CPUT’s Cape Town campus piazza was packed with students and staff this week as multi-award-winning Afro-Soul artist Lira wowed the crowds at the Department of Student Affairs (DSA) Welcoming Event and Market Day.

Packed to the rafters:  The expectant crowds wait patiently for multi-award-winning songbird Lira to perform.

The annual outdoor event is project managed by Student Development Officers (SDOs) Annette Grobler and Derek Stocken with the support of their colleagues and the technical audio-visual team.

Putting in the extra effort:  Students Affairs staff members monitor proceedings and see that all runs smoothly.

“Market Day is an initiative aimed at boosting students’ morale. Seeing as the DSA wants students to develop holistically, we feel this gives them an opportunity to grow their entrepreneurial skills, amongst other things”, said Grobler. “Last year we had Freshly Ground as part of the World Cup Kick-off promotions, so we thought that this year we needed to bring an artist that can match that standard”, she added.

Hearty Culture: The Department of Horticulture’s beautiful stand sold a variety of flowers, including daisies and red roses for Valentine’s Day, proving to be one of the busiest stalls on Market Day.

A golden performance: Lira won the South African musician of the year award in 2010. The beautiful songstress set the CPUT Cape Town campus alight with an all-round singing and dancing display that will long be remembered.

Apart from enjoying the items on sale at the stalls on display, most people gathered to catch a glimpse of one of South Africa’s most-loved and praised songstresses. Lira delivered a strong vocal performance, helping the crowd forget the sweltering heat.

Master of Ceremonies (MC) for the event was campus radio station Uni FM DJ and second year Marketing student Sikhombiso Mangcu, who did a spectacular job of welcoming the students to the new academic year and sharing the services offered by the DSA. 

Dean of Students Cora Njoli-Motale reminded students to acknowledge and practice the day’s theme ‘Peace, Love and Happiness’.  “These are the best years of your young adulthood, so while you are here to learn, to be a well-rounded individual you must also remember to have a little fun, and be safe while doing it.”

In the driving seat:  Dean of Students Affairs, Ms Cora Njoli Motale, welcomes staff and students to the Cape Town campus.

A moment in time:  Lira prepares backstage as she is about to entertain CPUT students at the Piazza on the Cape Town campus.

By:  Thando J. Moiloa

Written by CPUT News
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Striving towards a better future, CPUT launched its first-ever Green Week at the Cape Town campus on Monday.

The idea for the awareness week came from the Department of Student Affairs (DSA) with the support of various stakeholders including Transet, Horticulture and the Department of Environmental Health.

The launch day highlights included a market day as well as music entertainment by South African celebrity DJ, DJ Fresh. Students turned out in droves to support their fellow student’s stalls as well as to enjoy the great entertainment on offer.

The overall message of the day and the week is to educate students about various ways of being environmentally friendly.

“The focus is really to create awareness and to encourage students to live a greener lifestyle. There are several ways that students can do this. These include switching off plugs that are not being used, not littering as well as being aware of paper consumption,” says Anette Grobler from the Department of Student Affairs.

The market day proved to be a great success and boasted 32 stalls, 99% run by students. Prizes were awarded to the best stalls. First prize was shared by The Green Team and Student Counselling, who equally promoted environmental awareness.

The message from various students at the event was clear. “It’s time to take back our environment, and keep the Mother City and the world clean and beautiful.”

The rest of the week’s informative and fun events include a Water Wise Campaign and an exhibition by the green team, a residence movie evening, a library exhibition, as well as a mountain cleanup, a tree-planting ceremony in Khayalitsha and a beach cleanup.

By Nurahn Ryklief

Pictures Clive Galant

Written by CPUT News
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Make the most out of your time at CPUT and connect with the Department of Student Affairs (DSA).

From an exciting number of sport codes to the choir or university radio station, CPUT students have access to a wide variety of activities outside of the classroom environment.

These activities are all coordinated by the DSA’s various divisions, which includes sport development, student development, arts and culture, student media and student governance.

The department also facilitates environmental programmes, awareness campaigns, and various corporate social responsibility programmes across campuses throughout the academic year.

“We currently have full time DSA staff on most of our campuses and our activities are open and accessible to any registered students and are where possible, free of charge,” says Anette Grobler, a Student Development Officer at DSA.

Globler says the department promotes itself as “your home away from home” and encourages students to visit their various offices and see what they have to offer.

For updates on events, excursion or programmes, like the DSA Facebook page or follow the department on twitter @CPUTSTUDENTS

Contact details

Cape Town Campus
021 460 3149

Bellville Campus
021 959 6637

Wellington Campus
021 864 5247

Mowbray Campus
021 680 1695

Athlone Campus
073 158 9168

Written by Candes Keating
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Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

The Student Affairs Division and Services (DSA) will run the #WiseUp Healthy Living campaign from 19 July to 5 August.

Head of Department: Student Counselling, Leanie Brits, says the mandate of DSA is to educate and support students’ adjustment, development and wellness outside of the classroom through its various service portfolios.  “We strive to create opportunities for engagement and education to empower our students to grow. The prolonged lockdown and COVID-19 pandemic brought with it an increase in psychosocial challenges for students.

“The pandemic challenged people’s resilience and placed great strain on people’s general coping strategies,” says Brits.

The #WiseUp Healthy Living campaign emanated from the need to empower the CPUT community with information, tools, and resources to maintain the fundamental principles of a healthy body and mind.  “It also seeks to promote wellness, mental health, and amongst others, focus on depression and suicide awareness, substance use and abuse and gender-based violence (GBV) awareness,” emphasises Brits.

She adds that the campaign is supported by CPUT’s external partners, the Department of Social Development, the National Institute of Community Development and Management, and the Department of Health, exhibiting on campus on the 19th and 20th of July. The Department of Student Counselling and Campus Health clinic will also show these days.

Students are encouraged to attend the exhibitions’ stalls and the various activities that will run during the campaign. The organisers anticipate that more than 500 students will participate in the on-campus events that will run during this period. The campaign has to adhere to COVID-19 protocols, and therefore, certain activities will be limited per number of attendees to comply with venue capacity restrictions. The drama performance and exhibitions are open air/outside events, these activities will be regulated but limited.

The target audience is all CPUT students, especially students who seek to empower themselves with knowledge and those who want to learn how to live and maintain a healthy life. “This campaign allows students to learn the facts about general strategies to maintain wellness and mental health, substance use and abuse, depression and suicide, and GBV,” summarises Brits.

She also states that wellness and mental health should be a daily priority and that without proper self-care, one might find it challenging to focus on one’s academics and may even notice social and emotional problems such as depression, low motivation, isolation, high levels of stress and inability to deal with pressure.

“Students may end up engaging in unhealthy coping strategies such as increased alcohol use, unhealthy eating and sleeping habits, etc. We are holistic beings; wellness and mental health cannot be separated from our work and academics. We encourage the CPUT community to #BeWise and equip themselves with the knowledge to live healthily,” adds Brits.

To view the line-up, click this link:

Written by Aphiwe Boyce

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The Division of Student Affairs (DSA) recently held the Presidential Youth Employment Stimulus (PYES) Programme Graduate Interns Induction Training workshop at the Bellville campus.

The PYES Graduate internship programme officially commenced on 5 July 2023 and will run up until December 2023. On the first day of training at the library seminar room, the graduates were welcomed by Melani-Ann Hara, Student Development Officer at the Student Governance and Leadership Development, who is also a co-ordinator of the DSA Graduate Internship Programme.

The interns also received inspirational words of wisdom from the Acting Dean of Students, Nonkosi Tyolwana. Amongst those present were staff members and Central Student Representative Council members, Xolani Booi and Ramano Mpfunzeni, who provided their messages of support to the graduates.

The 23 Interns were selected from a large number of prospective graduates who applied for the programme from numerous departments such as Project Management, Office Management, Public Relations, Marketing, Journalism, Photography, Events and Sports Science. These interns are funded through the PYES Programme.

The workshop also comprised of presentations from various heads of departments within DSA namely Leanie Brits, Student Counselling; Melanie Swanson, HIV Campus Health; Dr Amanda Ismail, Disability Unit; Sammy Elie, Student Development & Leadership Development; Chris Williams, Student Life and Residential Services and Tumiso Mfisa from Centre for Diversity Inclusivity and Social Change.

Hara said the aims of the presentations were to “educate and provide an overview of the services offered within the DSA”. “The interns were made aware of what is expected of them and [they were] provided with an overview of Vision 2030,” she continued.

“The graduate interns now understand their role in creating awareness to students about the resources that these departments contain, and to fully utilise and develop their network and connection to better their future.”

The second day of training focused on team building and cohesion, with Hara curating various activities and visual aids to help the graduates settle in and “create strong chemistry between the new interns”

Written by CPUT News

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The Division of Student Affairs (DSA) in partnership with the Centre for Diversity, Inclusivity and Social Change (CDISC) and the Convocation recently hosted a successful workshop to conceptualise a holistic and transformative student leadership Incubation programme.

The theme of the workshop was: Preparing and Influencing the next generation Student Leaders: Incubating Change.

The organising team, which included CDISC Transformation Coordinator, Tumiso Mfisasa and Melanii-Ann Hara, Student Development Officer, acknowledged that the university has the mandate to contribute to the development of students to become global citizens who can take the country forward by making valuable inputs economically and socially. However, this can only be achieved in an enabling environment for them.

Acting Dean of Students, Nonkosi Tyolwana, presented the purpose of the symposium in which she talked about transformation and decolonisation across the academic and social architecture of universities.

The workshop was an opportune moment to shape the direction of the incubation programme to respond to this mandate. The Student Leadership Incubation programme also acknowledged that student leaders:

      
• Come from different areas of leadership such as political, academic, economic, spiritual, psychological and professional spheres and there is a need for a holistic approach that enhances graduate attributes across faculties
      
• Are members of society as they reflect their respective communities, and they need to be involved in strategic policies or opportunities available for post-university life to participate as South African, African, and global young citizens amongst others.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, Dr David Phaho said: “If we are to develop the capable state envisaged by Nelson Mandela and his Rivonia Trial Immortals, the focused development of student leadership is non-negotiable. The fact that we are specifically looking at students’ leaders is also significant. These are students who out of their own volition are actively involved in university political structures and still advance and do well in their studies will make their development as envisaged by this Workshop a worthwhile investment for any institution and indeed society.”

Reflecting on the workshop, Mfisa said: “The workshop was a huge success as it was able to host 150 participants as well as to launch and consult on the key deliverables in preparing for the next generation of student leaders.” Through the workshop the facilitators and participants developed students as future leaders and provided them with the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to their sphere of leadership interest be it social, academic, cultural, political, psychological, spiritual, economic and entrepreneurship through the five commissions they had.

During the workshop a platform to mentor and develop the upcoming student leaders on campus and prepare them for the world beyond university life was also witnessed. “And through the feedback the participants had provided during engagements proved to be a success as we received support from participants and where we may expand the leadership programme,” Mfisa observed.

“In that way we were able to strengthen the role of student leadership and deepen the principle of participatory democracy while teaching servant leadership values. Whereas we managed to recruit, develop, and nurture senior and aspiring student leaders who display exceptional commitment and passion in various leadership skills which proved a success for the participants.” Mfisa and Hara’s role were to facilitate and oversee all preparations of the workshop, which included liaising with all guests and arranging all workshop needs to make it a success with additional support coming from colleagues and interns within the respective offices.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce

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Believe in what you can do, and you will overcome any obstacles in life.

This is the message the new Dean of Student Affairs, Nonkosi Tyolwana, wants to convey to students as she starts her new role.

Tyolwana, joined CPUT in 2018, and previously held the position of Director: Institutional Transformation, Social Cohesion and Diversity.

She continues her message to students as follows:

“Being successful is easy if you choose to do it. It’s okay to make mistakes sometimes. Making mistakes is a great way to learn since you will remember every single one of them and won’t repeat them. Don’t you ever doubt your ability to succeed. You will be the person you want to be and achieve your dreams as long as you work hard for them. Mistakes are inevitable. Always learn from them, and they will help you improve every time.”

Her main priorities as Dean will include the following key issues:

Ensuring the implementation of Division of Student Affairs (DSA) strategy that is aligned to Focus Area 7: Student engagement and experiences: Vision 2030 strategy.

Ensuring the implementation of and monitoring of key departmental student-centric strategic goals to ensure “Oneness and smartness” as a DSA family.

Ensuring the professionalisation of student affairs staff in line with DHET requirements.

Enhancing holistic and transformative development and wellness of our students to enhance access, success and retention.

Ensuring the implementation of Student Parliament to ensure the accountability of the SRC to CPUT community.

Facilitating the Student Leadership Incubation to enhance CPUT’s graduate attributes and prepare them for the life beyond student life.

Eliminating all forms of abuse, harassment, GBV and other forms of discrimination, xenophobia, sexism and other “isms” phobia

In line with this, her favourite quote is by late President Nelson Mandela.

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. it is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

Outside of work Tyolwana volunteers to do transformative community work and also enjoys reading.

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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