Latest news with #WitsUniversity
IOL News
3 hours ago
- General
- IOL News
Police probe more cases against syndicate that targeted Wits student Olorato Mongale
Olorato Mongale's mother Basetsana speaks during her funeral on Sunday. Image: Free State Provincial Government/Facebook Police have reported an increase in the number of cases that they are linked to the syndicate responsible for the death of the former Wits University student, Olorato Mongale - three more have been added to the 22 reported last week. Last week, the number of cases being investigated by the police stood at 22 cases with SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe indicating that the number has increased to 25. "We are now standing at 25 cases linked to the syndicate," Mathe said without going into details about the latest developments in the matter. Police said they are closing in on Bongani Mthimkulu, the remaining suspect of an alleged kidnapping syndicate that targeted young women at shopping malls in several provinces. The main suspect, Philangenkosi Makhanya, was killed during a shootout with police at Amanzimtoti in KwaZulu-Natal last week. 'That is the only syndicate that we had identified that was going around the country targeting woman in various malls in various provinces. We are counting Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu- Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga as well as North West,' said Mathe. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Meanwhile, as the manhunt for Mthimkhulu continues, the spokesperson for the Mongale family, Dr Criselda Kananda and the entire Mongale family confirmed in a statement that the family has withdrawn its support for Fezile Ngubane - one of the recently cleared suspects. Police arrested Ngubane but later said he was targeted by the syndicate and was an innocent victim of identity fraud. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Kananda announced her withdrawal from supporting Ngubane's addiction rehabilitation journey after having supported the campaign aimed at helping him overcome his drug addiction. 'I would like to take a moment to express my appreciation for the outpouring of support regarding the call to help Fezile Ngubane with his rehabilitation. Our initial intention was to assist in placing Fezile at a free rehabilitation centre, as we believe that simply throwing money at someone struggling with addiction is not a sustainable solution. "However, with the introduction of monetary donations into this situation, I have decided to withdraw my engagement in Fezile's case. I believe it is best to those who have taken a different approach to carry on from here," she said.
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
Secure the base: Ngũgĩ's last lesson for a continent under siege
'Don't yet rejoice in his defeat ... the bitch that bore [Hitler] is in heat again.' — Bertolt Brecht, in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Last week, the world awoke to the devastating news of the passing of the eloquent wielder of words, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. His death has robbed us of a principled voice of conscience that refused to compromise with the colonial project and its treacherous offspring of neocolonialism. Ngũgĩ was more than an author. He was a sentinel, constantly sounding the alarm, translating the subtle currents of global power into a language accessible to his audience. His work transcended literature and became a foundational text for understanding the intricate dance between culture, language and power. His departure leaves a void that can only be filled by a renewed commitment to the very principles he championed. Eight years ago, Ngũgĩ strode onto the stage at Wits University's Great Hall and fused two of his essay collections to reiterate his lifelong commitment to: 'Secure the Base: [and] Decolonise the Mind'. It was a masterclass in strategic thinking disguised as a lecture in literature, a magisterial critique of 21st century Africa and a battle call to the masses of our continent to rise to the occasion for our liberation. This simple yet powerful call encapsulates the dual, inseparable imperative for Africa's true emancipation. With incandescent clarity, Decolonising the Mind, which first hit the shelves in 1986, reminded us that a people who speak in borrowed tongues soon think in borrowed hierarchies. Ngũgĩ meticulously argued that language is not merely a tool for communication but a carrier of culture, values and memory. To abandon one's indigenous language for that of the coloniser, is to accept an intellectual slavery, to view the world through a prism designed by others to one's own detriment. This profound insight extends beyond linguistic choice; it challenges the very frameworks through which we understand history, economic development and even our own identities. Decolonising the mind means dismantling the psychological infrastructure of colonialism — internalised inferiority and an uncritical acceptance of Western paradigms as universal truths and the systemic denigration of African knowledge systems and practices. It calls for a radical re-centering of Africa, an affirmation of our diverse cultures and a conscious effort to rebuild narratives from our own perspectives. The abstract discussions of Ngũgĩ's work have found chilling, concrete manifestation with Donald Trump's swagger back to the Oval Office, bringing with him the deplorable hound of white supremacy. Then in 2016, Ngũgĩ published Secure the Base in which he sketched the geopolitical map we now inhabit — a world where financialised capitalism, digital extraction and militarised mercantilism treat Africa as a quarry, an open pit mine, not partner. This book moved beyond the cultural realm to address the very political economy — or material conditions — of African existence. Ngũgĩ understood that intellectual liberation must be paired with concrete, economic and political autonomy. He saw how global capital, untethered by ethical considerations, exploits African resources and labour without equitable returns. He warned against the illusion of aid that often masked mechanisms of debt and dependence. Secure the Base is a call to consolidate African power, protect our land, resources, labour and data from external predation. The message is simple: protect your cultural nerve-centre or watch the body politic collapse. Among others, this means developing robust institutions, fostering genuine regional integration and building economies that serve the needs of African people, not merely the demands of global markets. The Empire Strikes Back ... again The abstract discussions of Ngũgĩ's work have found chilling, concrete manifestation with Donald Trump's swagger back to the Oval Office, bringing with him the deplorable hound of white supremacy. His first term offered a preview; his return is witnessing what will hopefully not amount to a wreckage of the world and humanity as a whole. Consider his meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa. Trump understands South Africa's cross-racial crime problem through the point of view of race. ' But the farmers are white,' he said continually. This was not an off-the-cuff remark. It was a calculated dog-whistle, a classic demonstration of weaponised racial grievance. The subtext was as crude as Ian Smith's 'kith-and-kin' plea in then Rhodesia, later Zimbabwe, which sought to garner international sympathy for a white minority regime: black suffering is background noise, white discomfort is a global emergency! It is selective empathy that has long defined the Global North's perception of African problems and challenges. This obsession with a mythical 'white genocide' and 'farm attacks' did not hatch in Washington. It is parroted in discussions, but when confronted with actual situation reflected in official crime statistics that show a comprehensive picture of violence affecting all communities, their retort is chillingly consistent: 'But the killers are black.' The implicit message is clear: barbarism is tolerable so long as it stays in its lane! Violence in Africa is a tribal problem — confirming a savagery that has always been known — unworthy of global outrage, unless white bodies enter the frame! This narrative, meticulously crafted and widely disseminated, actively erases the vast majority of crime victims in South Africa, who are black, and ignores the complex socioeconomic roots of violence. For context, while farm crimes are a serious concern, they constitute a small percentage of overall crime. Farm crimes affect individuals of all racial backgrounds, yet the narrative often focuses solely on white farmers, creating a racialised panic that serves specific political agendas. Gavin Evans' timely new book, White Supremacy: A Brief History of Hatred, provides an essential framework for understanding this dangerous resurgence. He traces this hierarchy of grief back to the poisonous well of Victorian pseudoscience, through eugenics, Nazism and Apartheid. Evans reveals how the concept of race was weaponised, not as a biological reality, but as a sociopolitical construct designed to justify exploitation and domination. Trump merely pours the vintage into a new MAGA — Make America Great Again — flask, repackaging ancient prejudices for a digital age, normalising what should be anathema and emboldening supremacist movements globally. His rhetorical strategy serves to reaffirm the US, under his influence, as a spiritual vanguard for global white supremacy, leveraging the immense power of a global superpower to legitimise racist narratives. Brecht's bastard is on the march, clothed in new guises but animated by the same ancient hatreds. Brecht's warning buzzes in our ears — the hydra of fascism simply sprouts a fresh head when the old one falls. We witnessed a collective sigh of relief when Trump left office the first time, but that relief was premature. The underlying conditions that birthed him — economic anxieties, racial prejudice that lurks in the periphery and centre of the imagination of many Westerners and a deep-seated distrust of democratic institutions — were never fully addressed. It is doing so now, in digital misinformation farms, where algorithms amplify division; in new Cold-War militarism, as major powers scramble for influence and resources, often at Africa's expense; in financial sanctions dressed up as human-rights clauses, which disproportionately affect vulnerable populations while serving geostrategic interests. South Africa and the entire African continent cannot Tweet our way out of this storm. We urgently need a fundamental shift in strategy, a proactive defence against these multipronged assaults. Secure the base, or lose the future Africa's greatest strategic depth lies in our demographic and cultural dynamism. We are the youngest continent, brimming with potential, creativity and diverse knowledge systems. Yet both are under siege from climate collapse engineered elsewhere, which devastates our agriculture and displaces our communities, trade wars we did not declare but distort our markets nonetheless and limit our growth to data mining we scarcely regulate, allowing global tech giants to extract invaluable information from our citizens without fair compensation or privacy safeguards. In Ngũgĩ's lexicon, 'the base' is not mere territory, it is the physical and intellectual space where collective imagination meets material power. It is the sovereignty to determine our own destiny, to control our own narratives and to build economies that serve our people, not just global capital. Lose that, and we become spectators in our own drama, condemned to react rather than create, to follow rather than lead. The implications of failing to secure this base are dire. The continent's vast mineral wealth, which should be a source of prosperity, often fuels conflict and external exploitation. The youth bulge, a demographic dividend, risks becoming a ticking time bomb if opportunities for education, employment and meaningful participation are not created. The scramble for rare earth minerals in the Congo, the ongoing geopolitical machinations in the Sahel and the continued desperate redlining of African refugees at Europe's borders all reminds us the empire never packed its bags. It merely changed tactics. The language may be softer, the methods more insidious, but the underlying drive for control and extraction remains. Ngũgĩ's death is therefore not an elegy but a deadline. It is a powerful reminder that the struggle for true liberation is ongoing and requires constant vigilance. We either decolonise the mind or we rent it out, cheap. This choice is stark — or is it Starlinked? Failure to do so leaves us vulnerable to narratives imposed from without, narratives that often serve to divide and conquer, to justify continued exploitation. Brecht's bastard is on the march, clothed in new guises but animated by the same ancient hatreds. We owe it to Ngũgĩ, and to ourselves, to ensure that his legacy lives on, not just in libraries, but in the vibrant, unified and self-determining Africa he so passionately envisioned. All Africans dare not forget his final note: 'Secure the base'!
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Science
- Daily Maverick
Forget cats, forget traps — bring in the puff adders to revolutionise pest control
Africa's coolest pest control agents have fangs, no overheads and a killer instinct. Enter the puff adder (Bitis arietans) — nature's unassuming, cold-blooded rodent regulator. A new study by Professor Graham Alexander at the University of the Witwatersrand has revealed just how spectacularly efficient these snakes are, offering compelling evidence that they might be the farmers' unsung ally. They're often cast as villains, coiled and hissing in the corners of bushveld myths, but puff adders are ecological rockstars with a lazy flair for lethal efficiency. Unlike mammals who must eat constantly to fuel their furnace-like bodies, puff adders can down tools — or fangs — and wait. For months. Even years. In the largest-ever study of its kind, Alexander raised 18 puff adders over four years under tightly controlled conditions. The snakes, all born in captivity, were housed at Wits University and observed during a series of trials that measured their feeding, fasting and weight changes. What he discovered could change the way we think about snakes — and pest control. 'The key idea,' Alexander explains, 'is something I called the 'factorial scope of ingestion'. It's a way of measuring how much more a predator can eat when food becomes abundant. No one's used this in animals before — I made up the name.' Masters of the buffet Turns out puff adders are masters of the buffet. During peak feeding periods, the snakes increased their intake by twelve times their normal dietary needs. One snake even ballooned to more than 2kg, more than double its starting weight. That level of flexibility is practically unheard of in mammals, whose metabolic needs keep them on a tight leash. Let's translate: if puff adders were people, they'd gorge through the holidays on a dozen Christmas dinners, then not eat again until December. And they'd still be fine. These findings, published in Scientific Reports, debunk the long-held idea that snakes, being ectotherms with slow digestion, have little impact on prey populations. Not only can puff adders gobble up rodents at astonishing rates when prey is abundant, they can also wait out the lean years, lying low with metabolic grace. 'I estimate that some of these snakes could fast for over two years and still survive,' Alexander says. 'When rodents boom, puff adders switch on, consuming mice week after week. But when the prey disappears, they simply… switch off.' This ability offers a significant advantage over warm-blooded predators like mongooses or jackals, which must eat regularly or perish. Puff adders, with their secretive ways and ambush tactics, are perfectly adapted for ecological boom-and-bust cycles. They're like the ultimate freelance exterminators — no contract, no complaints. But there's more. By staying put and waiting for rodents to scurry by, puff adders mount what ecologists call a 'functional response' — an immediate adjustment in feeding and breeding rate based on prey availability. In the dusty corners of barns and the grassy fringes of maize fields, puff adders lie in ambush. And while their approach may be passive, the effect is anything but. 'Simple. Effective. Immediate.' 'When rodent numbers go up,' says Alexander, 'more rodents run past the snakes. And the snakes just eat more. Simple. Effective. Immediate.' Puff adders, the study suggests, act as ecosystem stabilisers — naturally damping down the rodent population explosions that wreak havoc on crops. And because they don't need frequent meals, their populations don't crash during the quiet years, like mammals often do. That alone should earn them some farmyard respect. But old fears die hard. Puff adders are responsible for the highest number of serious snake bites in Africa, due to their camouflage and tendency to stay still when threatened. But this reputation needs a rethink. According to data at a hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, the fatality rate from puff adder bites is extremely low. In one study of nearly 900 hospitalised snakebite cases, not a single death was recorded. Still, Alexander admits he's been on the sharp end of a puff adder's fang. 'About 25 years ago I got bitten on the leg,' he says. 'It put me in ICU for nine days. But the real issue was the antivenom. I'm violently allergic to the horse serum it's made from — it stopped my heart.' It's a sobering reminder of the risks. But it hasn't dampened his enthusiasm. 'Some people say working with venomous snakes is heroic,' he laughs. 'Others say it's just stupid.' Each of the 18 snakes in his colony had its own personality, he adds — some were curious, others reclusive. This growing recognition of reptilian personality, even sentience, is changing how scientists view snakes. Strategic and adaptive 'Snakes aren't mindless machines,' Alexander says. 'They're remarkable animals — strategic, adaptive and vital to the ecosystems they live in.' So should farmers release puff adders into their barns? Not quite. Alexander cautions against artificially introducing snakes into new environments, which could disrupt local ecosystems. 'But if they're already there,' he says, 'don't kill them.' With snake antivenom production faltering in South Africa, and rodenticide poisoning creating knock-on effects across food chains, the case for protecting natural pest regulators has never been stronger. Most bites, Alexander says, result from trying to kill them. They respond to threats. Puff adders might not be cuddly, but they're efficient, low-maintenance, and — as Alexander's research shows — astonishingly good at their job. So next time you see a puff adder in your barn or near your wheat field, maybe hold off on the hoe. That fat, lazy, patterned lump might just be your best employee. DM
The Citizen
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
WATCH LIVE: Ramaphosa speaks at funeral of ANC veteran Gertrude Shope
Shope passed away in her home in Gauteng last Thursday at the age of 99. Mourners are gathering at the Great Hall at Wits University in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Saturday to pay tribute to late former ANC Women's League president Gertrude Shope. Shope passed away in her home in Gauteng last Thursday at the age of 99. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that she would be honoured with a Special Official Funeral Category 1 ceremony. Special provincial funerals are divided into two categories and can be provided to an outstanding or distinguished person on request to the president by the premier of the province. The State, Official and Provincial Official Funeral Policy manual of 2016 states at category 1 ceremonies the national flag shall fly at half-mast at every flag station in the province — including the burial site or cremation facility — a day before the burial or cremation until the evening of the day of the burial or cremation. For category two, the national flag flies at half-mast at every flag station in the province — including the burial site or cremation facility — on the day of the burial or cremation until that evening. ALSO READ: ANC Women's League veteran Gertrude Shope dies at 99 A life of service Shope lived in exile for nearly 25 years with her husband Mark and her children in Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, and in the then Czechoslovakia. 'She organised women and communities in the country as well as international organisations to oppose apartheid and alleviate the plight of oppressed communities while the struggle was underway. 'She also had the distinction of being listed as a co-conspirator in the Rivonia Trial, alongside Oliver Tambo, Joe Slovo, Ben Turok, Duma Nokwe, Joe Modise, Jack Hodgson and others,' said government in tribute. Ramaphosa is expected to deliver the eulogy between 8am and 9am.
Mail & Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Universities, revive Joburg's hippest 'hood
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G) Melville, once declared one of the world's hippest neighbourhoods, is in serious decline. The suburb is an important asset to our academic life and must be restored. I often host students and faculty from universities in Europe and the US. For a long time, Melville was the automatic place for academic visitors, professors and students to visit and stay while passing through Johannesburg. Located next to the University of the Witwatersrand, one of our two great universities, as well as the up-and-coming University of Johannesburg (UJ), Melville has long provided a convivial environment for academics and post-graduate visitors. In 2020, just five years ago, Time Out magazine ranked Melville as one of the 40 coolest neighbourhoods in the world. Academic travel matters, and academics want to enjoy their experience of travel. For decades Melville, buzzing with coffee shops, restaurants, live music venues, galleries and a very good second-hand bookshop provided exactly what academics and post-graduate students needed to enjoy their time in Johannesburg. The turn to Zoom during Covid has reduced academic travel quite a bit, but spending two days on Zoom rather than travelling for a conference is a painful and vastly less rewarding experience. Melville was hit hard by the Covid lockdown though, and has been hit just as hard by the general collapse in the functioning of the Johannesburg municipality. Many of the restaurants on the once world-famous 7th Street shut down during the lockdown and many of the buildings on the strip remain empty. If there had been some vision to support the strip, understanding it as a wider asset to the city, and the country, this could have been avoided. Driving into Melville recently with a group of students and academics was a depressing experience. Coming up Main Road, which divides Melville and Westdene, is bleak. There are three large holes, which are so big they cannot be described as potholes, on Main Road that have been left unattended for months — aside from placing a plastic barrier in front of them. Some of the shopkeepers dump their refuse on the pavement next to the pedestrian litter bins rather than keeping it for the weekly refuse collection. The homeless people on Main Road, many struggling with addiction, live in squalor and the lack of public toilets has inevitable consequences. Uber and delivery drivers face the same lack of access to toilets with the same unfortunate results. Turning into Melville itself is no less disheartening. Streets no longer have working lights, there are a couple of abandoned and looted or vandalised houses, and some of the electricity poles have a mess of dangling wires, some live. Around the suburb piles of rubble have been left on the pavements after work done by Egoli Gas and various arms of the municipality. It seems that it is no longer expected that rubble will be removed after maintenance work alongside the streets. The 7th Street strip, with its many empty buildings, has large ditches filled with sand at each end. They have also been there for months. On the corner of 3rd Avenue and 7th Street, part of the road has been left in a dug-up state and with a pile of rubble sitting on the road. It too has been like this for months. Private property owners are beginning to do the same. On the corner of 2nd Avenue and 7th Street a homeowner has left two large piles of building rubble on the pavement for months. A slow water leak has been trickling down 7th Street for months. There are no drain covers on the strip. This is unsightly and a hazard for pedestrians. The road markings have long faded away. Anyone on the strip who looks like they may have some money is immediately accosted by desperate people trying to get a few rand. Water outages are common in the area, sometimes going on for as long as two weeks. There are also occasional electricity outages that can go on for days. This makes things very difficult for the owners of the B&Bs that remain in the neighbourhood, as well as the surviving restaurants and other businesses. Driving out of Melville on 9th Street towards Parkview, a suburb that remains in good nick, there are more piles of rubble on the pavements and more deep holes in the road. As on Main Road, both the rubble and the holes have been left for months. It is not immediately clear why nearby suburbs such as Parkview, Greenside and Parkhurst are in a good condition while Melville is in decay. An academic neighbourhood requires a good bookshop and, thankfully, the good second-hand bookshop on the Melville strip endures, but it's no longer open in the evenings. There are some signs of new life after the devastation of the lockdown though. De Baba, a new bakery and coffee shop at the bottom of the strip is always buzzing. On the other side of the road there's a new and very hip coffee shop, Sourcery. It would fit right into Brooklyn, New York, and is perfect for an arty and academic neighbourhood like Melville. A vinyl-obsessed friend tells me that the music selection is extraordinary. Unfortunately, Sourcery seems empty most of the time. The same is true of Arturo, an excellent and equally hip African Latin-American fusion restaurant further on up the strip. Some of the problems faced by Melville are a result of South Africa's wider social crisis. For as long as we face catastrophic levels of unemployment people will be forced to live on the streets. The heroin epidemic is also a national problem. Although the municipality can take some steps to ameliorate some of the consequences of these problems it cannot fix them. But much of the sad state of Melville is a result of the failures of the municipality. Some of these failures could be resolved in a single day. Light bulbs could be installed on the street lights, the large holes on Main Street, 7th Street and 9th Street could be fixed, the rubble left along the pavements could be removed, the water leak on 7th Street could be attended to and the road markings redone. The private businesses dumping their waste alongside the pedestrian bins on Main Road could be fined, as could the private homeowner who has left piles of building rubble on the corner of 2nd Avenue. Other issues that fall within the remit of the municipality, such as the failure to provide public toilets on Main Road, cannot be resolved in a day, but with some vision and energy they could be resolved in a few months. Getting the water and electricity systems functional is a much bigger project but is also something that can be achieved with the right commitment. The abandoned properties, with at least one house stripped to nothing but its walls, should be expropriated and sold, with the money invested into regeneration projects. There should also be active support, including subsidies, for art galleries and live music venues. All the world's great cities actively support cultural life and the same should be done in Johannesburg. Again, this is something that would, even with the right vision and commitment, take at least a few months to kick into gear. When Melville was the vibrant and world-regarded home to Johannesburg's arty and academic scene it was a major asset to the city. It was an asset to the city's residents, and to visitors to the city, including its wider tourism economy. Melville was also an important asset to the city's two universities, making visits by academics and post-graduate students from elsewhere in the country and abroad an enriching and fun experience. There is scant hope that the municipality will, on its own, take the initiative to act to restore Melville to what it once was and can easily be again. Universities are powerful institutions in society; Wits University and UJ should lobby the municipality to act to restore Melville as one of the world's great academic neighbourhoods. A well maintained and vibrant Melville would be a boon for the city. With the right commitment it would only take a single day to begin to turn things around. Dr Imraan Buccus is a research fellow at the University of the Free State and the Auwal Socioeconomic Research Institute, ASRI.
