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The Citizen
28-05-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
ANC hero George Mbhele remembered
The KZN ANC interim fundraiser, Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi, addressed scores of ANC members at the George Mbhele memorial lecture at the Adventist Youth Camp in Anerley last Saturday. Simelalane-Mngadi said that not all ANC heroes were famous and that they were gathered to remember a man whose story is rarely told. 'The name George Mbhele does not easily roll off many people's tongues. This is because, way too often, we tend to only speak of the struggle for our liberation using names that became famous. We usually pay tribute to Mandela, Tambo, Sisulu, Winnie Mandela, and many others and rightly so; because those leaders made a great contribution to our liberation. But today, we have an opportunity to go deeper to take an unusual, but equally important route and remember those who were just as brave and committed, but whose names don't get mentioned every day in our public discourse. Comrade George Mbhele is one of those heroes,' she said. According to Simelane-Mngadi, Mbhele was a teacher, a husband, a father, a leader, and a freedom fighter at Umzumbe Fairview Mission in 1930, and joined the liberation struggle due to his strong sense of justice and patriotism. 'He was the second-born of four brothers and was the first in the area to gain an MBA degree from the University of Fort Hare, even though his father was a farm worker earning peanuts. Mbhele witnessed the repressive laws of apartheid first-hand as they stripped black South Africans of their land rights and dignity, such as the Group Areas Act, which forced people out of their homes to make way for whites-only areas,' she said. Also, Mbhele was a teacher at Lamontville in Durban where he also operated as an ANC youth leader. Twice, he was held on 90 days without trial in solitary confinement due to his political activism. 'In 1961, along with Govan Mbeki and Johnny Makhathini, Mbhele worked with Albertina Sisulu to help recruit nurses from South Africa to work in Tanzania. This was after an exodus of British nurses after Tanzania attained freedom. He was arrested in May 1963 and put in solitary confinement for 11 months before being sentenced to four years' imprisonment on a charge of being an active member of the ANC,' said Simelane-Mngadi. She said Mbhele was taken to Pollsmoor Prison, before being moved to Robben Island, where he stayed behind bars until his release in 1968. 'Mbhele served time alongside Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, and other great leaders of our liberation struggle. At the time of his arrest, his wife, Sibusisiwe Mbhele, was a nurse at King Edward VIII Hospital. She was left alone to raise their two children Njabulo (3) and Duduzile (2),' said Simelane-Mngadi. Mbhele's wife then became the family's sole breadwinner, but authorities forcibly removed her from her workplace for questioning, and she was eventually dismissed from the hospital and banned from working as a nurse. 'On his release in 1968, Mbhele was given a banning order from gaining employment as a teacher, attending church, or having more than two visitors at his home. The couple also had to report to the police station twice a week. On the ANC's advice, they left for the UK on April 10, 1970. He was offered a history teacher's job, after a headmaster read about his story in The Guardian newspaper. His wife also got a nursing job. The family moved to Zimbabwe in 1982, but his wife sadly died in 1987 after a visit to South Africa,' she said. In 1991, Mbhele returned to South Africa with his second wife, Ellen and her children, and became the deputy principal of Fairview Mission School, where his own journey had started. 'In February 1994, Mbhele was shot dead in his office at school, just two months before South Africa's first democratic national elections on April 27, 1994. He was shot by two young boys who came to the school wearing khaki uniforms and gave him a letter to read, but suddenly shot him dead,' said Simelane-Mngadi. HAVE YOUR SAY Like the South Coast Fever's Facebook page At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
eNCA
20-05-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Ramaphosa faces complex US engagement
WASHINGTON - President Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to Washington comes at a time of strained relations between South Africa and the United States. WATCH: The Dan Corder Show | Afrikaner 'Refugees' Finally Speak, Ramaphosa Goes To America Key issues include South Africa's ICJ case against Israel, the Ukraine war, and differing foreign policy positions within the Government of National Unity. Dr Nazreen Shaik-Peremanov from the University of Fort Hare unpacked these dynamics with eNCA.
The Citizen
17-05-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
WATCH LIVE: President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks at funeral of late ANC SG Dumalisile Nokwe
ANC stalwart Nokwe passed away in Zambia in 1978. President Cyril Ramaphosa will pay tribute to former ANC secretary-general Advocate Dumalisile Philemon Pearce Nokwe at a Special Provincial Official Funeral on Saturday. Nokwe, who had lived in exile since 1963, passed away in Zambia in 1978. His remains were repatriated to South Africa last year. He will be buried, along with his wife Mrs Vuyiswa Malangabi-Nokwe, on Saturday at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, Gauteng. Ramaphosa this week honoured Nokwe with a posthumous honorary title of Senior Counsel (Silk) for the Republic of South Africa. 'The posthumous honour bestowed on the first African advocate of the Supreme Court is a high honour that recognises Adv Nokwe's expertise and contribution to the legal profession,' the government said. The president was among several high-profile dignitaries at the funeral, including current ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi. From prison to ANC position and exile According to the government, Nokwe, who was born in 1927, obtained a BSc degree from the University of Fort Hare and a diploma in education. He was arrested and imprisoned during the 1952 Defiance Campaign, which led to his dismissal by the Transvaal Education Department. He later studied law, obtained an LLB degree and became the first black advocate to be admitted to the Johannesburg Society of Advocates. A visit to the 1953 World Youth Festival, the Soviet Union, China, and Britain led to his receiving a travel ban from the South African government. Further restrictions were placed upon him, and the then Native Affairs Department debarred him from taking chambers with his white colleagues in the Johannesburg city centre. He was put on trial for treason, arrested, and assaulted by police. He was elected ANC secretary-general in 1958 and mobilised communities against apartheid until the underground leadership directed him to leave South Africa in January 1963. NOW WATCH: PAC co-founder Edwin Letsholo Makoti's official funeral
Daily Maverick
13-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
Fort Hare doctor leads charge to find healthier preservative for chicken
A researcher from the University of Fort Hare received her doctorate for her work exploring whether the leaves of the moringa tree can be used as a healthier preservative for meat, and particularly chicken. Last week, Zimasa Dubeni was awarded a doctorate by the University of Fort Hare for her research that investigated the use of moringa leaves as a healthier preservative for meat and especially chicken. The soft-spoken lab technician said the research had proven that moringa extract, a powerful antioxidant, significantly slows down the growth of bacteria on chicken. She said she hoped to find a healthier way to preserve meat because some preservatives are believed to be carcinogenic. Moringa trees grow abundantly in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. Dubeni said that when she arrived at the University of Fort Hare 20 years ago, she had no idea what to study. A kind administrator took time to talk to her and steered her in the direction of studying for a BSc degree. 'I have always liked biodiversity and how everything depends on one another,' she said. For her postgraduate work, she turned her attention to botany, and for her PhD focused on the benefits of an extract made from the leaves of the moringa tree. 'As moringa is widely considered a source of nutrients and vitamins and is used as an immune booster and a nutritional supplement, for skin rashes and moisturisation, I wanted to investigate if it can be used to preserve meat. 'It would be good to find something that can cut down on the use of synthetic meat preservatives. I was interested in finding out if moringa could slow down bacterial growth, especially in chicken,' she explained. Dubeni said that, if successful, finding a way to incorporate moringa into meat preservation — especially chicken — could provide significant relief to families living in rural areas where there isn't electricity or electricity provision is often unreliable. In another academic paper published in a peer-reviewed journal, she added that the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria had increased the urgency to search for new antimicrobials of plant origin. In this paper, she wrote that the moringa leaf extract was effective against bacteria like E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus — both eliminated by moringa extract in six hours — and Klebsiella pneumoniae, eliminated in eight hours under laboratory conditions. She said the extract used was not toxic and was well tolerated by humans, which was one of the reasons she chose it for her work in food preservation. Her research on chicken meat, published in November last year, showed that the moringa extract effectively suppressed and delayed bacterial growth. While there was no salmonella growth in any sample, some treated samples experienced a slight increase in bacterial growth toward the end of the storage period. However, concentrations of 0.5% and 0.25% significantly reduced bacterial growth, even at higher storage temperatures of 25°C. 'We decided on chicken because it is very susceptible to spoiling,' she added. But now her next step is to find a way to stop the moringa extract they are using from staining the chicken green. 'Because really, who wants to eat green meat?' she laughed. Academic career She also has her sights set on an academic career. 'I want to become a lecturer. My journey has been a difficult one. Without the support of my supervisor, I probably would not have been able to finish my degree,' she said. She is now supervising students completing their Honours and Master's degrees. 'Eventually, I want to be a professor in my field and supervise students who can reach these heights too. We need more people to study biodiversity,' she said. She said as a child who attended a township school she didn't have a lot of exposure to careers in science. 'I would tell every young girl who wants to get into science to hold on to that dream. You need a focal point. Without it, you won't know what to work towards or how you will need to work. 'Don't be afraid to ask. You need an end goal in mind. Don't be scared to be judged. Ask about a career you want to pursue. Take every negative challenge as motivation. If you are not hungry enough, you won't work hard enough,' she said. 'Through my struggles, I discovered my strengths. Failure is part of the journey.' Today, she said, her mother tells her that she cannot believe that Dr Dubeni is the same woman as the 18-year-old who walked into Fort Hare not knowing what she wanted to be. 'I want to pay tribute to my mom,' said Dubeni. 'She has been a beacon of home and a pillar of strength for me. I wanted to prove to her that she did a great job raising me.' DM
Daily Maverick
11-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
Tech takes root — Eastern Cape traditional healer teaches AI app to recognise medicinal plants
Combining a passion for computer science and a calling to become a healer, Onke Simandla has used his IT skills and knowledge of traditional medicine to create an app with a wide range of uses. It took patience and time, but information technology (IT) systems specialist and traditional healer Onke Simandla has successfully designed an app for herbalists by teaching artificial intelligence (AI) to look for and recognise medicinal plants. Simandla (42) received his master's degree in IT from the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape this week. For him, it marked a significant milestone in his efforts to merge the worlds of computer science and traditional healing in his home province. While doing his degree Simandla also completed a short course in plant medicine and performed at the Makhanda Arts Festival, all while holding down a full-time job in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform in Pretoria. As he was doing his research, he was approached by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, which sponsored a trip to China for him. 'The aim was to go and learn the health system with the view of coming back and starting to implement some of the things we learnt,' Simandla said. He explained that patients at public hospitals in China have access to both traditional Chinese and Western medicine. The trip has set him on the path to his next goal of establishing a public health system in South Africa in which patients can be offered traditional healing as well as Western medicine in the same facility. Simandla also wants to set up a system for the manufacture of traditional medicine that can lift rural communities out of poverty by providing proper supply lines of these medicines. But even in his own practice as a traditional healer, he will never exclude Western medicine. 'I would, for instance, say let's get an allergy test to make sure you are not sensitive to any of the ingredients I am using.' Science vs spirituality Simandla grew up in Peelton, a small rural town close to Bisho in the Eastern Cape, perhaps best known as the hometown of the late ANC stalwart Steve Tshwete. He completed his undergraduate work – a BSc degree in computer science and geographical information systems – and an honours degree in the same field at the University of Fort Hare. But after his father died in 2003, Simandla had to look for a job to support his family and found one in Pretoria. From a young age, Simandla knew he had a spiritual gift, and this became clear to him while working in the city. He never wanted to let go of his dream of having a master's degree in computer science as well, though. 'I wanted to heal people, but I was debating in my heart: what about computer science? 'I took this conversation to the ancestors. I said, 'Hold on a second, hear me out' – because that is how I speak to them – 'I spent all these years getting all this knowledge. I am not saying I want to sacrifice the secrets of a traditional healer, but let's see how I can combine the two. Can't I use both?' 'As I was having this debate in my heart, my traditional healer who taught me said: 'Always push for more. Open your mind to the the Western side of things.'' His mentor encouraged Simandla to pursue his master's degree. 'I last studied in 2006 to do my honours, so that was a long time ago,' he laughed. It was a dream that finally convinced him to go ahead with his plans. In the dream, his grandmother showed him a cellphone and said he should use it. 'She told me to travel the world and spread the word of healing.' Designing the app Simandla's alma mater, Fort Hare, was a natural choice for his third degree because the plants he wanted to use on his app grew in the Hogsback Mountains in the Eastern Cape. The scientific names of plants are not used on the app. 'I wanted to name them by their traditional names,' he said. 'Should a person who knows how to use the phone maybe not have got that far in their learning that they know the botanical names, they can still use it.' Describing the use of the app for traditional healers, he said: 'When trainees reach a certain level, they can be sent to the bush to fetch medicinal plants. But even if you have taught them well, there are times when they are still not sure. 'The app also allows for traditional healers to create assignments for their trainees and for trainees to submit them. Even if you are in the veld, the app can help you. If you show it the wrong plant it will say no, this is not the one.' Simandla said the biggest lesson he learnt from dealing with AI is that it is still trying to catch up to the human brain. He explained how he was teaching the algorithm to recognise a plant, but at the time the plant was flowering. 'When I showed it to the machine when it was not flowering, it did not recognise it. The machine got confused,' he said. 'I thought of the AI we created like an old woman. One specific old woman, in fact, helped us with a plant that healed my son when he was a baby. 'I think both my experience and creating the app underscore that it will always be important to have the human touch. You have to teach the machine and train the algorithm to improve.' DM
