A willingness to tackle difficult topics and include creative influences in his lectures have earned a CPUT lecturer a top teaching award.

Siddique Motala, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying, was recently announced as a National Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award winner for 2017 and will formally receive the award at a gala ceremony in November.

The award is made on behalf of the Council of Higher Education (CHE) and the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of South Africa (Heltasa) and recognises the unique contributions winners make to their classrooms.

Motala was also awarded the CPUT Faculty of Engineering’s Teaching and Learning Award in 2016 and credits his achievements to an interest in exploring more than just quantitative teaching methods.

“In Engineering there can be a split between the hard sciences and the soft, which is the part that would be more interested in aspects like ethics. This could translate into a situation where ethical considerations are simply a box to tick. Ultimately to me a surveyor doing their job ethically is doing their job properly,” he says.

In an effort to encourage his students to explore more creative solutions Motala doesn’t shy away from discussions about race, religion, class and even the Fees Must Fall debate. Additionally creative avenues like history, art and a deliberate focus on Africa makes his students relate to one another in completely innovative ways.

“It is unfortunate that our local students will often be able to point out New York or London but not Benin or other African countries, this has presented an opportunity for foreign African students to take the lead in class,” he says.

Motala, along with two other winners, Drs Mark Marais and Muhammed Nakhooda, will also be recognised at an Institutional Teaching and Learning Awards ceremony event next week.

Written by Lauren Kansley
Tel: +27 21 953 8646
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Liaises with the media and writes press releases about interesting developments at CPUT.

The issue of renaming the Cape Town campus may be a thorny one but Vice-Chancellor Dr Prins Nevhutalu says it is our obligation to act.

CPUT’s Cape Town campus (previously Cape Technikon) was built on prime real estate on the city’s edge after forced removals during apartheid pushed the District Six community out of the area.

The subsequent development of Cape Technikon on the land antagonised the community and to date much of the surrounding land remains undeveloped.

The District Six integration project is an attempt by the university to right some of the historic wrongs which were committed prior to CPUT’s existence.

Some of these interventions include land restoration- where a large parcel of land east of the campus was relinquished, a number of community projects, the development of sport facilities for the neighbouring communities, bursaries and finally the renaming of the Cape Town site to the District Six campus.

Recently the first in a series of community engagements was held between CPUT and District Six stakeholders where the possibility of renaming the campus was broached.

The meeting kicked off with an informative Geographic Information System mapping by Civil Engineering lecturer Siddique Motala which gives an exact idea of where District Six streets and landmarks were in relation to the current campus layout.

In the discussion D6 stakeholders raised concerns about the shallowness of memorialisation without due process and urged the university staff and students to educate themselves around the heritage of the area.

In summing up Nevhutalu told the group that this was only the first in a series of similar discussions.

“I agree with what you are saying. We cannot afford to do nothing, history will judge us harshly if we do that. It is not the only thing we have to do but let us reimagine this campus,” he says.

Written by Lauren Kansley

Tel: +27 21 953 8646
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Liaises with the media and writes press releases about interesting developments at CPUT.