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3Will Habibheal Wits?

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7th annualSilent Protestgoes national

Afrmative action:is your governmentcolour-blind 8

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Friday, 24 May 2013

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Bongani Nkosi

Blade Nzimande, minister ofhigher education and training,has enlisted the services of the

Hawks to investigate the death ofa North West University student.First-year student Thabang Mak-hoang drowned at the North WestUniversitys (NWU) Potchefstroomcampus last year.

The higher education and train-ing ministers call on Wednesdayfollows the concerted effort by thelobby group Higher EducationTransformation Network (HETN) tohave Makhoangs death probed thor-oughly. The HETN rejected a 2012

investigation by advocates Lourensde Koning and Vusi Pikoli that ruled

out foul play.The group alleges NWU manage-ment hid some key evidence abouthow Makhoang died in a 4m-deeppool at Potchefstroom campus inJanuary 2012. In a letter to Nzi-mande last week, HETN claimed theuniversity has thus far successfullyconcealed a video footage its sur-

veillance system captured the nightMakhoangs body was found.

HETN reiterated the claimsin a press brieng in Pretoria on

Wednesday. The organisation calledon Nzimande to set up a commissionof inquiry to investigate the alleged

complicity of the NWU managementin the concealment of information.

The Hawks should investigate ifsuch evidence exists, said Nzimandein a statement. These are still alle-gations but to put them to rest, thereis now a need to hand over this in-

vestigation to the Hawks. The al-legations contained in this new in-formation from the HETN are quiteserious and cannot be ignored. Wehave to get to the root of this, a younglife was lost here and unless these arethoroughly investigated, this will re-main a dark blot on the institutionand the sector generally, said Nzi-

Nzimande calls on Hawks toinvestigate NWU drowningMinister Blade Nzimande wants the Hawks to investigate alleged suspiciouscircumstances under which a first-year student drowned last year.

South African Minister for Higher Education and Training, Dr. Blade Nzimande. Photo: Bea Uhart

Molebogeng Mangoale

Wits SRC (Student RepresentativeCouncil) is demanding an investigationinto racial proling, violence againststudents, external security and a boy-cott of Israel. This follows a protest

by student activists, in support ofPalestine, against a scheduled perfor-mance of Israeli musician Yossi Reshefon 12 March.

Pro-Israeli supporters, includingReshef and Wits University profes-sor Zaidel Rudolph, retorted by call-

ing the students barbaric, hooli-gans and Muslim agitators. WitsSRC wants a full investigation intothe matter and also a report on whathappened on 12 March.

The SRC wants a university inves-tigation into incidents of physical

violence and assault against WitsUniversity students by organisers ofthe pro-Israeli event, external securi-ty being used by the organisers of theevent on their campus (in violationof Wits University practice and rec-ommendation), the response by WitsUniversity Management to studentrequests prior to the event as well asconduct of the Wits University Man-agement to the actual protest andcancellation of the pro-Israeli event.

It is alleged that on the day of theconcert, a black Muslim student, who

had a valid ticket, was denied entryinto the concert venue by pro-Israelisupporters. Moreover, students whoprotested inside the concert venue

were dragged on the ground, pushedagainst walls and sexually assaulted

by the Israeli concert goers, their pri-vate security members as well as byone Wits University staff member, astatement by the SRC revealed.

According to the statement, theycontinued to hurl racial and verbal in-sults at the student protesters such asyou monkeys go back to the jungle.

Tasneem Essop, Wits SRC secre-tary general, said, Rather than investi-gating the racism, violence and miscon-duct by the hosts of the Israeli concert at

Wits, the Wits University Managementhas indicated that it wishes to punishthe Wits students for their protest. This

is regrettable as it chills Freedom of Ex-pression. Wits University has an obli-gation to protect student rights to freespeech, protest and others forms of ex-pression. The Wits University also hasthe obligation to protect students fromracist speech and violence.

The SRC insists that their universi-ty should not allow the Pro-Israeli sup-porters to host events on their campusdue to their disrespect and disregard of

Wits practice and protocol.

SRC at witsend withPro-Israelis

Zisanda Nkonkobe

Protest action began Thursday at theUniversity of Fort Hares Alice campuswith hundreds of students singing andchanting outside the student affairs

building.Student Representative Coun-

cil (SRC) president Bulale Rawanesaid the protest action had beenspurred by a number of complaintsthe students had brought forward.These included:

1. A fee increment of around90% for residences where fees wentfrom R9000 to R19000 between2012 and 2013;

2. Double bunk beds the universitywants to place in the residences whichwill mean students live in groups offour in rooms designed for two;

3. The outsourcing of the univer-sity residences to a private company

for 10 years to recoup money spent onrenovations within the residences;4. Lack of security at residences;5. Harmonisation of residence fees

between the East London campus andthe Alice camtpus as the fees are equal

when the services provided are not;6. Discrepancies within the fee

structure; and7. A plea to accommodate stu-

dents who are still in the applicationand registration process.

The outsourcing of universityresidences affects the students neg-atively because these companies ex-pect to make a profit. These privatecompanies then employ other pri-

vate compani es and th us residencefees keep rising, Rawane said.

We are still faced with majorchallenges. For instance, there are

only two stoves per corridor [about40 students] and students are not al-lowed to bring their own.

Rawane said the increase in thefee structure was not justied as thequality of the services on their cam-pus was no where near the standardof those offered in East London. OnMonday we will close the gates. Noone is going to enter and no one is goingto leave. The only person allowed in will

be the Vice-Chancellor, said Rawane.

Poor conditionsat Fort Hareprompt protest

Burning tyres blocked the entrance to the Uni-versity of Fort Hares Alice campus on Thursday.Picture: Michael Pinyana

Zulu closes Cannes

Like a mullet: Business in the front, all fun at the back.

What are universitiesreally for anyway?

Like many first-order questions,this one is all too readily answeredby the everyd ay routines ofuniversity life. Here, the confidentanswer of many perhaps most is that the universitys purpose isto grow the economy by training askilled and efficient workforce.

In this particular telling,however, much is hidden, even from

The funeral ofChinua Achebe 4

Continues on 9

Apple nabbed for taxdiversion

The lm premiered at the closeof the Cannes Film Festival onSunday and is directed by Lar-

go Winchs Jrme Salle, co-starringOrlando Bloom as a free-wheeling

Olympics: Masaistyle 14

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Continues on 9

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News2 Student & NationalFriday, 24 May 2013

Heres the low-down:

Retail: after 6pm

Pubs &Clubs: after 2am

If youre caught with morethan

150 litresor

20 casesof booze I hope youre eitherloaded or look good in orange

overalls because theres a

R100k fineor

your posterier is going to thebox for

so you wont pass Begin andcollect R200.

6 months

Hangula Lukas

A new bylaw regulating the purchasing and consumptionof alcohol came into effect on April 1st. The new regula-tions came as quite an upset to moderate drinkers whofeel they are being punished in an attempt to resolve the

larger issue of hard-core alcoholism. The law could see achange to the way Capetonians celebrate big events like

weddings and parties.According to South Africas constitution, laws reg-

ulating the liquor industry fall under the jurisdiction ofthe various local municipalities across the country. As aresult, the new laws have brought about several legal con-tradictions between different regions.

Some people feel the new regulations are unworkableand unrealistic, while others see it as a solution to wide-spread social ills like drunk driving and indecent public

behaviour.Lloyd Cummings, an electrical engineering student,

said there were pros and cons related to the new laws,adding, I think its a good thing, I mean the less alcoholout there the betterit will cut down on irresponsible be-haviour, but it might be bad for the businesses.

Quinton Du Plessis, a supervisor at a Pick n Pay li-quor store, said that the new law would affect sales quitesignicantly.

Our business only starts to pick up at about six, andthats when the curfew kicks in forcing us to close, DuPlessis said. This will also not stop alcohol enthusiasts asthey would just purchase their alcohol at an earlier time.

Sunup Itsou, a second-year nance student, said thenew laws would affect his lifestyle, adding that there wereother ways of deterring alcohol use.

Its not going to work, how will I be able watch mysoccer matches not being able to drink alcohol along withit, Itsou said. They should rather focus on the policingand maybe even increase the tax on it.

Cape Town clampsdown with brandnew liquor by-law

Vincent Cruywagen

Astaff member at the CapePeninsula University ofTechnology employed as

a cleaner has obtained a bache-lor of technology degree in pub-lic management. Mfusi Zonke,a 41 year old Eastern Cape man

who started working at the uni-versity in 2008 said he believesgreater things will happen forme here and Im condent thatI will get a post as a lecturer.

Zonke was greeted by a jubi-lant crowd when he walked onthe podium of the universityshall to receive his degree. Now

his dream is to get a mastersdegree.

Im doing this to show mykids and other children fromimpoverished communities theimportance of education andhow it will lift you out of themud and mire, Zonke said.

I come from a very poorbackground but that doesntmean I have to die poor andraise my kids in poverty. Ive de-cided to make a change to im-prove the quality of life for myentire family.

Zonkes remarkable roadstarted 10 years ago when hegave up his cleaning job in the

Eastern Cape and moved to theWestern Cape to better his life.But things were not as rosy ashe anticipated.

Life was tough in Cape Townand as a matriculant the only jobI could nd was a cleaner hereat the university.

I took the job but after afew weeks was inspired by howeducation changed the percep-tion and attitude of students.

But when Zonke took up thedecision to enrol for a publicmanagement diploma, he rsthad to convince his wife to sac-rice a months salary of R1800for registration.

My wife was furious and wasobviously worried about how we

were going to survive with ourtwo kids.

I told her to just wait forthree years and see how we

would reap the benets of thesacrice we made.

Then in 2010 when he be-came a permanent employee asa caretaker, Zonke received a

bursary from the university tofurther his studies.

Zonke told his wife he waswaiting patiently for a betterjob and had sent his CV to theuniversitys human resourcesofces.

41 year old cleaner gets a BTech

Krysia Gaweda

Jammie shuttle drivers have

been caught on two sepa-rate occassions endagering

the lives of their passengers byviolating safety regulations andthe law.

Thousands of UCT studentsrely on the Jammie Shuttletransport system to take them toand from various UCT campusesevery day, making this transportsystem an integral component ofthe university.

UCT has outsourced theirtransport system to Sibanye,

whose role is to provide safe andefcient transport to UCT stu-dents and staff.

UCTs contract with Sibanyemakes provision for ensuringthat the used vehicles are safefor students and that the driversare competent []. It ensuresthat complaints about JammieShuttle drivers will be dealt

with, ensured John Critien,UCT Executive Director of Prop-erties & Services.

However, Jammie drivershave still been caught violatingtheir contracts, which raises analarming question how safeare students and staff while trav-elling on Jammies?

Earlier this year, secondyear students, Lucie Irving andKathryn Rawson, both caught

Jammie drivers using their cellphones while driving on twoseparate occasions.

Irving and Rawson reportedthe rst incident to the Sibanye

bus service stating that it wasillegal and unprofessional andputs the students lives at riskand other drivers on the road.

Irving and Rawsons com-plaints were heard, and they

were assured that the driverwould be discipl ined accord -ingly. However, the driver de-nied all allegations.

This resulted in a hearingwhere all witnesses had to bepresent and testify; otherwise allallegations would be dropped.

Irving and Rawson agreed tothis request with caution as theyhad personal concerns regard-ing their safety, fearing that thedriver may retaliate to their tes-timony outside the hearing.

The behavior of that Jam-mie driver was unsafe and ille-gal and I am only attending thishearing to make sure he doesnot get away with it, Irving ex-plained.

Despite their on-going que-

ries into the matter, the date ofthe hearing was postponed threetimes.

It was at this point that werealised the absolute incompe-tence and shocking ability ofthe Sibanye management to notonly discipline their drivers, but

to create an atmosphere of re-sponsibility and accountability,continued Irving.

The second incident oc-curred on March 11th, when Ir-

ving produced photographic ev-idence of another driver driving

whilst using their cellphone.Irving felt that it would be

despicable if this case and oth-er related cases were not han-

dled with appropriately.Once again, Irvings com-plaint was met with great con-cern and was assured that thesituation would be addressedfurther.

The hearing took place onMarch 19th, just over a monthafter the original complaint.

Throughout the process,we were further shocked bySibanyes appalling manage-ment as it was nothing short of alaid-back disciplinary process,Irving and Rawson said.

Antoine Smith, the Directorof Sibanye stated, Each Sibanyeemployee has a contract of em-ployment, which incorporatesthe UCT Code of Conduct direct-ly into their employment con-

tract itself.This approach regards thepurpose of discipline as a meansfor employees to know and un-derstand what standards are re-quired of them. Efforts are madeto correct employees behaviourthrough a system of graduated

disciplinary measures such ascounseling and warnings.

Critien conrmed this, stat-ing, As the employer of thedrivers, Sibanye is responsiblefor dealing with complaintsabout their behaviour.

UCT urges staff and stu-dents to report any instances ofunsafe behaviour to UCT, and

we will follow it up, continued

Critien.The SRCs involvement per-taining to Jammie Shuttle Ser-

vices is to ensure that studentsare taken to their destinationssafely and efciently by holdingJammie Shuttle managementaccountable, said Lwazi Somya,SRC Services & Labour Coordi-nator.

Despite the SRCs concerns,Sibanye refused any memberof the SRC to sit in on the dis-ciplinary hearing to ensure thatthe due process was followed.

Smith continued to say thatthe safety of the drivers andpassengers are of extreme im-portance to Sibanye and, as acompany, they strive to main-tain a standard of excellence in

this regard.Despite Sibaynes concern ofstudent safety, Irving and Raw-son felt that the managementof [the] hearing and of the entireSibanye business [was] shock-ing, disgusting and shows utterincapability.

UCT shuttle safety compromised

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News 3F

loods of embarrassing pub-licity in the run-up to AdamHabib taking up his position as

the vice-chancellor of the Universityof the Witwatersrand in June haveprompted him to concede both thathe will inherit an institution fractured

by long-standing discontent and thatdemands for a more responsive man-agement are legitimate.

Media this week reported on com-plaints that spending R9-million to

renovate the vice-chancellors ofcialresidence was unjustied when somestudents could not afford proper ac-commodation.

Habib moved fast to pour perfumeon this potential stink-bomb. In ahigh-prole press conference on Mon-day, he said the result of the universi-tys paying R9-million for repairs wasthat it would now own the property,

worth R30-million. For the 40 yearsthe house, called Savernake, has beenthe residence of the vice-chancellor, ithas been owned by a family trust.

But this weeks reports were onlythe latest in a long wave of bad newsthat includes allegations of sexual ha-rassment of students by staff, a lengthyand still unresolved staff strike and

bitter complaints of apartheid-type

treatment of outsourced workers (seeRifts and reparations).

It is true that ... theres beensome signicant tension betweenacademics and management, Habibtold the Mail & Guardian this week.

That has created a desire that therebe some change in management andthat management become more re-sponsive to the needs of staff, wheth-er they are academic or support

workers.Far from being disconcerted by this

weeks poor publicity, Habib appearedto welcome it: I will not conduct

witchhunts about who disseminateswhat information, he said. This isa public institution. We have to betransparent and open.

Pressed on whether such bad pressmight actually suit any incoming

vice-chancellors agenda for radicalchange, Habib replied: Im happy to

be held accountable by council andall the stakeholders.

Certainly, in talking about the need

for a more responsive management,Habib seems to have done his home-

work. In almost identical language, theCouncil on Higher Educations auditon Wits, published in 2008, found thatthe universitys model of decentralised

management had some unexpectedlynegative outcomes on staff morale,an observation that chimes with morerecent staff perceptions of executivemanagement as remote and unre-sponsive. Tension between centralmanagement and academic collegial-ity may be ... discouraging innovationand creativity, the audit said. Thereis a lack of operational connected-ness and no institutionally co-or-dinated system to manage teachingand learning. A less than adequatenumber of full-time academic staffgave many lecturers heavy workloadsand compromised research and post-graduate supervision.

Habibs acknowledgment of suchconcerns explains why powerful con-stituencies still warmly look forward

to his tenure. Relations between in-coming management and unionshave started on a progressive note,said David Dickinson, the presidentof the Academic Staff Association of

Wits University.

We think the change of lead-ership is positive, he said. Werehopeful well reach an agreementon competitive salaries. We alreadyhave an [informal] agreement withHabib and Tawana Kupe [the newdeputy vice-chancellor responsiblefor nance] to benchmark salaries[to those of other universities].

The magnitude of the challengeHabib faces and the size of the stepforward that Dickinson signals is in-dicated by the fact that, for the rsttime in Witss 101-year history, allunions representing constituen-cies from academic to support staff united in striking. These tensions

will not disappear overnight, Habibsaid. The institution is divided, yes.But you have to give us some time to

x that. I want to break the cycle ofunion-management tension that hasexisted for the past year.

On allegations of sexual harass-ment by staff, Daryl Glaser, the headof the political studies department where some of the allegations arefocused welcomed the universitysappointment of attorneys BowmanGilllan to investigate.

He and fellow academics initiallyfelt we were left in limbo when alle-

gations were levelled against a mem-ber of the department and the univer-sitys management advised extremelegal caution in investigating them.There was accumulating frustration[regarding the case], he said. But

were happy the university is nowtaking bold steps.

Tokelo Julius Nhlapo, the outspo-ken deputy president of the studentrepresentative council, blamed frac-tures in the university squarely on theoutgoing management. Everyoneis unhappy with management, fromthe gardener to the professor, hesaid. We hope Habib will be moretransparent and wont sit on the 11thoor [of Senate House, where the

vice-chancellors ofce is located] anddrink whisky.

Will Habib heal Wits?Wits vice-chancellor designate expresses sympathy with angry staffs grievances.

Nokuthula Manyathi

President of the Wits Debating Union(WDU), Jamie Mighti, has been

banned from a tournament in Durbanfollowing allegations of sexism.

The Howard College DebatingUnion (HCDU) executive committee

banned Mighti from participating inits second annual debating tourna-ment on April 26 after receiving ananonymous complaint.

Mighti was accused of makingsexist remarks on the Nationals2011 Facebook page towards HCDUmembers Kimera Chetty and Lin-delwe Dube.

The war of words followed aFacebook post comment that Chet-ty had written about the Jozi Rum-

ble, a debating tournament hostedby WDU earlier this month. Chettyasked about television coverage ofthe tournament, which she said had

been promised by Mighti.Mighti responded to Chetty with

a post accusing her of using sexu-al favours to succeed in debate andmade other explicit comment to

which Chetty red back calling himan arrogant sexist.

Lindelwe Dube then joined theFacebook conversation to defend

Chettys honour.Mighti responded to Lindelwe

Dubes comment by claiming shewas bitter because he had refusedher advances.

Mighti told Wits Vuvuzela thatChettys comments were attempts toundermine the work the WDU haddone in hosting a successful tourna-ment.

He added that his online argu-ment with Chetty was not an isolatedincident. Me and Kemira have hadmany, many dif-ferences over the

yearsand even onthat wall [The Na-tionals 2011 Face-

book Page] therewe have many in-teractions where

we will shout ateach other.

Wits Vuvuzelatried to reach Chet-ty for comment but received no re-sponse.

In an ofcial email to the WDU,the HCDU executive committee an-nounced Mightis exclusion fromthe tournament. Due to Jamies ut-terances on Facebook page, he fallsinto that category of individual thatthe HCDU wishes to dissociate itself

from. This ban is applicable only toJamie and does not attach itself to

WDU, read the email.Mighti told Wits Vuvuzela that he

felt his comments should not reectbadly on the WDU and said he actedout of anger and frustration. He alsoturned to Facebook to offer apologiesto Chetty and Lindelwa Dube. How-ever, he denied that his comments

were sexist or untruthful.The WDU has since decid-

ed to withdraw from attending thetournament. WDUTreasurer Gwin-

yani Dube said adouble-standardhad been applied toMighti as the twoHCDU debaters hadnot been suspendeddespite having alsomade insults.Dube defendedMighti from accu-

sations of sexism and said they werea matter of perception.

Mighti said that the exclusionfrom the tournament would not af-fect the WDUs ranking as numberone in Africa and 23rd in the world.The tournament hosted by HCDU

was a friendly and not mandatory toattend, he added.

He falls into thatcategory of

individual that theHCDU wishes to

dissociate

itself from

Jamie Mighti, banned President of the Wits Debating Union. Source: Facebook.com

Facebook comments get Wits debating president banned

Sibusiswe Nyanda

SRC president Sibulele Mgudlwatold guests at the annual CharlotteMaxeke lecture that all is not wellat Wits. Mgudlwa spoke about thecharges laid against him and fellowstudents after their peaceful pro-test a few weeks ago.

The protest action took placeduring Israel apartheid week whenMgudlwa and other Witsies disrupt-ed a performance by an Israeli pia-nist at the Great Hall.

Mgudlwa called Wits manage-ment structures reactionary and

said the institution is known forclamping down on students who raiseimportant issues.

This is an institution known foracademic and nancial exclusions.

An institution where students sleepin libraries, he continued. Mgudl-

was words were met with cheers andapplause and the audience broke intoliberation songs after his address.

The SRC president ended hisspeech by appealing to the spirits offormer ANC leaders Charlotte Max-

eke, Lilian Ngoyi and Albertina Sisulu.The lecture was held by the AN-

CWL, the PYA and Wits SRC.VIP guests at the lecture included

members of the Mannye and Maxekefamilies.

Mirriam Mannye, a high schoolstudent, recited a praise poem on be-half of the families.

The program co-ordinator, Nk-hensani Kubayi, said she was pleasedto see a young woman take pride inher heritage after Mannye said herclan names in SePedi. Its good tosee girls as young as yourself know-ing where they come from and taking

pride in it, Kubayi said.ANCWL president, Angie Mot-

shekga and ANC national chair-person Baleka Mbete were keynotespeakers. Also in attendance wereSusan Shabangu (Minister of Energyand Minerals) and Mildred Olifant(Minister of Labour).

The youth leader was speakingat the lecture which was attended

by members of the ANC WomensLeague Leadership (ANCWL) at theGreat Hall on Friday afternoon.

Wits ills highlightedAhmed Areff

South Africa needs to produce moreacademics to match the path set out

by intellectuals such as Bernard Ma-gubane, Higher Education MinisterBlade Nzimande said on Wednesday.

One of the unintended conse-quences (of bringing democracy toSouth Africa) is that we took out allof the academics in 1994, he said at

Magubanes memorial service in Jo-hannesburg.

A similar calibre of intellectualsare not being reproduced in our in-stitutions (now).

Magubane, a prominent author,activist and anthropologist, died athis home in Fourways on Friday, atthe age of 83.

He was born in Estcourt, KwaZu-lu-Natal, studied at the then Univer-sity of Natal, and received his PhD inanthropology from the University of

California, in Los Angeles.He was also an African National

Congress activist, who at one timeworked in Zambia and lived with for-mer ANC leader Oliver Tambo.

He and his wife returned toSouth Africa after 1994, and he wasappointed head of the DemocracyEducation Trust.

Nzimande said that if Magu-banes parents had not fallen outwith a farmer when he was younger,and moved to Durban, he would not

have become an academic.History moves in strange ways.

This would have meant that thisyoungster, so full of potential, wouldnot have had the opportunity to go toschool and university and we wouldnever have had a Professor BernardMagubane, he said.

ANC Gauteng secretary DavidMakhura said Magubane remainedan activist until the end of his life.

He was one of those... intellectu-als who really asserted ideas. He was

very prominent on issues of race andclass, he said.

He was an activist to the end.Former Minister in the Presiden-

cy Essop Pahad said Magubane was acommitted ANC member.

We went through many difculttimes in our history - Ben never wa-

vered, he said.Let us remember him for his

extraordinary efforts. A professor,freedom ghter and deep thinker...

whose work lives on.

South African Minister for Higher Education andTraining, Dr. Blade Nzimande.Photo: Sthembiso Sithole

South Africa needs moreintellectuals, Nzimande

Student & National

Friday, 24 May 2013

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News4 Student & NationalFriday, 24 May 2013

Monica Mark

The red carpet was rolled out, the dignitar-ies arrived in a whirlwind of helicoptersand armed guards, and the obituaries

poured in as Nigeria buried the revered writerChinua Achebe on Thursday.

There were dancing troupes, a choir, red-bow-tied trumpeters, keyboard players andpeople darting around lming on their tablets.

At one point, keen not to miss any opportunity,the grieving audience was counselled to buy adocumentary on the celebrated author, whoseterse prose did perhaps more than any oth-

er writers to project African realities into theminds of westerners.It was exactly the sort of pomp the literary

titan hated, and often ripped apart with thewitty, acerbic tip of his pen.

Achebe died on 21 March, aged 82. If heavoided a state funeral, it wasnt for lack of try-ing from the government. Despite rebufng na-tional honours twice over his distrust at an oil-fed elite who left the country a bankrupt andlawless efdom, the administration of Good-luck Jonathan tried to hold a state funeral, be-

fore capitulating to the three hour-long servicein the white-washed St Philips Anglican churchin Achebes hometown of Ogidi.

The writer was no stranger to such irony.His rst manuscript was nearly lost to history

when publishers in London thought the hand-written pages from Africa were a joke. Fiftyyears later, Things Fall Apart, an anti-colonial-ist anthem with a title borrowed from a Yeatespoem, is still the biggest-selling novel from

Africa of all time. It tells the story of his Igbotribes disastrous rst experience of Europeancolonialism.

Despite his success, Achebe turned downall offers to teach creative writing courses, say-ing: I dont know how its done.

In 2004, he declined a national award. He

refused again a second time, in 2011, saying:The reasons for rejecting the offer when it wasrst made have not been addressed, let alonesolved.

But this time the author was in no positionto resist the state honours being conferred onhim. President Jonathan reminded funeral at-tendees of the authors criticisms of politiciansand corruption. After the singing, the longspeeches and prayers, this was a moment about

which many had been holding their breath.For those of you that read The Trouble

with Nigeria, Achebe told us that there is noth-ing wrong with Nigeria. The problem is the po-litical leadership, he said, waving a copy of thenovel.

A toe-curling pause followed and Achebesfamily looked on with unreadable expressions.

Jonathan went on to read a passage thathighlighted the political corruption and ma-nipulation that had aficted the African oil gi-ant since independence. That was in Chinuaslast book, the former professor said. All of usmust work hard to change this country.

The audience applauded cautiously.Ghanas president, John Mahama, seated

beside Jonathan, waved as his own name wasread out among a long list of political dignitar-ies.

During a recent discussion about Achebe,a political contemporary asked me if I felt asthough I had somehow become part of the sys-tem that we so bitterly decried in our youth,Mahama wrote in a recent tribute. No, I re-plied without hesitation. I entered politics

because I wanted to be a part of changing thatsystem.

Whether people across Africa agree orwhether, once again, Achebe may have slylyexposed a ruling elite is a question for history.

Still, only the most hardened cynic could

fail to have been moved by some of the celebra-tions of Achebes life. For days, young peoplehave marched in the sweltering heat with ban-ners commemorating the author. As they sanglilting hymns at the funeral, some of the red-gowned choir members put their arms aroundeach other.

Three women held photos of a smilingAchebe as they sang an operatic re-enactmentof traditional theatre. At one point, one knelt infront of the gleaming cofn topped with whiteroses.

Behind all the gloss, what was left for manywas a simple celebration of a deeply admiredman.

I have never seen so many people, evenwhite people, dancing to our [Igbo] music.

I cannot tell the number of people, but theyare more than 10 villages put together, said52-year-old farmer Ike Dimelu. The world isin our village today because of Chinua Achebe.

I may never see a lot of people like this inone place again. Ive danced and I still want todance, he said over the noise of drumming andhonking cars.

Like hundreds of others, he wore one of theblue prints emblazoned with a serene-lookingAchebe, red cap atop his head, bearing themessage: The literary icon lives on.

The African literary legend, Chinua Achebe. Photo: Craig Ruttle

A mans life from birth to death was aseries of transition rites which broughthim nearer and nearer to his ancestors.

~ Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

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5Student & National

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No one noticed her drownmande. Nzimande said he would also get the uni-

versity on board, so that we can all cooperate inthe interests of justice, getting to the truth andputting the matter to rest so that the family ofthis young man can also nd peace and closureon this sad and tragic incident.

De Koning and Pikoli concluded throughtheir investigation that the drowning was anunfortunate accident for which no blame could

be levelled against any individual or entity. Thecircumstances surrounding the death of the de-ceased were, in our view, free of any foul playand/or negligence on the part of any individualand/or entity.

But the investigation could not explain how[Makhoang] drowned in the presence of many

other participants without the incident being no-ticed by anyone, said Nzimande.

NWUs media ofce declined to comment tothe Mail & Guardians specic queries about thealleged video footage, but referred it to a state-ment vice-chancellor Theuns Eloff released inresponse to Nzimandes call.

In the statement Eloff said the universitywould cooperate with Nzimande and the Hawks.But he urged Nzimande to take cognisance of thendings by De Koning and Pikoli.

The outcome of this independent investi-gation and the subsequent report was given tothe deputy director general at the departmentof higher education and training, who acknowl-edged the receipt thereof, Eloff said in a state-ment.

The university also published the ndings ofthe investigation on its website, which is open forpublic viewing and is still available.

Eloff said NWU is not aware of any new,concrete evidence or information related toMakhoangs death. If there is, the university willgreatly appreciate it if such information is madeavailable to us.

HETN said Makhoangs death was never in-vestigated properly. Police investigations havenot yielded anything a year later, Lucky Thek-

isho, HETNs president, said at Wednesdayspress brieng.All were saying is there should be an inves-

tigation into this matter. We will not rest untiljustice is done. A lot of evidence was concealed,said Thekisho. We commend Nzimande forheeding to our letter.

The organisation also wrote to the presiden-cy, public protector Thuli Madonsela, the South

African Human Rights Commission and the In-dependent Police Investigations Directorate overthe matter.

Continued from 1

We couldreleasea studytomorrowshowingthat98 percentofarresteesin theUSdrankwater i

n the48 hoursbeforetheyengagedincriminalbehavior.Does thatmean thatwater causescrime?

Justin Peters - Opinion

On Thursday, Gil Kerlikowske, thedirector of the U.S. Ofce of NationalDrug Control Policy, announced theresults of a study thatat least ac-cording to himdemonstrated a link

between marijuana use and crime.The study analyzed data collected

via the Arrestee Drug Abuse Mon-itoring program (ADAM II), whichtook urine samples from arrestees inve cities over a 21-day period last

year. Marijuana remained the drugmost often detected in ADAMII arrestees in all ve sites in2012, ranging from 37 percentof ADAM II arrestees testing

positive in Atlanta to 58 per-cent testing positive in Chi-cago, the study reported. Inthree of the ve sites, over halfof the adult male arresteestested positive for marijuana.

Kerlikowske, who opposesmarijuana legalization, saidin a speech Thursday thatthe study showed that Amer-ica needs to acknowledgeand come to grips with thelink between crime and sub-stance use. But correlation isnot causation. Just because ahigh percentage of arresteestested positive for marijuanadoes not mean that smokingmarijuana made them commitcrimes. Here are other thingsthat over half of the adult male

arrestees probably had incommon: pants, food in theirstomachs, a mother who lovesthem, an impoverished back-ground, an afnity for one ormore of the local sports teams.

As Steve Fox of the Marijua-na Policy Project told a Mc-Clatchy reporter, We couldrelease a study tomorrowshowing that 98 percent ofarrestees in the United Statesdrank water in the 48 hours

before they engaged in crimi-nal behavior. Does that meanthat water causes crime?

Now, Kerlikowske onlysaid that drug use and crime

were linked, not that drug usecauses crime. But still, the im-plications are obvious. Kerli-

kowske is not a stupid man,and hes not actually a terrible drugczar. He has argued that drug abuseneeds to be treated as a public hea lthissue, not just a matter of criminal

justice, and I couldnt agree more. Inhis speech, Kerlikowske mentionedthe need to move the drug policy re-form debate beyond bumper stick-ers. One good way to do that is tomove beyond studies that dont nec-essarily say anything at all.

New study tries & failsto show marijuana use

is linked to crimeShabangu calls for sanctionson Zim diamonds to be liftedSouth Africa and Namibia have called for an endto sanctions on Zimbabwean diamonds imposedafter human rights groups said hundreds ofdiggers were killed by the police and army,and sale proceeds were being channelled to themilitary.

Speaking at the inaugural Zimbabwediamond conference yesterday, MineralResources Minister Susan Shabangu said South

Africa was committed to lifting the economicsanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

Namibian Mines MinisterIsak Katali also called atthe conference for an

end to sanctions on theZimbabwe gem trade.

The discovery ofdiamonds in Zimbabwe has

been a thorn in the esh to thosethat have issues with Zimbabweto exercise its sovereignty over itsminerals and other natural wealth, Katalisaid.

They tried to block the export of diamondsand vilify this country and its diamond sector.

Meanwhile, former president Thabo Mbekisaid Zimbabwean natural resources should

benet locals and not a group of elites.In his address at the Zimbabwe Diamond

Conference yesterday, where he was the guestspeaker, Mbeki said the countrys politicalleadership have to ensure that the benetscascade to the masses. Mbeki said, all the parties

in the global political agreement must absolutelyensure that the diamond mining industry is notgoverned by a predatory elite which uses itsaccess to state power to enrich itself, againstthe interests of the people as a whole, acting incollusion with the mining companies.

Zimbabwes mines minister told the sameconference that at least $30 million is trapped

by international institutions under the anti-Marange diamond campaign.

As a result, the countrysmines minister said, there is

no need for full disclosurein Zimbabwes ongoing

mining transparencyinitiative.How can you be

transparent when there arehyenas chasing after you? They

want to know who is buying yourdiamonds, which country they are

coming from, which bank they are usingand which ight they are on.Chaim Even-Zohar, the president of Tel

Aviv-based diamond consulting service TacyLimited, told the conference Zimbabwe isearning 75% of potential diamond value dueto economic sanctions as it cannot get the bestmarket prices.

Zohar added Zimbabwe has potential toproduce 8 to 10% of global production but ishamstrung by restrictions, which has seen itselling the gems at a discount.

Men and women of all ages, working in the open cast Marange diamond eld, one of the largest in the world.Photo: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

A sample of Cannabis Sativa. Photo: David McNew

News Features

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News Features6 Student & NationalFriday, 24 May 2013

Harry Slater

Put everything into perspective and

university is 95% note-taking, 5% allthe other stuff. If you can take goodnotes, youre on track to make theacademic side of things much easierfor yourself.

Technology is doing a lot to sortout our note-taking. One big advanceis that lecture presentations are usu-ally uploaded to a universitys in-tranet for all to see.

On the downside, this guaranteeof availability gives you an excuse tozone out and let the lecturers wordsdrift over you. While this is tempt-ing, its better to listen out for the

in-depth explanations that arent onthe presentation the bits you cantaccess later are usually the most

valuable.

When it comes to the note-takingitself, dont try to write everythingdown. Its an obvious point, but in-teresting lectures can make you wantto record everything being said. Thisnever goes well. By the time youvenished writing one point, the lec-turer has already made another threeand moved on. If youre determinednot to miss a single syllable, use a re-cording device.

Handouts are just as unhelpful,especially if theyre a breakdown ofthe lecture slides (this kind is of hand-out is so boring its potentially fatal).

During the lecture, its best to putthe handouts to one side and make

your notes without them. Maps andgraphs can be made more useful with

a few annotations, but make thesecrystal clear for future reference.Once youre outside a lecture the-atre, notes have a tendency to lose allmeaning, so make yours detailed andexplicit at the rst opportunity.

Shorthand is one way of ensur-ing speedy note-taking. Charlotte, ahistory student at the University ofLeicester, recommends coming up

with your own system for abbrevi-ating and shortening key words andideas. For example, civil rights move-ment becomes CRM; politburo be-comes PB; between becomes btwn.

Symbols are also useful: arrows, forexample can be used to indicate con-cluding points.

Type up your shorthand notes

as quickly as possible. As Charolottesays: The longer you leave it, theless sense your markings will make.

If youre making notes from asource for an assignment, includepage numbers and basic bibliograph-ical information. You will never re-gret it, says Amy, a literature stu-dent at UEA. Likewise, use coloursor a different font to distinguish be-tween your ideas and the authors orlecturers. This helps avoid acciden-tal plagiarism.

Once youve put time and effortinto producing a good set of notes, be

sure to back-up your hard work. Thiscan be as simple as emailing yournotes to yourself, or using a free toollike Google Drive or Evernote. Both

let you edit uploaded documents andyou can access what youve saved on-the-go.

Having a copy of your notes alsomeans they are easier to share, anddigital copies make this easier still.Google Drive is again useful, but if

youre sharing notes with a revisiongroup, something more natural, likeFacebook, may be a better option.

A note-taking routine that suitsyour style takes a while to establish,but given that youll probably be tak-ing notes daily, its worth getting intogood habits from the start.

Work smarter, not harder

Exam Special

Claire Shaw

Not many students would admit to enjoyingtaking exams or writing essays, but if you

want to get a degree, theyre an ordeal youhave to survive.

So weve worked out how to make the wholething a little less stressful. Weve persuaded fouracademics from a range of subject areas to tell usthe top 10 things students get wrong in exams andcoursework.

This is what theyve told us:

Misreading the questionWhen revising, students often rehearse answers

in their head. says Roy Jackson, course leader inreligion, philosophy and ethics at the University ofGloucestershire. Although we dont deliberatelyintend to catch them out in exams, we do set ques-tions that requires them to think and reect undertimed conditions. But instead students will oftenpick up key words in the question and write out arehearsed response.

This can be avoided by taking some time to re-ect upon the question, rather than seeing that as

wasted time and rushing to ll the pages.

Panic and procrastinationSometimes a task can feel so overwhelming that

its difcult to begin, says Amber Regis, lecturer in19th century literature at the University of Shefeld.

Procrastination takes over and you just cant seemto get anything done. The bare white page is a for-midable foe when it stares back at you, untouched,from the library desk. Try not to panic, protect andmanage your preparation time, and dont put offgetting started.

Poor planningIn exams its vital that you dont jump the gun.

Take the rst ve to 10 minutes to read through thepaper and plan the questions youre going to answerin order of how condent you feel in that subjectarea, says Bhavik Patel, lecturer in physical and an-alytical chemistry at University of Brighton. Makesure you secure the marks on the questions that

you nd easiest to answer rst, before attemptingquestions that are more difcult. The latter oftenmake you lose condence and time during examconditions.

Spelling, grammar andregister

Universities have a standard academic Englishin which you should write. The best way to becomeprocient at this is to read a great number of ac -ademic journal articles and books and mirror theregister, language and tone (but not the content:never plagiarise!). It can also help to write a smallamount every day as a form of practice.

Focusing on word countIn both exam responses and coursework, stu-

dents are often more concerned with quantityrather than quality. The best essays are those thatdemonstrate evidence of personal reection andare not just trying to achieve a word limit.

Lack of anlysisIt can be tempting to parrot everything youknow when writing essays and exam answers. Butto demonstrate your understanding you shouldengage critically with your source material. Alwaysassume an informed reader they do not need aplot summary or biographies of key gures. Readthrough the marking scheme used by your depart-ment. You will notice some very telling words andphrases attached to the highest marks, for exam-ple: originality of interpretation, astute engage-

ment and critical thought. To full these crite-ria, you must favour analysis.

CarelessnessGetting characters names or other basic factu-

al details wrong just smacks of not caring. If youdont care enough to do this correctly when yourepaying to be at university, what will an employerthink when he or she is paying you?

Regurgitating in-class orlecture materialIn English we are looking for excitement and

originality of thought backed up by evidence andwe dont want you to take our formulations asgospel truth, says Martin Eve, lecturer in Englishliterature at the University of Lincoln. Challenge and think for yourself.

Insufcient readingDuring revision time, students are too selec-

tive in what they choose to read, selecting one ortwo books and remembering as much from thoseas possible. What comes across in a good essayis condence, and this can only be achieved bydemonstrating plenty of reading on a subject, sothat you can be prepared for any question that youcome across. This also requires giving yourselfplenty of time to read, and not leaving it until a few

days before an exam or assignment.

Over-generalisationAlways make sure your statements are specic

and show self-awareness. Do say: There is no onesingle representation of working-class life in post-50s British ction. Dont ever go for somethinglike: Novels that feature the working class showus that these people...

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7Student & National

Friday, 24 May 2013 Real Life

acceptableare part of the problem,says Dr Douglas Bunnell, thedirector of outpatient clini-cal services for the RenfrewCenter in Philadelphia.

Anorexia and drunk-orexia are not exactly thesame thing. Drunkorex-ics starve themselves tocompensate for the calo-rie intake found in alco-holic beverages whereasanorexics would avoiddrinking alcohol be-cause of its high caloriecontent. Du Plooy saysthat drunkorexics usecalorie counting to work

out how many caloriesfoods and alcoholicdrinks contain. Theythen use this informa-tion to steer away fromcertain foods with ahigh amount of caloriesin order to drink alco-hol without picking up

weight.According to the

Hufngton Post, of 1000 students surveyed

by the Universityof Missouri

Despiteits glamorous appeal (forthose of you who aim to bemodel thin), drunkorexia isnot a healthy way to have agood time, even if it savesyou some cash.

Drunkorexia, as de-ned by Prof. JacobPalme of Stockholm Uni-versity, is the combina-tion of not eating almostany food during the day(anorexia nervosa) withdrinking a lot of alco-holic beverages duringnight-time partying (al-cohol abuse). However,Kobus du Plooy, a clin-

ical psychologist at UPStudent Support, saysthat drunkorexia is onlya social term and notan ofcial clinical diag-nosis.

Although it is a newterm and not a medicaldiagnosis yet, it has aconnection with alco-holism and eating dis-orders. [The] trend to

be skinny and the factthat drug and alcohol

use are socially

T h eMilwaukee School of Engi-neering reports that because

women have more body fatand less dehydrogenase(the enzyme that metab-olises alcohol) than men,alcohol ows throughthe bloodstream in largequantities and remains inthe blood longer. Thus,

women experience worseeffects than men whichincreases their risk foralcohol poisoning andorgan damage becausetheir bodies metabolisealcohol much faster.

According to Palme,

young women aspire tobe sexually attractive.He says that drunkorex-ic behaviour is a dan-gerous and unhealthy

way to be slim and tas excessive dietingand alcohol abuse canresult in brain damage,Korsakoffs psychosis(a neurological disor-der caused by a lack of

vitamin B1) and loss ofmemory.

When Per-

about drun-korexia, the three most com-mon reasons for engaging inthis behaviour include sav-ing money, controlling [...]weight and getting drunkfaster. It was also foundthat mostly young wom-en at university engage indrunkorexia and that themajority of men that doengage in this behaviour,do so not to control theirweight but to save themoney they would havespent on food for alcoholinstead.

Du Plooy argues thatstudents in general may

be most at risk when itcomes to drunkorex-ia, as they typicallywish to maintain a slimthin gure while also

wishing to engage inbinge drinking. Fur-thermore, he says that

because this kind of be-haviour is often seen aspart of university cul-ture, it makes all stu-dents, including thoseat Tuks, susceptible to

drunkorexia.

korexic be-haviours have been reported

by publications such as TheNew York Times in 2008 al-ready? Palme says that for

years this type of behaviourhas been observed in theclinical eld (outside of uni-

versity). However, moreresearch must be done be-fore it can be classied as amedical disorder.

Sekhukhune and Let-sae agree that drunko-rexia is on the increasearound the world andthat people should learnmore about it. They be-lieve it is important for

high school learners anduniversity students to beeducated on this matter.

Pressure from soci-ety to be skinny seemsto be a trend that isntgoing to disappear any-time soon. With thisnew phenomenon isaffecting our youth, wemust pay more atten-tion to this problem sothat we can nd a solu-tion sooner rather thanlater.

deby spoketo nurses Winnie Sekhu-khune and Nonky Letsaefrom Student Health Ser-vices, they said that al-though drunkorexia is stillin its baby years, it is arising problem among stu-dents. Sekhukhune andLetsae mentioned thatthey had two reportedcases of drunkorexia inMarch this year, wherestudents collapsed oncampus and confessedto have engaged indrunkorexic behaviour.According to the nurs-es, when they asked

one of the students whyshe indulges in this be-haviour, she didnt givea reason but admittedthat she has been do-ing it since high school.Sekhukhune and Letsaesay that drunkorexiaaffects a students con-centration and causesfatigue.

Why arent peopleinformed about drun-korexia if some of the

earliest drun-

Drunkorexia

Photo: Reinhard Nell

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Business8 Student & NationalFriday, 24 May 2013

Above the entrance to AmericasSupreme Court four words arecarved: Equal justice under

law. The court is pondering whetherafrmative action breaks that prom-ise. The justices recently accepted acase concerning a vote in Michiganthat banned it, and will soon ruleon whether the University of Texassrace-conscious admissions policies arelawful. The question in both cases isas simple as it is divisive: should gov-ernment be colour-blind?

America is one of many coun-tries where the state gives a leg-upto members of certain racial, ethnic,or other groups by holding those todifferent standards. The details vary.In some countries, the policy appliesonly to areas under direct state con-trol, such as public-works contracts

or admission to public universities.In others, private rms are alsoobliged to take account of the raceof their employees, contractors andeven owners. But the effects arestrikingly similar around the world.

The burden of historyMany of these policies were put

in place with the best of intentions:to atone for past injustices and ame-liorate their legacy. No one can denythat, for example, blacks in Americaor dalits in India (members of thecaste once branded untouchable)have suffered grievous wrongs, andcontinue to suffer discrimination.Favouring members of these groupsseems like a quick and effective wayof making society fairer.

Most of these groups have made

great progress. But establishing howmuch credit afrmative action cantake is hard, when growth also bringsprogress and some of the good forexample the condence boosting ef-fect of creating prominent role mod-els for a benighted group is intan-

gible. And it is impossible to knowhow a targeted group would havegot on without this special treatment.Malays are three times richer in Sin-gapore, where they do not get pref-erences, than in next-door Malaysia,

where they do. At the same time, thedownside of afrmative action has

become all too apparent.Awarding university places to black

students with lower test scores thanwhites sounds reasonable, given thelegacy of segregation. But a studyfound that at some American univer-sities, black applicants who scored450 points (out of 1,600) worsethan Asians on entrance tests wereequally likely to win a place. That isneither fair on Asians, nor an incen-tive to blacks to study in high school.In their book Mismatch, Richard

Sander and Stuart Taylor produceevidence that suggests afrmativeaction reduces the number of blacks

who qualify as lawyers by placingblack students in law schools forwhich they are ill-prepared, causingmany to drop out. Had they attendedless demanding schools, they mighthave graduated.

Although the groups covered byafrmative action tend to be poorerthan their neighbours, the individ-uals who benet are often not. One

American federal-contracting pro-gramme favours businesses owned bysocially and economically disadvan-taged people. Such people can be 87times richer than the average Amer-ican family and still be deemed dis-advantaged if their skin is the rightcolour. One beneciary of South Af-

ricas programme of Black Econom-ic Empowerment is worth an esti-mated $675m; he is also the deputypresident of the ruling party. Lettingmembers of certain groups chargemore and still win public contracts isnice for the few who own construc-

tion rms; less so for the many whorely on public services. The samegoes for civil-service quotas. When

jobs are dished out for reasons oth-er than competence, the state growsless competent, as anyone who has

wrestled with Indian or Nigerian of-cialdom can attest. Moreover, rulesfavouring businesses owned by mem-

bers of particular groups are easy togame. Malaysians talk of Ali-Babarms, where Ali (an ethnic Malay)lends his name, for a fee, to Baba (aChinese businessman) to win a gov-ernment contract.

Although these policies tend tostart with the intention of favour-ing narrow groups, they spread asothers clamour to be included. That

American federal programme beganby awarding no-bid contracts to rmsowned by blacks, Hispanics and Na-tive Americans; now it covers people

with ancestry from at least 33 coun-tries. In India 60% of the populationare eligible for privileges as membersof scheduled castes, tribes or other

backward classes. Such policies poi-son democracy by encouraging divi-sions along lines drawn by discrim-inatory rules. The anger thus stokedhas helped stir bloody conicts inIndia, Rwanda and Sri Lanka. Andsuch rules, once in place, are almostimpossible to get rid of. In 1949 In-dias constitution said quotas should

be phased out in ten years, but theyare now more widespread than ever.

Americas policies have survived de-cades of legal pushback, though notunscathed.

The content of their characterThe University of Texas (UT) justi-

es discriminating in favour of blackpeople not on the ground that soci-ety owes it to them, but because, itclaims, a diverse university offers a

better education to all its students.That is a reasonable argument somecompanies benet from understand-ing a variety of customers, for in-stance, and the police probably keeporder better if enough of them share

a culture with the neighbourhood theypatrol but it does not wash for mostinstitutions. In UTs case, althoughcolleges benet from a diversity ofideas, to use skin colour as a proxy forthis implies that all black people andall Chinese people view the world ina similar way. That suggests a bleak

view of the human imagination.Universities that want to improve

their selection procedures by iden-tifying talented people (of any co-lour or creed) from disadvantaged

backgrounds should be encouraged.But selection on the basis of race isneither a fair nor an efcient wayof doing so. Afrmative action re-placed old injustices with new ones:it divides society rather than unitesit. Governments should tackle disad-

vantage directly, without reference torace. If a school is bad, x it. If thereare barriers to opportunity, removethem. And if Barack Obamas daugh-ters apply to a university, judge themon their academic prowess, not thecolour of their skin.

Its time to scrapafrmative actionGovernments should be colour-blind

Yahoos billion buck Tumblr gambleSam Gustin

For Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, the num-

ber appears to be $1.1 billion. Thats howmuch cash Yahoo plans to pay for New

Yorkbased social-blogging platform Tumblr,according to multiple reports. Yahoos boardapproved the transaction on Sunday, and anannouncement is expected on Monday, accord-ing to AllThingsD.

Although $1.1 billion seems like a massive

amount to pay for a company that generatedonly $13 million in revenue last year, its nothard to see Mayers logic: Tumblr has become acultural phenomenon with over 100 million in-tensely loyal users reading and posting on over100 million blogs each month.

That said, the deal carries risks for bothcompanies. Tumblr is extremely popular withthe highly coveted 18-to-24-

year-old demographic. Thequestion is whether Tumblrcan burnish Yahoos image

with younger users, some ofwhom werent even born when Jerry Yang andDavid Filo founded the company in 1994.

For many users, Tumblrs independenceand casual approach to generating revenuehave been part of what made the site popular.For years, Tumblr founder David Karp resistedplastering ads on the site. But Yahoo, a pub-lic company, will face pressure to monetize

Tumblr, and if Mayer acts too aggressively,she could alienate the sites users, who feel adeep sense of community and ownership in thenetwork. Already, many Tumblr users are lessthan thrilled about the Yahoo deal: when TIME

wrote about the impending offer on Friday,hundreds of Tumblr users took to the com-ments section to voice their objections.

In short, for many users, the question isnot whether Tumblr will make Yahoo cool, but

whether Yahoo will suck the coolness out of

Tumblr, as my colleague Harry McCracken ob-served. That sentiment was captured by Tech-Crunch co-editor Alexia Tsotsis, who told oneof her colleagues that if Yahoo buys Tumblr,she will seriously consider moving her blogto another platform. I dont know exactly why,

but my Tumblr is a part of my identity, Tsotsis

said. And for whatever reason, I dont want toidentify with Yahoo.

Tumblr users have good reason to be ap-prehensive, because Yahoos track record withacquisitions has been decidedly mixed. Re-member GeoCities or del.icio.us? Even Flickr,the photo-sharing site Yahoo purchased in2005, has languished in the shadow of upstarts

like Instagram, which waspurchased by Facebook last

year for $1 billion in cashand stock.Mayer would be wise to

follow the example of that deal, in which Face-book took a very hands-off approach to Insta-gram. And it sounds like shes gotten the mes-sage, according to AllThingsD, which reportedthat the Tumblr brand will remain intact andKarp will continue running the platform. Asone Tumblr source told the website: This will

be a very delicate dance, since so much could

go wrong if done without care.The truth is that its going to take a lot more

than a splashy acquisition to reverse Yahoosmultiyear slide. For nearly a decade, Yahoo has

been adrift, lacking a clear vision and strategy,as its been eclipsed by Google as well as so-cial-media giants like Facebook and Twitter.For years, Yahoo seemed intent on becominga new media-and-entertainment behemoth,particularly under former CEO Terry Semel,

who spent over two decades working in Hol-

lywood for Warner Bros. before joining Yahoo.He left the company in 2007.

Since then, the Internet giant has had a se-ries of chief executives who failed to reverse thecompanys slide. The situation reached a nadirearlier last year during a bizarre episode in-

volving former CEO Scott Thompson, who

admitted he didnt have the com-puter-science degree he listedon his rsum when he gotthe Yahoo job. Thomp-son, who had replacedthe outspoken Car-ol Bartz as CEO, wassoon jettisoned. Vet-eran media executiveRoss Levinsohn wasnamed interim CEO,

but Yahoos boardclearly felt that moredrastic change wasneeded and hiredMayer, an accom-plished engineer

with comput-er-science degreesfrom Stanford,

who was Goo-

gles 20th em-ployee.

Since assuming command of Yahoo in July,Mayer has made clear that she wants to incor-porate Yahoos products like Yahoo Mail,Flickr and its popular home page into thedaily habits of its users. In order to achievethat goal, Mayer is trying to refocus Yahoo onthe user experience, which was her specialtyat Google, where she played a major role in de-

veloping Googles famously minimalist search-box layout, and would eventually spearheadGoogles most successful products, including

Gmail, Google News and Google Maps. Tum-blrs focus on design clearly dovetails with

Mayers aesthetic sensibility.Yahoo s $1.1 billio n d eal to buy

Tumblr is Mayers largest acqui-sition to date, and representssomething of a high-stakes gam-ble, because the purchase priceconstitutes over one-quarter ofthe cash and short-term invest-ments on Yahoos balance sheet.Its hard to imagine Yahoo un-dertaking another billion-dol-lar acquisition anytime soon,and it will likely be years be-fore it will be possible to assesswhether the deal is successful.

Mayers challenge nowis to begin leveraging Tum-blrs massive user base toboost Yahoo s bottom line.

But she needs to act care-fully. Internet users are

fickle, and teenagers dou-bly so. If Tumblrs loy-

al users feel Yahoo ismessing with theirbeloved community,the site could face anexodus. And thatdenitely wouldnt

be cool.

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9Student & National

Friday, 24 May 2013 Business

You almost have to admire Carl Levins timing.

Amid a furor over politicized IRS tax enforcement,the Michigan Democrat on Tuesday tried to

change the subject to a hardy Washington perennial corporate tax loopholes. Too bad his designated businesspiata, Apple, demonstrates instead the insanity ofthe tax code that Mr. Levin has done so much to write.

Mr. Levin unveiled the results of his months-long investigation into Apples corporate taxes andaccused the American business success of employing

alchemy and gimmickry to lower its tax bill. WhatMr. Levin did not do was present any evidence ofanything illegal or even inappropriate. He did provethat Apple has smart accountants and tax lawyers.

Mr. Levin is outraged that Apple subsidiaries inIreland pay little or no corporate income tax on protsgenerated fromApples international sales. Ireland has alaudably low corporate tax rate of 12.5% to attract jobsand capital, but it turns outthat for certain corporationscontrolled by entities outside Ireland, the deal gets better.

The Apple units are based in Ireland, so U.S. law doesnot consider them to be U.S. corporations subject to U.S.corporate tax. But since they are managed and controlled

by Apple in the U.S., Irish law doesnt consider them Irishcompanies and thus they are also not subject to the 12.5%Irish corporate tax. This isnt alchemy; its accountancy.

Mr. Levin claims that asa result one Apple subsidiaryreported net income of $30billion from 2009-2012 butdidnt pay any corporate income tax. Apple says that since2003 its Irish subsidiaries havepaid a corporate rate of 2%or less, though it has also created some 4,000 Irish jobs.

None of this required a Senate investigation todiscover because Apple is constantly inspected by the IRSand other tax authorities. These tax collectors are wellaware of Apples corporate structure,which has remainedessentially the same since 1980. An Apple executive saidTuesday that the companys annual U.S. tax return addsup to a stack of paperwork more than two feet high.

We wonder what the Irish think of the spectacleof an American Senator expressing outrage that an

American company doesnt pay enough Irish taxes.As Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson pointed outon Tuesday, Americans are better off when U.S.

companies pay less in taxes to foreign governments.That includes Americans who are invested in Apple

through their mutual and pension funds. And it includesApples U.S. workers who benet when the company isable to sell more iPhones and iPads overseas. Roughly50,000 of Apples 75,000 employees are in the U.S.

Its also amazing to behold Democrats whoroutinely claim that high tax rates dont matter to

business behavior denouncing a business for engagingin behavior to avoid paying higher tax rates. Which

brings us to the real scandal that Mr. Levin hasexposed: the folly of Americas corporate tax code.The genuin utrage is that Apples prots in the U.S. aresubject toombined state and federal statutory tax rate of

39.1% that is the developed worlds highest. Corporatetaxationis so heavy in the U.S. relative to other countriesthat even while enjoying its near-zero rate in Ireland,

Apple ends up with roughly the same overall effectivetax rate, 14%, as South Koreas Samsung, its main globalcompetitor. Yet Samsung still enjoys a tax advantage,

because it has more exibilityto allocate those prots tothe most promising investments anywhere in the world.Like other U.S. companies, Apple pays an extreme taxpenalty for bringing its foreign prots home to invest in theU.S. This is due both tothe punitive U.S. tax rate and thefact that the U.S. is virtually alone in refusing to embracea territorial tax system that applies corporate incometaxes only in the jurisdiction where the money is earned.So its no surprise that Apple keeps $102 billion of itsroughly $150 billion cashpile overseas. The repatriationtax penalty is so absurd thatApple chose in April to borrow$17 billion to pay a prospective dividend to shareholdersrather than pay out of its overseas cash hoard.

All of which argues for a corporate tax reform thatwould at the very least cut the combined U.S. state-

federal rate to the mid-20s to be comparable withmany of our trading partners. Wed suggest somethingcloser to the Irish model ideally zero but 12.5% also

works to turbo-charge growth and coincidentallygenerate lots of new revenue for Mr. Levins beloved IRS.Speaking of which, Mr. Levin is one of those Senators who

wrote the IRS demanding that it inspect the tax-exemptstatus of Americans for Tax Reform, the Club for Growthand other groups that are his ideological opponents. Whydoes the IRS allow 501(c)(4) organizations to self declare?he roared in July 2012. The IRS seems to have followedhis orders, so no wonder he is trying to change the subject.

Uncovering Applesmighty tax diversionSenators beat up a U.S. success forfollowing the tax laws they wrote.

Quickie:Advertising

% share of worldwide ad spending in 2012.The electric fish-bowl takes the most cash.

World Total:

$ 557bnS.A. Total:

$39.5m

Telecoms

Media

Industry &

Services

Healthcare

Financial

Enterntainment

Durables

Distribution

Clothing &Accessories

Automotive

% share of spend by industry.

Television

Print

Radio

Outdoor

Internet

Cinema

Outer ring: World

Inner ring: South Africa

World S.A.

62.8%

27.5%

5.2%

2.3%

1.9%

0.3%

46.2%

30.9%

13.9%

4.2%

2.5%

1.8%

Fast MovingConsumer Goods

8.0

3.35.2

11.7

5.3

25.1

9.9

11.2

7.5

4.9

5.7

the trained eye. This is because, thesedays, far too few questions are askedabout what kind of thinking let alone(what many call) knowledge isclosed off by placing the university atthe service of what economic historianEmma Rothschild calls a societyof universal commerce. Withinthe daily life of the university, thisunderstanding is further complicated

because the market template which

underpins the economic-centeredsociety is used to make academicchoices.

So government bureaucrats anduniversity managers make decisions,such as how many music studentssociety can afford, on the basis of thepurported impartiality of the market

without asking the prior question:Can there be a genuine market insuch matters?

No matter how many indiceseconomists and bureaucrats dreamup, the answer is that there cannot

be not now, not ever. However itis packaged, the self-styled free mar-ket is rigged by the grubby world ofinterests (read: politics), but this ishidden by, among other things, thehabits of accepted speech.

This certainly is the view of Cam-

bridge don Stefan Collini, whose re-cently published book of the sametitle has won him both acclaim andcriticism in the United Kingdom. It

will do the same, I condently pre-dict, wherever it is read, which isthe reason why this book should beread by all university people andurgently, too.

But there is also a more imme-diate reason why South African aca-demics should read it.

The restructuring of higher edu-cation in this country has all too easi-

ly followed the reform of the sectorin the UK. Indeed, the language ofthis reform language that revealsa kind of mercantilism of the intel-lect, in Collinis words has seepedinto every conversation on South Af-rican higher education.

Cut from the same cloth

This should be no surprise, ofcourse. Not only are our universitiescut from the same traditional cloth asBritains, but since apartheids endingthere has been a thickening networkof old connections and the building ofnew ones. This explains, incidentally,

why more than a few local vice-chan-cellors have taken on successful sec-ond careers by heading up Britishuniversities. Moreover, a residue ofBritish expertise in higher edu-cation and its crusade of reforms isscattered across the local institutions many of them are refugees from thecult of transformation that followedapartheids ending. So there is a clearresonance between Collinis brilliantanalysis of the situation in the UKand what faces South Africas ev-er-turbulent university sector.

But be warned that this book for all Collinis appealing prose isnot an easy or comforting read. Nor,indeed, was it meant to be. Like alluniversity people should be at whathas happened to the institutionsthat carry us and our craft, Collini isangry angry, yes, but wonderfullymeasured in his anger.

For the managerially inclinedreader, be warned: Collini offers littlecomfort. His intention is not to pro-

vide an answer to the average deansmyriad management puzzles: How

can I increase the through-put rate?How can I cut salary costs? How canI up the research output? How can Ichange the racial composition of thefaculty?

For Collini, these kinds of ques-tions are the very problem of the mod-ern university and answering themonly entrenches a sense of intellec-

tual bankruptcy that has allowed the

modern university to drift perilouslyclose to emulating the business cor-poration. HiEdBizUK, as he dubsit in a dedicated chapter, has manyforms of surveillance, notwithstand-ing the claim of its human resourceexperts that good performanceshould always be rewarded. A closereading of policy documents revealsthat human resources departmentsare more interested in protecting theuniversity budget than in preservingforms of deep scholarship.

On all this, Collini is clear: Mod-

ern ... [as used here] means usingthe market model. And he draws onan old term guff, a word with Nor-dic roots that means gobbledygook to describe the market-centered dis-course that shapes everyday talk aboutthe purpose of the university.

This suggests that Collini, a pro-fessor of intellectual history and En-

glish literature, is not sympathetic

to (what far too many lovingly call)applied knowledge. Instead, hispurpose and his technique are cri-tique. This, he believes, is not only inand of itself an authoritative form ofknowledge, but it serves a practicalpurpose by allowing a considerationof more adequate principles of be-haviour and organisation.

Missing the contradictionsThis kind of thinking will unsettle

South African debates on higher edu-cation in which, sadly, most (if not all)

conversations believe that the onlything that matters in higher educationis policy-speak, which quickly returnsto the diktat of the market. The resultis that an abundance of deep-seatedcontradictions in the South Africanhigher education policy framework to deliberately choose the way in

which invariably the conversation isteed up is simply passed over.

Although critique can, and does,point to many practical problems, its

purpose is to persuade by allowing,in Collinis words, more adequateprinciples to inltrate public debateand engage society.

So, following this thread, critiquecan set a research agenda for real high-er education reform, both in South

Africa and elsewhere a reform thatis not dominated by a single, arbitrarynotion such as the market.

If we are truthful, our solutions,like his, will be that all academic

work must begin with the assump-tion that there can only be interimreports. This is because we live in anunderexplored world; all knowledgeis tentative, which is why the marketthat commands so much space in thelives of universities and society canonly and always only be a provi-sional answer to the question.

The idea of the market has takenon an ideological patina like apart-heid once did. Breaking this will not

be easy, as Collini recognises. But hisplea that universities need advo-cates is surely a call to arms for alluniversity people.

Our defence can no longer be thatour work supports the economy, be-cause this argument only plays intothe discourse that has brought univer-sities to this sorry point. Like Collini

we need instead to ask some rst-or-der questions in very public places.

Making business from Universities

Stefan Collini addressing the University of Cambridge. Photo courtesy of Youtube.com

Continued from 1

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Motoring10 Student & NationalFriday, 24 May 2013

Aaron Bragman

The last big autoshow of theglobal season

is upon us, and it isshaping up to be per-haps the biggest. Mercedes-Benz which wants to sell more cars in China likeevery other global automaker chose the Auto Shanghai 2013 motor show tounveil a new concept: the Concept GLA compact crossover.Not just a show car, it is built off of the same platform as Mercedes-Benzs Aand B-Class vehicles that which we will see in the U.S. as the 2014 CLA sedanand B-Class Electric Drive, so it has a good chance of making it into produc-tion in some form.

It uses a 2.0-liter, 208-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder engine witha seven-speed automatic transmission and M-Bs 4Matic all-wheel-drivesystem. So mechanically, the Concept GLA is certainlyfeasible, and given the Chinese marketsthirst for small premium compactcrossovers, it makes sense.

Styling is more concept-carfantasy than the mechanicals, thoughits exterior could easily be translatedinto a production vehicle, once theGLA loses things like laser-beamheadlights and 20-inch wheels.

The company says that notonly do the lasers help shine morelight on the road, but they can alsooperate as projectors, displaying any

visual media played through the carsentertainment system. While it may

be fun to bring your own drive-inmovie wherever you go, M-B says thatit also could be used as a kind of next-generation head-up display, projectingthings like navigation arrows on theroad to help the driver and surroundingpedestrians know where the car is going.

Inside, a layered approach to thedash is attractive, featuring interesting

GLA:Simply

Vicious

Mercedes Benz GLA unveiled atthe Shanhai 2013 motor show.Clockwise around centre: Sta-tionary front view; stationary rearview; headlight detail; taillightdetail; interior detail; rear view.Centre: Side motion view.Source: Daimler AG

painted plexiglass control buttons. Mercedes-Benz isgoing for the image of an expensive saddle with colorand leather choices; theres 65 feet of hand-stitchedcowhide in the four-passenger interior. Anotherout-there show car features: The air vent surroundsare temperature sensitive at 71 degrees they glow

white, but if they get any warmer or colder, they glowred and blue, respectively.

Tone down the concept-car fun, and what you seehere could easily be a new GLA-Class small urbancrossover to complement Mercedes-Benzs push intoentry-luxury market segments.

Legends: ReincarnatedFiat 500

1957

VW Beetle

1958

Mini Cooper

1959

Fiat 500

2007

VW Beetle

2012

Mini Cooper

2007

8/13/2019 Student & National - Newspaper

11/20

11Student & National

Friday, 24 May 2013 Technology

Jeane van der Merwe, Andrew

Trench, Thanduxolo Jika andXollani Mbanjwa

Johannesburg - The states ITagency has brought in its ownhackers to protect government

websites from international cyber at-tacks after the website of the SA Po-lice Service (SAPS) was cracked two

weeks ago.In possibly the biggest cyber at-

tack against government, the names,numbers and addresses of thousandsof crime whistle-blowers were pub-lished on the internet.

In the same week, following atip-off, City Press alerted the City ofJohannesburg to a serious securityhole in a key online database, whichexposed thousands of ratepayerspersonal and account information to

prying eyes.Network-security experts warn

that South African government sitesand servers are ripe targets for cyberattacks, with the exploit against thepolice by a hacker named DomainerA-non simply a taste of what could come.

DomainerAnon - who said thehack was to avenge the 34 miners shotat Marikana - released 16 000 crime

whistle-blowers details online.The details were extracted from

the police website, where crime tip-offs and other information is submit-ted to the police.

The hacker also publicly releaseda further 800 login and contact de-tails of police ofcials, including cell-phone numbers.

Police spokesperson BrigadierPhuti Setati insisted that no conden-

tial or case information was releasedand said the security hole had beenplugged by the State Information

Technology Agency (Sita), which hosts

the SAPS website.Auditor Gen. Terence Nombem-

be, who has been warning nationaland provincial departments aboutpoor IT security, said that until re-cently government did not have aframework to deal with vulnerabili-ties in its IT systems.

Thats where the loophole is atthe moment. Its basically rolling outthe initiatives to those recommenda-tions we made to departments. But

vulnerability [to hackers] is still therebecause not all the departments havebeen able to respond with speed tothis level of vulnerability, he said.

Crime Intelligence cybercrime ex-perts have been tasked with tracking.

Sita executive for ICT servicedelivery Mmakgosi Mosupi said theagency was now reviewing security

mechanisms on all the governmentwebsites it hosted.

The process involves doing pen-etration tests and vulnerability scansto close any loopholes. Sita has joinedforces with other government institu-tions to mitigate against hacks and weare continuously monitoring websitesfor any abnormal activities, she said.

Recent cyber attacks on state-owned web properties include lastJanuarys cyberheist of R42m fromPostbank and an attack on the Sanrale-tolls website.

Craig Rosewarne, chairperson ofthe Information Security Group Af-rica, said his group had repeatedly

warned government decision makersof the importance of data security.

Unfortunately, were just goingto have to wait for more incidents to

take place and more public pressurearound these issues before we see theurgency needed.

Fighting fre with freGovernment has brought in its own band hackers to fight DomainerAnon

Tamar Lewin

D

azzled by the potential of freeonline college classes, educa-

tors are now turning to thegritty task of harnessing online mate-rials to meet the toughest challengesin American higher education: givingmore students access to college, andhelping them graduate on time.

Nearly half of all undergraduatesin the United States arrive on cam-pus needing remedial work beforethey can begin regular credit-bear-ing classes. That early detour can

be costly, leading many to drop out,often in heavy debt and with dimin-ished prospects of nding a job.

In California alone, higher ed-ucation cuts have left hundreds ofthousands of college students with-out access to classes they need.

To address both problems andkeep students on track to graduation,universities are beginning to experi-

ment with adding the new massiveopen online courses, created to de-liver elite college instruction to any-one with an Internet connection, totheir offerings.

Although millions of studendsaround the world enrole, most neverattempt a single assignment and veryfew actually complete the courses. Tocombat this, universities have turnedto adding extra support to the onlinematerials in hopes of improving suc-

cess rates.Were in Silicon Valley, we

breathe that entrepreneurial air, so itmakes sense that we are the rst uni-

versity to try this, said MohammadQayoumi, the universitys president.In academia, people are scared tofail, but we know that innovationalways comes with the possibilityof failure. And if it doesnt work therst time, well gure out what went

wrong and do better.San Jose State has already

achieved remarkable results with on-line materials from edX, a non-protonline provider, in its circuits course,a longstanding hurdle for would-beengineers. Usually, two of every vestudents earn a grade below C andmust retake thecourse or changecareer plans. Solast spring, El-len Junn, theprovost, visited

Anant Agarwal,an M.I.T. professor who taught a freeonline version of the circuits class, toask whether San Jose State could be-come a living lab for his course, therst offering from edX, an online col-laboration of Harvard and the Mas-sachusetts Institute of Technology.

The results were striking: 91 per-cent of those in the blended sectionpassed, compared with 59 percent inthe traditional class.

Were engineers, and we checkour results, but if this semester issimilar, we will not have the tradi-tional version next year, said Khos-

row Ghadiri, who teaches the blend-ed class. It would be educationalmalpractice.

It is hard to say, though, howmuch the improved results comefrom the edX online materials, andhow much from the shift to class-room sessions focusing on smallgroup projects, rather than lectures.

Until now, there has been littledata on how well the massive on-line courses work, and for whichkinds of students. Blended coursesprovide valuable research data be-cause outcomes can easily be com-

pared with thosefrom a traditionalclass. The resultsin the San Josecircuits courseare probably the

most interestingdata point in the whole MOOC move-ment, Mr. Jarrett said.

Dr. Junn said, We want to bringall the hyperbole around MOOCsdown to reality, and really see at agranular level thats never before

been available, how well they workfor underserved students.

On Wednesday, San Jose Stateannounced that next fall, it will paya licensing fee to offer three to ve

more blended edX courses, probablyincluding Harvards Ancient GreekHeroes and BerkeleysArticialIntelligence. And over the summer,

it will train 11 other California Statecampuses to use the blended M.I.T.circuits course.

Traditional teaching will be dis-appearing in ve to seven years, DrQayoumi predicts, as more profes-sors come to realize that lectures arenot the best route to student engage-ment, and cash-strapped universitiescontinue to seek cheaper instruction.

The online mentors work in shiftsat Udacitys ofces in nearby Moun-tain View, Calif., waiting at their lap-tops for the bing that signals a ques-tion, and answering immediately.

We get to hear the aha mo-ments, and these all-caps messagesTHANK YOU THANK YOU THANK

YOU, said Rachel Meltzer, a for-mer clinical