Opening the 5th Co-Curricular Awards ceremony, Vice-Chancellor Professor Thoko Mayekiso said UMP places a high premium on these awards and has put a considerable amount of thinking and resources into ensuring that the vast talents that exist among students are recognised and rewarded in a systematic manner.

“Those of you who will be receiving awards this evening should feel proud of yourselves. You are truly deserving of what you will receive, because the criteria by which you have been evaluated has been quite rigorous,” she said.

Professor Mayekiso explained that co-curricular activities refer to those activities which complement the learning of the students in the classroom.

"We endeavour to enable our students to realise their potential in the full spectrum of cognitive, social, aesthetic and personal dimensions in pursuit of democratic citizenship. As a result, the university provides learning opportunities that encourage the holistic development of students.”

She further said that the university prides itself on educating students for work life. “It is commonly known that co-curricular activities engage students in ways far beyond the classroom experience. Later in life, when you seek employment, awards make you stand out among your peers.

You invariably become like a pool of excellence, separating you from the sea of mediocrity. We do not only prepare students to enter their respective professions, but train future leaders for South Africa and beyond, inculcating UMP values.”

Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship Awards for Personal and Leadership Development.

Going beyond academics

Delivering the keynote address, UMP Senior Lecturer of Economics Dr Ferdinand Niyimbanira encouraged students to know that although education and qualifications are very important, they are not the only thing they need to have and to know in life.

“Many young students today are stuck in the same mindset that they only need to pass very well but they missed the process of learning soft skills, which they will need in the future. If they are not equipped with necessary soft skills, they will find it very difficult to overcome challenges which they might come across in the future.”

“Life is a balance between knowledge, behaviour and soft skills. Behaviour is one thing that can easily make a difference in our lives. If you have knowledge and qualifications, which are required in life, and you have the skills to be successful and achieve your goals but if you lack good behaviour or discipline the chances of failing are 100%. But if you have good behaviour and you lack the knowledge and the skills needed to be successful, the chance that you will succeed is almost 90%,” he said.

Individual winners of the co-curricular awards with the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mayekiso and the Dean of Students, Dr Paul Maminza.

Dr Niyimbanira further said, “You are among students who understand that having good grades in your modules is not enough, thanks to the University of Mpumalanga that provides not only excellence in academic work but across everything we do. Our entire lives we all seem to be in discovery for excellence in everything we do.”

“The world we live in has marvellous and amazing complicated set of connection and interconnections between everything to such an extent that nothing works alone. Hence, I say you are team players and for you to be a team player you must have a team. It is through belonging that you learn the soft skills and discover that you are a leader.

I am calling you leaders because you are responsible for your own growth by participating in whichever co-curricular activity you are involved in. The fact that you were invited to be here tonight means you are talented, you have strong qualities that only few have, which makes you a leader,” he added.

Dr Niyimbanira concluded by showing a slide show of how participating in co-curricular activities has contributed to his own success as well as landing a job opportunity at UMP.

Best sports team and best female sports team: Mbombela Campus ladies football team.

The Winners of the 2022 Student Co-Curricular Activities Awards:

• Residence of the Year Award: Building 7- Mbombela Campus.
• Society of the Year Award: ENACTUS.
• Sports Team/Club of the Year Award (Female): Mbombela Campus ladies football team.
• Sports Team/Club of the Year Award: Mbombela Campus ladies football team.
• Student Representative Council (SRC) Member of the Year Award: Bishop Pilusa.
• House Committee Member of the Year Award: Mandy Fasika.
• Society Administrator of the Year Award: Zanele Mkhatshwa.
• Sportswoman of the Year Award: Bongiwe Mahlangu (Volleyball).
• The Living and Learning Achiever of the Year Award: Lethu Nhlapho.
• Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Excellence in Leadership:
  Female Student Leader: Thandeka Mahlangu.
• Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Excellence in Leadership:
  Male Student Leader: Bathini Madinawe.

Best society group of the year: UMP ENACTUS.

Congratulating the winners, outgoing SRC President Bathini Madinawe said: “This awards ceremony is a traditional event that takes place annually in our university to recognise and reward students for their excellence. I would like to appreciate and congratulate all students who positively portrayed the elements of excellence.

I know that the students who won the awards tonight have performed beyond reasonable doubt. Regardless of their fears, these students have something in common – they love what they are doing and work hard to represent our university.”

@ Story by Cleopatra Makhaga. Pictures @Chrisplphoto.

These internships were made possible through a collaboration between UMP and the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP-SETA), which is mandated to promote and facilitate the delivery of education, training and development in order to enhance the skills profile of the Education, Training and Development (ETD) sector and contribute to the creation of employment opportunities especially for those previously disadvantaged.

Teacher graduate, Busisiwe Ntimba, is among the 25 students who have been placed within this programme, which is a partnership between various stakeholders within the education sector. 

Ntimba, an only graduate in her family, is on top of the world about the opportunity. She believes the internship is a foundation for her to be trained and fulfil her childhood dream – becoming a foundation phase teacher and giving her the experience she needs to secure her a job one day.

“I will grasp every opportunity for learning that comes my way,” she says, adding that the learning opportunity will enrich and allow her to develop and grow in her profession.

“To be part of this awesome programme means that the future ahead is brighter than what meets the eye, I am forever grateful. I intend to make use of the opportunity that will help me earn a living.”

She added: “As an individual who is from a deprived background where we survive by selling vegetables, this opportunity has brought light to my family as I will be able to put food on the table. I view this opportunity as an escape from poverty. The experience I am now exposed to through this placement is enormous.”

Ntimba graduated cum laude with 27 distinctions in May this year, and throughout her time at UMP has won multiple cash prizes because of her stellar academic record.

Zanele Khumalo says she will take care of her family financially. 

“I continue to learn as each day passes by. It is through this placement that my experience of standing in front of learners grows and it helps build courage. It is through this placement that my hard work and devotion get noticed so I reach greater heights in the near future.”

UMP Organisational Development Senior manager, Mr Patrick Molelekwa Rachidi facilitated the programme with UMP Programme Leader: BEd Foundation Phase Teaching, Dr Metse Juliet Masalesa.

Mr Rachidi says the university partnered with the ETDP-SETA to place student teachers in local schools so that they get trained and gain professional experience.

“In a highly competitive labour market, graduates need exposure to the workplace in order to improve their employability and general professional and life skills. Since the interns will also be receiving a monthly stipend, this will also present them with an opportunity to learn financial management skills,” he says.

Zanele Angela Khumalo from Piet Retief in Mpumalanga is another graduate who was placed at a local school. She says: “I finished my studies in 2021 and have been applying for work and received nothing until this opportunity presented itself.”

Khumalo is a breadwinner at home and plans to use this opportunity to learn more outside the classroom.

“This placement has brought peace to my life. As someone the family was looking up to, I had to come up with a plan to put food on the table. I was selling scones and God saw my hard work and rewarded me with this internship,” she adds.

“I will be receiving a stipend monthly. It also helps me professionally because I will also gain experience from more knowledgeable teachers who give me a chance to interact with the learners and put what I studied into good use, gain experience and help me to grow my professional network.”

More recently, there has been an influx of teacher graduates and schools do not have enough capacity to absorb them as most teaching positions are currently held by 50- to 60-year-olds who are set to retire in the next five to 10 years. In addition, teacher graduates can be without work for up to five years.

Mr Rachidi believes that the partnership brings with it the hope that more unemployed graduates will be placed in the not-so-distant future.

@ Story Cleopatra Makhaga. Pictures supplied.

Dr Dalu, who has experience in aquatic ecology, environmental quality monitoring, biodiversity and conservation, says creating a global science-policy interface platform should be a priority to ensure minimal to zero-emission of emerging contaminants to protect the health of freshwater ecosystems. 

Q: What are the dangers of emerging freshwater pollutants and how could this problem be dealt with?

At present, there is little mention of emerging contaminants in regulations on water and the environment, as they are not considered priority pollutants.

This has the spinoff effect that monitoring of wastewater and drinking water excludes these contaminants from testing, even though the technology exists. Generally, water quality monitoring and standards focus on a handful of basic physical and chemical parameters such as such as pH, temperature, nutrients, turbidity, faecal coliform, total coliform, Escherichia coli (E. coli) E. coli and Enterococci.

Even if the technology exists, it is costly and time consuming to test and remove a wide range of these complex emerging pollutant compounds. Conventional wastewater treatment techniques are not up to the task, although advanced techniques, such as membrane filtration, nano-osmosis, reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration technologies, can remove, at least partially remove the chemical active compounds.

Q: In cases where problems are caused by chemicals used by illegal miners to process their minerals, what should be done to clean up the water?

With cyanide, it generally does not persist when released into water or soil and will not be likely to accumulate in aquatic lifeenvironment, below a certain threshold concentration. At this point, the test results as they have been presented have not indicated the concentrations of cyanide found in the water samples tested.

That aside however, cyanide rapidly evaporates and is easily broken down by microbes within the natural environment. However, measures must be put in place to stop the illegal mining which is the main source of the chemicals within the natural environment. This suggesting that all stakeholders need to come together to stop this rampant illegal mining.

Q: The Mpumalanga Department of Water Affairs recently released a Blue Drop test result, which indicated that the province has unclean water; can you elaborate?

The main problem emanates from lack of monitoring and evaluation of our natural environment. We strongly need more men and women on the ground that will be able to pinpoint the point-source pollution as it occurs.

The fines or penalties for environmental pollution need to be substantial high enough to deter would be offenders and should be given consistently supported by efficient enforcement.

Furthermore, policies and regulations also need to go beyond the water sector to tackle the source of pollution. Measures are needed to ensure the clean, safe, and sustainable production, use and disposal of all chemicals in line with SDG’s.

Currently, the province will need millions if not billions to rehabilitate its natural environment. It is obvious that clear, up to date and enforceable policies and regulations are urgently needed to control the masses number of chemicals polluting our water today and prevent the new generation ofemerging chemical pollutants from adding to these in the future.

Thus, a lack of bi-directional communication between scientists and legislators has contributed to the dominance of chemical-by-chemical approaches and, in some cases, the relaxation of environmental regulations to profit polluting industries.

Q: South Africa is facing a serious looming water shortage and the little water we have is being contaminated. How do we avert this crisis?

The water crisis is considered to be mainly due to climate change where South Africa is projected to face physical scarcity by 2050 and also in large part due to a turn away from management based on science and risk assessment towards a more populist approach. With the little water we have, we are currently facing a serious threat from urban, agricultural, and industrial or mining pollution.

With regards to pollution, we need to have proper monitoring so that we can identify the perpetrators and, in some instances, these are known, however, the fines/penalties that they pay are not substantial enough high to deter them from further pollution.

The fines/penalties should be high such that it will make economic sense for industries to treat their wastewater before discharging it into the environment and they will also ensure that there are no leakages coming from their facilities.

Wherever possible, we need to push for pro-environmental behaviour across all sectors of South African society.

@ Story by Lisa Thabethe. Pictures supplied.

Mahlangu has shown outstanding performance this year. She was part of the Mpumalanga ladies’ team that won a silver medal after beating Gauteng at the 2022 National Volleyball League (VSA NVL) tournament held last month  in Bloemfontein.

"I'm on top of the world," she said after receiving the co-curricular award. "This is a huge honour for me. I am very proud of myself and my efforts. This award is proof that hard work does pay off.

I’m grateful. I thank and appreciate everybody that has shown me love and supported me. This would not be possible without my family’s moral support and inspiration; they are truly my backbone."

Mahlangu is currently the captain of the UMP Volleyball ladies’ team. She reveals that since taking up the leading role, the team has improved its performance and is winning games.

“The UMP female volleyball team is new to University Sports South Africa (USSA), but we have managed to win three games in the USSA. Our strategic plan relies strongly on improving our physical fitness, having a positive attitude, being focused, and practicing hard and smart.

Being part of the team means that I'm capable of playing and that  l am good at the sport. It also means that I am  recognised in the province, hence I got selected." 

Bongiwe was recognised by UMP for her sterling performance in volleyball.

Mahlangu started playing volleyball as a pastime when she was in grade seven. “I took it lightly and didn’t put my heart into it until 2017, when I was in grade 10 and met my former coach, Mr Bhiya for the first time. He saw my potential and trained me to become a better player,” she says, adding that her love for the sport just grew from there.

"Mr Bhiya then introduced me to the Nkangala Volleyball League, which I am still part of. He has been training and encouraging me for five years."

Mahlangu says UMP has supported her in realising her dream of playing for her province. “The university has supported me financially and assisted me to balance school and playing volleyball.”

The 21-year-old looks up to Emmah Skhosana, a volleyball star from Mpumalanga, because of her tactics on the field, her commitment, and teachings about teamwork. “Skhosana inspires me to achieve more,” she concludes.

@ Cleopatra Makhaga. Pictures supplied.

Among the participants in the dialogue were Clinical Psychologist Ms Lusanda Cebekhulu, social worker Ms Namhla Bhandu, Miss Mpumalanga Lungile Fakude, Miss UMP Ndiwanga Murvaha, Mr Mpumalanga Abednico Mabaso, and UMP students.

Facilitating the discussion was Clinical Psychologist Cebekhulu who said that “when we speak about social media, we are not claiming that it is bad for us, it is also good for us. Though it comes with plenty of disappointments and gratifications.”

She further said that social media bears positives as it has reconnected her with colleagues and acquaintances from her past.

“There are positives about social media because it helps us get in touch with people who are not in front of our eyes, but we all use it for different reasons. Social media influences how we think, and what to do, and even more so it has an impact on how we look at ourselves

“You can get plugs to skin care products or tips on how to start a business, and sometimes even get inspirational messages that might help with your mental health. It is important to understand that those messages you see on social media are just a guide, it is important to seek professional help for better results.”

Finding balance

Speakers also discussed the disadvantages of social media, which includes being consumed and not able to finish projects and comparing your life to those that post on social media.

Students came out in numbers to engage with experts at the dialogue: Let's Talk Mental Health, held during the Mental Health Awareness Week.

Miss UMP, Ndiwanga Murvaha believes social media is a platform where people, including herself, want to show who they are, but it has the potential to become detrimental to one’s daily life.

“We usually compare ourselves to influencers and many more things. For example, when I decide to go on Instagram for a few minutes, I eventually find myself spending an hour or more because of the endless posts that catch my interest.

We often lose ourselves while scrolling and swapping on these platforms, that’s where our insecurities start surfacing and we start thinking we are not good enough because of likes and views. However, we can also use social media to promote your business, for motivation and branding.”

Mr Mpumalanga, Abednico Mabaso added that social media has assisted him to market himself as a brand and is one of the dominating things that has influenced winning the crown.

“Social media has also impacted me in a negative way, the week after my crowning I was trending on Twitter, and some people were saying that I won because I look like a certain celebrity which affected me badly,” he adds.

“Nevertheless, I still believe that it is a good platform where you can market yourself. I use social media to advertise myself and get as many numbers as I can and hopefully get verified.”

Limiting access

Miss Mpumalanga, Lungile Fakude explains that although she can be considered a public figure, she doesn’t use social media to market herself. Most of her time is spent at work, school, and off the screen as much as possible.

“I don’t have time to read or watch the news or have something as basic as a news app. To a certain extent it does help with my procrastination, and I am sure that some of you procrastinate on social media. When you know you have an assignment to do, then you decide to take a few minutes and cool down by scrolling on social media. Before you know it, you are consumed and have spent more time online than you ever intended.

“I am also a student and anxiety does get the best of me, sometimes I go on Instagram to check who posted, with hopes that it might help me cool off. But doing such things aggravates anxiety because seeing people living nice and doing fun things might make me sad because at the time, I am at home siting on my laptop, and I start thinking what am I doing wrong in my life? Social media can also be a good thing, I think we should change the narrative on how we view it, so many of us are seeing it as an escape and so many other positive things”.

Let’s Talk Mental Health and Social Media was a wrap-up event of a series of events that took place over a week-long campaign to help raise awareness during Mental Health Month. The week started with a Mental Health Activation on Monday, Game Day on Tuesday, Mental Health Awareness Day on Wednesday, and Mental Health and Social Media on Thursday.

@ Story by Cleopatra Makhaga. Pictures @Chrisplphoto.

The university launched Chapters, a book club, with the purpose to instil a reading culture, creating academic relationships with authors and publishers, promoting knowledge, and growth and fostering social cohesion among UMP students.

The book club is named “Chapters” because, in every chapter of a person’s life, there is a story to tell. Some people look forward to a new chapter of their lives, others are still trying to find direction in the one they are in, whilst some are having the time of their lives in their current chapter.

Through reading, people are exposed to different chapters of authors’ lives and may relate to the experiences and knowledge shared in books that might bring invaluable insights into the chapters of their own lives. Chapters book club is a community of students that gather in person and online to talk about books they have read based on a topic or an agreed-upon reading list.

Speakers at the launch included UMP student Ms Lungelihle Dlamini and Mr Karabo Mampa who spoke about the Siyabuswa reading initiative; Ms Reneka Panday who was sharing University of Johannesburg (UJ) book club experiences; while UMP alumni Mr Mark Maroga and Ms Lungile Mhlanga shared their books and publishing experiences.

The Guest speaker was Ms Zubeida Jaffer, an award-winning South African journalist, and author from N0.10 Publishers, who worked closely with Professor Israel and donated three books. Ms Jaffer penned the three books, which focus on the stories of three South African women spanning 130 years of South African history.

One of the books, Beauty of the Heart, is about Charlotte Mannya Maxeke and tells the story of South Africa’s first black female graduate and a feisty leader at the turn of the century stretching from 1871 through the early Mandela years with Ayesha Dawood, and on to Zubeida Jaffer’s story in 2001.

The books donated were handed over to the representatives of schools from Mbombela. The school representatives attended the function to receive the set of books for their school libraries.

Book club meet-ups

In Mbombela, the students meet every week of the month on Thursdays at 12:00 and Sundays at 17:00 at Mbombela library (Discussion room) or MS Teams. In Siyabuswa the students meet on Thursdays at 15:00 in Room 401.

Students who are interested in discussing popular books in a casual and no-pressure environment may join the Chapters book club by scanning the QR code below:

@ Story by Lisa Thabethe. Pictures @Chrisplphoto.

The conference, hosted by the Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation under the theme: Year of Unity and Renewal: International Solidarity and Cultural Diplomacy, Redefining 21st century global, makes an annual call for academic papers on various subjects to value ignored voices and to make them part of the nation's oral history.

“This year's call had the informal sector as one of their concerns. Since I’m passionate about this sector and its data representation, I felt obligated to put together a paper on the subject,” he said.

Shabalala, a Development Studies student, presented his research paper on the impact of Covid19 on self-employed professionals, informal sector, and small businesses; and the challenges faced by self-employed professionals, informal traders and small businesses during the pandemic.

Like many countries, South Africa’s inequality is tied to its colonial history: the socio-economic and spatial design fail to serve and support economic activities equitably.

Pre-existing economic inequality

“This is because of the pre-democratic separate development. The duality that reflects in the society’s economic inequality stems from years of exclusion that makes the livelihoods of the previously disadvantage vulnerable. This vulnerability escalated particularly for self-employed professionals, informal traders and small businesses due to the unanticipated Covid-19 pandemic.

This remains true, although businesses and business individuals are always perceived to possess unlimited abilities to solve society’s problems, yet they too encounter numerous challenges many of which remain untold.”

The research findings were that the nature of small and informal businesses as well as the self-employed individuals’ financial prowess in South Africa, business conditions prevent these entities to have crisis management systems in place to assist in the event of a force majeure.

The informal sector lack in start-ups, they often must depend on relatives and friends to fund their businesses. With the detriment of Covid 19 many informal traders after failing to trade due to restrictions, lost their stock and had difficulty restarting their businesses.

“The sector is dominated by the poor and as such they don't have savings to deal with a crisis such as Covid 19. Since the sector is informal, traders often get aid assistance late or never to help them survive in times of crisis,” he added.

“This shifts the focus from just profit-centred value towards a holistic value considering things such as the social, political, and environmental value amongst others, to enable businesses to create a conducive and responsive environment for business operation that is critical in times of crisis.”

Preventative measures

Shabalala further explained that businesses vary, and risks and unforeseen conditions might arise at any time. When it comes to business, one can never be completely certain, and things don't always go as planned.

“People's successes and misfortunes are not the same for everyone, nor are they experienced in the same manner. In business, it is all about taking measured chances and believing in your own ability to succeed,”

He added that it is critical for businesses to follow compliance regulations to create an ethical corporate environment for everyone, which benefits both individuals and the economy.

Some of the recommendation included capacity building from both government and the informal sector in administration of the unique business demands of the informal sector.

“There is a need for responsive policies and practices that help the sector stabilize and attain sustainability, and robust stakeholders’ integration to help informal trader set up systems that assists them administrate effectively,” he said.

Shabalala further said digitization of the sector to help it adapt to the modern trade practices and demands came out tops, and informal traders should be encouraged to start saving and investing funds, which will help grow the informal sector and improve its financial viability.

The presentations are considered to form part of the Oral History and attempts are made to represent the experiences by Oral History Association of South Africa.

“These add value to his academic contribution; this data will form a basis as we grow our business venture in the coming years. Data is one of the key challenges of the informal sector, a gap we seek to close with the company as we are going.”

@ Story by Lisa Thabethe. Pictures supplied

The UMP delegation to Austria included Tabile Sikatile, a postgraduate student in Hospitality Management, and Carol Magagula who is doing her Honours Degree in Development Studies. They learnt that the relationship between human action and nature, sustainability is the constant search for a balance between the two, with an emphasis on resilience and future stability.

They also understood that the aim of sustainability is to change behaviours, both personal and systemic, and nudge society towards positive change. It is an action plan to reduce uneven societies, protect the environment, and still develop. It is, in short, a huge challenge faced by humankind right now.

The most often quoted definition comes from the UN World Commission on Environment and Development: “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Dr von Solms reports that one of the most crucial aspects of sustainability, is systems thinking, as it minimises problems and that can redefine society to instil a conscientiousness of sustainability. Together with this, is the consideration of incorporation of a sustainable business model canvas in universities that consider sustainability actively as part of strategic sustainability considerations.

They also attended another workshop that highlighted the incorporation and the considerations of long-term initiatives, employee engagement, understanding complexities, and the consideration of sustainability at all levels of an organisation.

European universities, says Dr von Solms, have departments whose jobs it is to ensure the sustainability of their institutions. But in terms of a dedicated university-wide focus, other universities deliberately aim to encourage it throughout all departments and university activities.

“From a teaching and learning perspective, the host university indicated that they are not allowed to offer programs if students can’t be employed. This ensures sustainability of programs, students, and constitutions,” Dr von Solms elaborated.

UMP lecturers with other delegates who attended the Sustainability Workshops in Austria.

Another workshop related to social aspects as well as environmental aspects. Peer counselling, making education accessible to more people (equality) and actively help people that assist students with disabilities was the main topic – how to make tertiary education accessible.

Discussions between university representatives highlighted that applied/technical universities have entrance tests as ‘metric grades do not ‘count’ and they have small classes. If those students fail the university loses that money.

Thus, notes Dr von Solms, it is important to have the correct calibre of students so that pass rates are guaranteed based on true education and students are note pushed through a system. The traditional universities operate different - marks count (more like UMP). There also seems to be departments that actively help students with disabilities to be able to study.

The third workshop related to sustainability on food systems, which highlighted the link between the consumption of food that increases the negative impact on the environment.

Workshops discussions incorporated the ‘farm to fork’ principle that include, for example, fertiliser, pesticides, water pollution and food waste that can damage environment and lead to loss in biodiversity.

The discussion also mentioned that there should be a change to a vegan diet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and that we should consider locally sourced products as a project by 2030 to reduce GHGI. A suggestion was made that there should be more farmers market and how far products travel that are bought online.

The UMP team had the opportunity to set up a stall where they represented the university to the students who wish to study internationally or become part of the exchange programme.

“Our university booth was voted the best booth,” said Dr von Solms. “Overall, the experience was really rewarding. Apart from learning about sustainability, it was a great network opportunity. We learned a lot about how other universities operate; that they have the same problems we have and how they solve their problems.”

@ Story by Lisa Thabethe. Pictures supplied.