- Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation visits UZ.
- Nursing student features on Special Assignment.
- UZ Law Students Shine at African MOOTS.
- UZ hosts Career Exhibition and Information Congress.
Two second year German students head for Tuebingen in January
Mncedisi Ntshakala and Slindile Gumede, second year BA students, head for the cultural city of Tuebingen for January.
Two second year German language students are to spend the first month of the New Year in Germany perfecting their usage of the language and learning about German culture and history. Slindile Gumede (BA German and Communication Science) and Mncedisi Ntshakala (BA German and Tourism) will join 13 other students from all over South Africa on a trip to the University of Tuebingen, near Stuttgart in southern Germany. The Tuebingen trip, now in its twelfth year, is organized by the international offices at the universities of Stellenbosch and Tuebingen and aimed particularly at students who are trying to study with loan or bursary funding. For both students this will be the first trip outside South Africa. German department head, Mr Eckhard Bodenstein says the month’s course gives students insights into the country and its culture that cannot be learned in the lecture hall.
Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation visits UZ
Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation,
Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim and Vice Chancellor Professor Fikile Mazibuko.
National interest is the key to our foreign policy which is based on concern for the welfare of all South Africans and, by extension, that of Africans in neighbouring countries and throughout the continent. This was the claim made by Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ebrahim Ishmail Ebrahim at a public lecture in a new series aimed to discuss foreign policy at grassroots level, held at the Richards Bay campus on Friday 9th November. ‘South Africa is a small country and as such the way we relate internationally has to acknowledge who is prepared to work with us in mutual partnership and to give us the best deal,’ he said. The Deputy Minister said South Africa believed in using multilateral organizations, such as the African Union and United Nations, through which to express its foreign policy and solve international problems to build a better world. At the same time it aimed to promote a new and specifically African way of doing things on the international stage and eventually even influence patterns of global democracy. Introducing the Deputy Minister, Vice Chancellor Professor Fikile Mazibuko said it was good for students and the general public to have the opportunity to see the interface between foreign policy and domestic priorities and for foreign policy to be demystified.
2011/12 UZ SRC Inauguration
From left: UZ Vice- Chancellor, Professor Fikile Mazibuko, SRC President,
Siya Ntuli, Zululand Municipality Mayor, Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi and
UZ Administrator, Professor Chris de Beer
University of Zululand (UZ) held its annual Student Representative Council (SRC) inauguration at King Bhekuzulu Hall at KwaDlangezwa Campus on 3 November.PhD Recreation and Tourism student, Siya Ntuli was elected as the new SRC President. In his inaugural address, Ntuli said the cornerstone of the new SRC’s policy was to deliver better services. His future intentions include introducing an SRC Bursary for needy students. The new SRC appointments include Nhlakanipho Sibiya as Deputy President, Phakamani Khumalo as Secretary General, Tholokele Mchunuas Projects and Campaigns Officer, Cleanboy Ntshangase responsible for Media Affairs, Lungile Ngubane as Deputy Secretary and Fezisile Zondo and Sbonakaliso Mbamboas Richards Bay Campus representatives. UZ Vice-Chancellor, Professor Fikile Mazibuko commended students for having conducted themselves in a dignified manner during elections. She thanked and congratulated the student body for showing confidence in the new SRC members as the collective leadership for 2011.
Nursing student features on Special Assignment
UZ nursing science student, Zamani Dlamini, together with TV journalist
Fathima Simjeeof Health-E News Service. Dlamini will feature in an
upcoming edition of Special Assignment on SABC 3 in mid-December
A television crew from the investigative journalism programme, Special Assignment spent over four days last month capturing the routine of a University of Zululand (UZ) nursing science student. Fourth-year student, Zamani Dlamini, completed a two-week voluntary programme in 2007 at the Mosvold Hospita lin Hlabisa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and was later offered a bursary by Umthombo Youth Development Foundation. The 28-year-old said his calling for the profession became clear when his grandmother became ill in 1999.He intends conducting research on perceptions of the nursing profession by examining issues that perpetuate negative attitudes. Dlamini is looking forward to returning to the hospital in February. Meanwhile his focus is on maintaining his good academic record in the final examinations.
Students lose weight with tae-bo
From top left: Consumer Science lecturer, Dr Corrie du Preez; human movement scientist, Musa Mathunjwa and Professor Stuart Semple, Head of Biokinetics and Sport Science with participants of the tae-bo programme Lulamile Shabangu, Samke Khawula, Sbancane Khambule and Innocentia Mvubu.
After a ten week tae-bo exercise programme, 60 technically overweight female UZ students have changed their lifestyles. Tae-bo is a derivative of the Korean non-contact sport tae kwon do. Students registering 25 and over on the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale were selected to participate in the programme by human movement scientist, Musa Mathunjwa. He said: “UZ is committed to producing healthy graduates and it is important to show students that weight can be controlled. Tae-bo is an art of foot, fist and mind used in self-defense and to improve self-image.” Studies on obesity revealed that it can have drastic effects on general health by increasing heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels, triggering hypertension, diabetes and heart attacks across age groups. He added participants felt active, flexible and light with reduced hunger levels and individual weight loss between three to four kilos was achieved.
Visual arts student to exhibit in Italy
BA Visual Arts student, Thembile Judicious Nala, is off to Italy next month to exhibit her traditional Zulu carved pots at a ten day trade exhibition in Milan. The Department of Trade and Industry invited Nala in August to apply to exhibit her work at the international event. She was informed in October that her application was successful and will be joined by 16 other South African artists. The second year student recently returned from Santa Fe, Mexico City after being invited to exhibit by the South African Folk Art Market. The selection committee was impressed with her work after seeing images on the internet. Nala comes from an artistic family. Her sisters and her mother, Nesta, who is a renowned potter, spend hours crafting beautiful pieces at their family home in Eshowe. Her sister Jabu has also travelled to Mexico and Wales to exhibit her work.
UZ hosts Career Exhibition and Information Congress
Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ntombifikile Mazibuko and
Director of Communications and Marketing, Normah Zondo
with CEIA executive members at CEIA Congress, 2011.
University of Zululand (UZ) in partnership with UNISA, cohosted the Careers, Exhibitions and Information Association (CEIA) 2011 Congress and AGM at Durban’s Riverside Hotel, from 19-21 October. The congress was opened by UZ’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Fikile Mazibuko. In her address, she said the role of CEIA is pivotal in disseminating necessary information to prospective students so that they can make informed career choices. Adding, that a number of universities across South Africa are currently undergoing curriculum and programme renewal, to introduce new and relevant programmes that are geared to bridge SA’s skills shortage. Tshwane University of Technology’s Recruitment Officer, Steven Kekana was appointed CEIA President. The event was attended by delegates from the higher education sector and the AGM revealed that a record number of students attended CEIA exhibitions and workshops across SA in 2011. The congress included presentations by UZ Science Centre Director, Derek Fish and Head of the KZN Department of Education, Dr Nkosinathi Sishi. Fish said the education system is failing to equip learners with necessary skills, particularly in maths and science, to enter university. He said this remains one of the leading causes of the current skills shortage. In regards to enrollment, Dr Sishi said it is necessary to increase the number of young people entering higher education institutions by making available options at vocational and FET colleges in addition to universities.
Law students commended at criminal law mock trials
UZ law students, Nonkazimulo Mfusi,
Mondli Mthethwa, Rosematinah Mjadu and Buyiswe Buthelezi
at the annual LexNexis mock criminal trial contest.
Each of the two-person UZ teams entered for the 2011 LexNexis Mock Trial Competition at the University of the North West, Potchefstroom scored the highest mark of 5 for at least one of their trials. The teams participated in four trials over the five day period of the contest, from 3-7 October, holding their own against 13 other university teams and being complimented on their performances. Participants receive a set of facts just 90 minutes before the simulated criminal trials, with one team acting as prosecution and the other as defence before a presiding officer. The UZ teams comprised Nonkazimulo Mfusi and Mondli Mthethwa, both third year students, and Buyiswe Buthelezi (fourth year) and Rosematinah Mjadu (third year). Criminal Law Lecturer Tersia Oosthuizen said mock trials give students practical experience and expose them to the stress and frustration of a day in court.
UZ Law Students Shine at African MOOTS
UZ third year law students Zwelethu Sibiya and
Sibonakaliso
Mpanza put the finishing touches to their arguments for
complainant and respondent countries at the 2011
all Africa Trade Moot Court
Competition in Pretoria.
Sibiya was in charge of research and
Mpanza presentation.
UZ third year law students Zwelethu Sibiya and Sibonakaliso Mpanza tied with students from Rhodes University to come second, only one percentage point behind joint winners Fort Hare and Zimbabwe’s Midlands State University in the written submissions section of the 2011 Africa Trade Moot Court Competition in Pretoria last month. And that, as Sibiya points out triumphantly, is without international trade being a specific module in the UZ law course. ‘Fort Hare has a module on international trade but we don’t so our intervention was based entirely on our own research,’ he emphasizes. What UZ does have, however, is a head of department, Mr Lonias Ndlovu, who used to work for the World Trade Organization (WTO) and has just authored a book entitled ‘International Trade and Environmental Governance in the WTO and NAFTA’, NAFTA being the North American Free Trade Agreement. ‘This helped us and so did the other articles Mr Ndlovu has written on the subject,’ says Sibiya. Two months before the moots the would-be lawyers were given a set of facts from which to prepare arguments, for both complainant and respondent, to present before a panel. The facts concerned an environmental dispute between two fictional African countries signatory to the 1994 WTO agreement on trades and tariffs aimed to promote trade liberalization, especially in developing countries. The complainant claimed the respondent was violating article three, which promotes free trade, by capping the number of cows allowed into the country. The respondent maintained it was doing so to limit methane gas emissions and that its measures were exempted from criticism under article 20 of the same agreement, aimed at protecting the environment. Sibiya, who is also treasurer of the UZ Law Student Council, said the competition had opened his eyes to the subject of international trade law and how changes in various measures could dramatically affect people at grassroots level. ‘Studying international trade law makes you want to travel so you can learn about other countries and their cultures,’ he says. The 2011 all Africa Trade Moot Court Competition was sponsored by WTO, the South African Department of Trade and Industry and the universities of Pretoria and the Western Cape. It was held at the University of Pretoria from 3-7 October with countries from as far afield as Cote d’Ivoire taking part. Ndlovu, Lonias. 2011. International Trade and Environment Governance in the WTO and NAFTA: Selected thematic lessons for SADC in transition. Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH & Co. Saarbrucken, Germany.
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