in 33 African countries and two overseas territories.

It shows that the epidemics in most countries were initiated by importations predominantly from Europe, which diminished after the early introduction of international travel restrictions. As the pandemic progressed, ongoing transmission in many countries and increasing mobility led to the emergence and continent-wide spread of many variants of concern and interest, such as B.1.351 (Beta), B.1.525 (Eta), A.23.1 and C.1.1/C.1.2.

In spite of limited sampling, the African scientists identified many of the variants of concern (VOCs) and variants of interest (VOIs) that are being transmitted across the world. Detailed characterisation of the variants and their impact on vaccine-induced immunity is extremely important. If the pandemic is not controlled in Africa, we may see the production of vaccine-escape variants, which may profoundly affect the African and global population. The findings in this important paper highlight that Africa must not be left behind in the global pandemic response, otherwise it could become a breeding ground for new COVID variants.

“We are deeply committed to using the most advanced technologies in Africa to trace and combat the virus. If the virus keeps evolving on the African continent, this will become a global problem. It is our moral duty to try to protect Africa and the world," says Prof Tulio de Oliveira, a professor of Bioinformatics who hold appointments at Stellenbosch University's School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, its Faculty of Medicine and Health Science and Faculty of Science, and director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. “This was a very fulfilling collaboration. Not only did we manage to share and analyse our African data together, the collaboration also involved complete sharing of knowledge, with all analysis scripts shared and hundreds of hours of capacity building in analysis and data generation so that genomics can be decentralised and performed in real time in Africa."

“Strengthening genomic surveillance systems across the continent is key for early detection and control of disease outbreaks," says Dr John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC. “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Africa CDC Institute of Pathogen Genomics has been supporting member states to expand their SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance for the rapid detection of variants. The Institute is very proud of this collaborative work and will continue to coordinate collaboration among public health, academic and research institutions to strengthen pathogen genomics and bioinformatics capacity in Africa."

Since the production of this manuscript and collaboration, Africa has increased its genomics surveillance and today, 40,000 African genomes are available in GISAID. The increase of sequencing is a challenge that the continent is overcoming with the support of funders, the Africa Union/Africa CDC and the WHO in close collaboration with Ministries of Health, public health institutions and the scientific community that produced this pan-African analysis.

“We ignore mutations and variants at our own peril. The Delta variant is a wake-up call and underlines the importance of genomic information, and of ensuring that African scientists have the necessary resources to analyse the evolution of COVID-19," says Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. “Without this analysis, variants can spread undetected on the continent and across the globe. This will prolong the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, not just in Africa, but worldwide."

The open-access manuscript is available on the Science website:

Wilkinson et al. A year of genomic surveillance reveals how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic unfolded in Africa, Science, doi/10.1126/science.abj4336, 2021.

https://science.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abj4336  

​

​This article was first published on IOL, read the original article here.

OPINION: Many women have been hovering on the fringes of exhaustion, not only from the demands that are placed on them at work and at home, but also from the energy depletion resulting from gender-power struggles, writes Keymanthri Moodley.

For decades, working women have been striving to achieve work-life balance, juggling professional and domestic responsibilities. Many women have been hovering on the fringes of exhaustion, not only from the demands that are placed on them at work and at home, but also from the energy depletion resulting from gender-power struggles.

The unprecedented increase in multi-tasking during the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the risk of burn-out and emotional distress.

Alarming levels of domestic violence remain threats to physical, mental and emotional health. The need for self-preservation has become critical.

To start with, we may reflect on the women who have served as role models – our grandmothers, mothers, aunts, teachers or mentors. Many of them have struggled under more hostile conditions than we can ever imagine – poverty, discrimination under apartheid, fewer social support systems, lack of technology, disparate salaries based on gender, fewer conveniences like restaurants and takeaways, less developed infrastructure and poor health-care options. Yet, they survived.

Sadly, many women in disempowered communities in South Africa still face these challenges today.

Although most women in formal employment today have better support at a macro level such as maternity leave (paid or unpaid), equal salaries for equivalent work in most work environments and formal sexual harassment policies at work, they still struggle with poor representation in leadership positions, suboptimal childcare support and lactation facilities at work and career interruption related to family responsibilities.

Women also struggle with a range of subliminal forms of discrimination – patriarchal work environments, bullying by male colleagues in superior positions, patronising or paternalistic electronic communication from male superiors, dismissive attitudes from male colleagues during meetings, punitive action for challenging authority, among others.

Those in less formal work settings are worse off and they may not have the power to negotiate for fair working conditions, benefits and safe working environments.

That women even need to fight these additional battles every day is unnecessary, unacceptable and untenable. Yet we do. So, how do we reboot at the end of each day to face the next challenge with renewed energy?

How we define “work" is important. For some, cooking and cleaning may be regarded as unwelcome chores or tasks best delegated to others or robotic cleaning systems. Others, often as a position of compromise, view this as a chance to de-stress or exercise.

The middle ground here is shared responsibility for household duties with partners and dependants, freeing up women to allocate dedicated time for relaxation. Some women have hobbies that provide enjoyment, fulfilment and relaxation. Support groups and book clubs also serve to provide diversions.

Many women today engage in mindfulness practices ranging from meditation to yoga but also other simple activities like a walk on the beach, gardening or time with nature. In general, mindfulness practices assist to calm the mind and body and help to release negative thoughts. The methods are easy to learn, accessible to all including via mobile applications and inexpensive.

Creating space and time for rejuvenation and replenishment is not self-indulgent nor should it be regarded as a luxury … it is essential to survival and growth. Self-care involves nurturing oneself – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Taking care of one's physical, mental and emotional health is a pre-requisite for a holistic and authentic life. As women, we need to be kind to ourselves.

*Moodley is a professor and director at the centre for medical ethics and law department of medicine faculty of health sciences at Stellenbosch University.

* The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL and Independent Media.

​

​​Did a “rainbow nation" interpretation of Ubuntu gloss over South Africa's historic injustices too fast? Pre-empting a premature push toward unity and reconciliation, before issues like poverty, joblessness and inequality were sufficiently reckoned with?

These were questions raised at a talk hosted by Stellenbosch University Museum, as part of the Ubuntu Dialogues Project. The talk entitled “Ubuntu, decolonisation and South African law" placed a search light on South Africa's 1996 Constitution, particularly its propelling model of transformative constitutionalism, a concept originally coined by American legal scholar Karl Klare.

Addressing a wide audience over Zoom, Dr Allison Geduld, jurisprudence and ethics senior lecturer at North-West University, and a 2021 Ubuntu Dialogues Seminar Exchange Fellow, called for more uncomfortable conversations around addressing South Africa's double colonial past.

“In 1996, South Africa adopted a final Constitution that envisions a society based on democratic values, social justice and human rights," said Geduld.

“Very importantly, how would we create this society? Well, the legal system would play a big role. Interestingly, our legal system did not change overnight. Obviously very overtly racist laws were repealed. But it was decided during this time of negotiation, that laws would be developed over time to align with constitutional rights and values.

“So the idea of transformative constitutionalism was that law, in time, would change our society into a more equal society. But do we see this happening?"

Geduld continued to say that transformative constitutionalism has proved insufficient in bringing about the change desired in South Africa, adding that a more radical interpretation of ubuntu had the potential to bolster this process.

“I think for a lot of people ubuntu represents the idea of being silenced," said Geduld. “You know, just after our transition, the idea was embraced that we would be one and united, and sort of forget about the past and grow together. And I think for a lot of people ubuntu sort of took up that notion of forgetting the past. And I don't think it should. If we incorporate more of a radical understanding, it has the potential of actually not silencing, but giving people a voice, shedding light on those types of inequalities that still exist in society."

She pointed out a spectrum of interpretations of Ubuntu, ranging from Archbishop Desmond Tutu's reconciliatory “rainbow nation" to a more radical stance posited by University of South Africa Philosophy Professor Mogobe Ramose.

“South Africa has had a long history of violence and disposition starting already 300 years ago," said Geduld. “Within this system of violence and dispossession in colonialism and apartheid, there was a very specific idea of what it meant to be human and really it was tied up with Western ideas, and it was really the idea of being white as well. And we still see a lot of those patterns being perpetuated in South Africa.

“For [Mogobe] Ramose, Ubuntu is rooted in African philosophy. It means that we cannot separate ubuntu from the whole quest for liberation of African people. And so in this sense, it has to be seen as part and parcel of a fight against colonial movements and coloniality.

“And so, part of ubuntu is about rebuilding the sense of being a human being, of being conscious that being African is not being inferior. Of feeling entitled and worthy as an African person."

Geduld said she was grappling with reconciling these two different views of ubuntu in her research.

Joining the conversation from Sydney's University of New South Wales, Professor Rosalind Dixon, expert in comparative constitutional law and constitutional design, said Australia had similar challenges.

“I'm reminded to think of the Australian context at the moment," said Dixon. “Where there's a big debate about how first nations can achieve justice. I think if people feel that their fundamental demands for justice haven't been met, to move forward is hard, right?

“In South Africa, many people feel the preconditions for ubuntu are not present. That in order to feel committed to ubuntu, one has to have a sense of being respected, a sense that one's own economic situation has been addressed and acknowledged, as well as the history of racism."

Drawing the discussing broader, Dixon pointed out that for a value to successfully contribute to decoloniality in a country, it needs to serve as both a bridge and a catalyst of change.

“It has to be capable of radical change, but also a degree of continuity and preservation that can take us from the colonial moment to the post-colonial moment in the true decolonial sense," she said.

“Because we know that we don't start afresh; whether we are informally influenced, whether the common law carries over, whether habits, conventions, norms, investment patterns, social practices carry over; we never start on a clean slate. And there has to be some acknowledgement of that continuity, even as we seek to reconstitute it."

Dixon suggested not viewing South Africa's constitutional project through the lens of one set of values, but rather as a dialogue among values.

“And one of those values clearly is ubuntu," she said. “My own view is that sometimes ubuntu might be a stronger discourse, other times transformative constitutionalism might be stronger, depending on the context and the valence.

“I think ubuntu is not by itself capable of carrying the weight of social inclusion and economic transformation… And that it may need to be in dialogue with other ideas about equality and transformation in order to do the work of decoloniality that Alison [Geduld] so powerfully encourages us to aim for. So, to put ubuntu as the sole candidate for radical change, maybe that will press it too hard, asking too much of it."

Geduld concluded that she was hoping to stir more debate and “dangerous conversations" around these topics. “You know, there really is a need for conversations about whether we have incorporated enough African perspective into our legal system," she said.

The Ubuntu Dialogues Project is a collaboration between Stellenbosch University and Michigan State University, where it is hosted by the African Studies Center.

 ​​

​

The Stellenbosch University (SU) Election Committee has confirmed that the following students will serve in the 2021/22 Students' Representative Council (SRC), having been elected in an independent, free and fair general election:

• Precious Nhamo              
• Alysa-Abby Kekana        
• Unathi Ngumbela           
• Viwe Kobokana
• Almé Engelbrecht           
• Ilan Meintjes     
• Philip Visage     
• Takadiwa Chipfumbu    
• Chris Briel           

The ex-officio members of the SRC will be as follows:

• Toni Solomon – Prim Committee chair
  
• Christo van der Bank – Prim Committee vice-chair
• George van Dyk – Academic Affairs Council chair
• Neo Mokone – Societies Council chair
• Pule Lebaka – Military Academy student captain
• Eugene Nel – Senior Prim Committee chair

The process will be concluded with the election of the new SRC chair and vice-chair on Monday 13 September, after which the specific SRC portfolios will be assigned internally, says election convenor Francesca Visagé.

The new SRC's term will run from the first day of the fourth term to the day before the fourth term of the following year.

On Thursday (9 September), Dr Choice Makhetha, senior director of Student Affairs, confirmed the election as independent, free and fair, and welcomed the fact that the elected SRC members were representative of SU's entire, diverse student body. “The students elected to serve on the 2021/22 SRC reflect the diversity of Stellenbosch University," Dr Makhetha said. “It is very important to acknowledge that the student leaders represent far more than what their names suggest, as diversity is broad and complex. Students themselves have elected these members to represent them, and I believe they will be able to do that very well."

Maties had the opportunity to cast their votes between 30 August and midnight on 3 September through an online process. This was SU's second online SRC election in compliance with COVID-19 safety protocols. A total of 2 574 voters participated in voting for 11 candidates.

According to Dr Makhetha, the election convenor and her Election Committee team were strictly guided by the Student Constitution, the Student Code of Conduct, and the Rules of Elections. “The process was thorough and focused on details. Each stage of the election process was handled with the necessary sensitivity and confidentiality, and the entire process was well concluded."

Congratulating the new SRC members on their election, Dr Makhetha assured them that the University would support and guide them through their term of office. “To serve SU students at this level, the SRC needs to be ready to listen to the students, keep the voices of the students alive, and represent them well," she said. “They need to display the highest level of integrity and be prepared to learn. They should build a strong team right from the start and support one another. Congratulations, and thank you for making yourselves available for this role."

The SRC is the highest representative student structure at the University. It is subject to the authority of the University Council.

Prior to the SRC election, SU's Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Wim de Villiers, encouraged students to vote, considering these student leaders' vital role at SU. SRC members represent all students in SU's statutory bodies such as the Institutional Forum, faculty boards, Senate and Council.   

For more information about the 2021/22 SRC election, visit the “Maties Elections" pages on Facebook or Instagram.

​ 

In a first-of-its-kind Stellenbosch University (SU) social impact initiative, academics and artists worked together to combat the stigmatisation of those with mental illness.

Driven by Prof Ben Loos and Dr Tando Maduna (both from Physiological Sciences) as well as Prof Elmarie Costandius (Visual Arts), the project involved the creation of artworks inspired by the scientific micrographs of human brain cells generated by postgraduate SU Science students as part of their research. Kayamandi artists Gerald Choga, Portia Mphangwa, Nomsa Mukwira, Zacharia Mukwira, Simon Shumi and Zingisa Vula selected the fluorescence and electron microscopy images that appealed to them and used them as a departure point for their creations, which reflect their perceptions, emotions and experiences regarding mental illness.

The artists, SU staff and students as well as Kayamandi health workers and other community members all seek to rectify inaccuracies about mental illness that are causing negative attitudes towards those suffering from mental health conditions. With this project, they hope to alleviate stigmatisation, foster a better understanding, and improve behaviour towards people with mental illness.

It all started when Physiological Sciences students' research found that some communities were often either uninformed or misinformed about mental illness, exposing community members with mental health conditions to neglect and perceptions of being lazy or even afflicted by witchcraft. In response, Prof Costandius decided to use the medium of art to address this and involved artists from an existing project focussing on the socio-political history of the arts and documentation of material culture in historically disadvantaged areas around Stellenbosch. “So, the approach was to use visual access and visual literacy to give insight into certain stigmatised medical conditions, including depression, neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer's, and teenage suicides," explains Prof Loos.  

“The artists' comments about their experiences are most insightful," he says. “Their work provides a real window into some of the thoughts, fears and hopes associated with the specific illnesses in our immediate communities. The process brought the science micrographs to life and created an additional context to the artworks."

Adding further value to the initiative are the isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans translations of the explanatory legends accompanying each artwork. “Access to language together with the pictures was important to us, so the translations allow for a much wider reach," says Loos. Science communication is further supported by having postgraduate Science students explain the science in lay terms to visitors viewing the artworks. “The art makes it much easier to explain the scientific work behind it, and the problem we hope to address through the project," Loos adds.

The artworks have been taken up in the University's art collection and will be used for either a single, permanent exhibition or various temporary exhibitions across SU. The collection is available for in-person viewing on the first floor of the Jan Mouton Learning.

For more information, contact Profs Loos or Costandius at bloos@sun.ac.za or elmarie@sun.ac.za respectively.

​

In a social impact project of Stellenbosch University (SU), a series of four books will be published that aim to empower learners, teachers, parents and principals in dealing with the demands of teaching and learning both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the second book in the series recently published, Prof Jonathan Jansen, distinguished professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies hopes that the publications will have a meaningful and sustainable impact on education into the future.
The first book, Learning under lockdown: Voices of South Africa's children, appeared in September 2020. It comprises approximately 400 essays by learners between the ages of 9 and 19, sharing their experiences of coping with the lockdown and staying on track with their schoolwork. Prof Jansen and SU alumna Emily O'Ryan compiled the book after working through 640 submissions from learners across the country. The book is available at CNA bookstores.

Teaching in and beyond pandemic times, the second instalment in the series was published in July 2021. Edited by Prof Jansen and Theola Farmer-Phillips, a Mitchells Plain teacher and SU postgraduate student, this book has been compiled from the teacher's perspective. It contains several educators' accounts of the teaching challenges and successes they experienced during the lockdown.

Reflecting on this latest release, Prof Jansen describes it as an essential resource for both students and practising teachers to enrich their teaching skills and empower themselves. Unlike traditional academic publications, it was written by teachers for teachers, about immediate teaching concerns, in the first person.

The teachers' monologues were essential to enable readers to take ownership of the publication, he says. “In other words, this was not about academics overwriting teachers' voices. The intention was to give teachers a platform to express their anxieties and fears, but also share their hopes and dreams for education beyond the pandemic."

The COVID-19 restrictions forced contributors to interact in cyberspace, which, in fact, broadened the project reach. “Teachers also partnered with one another across phases and grades in ways not witnessed in pre-pandemic times. This kind of momentum must be sustained, given the endless possibilities for professional learning and networking among teachers in schools," Jansen says enthusiastically.

The publication also contains practical information on topics such as hybrid teaching beyond the pandemic. “The teachers' stories demonstrate how schools in disadvantaged areas can move beyond sole dependence on copied materials or textbooks," says Jansen. In addition, policymakers and education planners will also find the book a valuable resource on what schools need to close the academic gap between the privileged and the poor.

The idea for the project started in 2020 upon seeing how teachers, learners and parents struggled with schoolwork and the impact of the pandemic on teaching and learning, Jansen explains. “I felt the need to do more than just conduct research and write traditional academic texts. I wanted to generate the kind of books that would speak to the crisis of the time in my field," he says. The idea evolved into the conceptualisation of four books that address teachers, learners, principals and parents respectively.

SU's Social Impact Funding Committee made available funding for the start-up costs of the first two books. “With the generous funding from the University, we could launch the series, which, in essence, examines learning, teaching, parenting and leading under lockdown," says Jansen.

Work on the third and fourth books is well under way, with publication scheduled for next year. The authors are also negotiating with the Western Cape Department of Education to supply copies of the second book to schools so that teachers would have easy access to this valuable resource.

Above all, Prof Jansen is pleased that the project has managed to connect campus and communities. “This kind of social impact is meaningful and enduring, both inside and outside higher education institutions," he says.

​

​The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has largely delivered on its commitment to control inflation over the past 21 years.

This was the prevailing message delivered by SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago during his inaugural honorary professorial lecture hosted by the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University.

In his recent lecture entitled “21 Years of inflation targeting," Kganyago said: “This is a year of anniversaries for the South African Reserve Bank. The institution itself has reached 100 years. The rand has turned 60. We are commemorating 25 years of central bank independence, and also 21 years of inflation targeting."

He said although inflation-targeting is the youngest of these achievements, it may also be the biggest success.

“Over the past 21 years, we have delivered on our commitment to control inflation, despite many challenges. Lower inflation has benefitted the economy generally, and households of all income levels in particular. As lenders require less compensation for inflation, interest rates have come down.

“Furthermore, with expectations anchored inside the inflation target range, businesses no longer raise prices as soon as the exchange rate weakens. This credibility has helped us cut interest rates to record lows during the COVID-19 crisis – and we have been able to keep rates low during the recovery."

Kganyago outlined some key components of inflation-targeting that have helped secure its success.

“The first factor behind our inflation-targeting success has been realism. Warren Buffet once commented that 'when a manager with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact'. Much the same is true of central banks. There are many things that people would like a central bank to do. But even a great central bank will fail at an unrealistic task. Inflation-targeting has asked a lot of the SARB and South Africans generally, but not more than any of us could deliver.

“The second secret of the success of inflation-targeting is that it is simple. We made a clean break from the era of opaque policy and confusion. As I have learnt from my years in policymaking: while many people like to indulge in complexity – favouring obscure jargon, dense documentation and complicated plans – the smartest actors prize simplicity and clarity. Inflation-targeting helped give us strategic focus.

“The third, and crucial, factor behind our inflation-targeting success has been accountability. Our goal is clear and public, and the evidence for evaluating our performance has been readily available in the form of inflation data independently produced by Statistics South Africa."

Kganyago also acknowledged the impact of a helpful global environment and good luck.

He added: “We have avoided hundred-point plans, hazy aspirations and no consequences for failure. We are forward-looking and ambitious for the country, which is why we are talking about a lower inflation target, set to bring us in line with our best-performing peers."

Kganyago expressed the hope that this experience and attitude showed by the SARB will help inform and inspire others – in the private sector, in the public sector, and in civil society – who want South Africa to succeed and who are willing to work hard for that.

“We don't have it easy, and sometimes the task seems overwhelming. But there are ways to succeed, and we need to remain ambitious so that South Africa can be a better country," he said.

• To read the complete lecture, click here.
  

​Academic libraries in South Africa have provided high-quality information to offset the negative effects of COVID-19 related fake news.

This is one of the key findings of a recent study at Stellenbosch University (SU).

“Academic libraries have played an important role as sources of trustworthy information against fake news and relied on several strategies to combat it," says Siviwe Bangani, Director: Research Services at SU's Library & Information Service.

He did research on how academic libraries contributed to the fight against fake news in South Africa since the pandemic reached our shores. The findings of his study were published recently in the Journal of Academic Librarianship.

Bangani did a literature review and content analysis of websites and library guides (LibGuides) of South Africa's public universities between July and August 2020 when the country was at its peak of the first wave of COVID-19 infections.

In addition to looking at the landing pages of university libraries' websites for free COVID-19 resources and information, he searched online platforms such as EbscoHost, Science Direct, SA ePublications, Scopus, Web-of-Science and Google Scholar using keywords such “COVID-19", “COVID-19 and (fake news or infodemic)", and “fake news or the infodemic".

According to Bangani, universities' landing pages were rich sources of data for free COVID-19 resources while their LibGuides provided most of the data about fake news or infodemic.

“My study shows that academic libraries combatted COVID-19 related fake news through, among others, the provision of quality and credible information, Information and Media Literacy instruction, creating awareness about fake news, librarians attending or presenting in webinars and conferences, as well as the collection of resources that could be useful in the fight against fake news.

“Some have set up LibGuides dedicated to providing current information about COVID-19. These LibGuides link to free electronic material such as books, journals and websites such as the South African government website that provides credible information about COVID-19. The LibGuides also provided information about the virtual services provided by the libraries during this period.

“These libraries have used their websites and LibGuides to provide and promote access to quality and credible COVID-19 resources and information."

Bangani says most LibGuides in South Africa contain links to evaluation tools such as the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions' (IFLA)'s “How to Spot Fake News", CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose) and videos on this subject.

“The IFLA's 'how to spot fake news' is very popular among librarians that incorporate information on how to fight fake news in South Africa in their LibGuides."

Bangani adds that some university libraries also purchased anti-fake news books, warned clients about the harmful effects of fake news, provided links to tools to spot it, and helped them find information independently.

“Online training, often anchored on ways to find credible information sources, continued during the COVID-19 enforced lockdown period. For example, SU continued with its #SmartResearcher workshops and also offered training to students and researchers to learn new skills that would put them a step ahead in dealing with fake news."

According to Bangani, these actions by academic libraries show that they have responded positively to the Library and Information Association of South Africa's call to all information professionals to fight fake news.

He says the results of his study can be used as a template of how libraries can deal with crises situations in future.

• SOURCE: Bangani, S 2021. The fake news wave: Academic libraries' battle against misinformation during COVID-19. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. Vol. 47/ 102390: 1-8: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102390

FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES ONLY

Siviwe Bangani

Library & Information Service

Stellenbosch University

Tel: 021 808 4641

Email: sbangani@sun.ac.za

ISSUED BY

Martin Viljoen

Manager: Media

Corporate Communication

Stellenbosch University

Tel: 021 808 4921

Email: viljoenm@sun.ac.za

​ 

​

South Africa and Africa could become a hotbed of new SARS-CoV-2 variants if we don't take care, a top bioinformatician at Stellenbosch University (SU) has warned.

Speaking at the Annual Academic Day of SU's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), Professor Tulio de Oliveira said that unlike other countries, South Africa had experienced “very distinct waves" of infection, each of which allowed the virus to evolve further.

De Oliveira, who recently joined the university to set up a new institute aimed at understanding and controlling epidemics and pandemics, received international acclaim for his team's work of identifying a new variant of the virus in South Africa. As professor of bioinformatics, he will hold a joint appointment in three different environments – the School of Data Science and Computational Thinking, the FMHS and the Faculty of Science. He will establish a new national institute – provisionally named the Centre for Epidemic Research, Response and Innovation (CERI) – to advance the understanding of epidemics in Africa and the global south.

In his address entitled Emergence and Spread of New Variants of SARS-CoV-2, De Oliveira said the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa, had started producing genomes as early in March and had even sequenced the first case in the country. The team have continued to produce genomes throughout the various waves of the pandemic.

Through its research the team has also found evidence that prolonged infection in immunocompromised individuals is one mechanism for the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants.

They have also demonstrated that there are “multimutational escape variants" in an individual with advanced HIV and prolonged failure to take antiretroviral therapy (ART), and that the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in the body was terminated shortly after the introduction of effective ART.

For this reason, De Oliveira recommended that people with HIV should be on effective ART, particularly if they also acquire Covid-19.

“People living with HIV should be prioritized for Covid-19 vaccination, and more research is needed to optimize vaccination strategies for people with advanced HIV and other immunosuppressive conditions," he said.

The need to prioritize Covid-19 vaccination in people living with HIV is so important that he and his team had informed both the South African president and the health minister about it.

“It is going to be very important to also increase the ART program and HIV diagnosis as soon as possible," he stressed.

De Oliveira said the first wave of the pandemic had created sixteen novel lineages of SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa. These had usually been created by superspreader events in the country. The team had been able to learn how the variants emerged, how they were introduced into South Africa and how they spread.

“In November-December 2020, a new lineage emerged that completely dominated infections in South Africa and went to displace all the other lineages present in the country. This lineage not only dominated all the infections, but it spread extremely fast."

Similarly, the second wave had also seen a large number of mutations which gave rise to a new lineage of the virus and allowed it to be more transmissible in humans as well as in animals. New lineages also emerged during the third wave. “This virus surprises us every week."

De Oliveira said there are now multiple cases in the literature of prolonged infections in immunocompromised individuals.

“We have learned that SARS-CoV-2 evolved very fast in a suppressed host." An examples of this had been found in a paper from Boston in the United States of a long-infected individual that could not clear the virus for at least 150 days, and that, when sequencing the virus, had found a “large accumulation of mutations … that was characteristic of various variations and mutations. Another individual in the United Kingdom had shown a similar case, and who is believed to have “caused the alpha variant there."

In South Africa, De Oliveira and his team studied a 36-year-old female patient with Covid-19, who was also HIV-positive and had “really bad adherence to ART". She stayed positive for Covid-19 for 216 days, during which there had been a “massive evolution" of the virus.

“What we saw in this individual is that this virus is not only mutating, but gaining and losing mutations. This indicates that if you have individuals that cannot clear the virus for so long – especially if they are immune suppressed – you are going to allow this virus to evolve very fast inside them which can give rise to new variants."

This had led to the conclusion that there is good evidence that prolonged infection in immune-compromised individuals is one of the mechanisms for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

“If we do not take both the HIV and SARS-CoV-2 epidemics in South Africa and Africa seriously, we may risk that Africa can become a factory of variants," he said.

Photo credit: PIXABAY

A game changer that could revolutionise the ongoing worldwide battle against tuberculosis (TB), is on the cards thanks to a huge research grant that was awarded to Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) for the development of a smart phone app that can distinguish the sound of a TB cough from other types of coughs.

The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) awarded a grant of €2 891 456 (more than R48 million) to Prof Grant Theron, Head of the Clinical Mycobacteriology and Epidemiology (CLIME) Group in the FMHS' Division of Molecular Biology & Human Genetics, for his automated smartphone-based cough audio classification for rapid tuberculosis triage testing (Cough Audio Triage for TB or CAGE-TB) project.

The EDCTP aims to reduce the social and economic burden of poverty-related diseases in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, by accelerating the clinical development of effective, safe, accessible, suitable and affordable medical interventions for HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected infectious diseases.

According to Dr Byron Reeve, CLIME project manager of CAGE-TB, CLIME is very privileged to be the custodians of European tax payers' money. “The grant will enable us to enrol 1 700 patients (enough to ensure sound testing), obtain the best equipment, hire a large team to do the patient recording, interviewing and testing, while top class data analysts and engineers will analyse the cough audio."

CAGE-TB is a four-way partnership between the SU's FMHS and Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the University of Makerere in Uganda, as well as collaborators in the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, Netherlands and the University of Gottingen, Germany. Theron is the principal investigator – “the academic brains behind CAGE-TB who will be making sure the four partners do the dance together".

The aim of CAGE-TB is to develop a screening app to discern whether someone might be TB infected and to identify those in need of further laboratory testing. “Preliminary data suggests that TB has a unique signature – a sound that is specific to a TB cough compared to other coughs such as smokers' cough," Reeve explains. “We are going to collect TB cough sounds by asking participants to cough into their phones and this captured audio will eventually be packaged into the app.

“Participants will also be asked to submit a sputum specimen for laboratory testing that will determine whether they have TB. Their cough audio will be analysed by SU engineers and the results of the cough audio and the laboratory tests will be compared.

“We are not trying to definitively diagnose TB. The app is meant for triage – screening a lot of patients – and determining who is most likely to have TB. They will undergo more extensive sputum testing. This is a very powerful first step in the African context, because patients often only seek help once extensive damage has been done. We are hoping a simple cough into their phone will change this," Reeve explains.

“No harsh language will be used," he stresses. “The app will simply ask participants to go to a clinic, or assure them that they are fine and what the next steps are. TB stigmatisation is a big problem and we are hoping the app will address that."   

All the enrolment of patients and sound recording will be done in South Africa and Uganda. The SU engineers will be responsible for the hardware necessary for the recording and analysis of the sound files, while the German collaborators will ensure that the app is user-friendly with clear instructions. “Once the other partners have made sure it works correctly on a scientific level, our collaborators in the Netherlands will collect feedback from participants about their experience of the app – data to illustrate that it works. This is key for international endorsement and to get the attention of the World Health Organisation and governments worldwide, including our own government and the Department of Health.

“There will be a massive international team effort to put the app in the international spotlight and change how we screen TB patients. The whole world has been using the same screening method for decades and this new piece of technology will be a game changer that will revolutionise screening," says Reeve. “Problems such as time-consuming one-on-one interviews to obtain the clinical history and hesitance on the part of patients will be solved with an app that can even be used in the privacy of one's own home."

Reeve says the EDCTP award to the FMHS speaks to a lot of good ongoing work led by the project leader, Theron, on the back of years of research. “Theron noticed that we can screen better. The Faculty has fostered an environment for excellent TB research and already has the necessary infrastructure and a huge international research network comprising various disciplines at its disposal.

“One person doesn't have all the skills necessary for this project. It is a matter of different minds coming together in one little block on your cell phone screen for three steps: 1. Cough into your phone speakers 2. Get the results. 3. Receive specialised care. 

“I believe this is a missing piece of the puzzle – an innovative TB screening approach that will put SU on the map regarding new mobile solutions for African health problems like TB," Reeve concludes.

​

Photo credit: Unsplash

Higher education institutions are best placed to bring change and transformation to societies, said Dr Cornel Hart, who was the keynote speaker at the annual Stellenbosch University (SU) Social Impact Symposium earlier this month.

The annual symposium, which is hosted by the Division of Social Impact, is part of SU's commitment to enhance cross-sector partnerships to have a long-term positive impact on society. This follows the global trend at higher education institutions to maximise their community engagement through partnerships.

Some 140 participants from the government, industry, business and civil society sectors, tuned in for the online event themed “Reviewing engaged partnerships for social impact: Catalysing cross-sector partnerships for long-term social impact". They included members of SU's Rectorate, the Social Impact Funding Committee, Senate, the Students' Representative Council, the faculties of Law, Military Science and Theology, as well as external partners comprising the South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum, businesses, government departments, non-governmental organisations and communities.

​Dr Hart, coordinator of the bachelor's programme in Community Development at the University of the Western Cape, spoke about higher education's transformative power to deliver effective social impact. She explained that higher education institutions were best placed to bring about change by driving partnerships to help achieve national, regional and international goals. “As a knowledge and innovation production agency, a higher education institution operates as a unit, and the different faculties can work together without having to cross any policy barriers," she said.

Hart pointed out that institutions began to include community engagement in their strategic planning after legislation (more specifically the Education White Paper 3 and the Higher Education Act, both from 1997) identified community engagement as a core pillar of higher education along with teaching and research. Institutions now have a social responsibility to make available their expertise and infrastructure for community service programmes, Hart said. And being part of the global village, institutions should not operate in isolation, but must collaborate with one another and across sectors to benefit all stakeholders and advance the common good. “If its partnerships are not addressing societal challenges in a collective, equal manner, the university has failed," she said.

Based on her extensive experience in assessing community development, Hart identified a new challenge for institutions, namely to measure and evaluate the extent of their impact on, and footprint in, society. To help address this, she proposed a partnership framework that could be used to plan social impact projects in a professional and well-organised manner, while also enabling project results to be measured and evaluated. The framework categorises the different types of engagements, project focus points, purposes, target communities, partners, as well as the indicators contained in national and international development plans.

Hart encouraged project planners to use the framework in designing social impact partnerships. This will enable them to verify whether their projects will promote cross-sector partnerships and address the goals in our National Development Plan and other development strategies in a regional and global context.

The remainder of the symposium was dedicated to project reports from SU staff and external stakeholders. Participants elaborated on their projects' impact on communities and highlighted both existing and potential cross-sector partnerships that could help bring positive and long-term change to society.

Dr Leslie van Rooi, senior director of Social Impact and Transformation, said the symposium is a platform for SU to continue reviewing and rethinking its social impact strategy and way forward as an engaged university. “We must constantly reflect on society through our teaching, learning and research, and forge partnerships to have a lasting positive social impact," he said.

According to Ernestine Meyer-Adams, director of Social Impact, the symposium, which is aligned with SU's Vision 2040 strategic goal of purposeful partnerships and inclusive networks, also allows the stakeholders to celebrate their achievement of creating mutual beneficial partnerships.

“Building on the current solid foundation, the future looks promising for changing the plight of communities through ethical and sustainable cross-sector partnerships," said Meyer-Adams.

​

​​​

You are invited to attend the third instalment of the seminar series entitled Developing a critical praxis of transformation in South African higher education presented by the Transformation Managers Forum and the International Journal for Critical Diversity Studies.

Theme: Bringing a feminist intersectional lens to transformation in higher education

​

Presented by: Stellenbosch University Transformation Office

Date: 23 September 2021

Time: 13:00–15:00

Host: Dr Zethu Mkhize

Moderator: Prof Amanda Gouws

Programme:

13:10–13:25: Prof Amanda Gouws: Introduction and contextualisation

13:25–13:45: Mr Jaco Brink: Practitioner's perspectives on a national South African higher education institution policy framework mitigating gender-based violence at a South African university: Governance, implementation challenges and opportunities

13:45–14:05: Ms Brightness Mangolothi and Prof Peliwe Mnguni: Workplace bullying and its implications for gender transformation in the South African higher education sector: An intersectional perspective

14:05–14:25: Prof Ronelle Carolissen and Prof Nadine Bowers du Toit: Transformation of community-based research in higher education: A decolonial feminist revisiting of the “coloured women" article

14:25–14: 55: Prof Amanda Gouws: Discussion moderated by Prof Gouws

14:55–15:00: Dr Zethu Mkhize: Closing and thanks

​