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April 2016 Volume 34
WITSReview
The magazine for ALUMNI and friends of the University of the Witwatersrand
SOUTH AFRICA R20.00 (INCL VAT)
OTHER COUNTRIES R25.00 (EXCL TAX)
Carl & Emily Fuchs Foundation Top Achiever Award 2015 (MACE)
Best External Magazine 2015 (MACE)
Wits improves in
World Rankings
The QS World University Rankings by Subject for 2015/16
were announced on 22 March 2016. Wits has improved in
10 subjects that the QS World University Rankings
measure according to a university’s six performance
indicators: Academic reputation; student-to-faculty ratio;
citations per faculty; employer reputation; international
faculty ratio; and international student ratio.
one
number
in South Africa
Archaeology
Engineering
(Mineral & Mining)
Dentistry
QS Graduate Employability
Rankings 2016
33
Wits University has been ranked
in the
rd world
in Alumni Outcomes*
* QS considered the educational background of over 20 000 highly
influential employers, sector leaders, and award-winning professionals,
as well as individual professionals to rank which universities are proving
themselves as sources of successful employees and employers, and can
claim to have positively influenced their alumni’s development.
Materials Science
Wits ranks
internationally
TOP 14th
Development Studies
50
TOP
100
Geography
Engineering
Minerals & Mining
Anthropology
26th
Performance indicators for
QS subject rankings
Academic reputation
40%
Student-to-faculty ratio
20%
Citations per faculty
20%
Employer reputation
10%
International faculty ratio
5%
International student ratio
5%
Archaeology
TOP
150
English Language
& Literature
Earth & Marine
Sciences
TOP
200
Communication & Media Studies
History
Medicine
Pharmacy & Pharmacology
Politics & International Studies
TOP300
Physics & Astronomy
Source: 2011-2016 QS Intelligence Unit (a division of QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd)
Anthropology
EDITORIAL
In our last issue we reported on the #FeesMustFall campaign
and the various agreements that were reached with students as
a result of their protest action. While there was an awareness
that not all the demands had been met and that not all
students were satisfied, there was general agreement in
society that students at a national level had secured a victory
for greater and more affordable access to university.
Investing in our universities
There was great concern therefore when a new round
Fundraising initiatives such as the Wits SRC’s #Access
of increasingly violent protest action erupted on many
campaign and generous support from corporates
university campuses early in the new year. Wits was
and individual alumni have helped ameliorate the
spared from any disruption, but some universities
immediate plight of especially those students who
experienced such violent and destructive behaviour
do not qualify for financial aid based on the means
that some campuses had to close for a period of time.
test, but who nonetheless cannot afford a university
In an opinion piece published in the Sunday Times on
education.
21 February 2016, Vice-Chancellors Professor Adam
An exciting new fundraising campaign aimed at
Habib and Rhodes University’s Dr Sizwe Mabizela
providing sustainable financial support for students
observed: “The current student protests on campuses
has also been initiated by the Forum of former
across our country are distinctly different from those
Wits SRC and Black Student Society Presidents. The
that we saw last year. The protesting communities no
Forum recently launched the South African Student
longer represent the non-racial, multi-class alliance
Solidarity Foundation for Education, a public benefit
that united the entire student community and
mobilised the support of multiple stakeholders in our
society. Instead, the protest movements have been
organisation that will raise funds for the holistic
support of students in need.
hijacked by small groups that are using increasingly
Perhaps one outcome of the #FeesMustFall campaign
violent methods of protest … The modus operandi
is that South Africa will learn from the example of
of these groups has clearly changed from the broad
many of the most successful universities in the world
and diverse movement that united across race,
by increasingly relying on philanthropy rather than
class, culture and gender lines, to one that is highly
state funds to ensure both access and quality. One
politicised, downright violent and even racist.”
example is Harvard University, which has grown
While it appears that extremist offshoots from
#FeesMustFall have since been isolated and that
safety and security measures have now stabilised the
university sector, there remain many unresolved issues
significant endowment funds over many decades
and has now been able to announce that families
with annual incomes of $65 000 or less will not pay
anything towards the cost of a Harvard education.
that need to be addressed. Foremost among these is
Peter Maher
the issue of affordability of a university education.
Director: Alumni Relations
April 2016 | WITSReview | 1
18
Sylvia Glasser’s Threads, Fana Tshabalala, 2008
CONTENTS
1EDITORIAL
26
& HEART ATTACKS
4LETTERS
6SOCIAL
10
KOOS BEKKER: A FUTURE FOR A VERY
DIFFERENT WORLD
18
SYLVIA GLASSER: MOVING BODIES,
30
PHILANTHROPY: THINKING ABOUT
GIFTING IN AFRICA
2 | WITSReview | April 2016
NIC KOHLER: CLIMBING MOUNTAINS,
CHANGING CAPITALISM
36
Q&A WITH WITH GIDEON KHOBANE
38
DR CYRIL MAZANSKY :
THE PHOTOGRAPHER RADIOLOGIST
CHANGING LIVES
24
DR EVAN STEIN: ROGUE GENES
45
PLACES TO VISIT AT WITS
Editor:
Peter Maher [email protected]
Contributors:
Heather Dugmore [email protected]
Deborah Minors [email protected]
Kathy Munro [email protected]
Keyan G Tomaselli [email protected]
Gail Gordon, Lana Jacobson & Lynda Murray
Design & Layout:
Nicole Sterling [email protected]
Printing: Remata
30
Published by the Office of Alumni Relations,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Address: Private Bag 3, Wits, 2050, South Africa.
Tel: +27 (0)11 717 1090 | Fax: 0864 064 146.
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.wits.ac.za/alumni
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Ref.No.1142 (+ your name) or by cash or credit
card payment at the Alumni Office.
Saint Martin Swamps, Louisiana
38
46
SIR JACK ZUNZ: ENGINEERING AN OPERA HOUSE
48
MANY HAPPY RETURNS: PART ONE
51
WITSIES WITH THE WRITING EDGE
54
BOOK REVIEWS
58OBITUARIES
63
WITS END
WITSReview is published three times a year. The views
expressed in this publication are not necessarily those
of the editor, the Office of Alumni Relations or of the
University of the Witwatersrand. © Copyright of all
material in this publication is vested in the authors
thereof. Requests to reproduce any of the material
should be directed to the editor.
Carl & Emily Fuchs Foundation
Top Achiever Award 2015 (MACE)
Best External Magazine
2015, 2012 & 2010 (MACE)
Best External Magazine
2014, 2013, 2012 & 2011
(SA Publication Forum)
Cover: Three in Green, Venice Carnival
Photo by Dr Cyril Mazansky
LETTERS
#FeesMustFall
LETTERS
Universities’ role in Animal
Farm society
Graduates against violence
on campuses
Dear Editor,
Dear Editor,
Congratulations on another
outstanding issue of WITSReview
(December 2015). Although I did not
find the new digital layout particularly
user-friendly, I thoroughly enjoyed
reading it.
Thank you for the last WITSReview
(December 2015). I would like
through this forum to raise my voice
as a graduate and long time staff
member of Wits, against the violent
nature of the protests at Wits and
on other campuses. Violence begets
further violence.
I’ve been thinking back to what
the University gave me, 60 years
ago; although I was a sports-mad,
immature and an appalling student.
Thinking of characters from literature
that I most resemble, I settle on
Winnie the Pooh, an amiable bear of
little brain, and Boxer from Animal
Farm, whose answer to any challenge
was, “I must work harder”. I now
realise that, without being aware of
it, I was greatly enriched by Wits.
I most enjoyed your editorial. A
widely published photograph of the
Vice-Chancellor kneeling at the feet
of protesting students disturbed me;
not only because it was Professor
Habib, but because of the disrespect
shown for his position. For many
years there has been a strong
anti-intellectual spirit among many. I
thought your approach was balanced
and thoughtful. The proper role
of universities in society is not well
understood.
Mark Henning (BEd 1963, BA Hons
1956), Bryanston, Johannesburg
Wits stands for non-racialism,
peaceful protest, the right of
expression of a diversity of views,
the preservation of the academic
freedoms that were fought for
with intensity in the past, university
autonomy and a quality education
for all who enrol. The issues of high
fee increases, free higher education,
and insourcing of outsourced services
have become explosive and protest
last year closed Wits for two weeks.
This was regrettable.
Protest action has returned this year
and has escalated with more violent
incidents. Physical violence against
people who do not share specific
views is shocking and the protection
of life is top priority. People on
campus must feel safe and in the
right environment to study, teach and
undertake research. There have been
a couple of arson instances at Wits.
The destruction of so-called colonial
art works at UCT was for me terribly
worrying as art is a creative unique
expression, it can’t be replaced.
Burning it is one step away from book
burning and recalls horrible parallels
with what happened in Hitler’s
Germany, but there are many other
instances in history of conflagrations
that set humanity back.
I applaud the Vice-Chancellor in his
many statements and his insistence
on no violence or arson at Wits. I
urge graduates to speak out against
violence, arson and racism on
campuses. I appeal to our community
to continue to support Wits with
funds to transform the lives and
prospects of students, and back Wits’
many fabulous endeavours.
Kathy Munro (BA 1967)
Observatory, Johannesburg
Cool heads must prevail
The Editor,
I share with many South Africans
concerns over the current conflicts
at all the universities, and my Alma
Mater in particular, and hope and
pray, in spite of the significant
challenges facing all the tertiary
institutions, that cool heads
will prevail and inspiration will
enable academics, management,
government and the thousands of
students to negotiate and chart a
constructive way forward, as all try to
make sense out of the turbulence and
seek to find a way meaningful way
forward to build opportunities and
skills for the generations ahead.
Erratum: The March 2015 WITSReview identifies Dr Hilton Selvey (MBBCh 1951) as a national swimming/water
polo champion. Dr Selvey in fact never represented South Africa in any sport. WITSReview regrets the inaccuracy.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME AND CAN BE SENT C/O
THE ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE OR E-MAIL [email protected].
#FeesMustFall cont.
There are many bright minds around
the table to help navigate the
turbulence and political influences
and if some degree of trust can be
established and patience exercised on
all sides the eventual outcome will be
to the benefit of all. Does anybody
fully understand what is expected by
way of “transformation” demanded
of the tertiary institutions, what is
possible to actually achieve, in what
time frame, at what cost and with
what resources?
Stamp of approval for late architect Pancho Guedes
Dear Editor,
Pancho Guedes has been one of the seminal forces in my life. I consider it a
privilege to have learnt from, and later taught with him at Wits. We shared
a mischievous sense of humour which bordered on the satirical, and our
research report-back sessions often degenerated into uproarious and quite
unrepeatable parodies about some of our more pompous colleagues.
Eventually it was Pancho who forced me out of the cosy nest I was making
for myself at Wits, something I resented at the time but which soon proved
to be a correct decision.
We lost touch then, meeting only a few times every year, but he always
maintained an interest in my work, and I know that all my latest publications
I was giving him were being passed on to the Wits architectural library.
I suspect the depth of anger and hurt
will take many years to understand
and for students to come to terms
with, on all sides and across all
racial and cultural groups. How do
students negotiate different cultural
differences and find the means to
engage and open a discourse to
understand and accept differences?
The wilful destruction of University
property and resources, that are
sorely needed to open opportunities
for the generations to come, will not
solve these challenges.
At one stage, during my five-year stint as Head of Philately at the South
African Post Office, the Mozambican Post Office and I began negotiations to
feature Pancho’s work on a joint issue of stamps. Unfortunately the political
climate proved unreceptive, and the project had to be abandoned. Pancho
is, in my personal opinion, still the foremost architect of the 20th century
to have been native to Southern Africa, and is the only one to date to have
enjoyed an international reputation. Perhaps, now that he is gone, such a
project could be resuscitated.
I wish all Wits staff and students
strength, courage, patience and
creative inspiration in seeking
solutions to the challenges that
must seem almost overwhelming at
present. The University has faced,
and overcome, many difficult
challenges in its history and I am
confident you will come to some
constructive resolution sooner rather
than later.
Dear Editor,
Sandy Van Esch (CTA 1972)
Bedfordview, Johannesburg
Franco Frescura (BArch 1977, MArch 1981, PhD 1986)
Westville, KwaZulu-Natal
Ed’s note: An obituary for Pancho Guedes appears on page 59.
Tom and Arthur and Diabetes Mellitus
The fascinating but all too short interview with Professor Arthur Rubenstein
in the March 2015 WITSReview calls forth additional encomiums. Not
only, with his usual distinction, did he in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania occupy
footwear with which William Osler was once shod, but other highly
prestigious medical institutions in the United States had enjoyed Rubenstein’s
multifarious talents. One relates here an accolade, privately expressed some
decades ago: My encounter, either in the old Hillbrow Medical School or
in the old “Gen”, with Professor Thomas H. Bothwell, prince of clinicians,
then already a decades-long world authority on the metabolism of iron, saw
Bothwell hurrying to hear the newly minted Rubenstein, on diabetes mellitus
– an accolade expressing the humility of greatness.
Mark N. Lowenthal (MBBCh 1957), Nordiya, Israel
PAGE NAME
MAGICAL JOURNEYS AT
FOUNDERS’ TEA
Kate Turkington (MA 1976) was the guest speaker at the annual Founders’
Tea held on the Gavin Relly Green, West Campus on 19 November 2015.
Kate is a travel writer, broadcaster and author. She regaled the 400 alumni
present with tales of her magical journeys and hilarious recollections of
her student days at Wits. A memorial booklet of RAG photographs that
alumni submitted was on each table supplementing the RAG theme of the
Tea. Alumni were invited to write down their Wits memories, a selection
of which appears alongside. Following nationwide student protests in
October 2015, Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib reassured alumni at the Tea of
the University’s commitment to balancing the right to learn with the right
to protest – as is the University’s historical legacy. Founders are alumni
who graduated 40 or more years ago. VIEW PHOTOS
Top: Deputy ViceChancellor Professor
Tawana Kupe and
guest speaker Kate
Turkington Bottom
left: Round-table
reminiscing at
Founders’ Tea
Bottom right:
Graham Richardson
(HDip Tax Laws 1981)
and his wife, Gaile
PAGE NAME
“The most enduring memory of Wits is how
proud I was to be a Witsie and part of a great
class learning engineering. That spirit has
remained ever since.” Ivor Bailey (BSc Eng Civil 1962)
“I loved my time at Wits in Women’s Res, where
I met some lovely friends. We had wonderful
lecturers and BA taught me to think and
appreciate life. I also met my future husband
here!” Pam Bailey (née Steele) (BA 1962)
“RAG 1959. Engineering students blew up the
bridge on the river Kwai at His Majesty’s in
Commissioner Street – big trouble – traffic
stopped – up before the VC on Monday morning.
Let’s have a Kwai RAG.” Paul Taylor (BSc Eng Civil 1962)
“Anti-apartheid protests, Wits vs. Tuks rugby
game. Wonderful lectures; stimulation after a
sheltered childhood. Great friendships, taught me
to think! Married a Witsie.” Berna Foden (BSc 1967, BSc
Hons 1970, MSc 1974)
“I remember with sadness the day we arrived
at our Zulu lecture to learn that Mr Robert
Sobukwe – our very charismatic, much-loved
lecturer – had been detained. There was total
disbelief followed by anger amongst the group.”
Prue Nicolson (née Kingsley-Jones)
“I was a member of the South African Voluntary
Services. We built schools and clinics in rural
areas during holidays. It shaped my life and my
friendships.” Barry Dwolatzky (BSc Eng Elec 1975)
“I remember doing war cry practice at the
swimming pool for Inter-Varsity Wits-Tuks.”
Barbara Wentworth (BSc 1970)
Reminisce
FOUNDERS’ TEA 2015
PAGE NAME
HIGHLAND FLING
FOR ALUMNI IN
EDINBURGH
Wits and the University of Edinburgh have
formalised a research partnership. Edinburgh’s
Centre of African Studies and Wits’ African
GETTY IMAGES
Centre for Migration and Society launched
the Security at the Margins (SeaM) project at
the Edinburgh College of Art on 5 February
WITSIES ACTIVE IN ISRAEL
2016. The SeaM project explores the
Herzliya Pituach – Nine Wits Medical School graduates of the
of marginality in urban South Africa. Wits
class of 1955 reunited for the first time in Israel at the Tavola
Restaurant on 31 October 2015. Convener Dr Neil Schwartz
(MBBCh 1955) welcomed alumni to their 60th anniversary
and noted that Dr David Gruebel Lee (MBBCh 1955) had
travelled all the way from England. Wits’ convener in Israel, Dr
Les Glassman (BSc 1979, BDS 1984), encouraged alumni to
reminisce and recorded the proceedings.
strategies individuals use to negotiate forms
alumna Dr Jo Vearey (PhD 2010) curated an
exhibition entitled Queer Crossings as part of
the launch. Dr Barbara Bompani, who spent
time at Wits during her PhD, and Professor
James Smith (MSc 1998, PhD 2001) invited
Witsies in Scotland to attend. There are
approximately 80 Witsies in Scotland. Those
who attended proved a lively addition and
Herzlia – “Mandela and the Jewish community” was the
socialised late into the night. Prof. Smith is
theme of an event held at Beth Protea on 11 August 2015.
Vice-Principal International at Edinburgh and
Wits Alumni in Israel, Truth be Told, and Telfed co-organised
the Wits alumni convener there.
the event, which His Excellency, the South African Ambassador
Sisa Ngombane attended. Wits’ convener in Israel, Les
Glassman (BSc 1979, BDS 1984), and Lyn Lochoff (BA 1973),
Director of Beth Protea, addressed guests and Marlene
Bethlehem, former Chairman of the South African Jewish
Board of Deputies shared recollections of her relationship with
the late Nelson Mandela (honorary LLD 1991).
Jerusalem – Wits’ convener in Israel, Dr Les Glassman (BSc
1979, BDS 1984), Telfed and the Jewish National Fund hosted
an event at the Jewish Agency Building on 12 May 2015.
Colonel Richard Kemp, CBE, former commander of British
forces in Afghanistan, and Isla Feldman, Director of the South
African Zionist Federation, were guest speakers. In his address,
Dr Glassman acknowledged the statements of Vice-Chancellor
Adam Habib and Convocation President Professor Mamokgethi
Phakeng to the former SRC President’s pro-Hitler comments.
Glassman said, “Equality is the hallmark that makes us Witsies
proud!”
EDINBURGH, FEBRUARY 2016. LYNDA MURRAY
SOCIAL
Back L-R: Errol Hackner, Alan Richards, Otto Thaning, Des Fernandes,
John Hodkinson, Keith Marks, David Lipschitz, Alan Menter. Middle
L-R: Heather Crewe-Brown, Eric Cohen, John Hyde, Ian Gross, Michael
Eliastam, Basil Porter, John Hyde, Rob Jacobson, Ruth Safier (Nathanson),
Norman Silverman, Eric Faerber, Alan Reichman. Front L-R: Arthur Bass,
Patti Suzman, Roger Rosenberg, Mike Belman, Roy First, Justin Silver,
Ryan Kramer, Mary Edginton.
CLASS OF ’66 BOLSTER PV TOBIAS FUND
The Wits Medical School class of 1966 reunited in Johannesburg for their 50th anniversary.
The reunion, from February 1–3, combined a fundraising dinner, talks and tours. The class
raised R530 000 ($34 682) for the PV Tobias Fund. Dr Mary Hodkinson (MBBCh 1966, MSc
Med 1990, PhD 1999) and Professor Michael Eliastam (MBBCh 1966) convened the three-day
itinerary. Alumni enjoyed a tour of the archaeological site Drimolen, led by Dr Colin Menter
(PhD 2003), son of Dr Alan Menter (MBBCh 1966), and alumni then enjoyed two nights in
a game reserve. Back on campus, Dr Martin Smith (MBBCh 1982) delivered a talk on health
politics in South Africa. A memorial for deceased alumni preceded cocktails and dinner at the
Adler Museum of Medicine, culminating in an after-dinner address by Dean of the Faculty of
Health Sciences, Professor Martin Veller (MBBCh 1979, MMed 1990).
BRAVE NEW WORLD
Markets ebb and flow,
but one constant that
Naspers Chair Koos Bekker
understands is that people
need to
connect
with one
another
and the
world.
A future
for a very
different
world
HEATHER DUGMORE SPEAKS TO WITS ALUMNUS
KOOS BEKKER ABOUT COMMUNICATION,
CHINA AND TRANSITION.
“Communication technology has transformed the globe in two short decades,” he says.
“For example: of the businesses that Naspers currently operates in 130 countries, about
98% by value did not exist when I graduated with an LLB from Wits in 1978. In the 1980s
came pay TV, in the 1990s cell phones. The internet was invented when I was in my forties,
and today it’s our main business. These days one has to learn on the hoof and the pace of
innovation is quickening, not slowing.”
PAGE NAME
PHOTO CREDITS: COURTESY OF KOOS BEKKER
BRAVE NEW WORLD
Uncanny ability to anticipate the future
With an uncanny ability to anticipate the future
and adapt, he headed for China in 1997 to
invest in communication technology long before
China became a business destination.
Four years later, Naspers hit the jackpot when
it invested US$32-million in a Chinese internet
company called Tencent. Its stake has soared
to US$66-billion today, the most valuable
investment Naspers ever made.
Despite this, Bekker is not especially concerned
“FAILURE IS OFTEN
USEFUL. AFTER ALL,
WHEN YOU SUCCEED
ALL YOU LEARN IS HOW
SMART YOU ARE”
about China’s current economic slowdown.
“This year China is growing at a slower pace
than its own average for the past three decades,
but that’s still faster than the United States or
Europe,” he explains.
Chinese slowdown
“The slowdown does not really affect us
because it hit construction and manufacturing
hardest, while Tencent provides consumer
services, focusing on instant messaging, online
games (such as League of Legends), video and
entertainment portals, which continue to grow.”
Tencent now generates the fourth largest
revenue stream of internet companies
worldwide.
“A growing field for us is e-commerce, where
Tencent invested in services like JD (which
resembles Amazon), taxi-hailing apps (like Uber),
and offline-to-online commerce services.”
What people outside China often miss, he
adds, is that it is no come-lately. China was the
biggest economy for most of the past 2 000
Sitting in the bath
“It’s a long-term commitment. When markets
struggle, it’s worth reminding oneself while
sitting in the bath that it does not matter at all
what the share price is doing tomorrow, but
it does matter a great deal what it’s doing five
years hence.”
At the age of 62 Bekker has plenty of bathtubs
from which to gain perspective. He has homes
in a number of countries and is constantly
travelling the world, mobile office in hand.
His physical office at Naspers’ headquarters in
Cape Town is on the 17th floor of a landmark
overlooking the harbour, but the internet and
e-commerce world has no fixed geographical
space; the office is everywhere.
Not afraid of risk or failure
years. Only from the 18th century to the end
He is constantly on the lookout for new
of the 20th century did it lose that position.
opportunities and he is not afraid of risk or
Recognising that China was likely to resume its
failure. “Failure is often useful. After all, when
pre-eminence, Bekker took the decision to invest
you succeed all you learn is how smart you are,”
in ICT businesses there 17 years ago.
he explains.
PAGE NAME
“When you fail, you might possibly learn
to improve yourself. Before Tencent,
for example, our first three investments
in China were flops, then the internet
bubble burst in 2000 and the market
collapsed. We lost all our money, which
is remarkably easy in the fast-moving
internet space. After all, some 90% of
start-ups in this sector fail within 18
months. But then we fixed our defects
and the next round worked out.”
In Bekker’s world “a gun to the head
concentrates the mind admirably”.
Heavily invested in e-commerce
Naspers today is heavily invested in
e-commerce, especially in classifieds,
where it is one of three world leaders.
“But investing in this sector requires
patience,” he adds. “It’s no get-richquick business.”
What certainly helps is that his wits
are attuned to punting futuristically, as
indicated by his Forbes listing amongst
Africa’s richest.
He has as a string of lucrative startup
communication technology investments
to his name, including M-Net,
MultiChoice and being a founder of
mobile technology giant MTN. Both
Naspers and Bekker made substantial
profits from this.
“I’ve been fortunate, but in business your
fortune can change in five minutes. Only
quick adapters will survive long-term,
which is why Naspers will continue to
invest in emerging markets, try new
technologies and seek out young
entrepreneurs with ambitions whom we
can back.”
MY LLB AT WITS
“After a BA Law and an Honours in Literature at
Stellenbosch University, I joined Wits in 1976 for an LLB.
I sought a contrast to Stellenbosch, where I was editor of
the student newspaper, which was then at odds with the
National Party youth wing on the right.
“Wits offered a progressive metropolitan experience in a
vibrant city during the politically turbulent 1970s. I loved
the diversity of views.
“Wits had much less of a ‘res’ character than Stellenbosch.
Unlike the latter or Cambridge or Yale, Wits does not
dominate a town. It’s more like Columbia University in
New York, where I studied later: a university at the heart
of a metropolitan jungle, breathing and heaving with the
city sounds all around.
“While at Wits, I studied by day and translated TV dramas
at night. That was the start of a journey that later took me
to the US and eventually to the launch of M-Net in 1986.
“Curiously, one often makes one’s lifelong friends at
university. I guess you’re too immature still at school, too
rigid or preoccupied with the rat race later. University
seems to be the ideal moment to link to lifelong friends.”
KOOS BEKKER
GETTY IMAGES
At a glance Q&A with Koos Bekker
AT A GLANCE
How do you keep balanced?
I’m quite poor at balance – I find work a lot
more entertaining than social chitchat.
What does money mean to you?
These are big achievements. However, most recently,
our economic trends turned sharply negative. We have
enterprising people and one of the most beautiful
countries in the world, so if we address this trend with
a sense of urgency and manage our economy well,
A little bit of money buys freedom. But not
there is no reason why we cannot prosper.
that much is needed to live well.
Should Mandarin be taught at schools in
South Africa?
In what way do you think you are
useful to society?
Yes, without a doubt. Naspers helped establish
Our group created tens of thousands of jobs
the first department of Mandarin at a South
in the new South Africa. We also innovated
African university, today the Confucius Institute at
with technologies like the decoder, of which
Stellenbosch. Any local child who manages to master
R6-billion worth have been exported. We
Mandarin has acquired a useful skill. Learning the
helped create pay TV and and we helped
language not only helps us communicate with people
launch cellular telephony here. Now we’re
in one of the top two economies globally, it also
crafting a range of internet services, including
teaches us quite a bit about Chinese culture, including
News24 and OLX.
dinner etiquette, history and the way to do business:
it’s an exciting, fascinating culture.
What do you think about South Africa
today?
How is business done in China?
Under Madiba the post-1994 South Africa
By comparison, in the US one can easily conclude a
started building some sense of common
major long-term contract without ever eating with
destiny. That seems to be unravelling. We
your counterpart. Good luck if you try this in China:
haven’t yet achieved a ‘we’ society – where
there, you first have to establish trust. This is best
all feel valued and included. Clearly, we need
done by spending time together and sharing a meal
to evolve a society where people are not
where famous Chinese dishes are served.
classified by race. A good public school system
What’s your favourite Chinese dish?
is the most efficient equaliser. But our worst
performance as a country is a dysfunctional
Up North: Beijing kaoya (Peking duck). I’m also partial
school system. So there’s work to do.
to the clean steamed fish dishes of Guangdong in the
What do you think about South
Africa’s economy?
I must add that Chinese red wines have markedly
South Africa has grown at a real average of
3.1% since 1994, which is better than the
South and the spicy stuff from Sichuan in the West.
improved over the past decade.
What can South Africa learn from China?
Eurozone or the US. Looked at differently:
One of the interesting features there is that civil
about half the wealth in South Africa today
servants are often highly qualified and most efficient.
(thus all the shares, property, cash) was
They make it clear that foreign investment in China is
created since 1994, post-apartheid.
welcome and they are very helpful to new investors.
PAGE NAME
COMMUNICATION
IS CHANGING
THE FACE OF
UNIVERSITIES
“I
love universities and being around young
“Many universities seem perplexed how to respond.
people, which is why I lectured at a few
Some, like MIT in the United States, go online in
places from Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia to
hearty fashion, hoping to build out a global brand and
Maastricht to Nanjing.
one day to figure out how to earn income from this
“It’s remarkable how Asian students are more
ambitious than Western ones – in China students will
mob you after the lecture, each punting their business
concept. European students in general have a less
burning drive to succeed and some start talking about
the weekend on Wednesday.
The future is in transition
“As for the future of universities worldwide, it’s in
transition. In the past you went to university for three
to seven years, and loaded up on knowledge that you
then applied in the world outside for the rest of your
model. On the other hand institutes like Oxford do
the opposite: avoid online and emphasise the unique
benefits of their traditional face-to-face tutorial system.
Restructure to compete
“The jury is out, but I suspect lots of universities will go
under rather than make the transition, and restructure
the way they operate to compete with other higher
learning institutions. They need to offer more short
courses to meet the ongoing need for new skills, which
is also a wonderful opportunity for universities to retain
students over the long term.
life. That model is now breaking down in a world
“Universities also need to offer far more blended
where fast innovation compels us to retrain ourselves
learning and online study options to meet the
every few years.
growing demand for higher education, and to be
“The present-day university emerged out of the
monasteries of the Middle Ages and retains many of
the old titles and habits. This conservative foundation is
not well suited to the new pace of innovation.
able to offer access to students wherever they are
situated. Geography will no longer provide protection
to universities as higher education options become
increasingly available online.”
WHAT’S ON
30 AUGUST – 4 SEPTEMBER 2016
2016 Health Sciences Reunion
& Gala Dinner
Faculty of Health Sciences, Wits University
All Health Sciences graduates from around the
globe are invited to reunite with classmates,
lecturers and their alma mater to reminisce and
renew friendships. The reunion will also celebrate
and honour the following special anniversary
classes: 2006, 1996, 1991, 1986, 1981, 1976,
1971, and 1966.
The preliminary programme includes visits to
the Adler Museum of Medicine, the Anatomy
Museum, Wits Art Museum, Origins Centre,
Institute of Evolutionary Studies (formerly Bernard
Price Institute for Palaeontological Research),
and the Phillip V Tobias Health Sciences Building,
among others. There will be cocktails and dinner
at the revamped Wits Club and talks that include
the AJ Orenstein Memorial lecture and various
research topics.
Email your interest in attending to HGA President,
Dr Paul Davis, [email protected]
THURSDAY 23 JUNE 2016
5 – 8 AUGUST 2016
A Festschrift to honour Prof. Michael
Kew | South African Gastroenterology
Society (SAGES) Congress
Council for Scientific & Industrial Research
The Gastroenterology Foundation of South Africa
will recognise eminent alumnus Professor Michael
Kew by hosting a Festschrift symposium on liver
cancer and viral hepatitis on Monday 8 August.
Confirmed international speakers at the symposium
include Dr Adrian Di Bisceglie (USA), Professor
Geoff Dusheiko (UK), Dr Jay Hoofnagle (USA), and
Dr Massimo Pinzani (UK). The symposium forms
part of the SAGES congress from 5–8 August.
All interested alumni are welcome to attend.
Details: Karin Fenton, [email protected]
18 – 20 OCTOBER 2016
Biennial Wits Medical School
Alumni Reunion
Hotel Contessa, San Antonio, Texas, USA
The reunion, which will honour the Class of 1966’s
50th anniversary, is open to all Medical graduates
but attendance is limited to 80 guests.
Alumni Networking Event with
guest speaker Arthur Goldstuck,
MD WorldWideWorx
Details: Dr Martin Coleman, [email protected]
Technology Trends Shaping the Next Decade
Founders’ Tea
Wits Club, West Campus, Wits
Time: 09:00 | Cost: R100 per person
Details: [email protected] | 011 717 1093
Guest speaker: The Public Protector, advocate
Thuli Madonsela (LLB 1991)
Gavin Relly Green, West Campus, Wits
Details: [email protected] | 011 717 1093
17 NOVEMBER 2016
SYLVIA GLASSER
Moving bodies,
changing lives
Back in 1977, one year after South Africa’s
Soweto Riots, dancer and choreographer Sylvia
Glasser and her husband Professor David Glasser
were on sabbatical in Houston, Texas.
BY LANA
JACOBSON
MOVING INTO DANCE
S
outh Africans of all
races were fearful
about developments
in the country at
that time and many
families emigrated, mostly to
Canada, the UK and Australia.
David, a Professor of Chemical
Engineering at Wits, was
offered a job in Houston
but the couple felt strongly
that South Africa had given
them so much that they were
compelled to return and make
a worthwhile contribution to
their country of birth.
Sylvia was already a celebrated
teacher and choreographer,
having studied dance for
almost five years at the
London College of Dance and
Drama in the early 1960s and
completed a diploma course
there, as well as an MA in
Dance from the University of
Clear Lake City in Houston and
a BA degree at Wits.
On their return from the
USA Sylvia decided to start
a nonracial dance company,
teaching from her garage,
and in 1978 she founded
Moving into Dance (MID).
Funding was non-existent. The
whole family was involved:
David recorded music, made
the sets, photographed the
dances, took videos and
worked with sound during
performances. (He went on
to become chairman of MID
1983 MID company Great Hall. Photo Nan Melville
as a non-profit organisation.)
SYLVIA GLASSER
Their daughter Nadine danced with
The performances garnered rave
the company for two years and their
reviews in some quarters, but were
son Benjamin worked backstage from
scorned in others. Awards for Sylvia’s
the age of 15, until they too joined the
work and her protégés’ choreography
family tradition of graduating from Wits,
and dance flowed
with honours in Computer Science and
in. She empowered
an MSc in Chemical Engineering, later
and transformed the
receiving PhDs respectively in Australia
lives of hundreds of
and the USA.
performers, teachers,
It was risky at the time to teach racially
mixed classes. However, Sylvia openly
stated: “My work was, and is, implicitly
choreographers and
leaders in the dance
community.
and explicitly political, and a total
Moving into Dance also
contradiction to apartheid. I was using
performed regularly
African dance aesthetics, ritual and music
at the celebrated
mixed with Western contemporary dance
Dance Umbrella, which
forms, which I later called Afrofusion.”
raised the standard of
Black dancers often slept at the Glassers’
Johannesburg home as it was dangerous
for them to travel at night, and this
compounded the risk of arrest for the
Glassers and the dancers.
contemporary dance in
South Africa. This too
was a nonracial and
free platform for the
company to present
its work. It promoted
In 1981 the first mixed dance
young choreographers
performance was held at Wits Great
from MID and
Hall. There were three black dancers and
helped launch their
eight white dancers. In later years all the
international careers.
dancers were black. During the 1980s
and early 1990s MID was a platform for
black and white people to come together
to break down barriers of apartheid.
Towards the end of the
1980s Sylvia enrolled
at Wits for a threeyear course in social
Funding trickled in from mining
anthropology. “I wanted
companies and some banks, and
to know more about
with the support of the Students
socio-cultural activities
Representative Council (SRC) MID
and my lecturers and
performed at Wits for 10 years. Sylvia
mentors were the late
reminisces, “I loved my time at Wits. The
David Hammond-Tooke,
SRC enabled me to produce work which
the late David Webster,
I couldn’t do elsewhere. My audience
who was assassinated
were students and lecturers.”
while I was a student, and Professor
David Lewis-Williams.”
“I LOVED MY
TIME AT WITS.
THE SRC
ENABLED ME
TO PRODUCE
WORK
WHICH I
COULDN’T
DO
ELSEWHERE”
MOVING INTO DANCE
Sylvia then established a full-time MID Community
Dance Teachers Training Course and an Edudance
Outreach programme in under-resourced schools.
She developed the methodology to teach academic
subjects and social issues
through dance. She has
written 10 academic
papers that have been
presented at international
conferences, and published
in international journals and
books.
“A landmark in my
development was a work
called Tranceformations,
inspired by San trance
dancing and rock art. I was
guided by Prof. LewisWilliams’ interpretation of
rock art.
“I felt one of the important
things I managed to achieve
was to mentor and develop
the talent of underprivileged
choreographers, performers
and teachers who became
internationally famous, such
as Gregory Maqoma and
Vincent Mantsoe,” says
Sylvia.
In 1998, when Moving into
Dance celebrated its 20th
anniversary, in a book titled
20 Years Moving Into Dance
Mophatong, Judge Albie
Sachs wrote: “We South
Africans are good at doing
1983 PHOTO NAN MELVILLE
the impossible. We are not
so good at doing the ordinary. Moving into Dance has
done the impossible and by their very triumph helped to
make the unreachable ordinary.
SYLVIA GLASSER
1998 MID, Passage of Rites.
Photos John Hogg
“They started with virtually no facilities. They were largely a raw
and untutored mix of people from totally divided backgrounds,
frightened by history from establishing physical and rhythmic
contact. They built up an audience unique in South Africa, one
which, unlike other audiences for the other performing arts,
cheers and stamps and expresses its enthusiasm with energy and
engagement.”
Under Sylvia’s guidance, a flow of formerly historically
disadvantaged, impoverished, untrained dancers flourished
and made their mark in the international arena, while MID as a
professional dance company also toured Africa, Europe, Canada,
the USA and Malaysia. “A highlight for me was being selected
as Artistic Director of the South African dance contingent of 35
performers for EXPO 2000 in Hanover Germany,” she says.
Sylvia’s more recent works, such as Blankets of Shame, deal with
urban violence, stigma and denial in relation to rape, paedophilia
and AIDS; in 2008 she collaborated with the acclaimed poet
Lebo Mashile in creating Threads, a multidisciplinary work which
garnered high praise. It dealt with Sylvia’s focus on gender,
socio-political issues and identity.
A review in the Sowetan called it “history in the making”.
Business Day described it as “powerful but deeply lyrical”. And
The Star said: “Threads, with its themes of Afro pessimism
and its stand on abuse against women and children, has
enormous potential to be just as ground-breaking as Glasser’s
Tranceformations and Blankets of Shame.”
In 2013, after nearly 36 years, Sylvia retired from her active role
in MID, but the company continues on the firm foundations
she laid. In 2014 she was awarded a knighthood in the Order
of Oranje-Nassau on behalf of the King of the Netherlands for
“her contribution to democracy (during and after apartheid),
cultural co-operation between South Africa and the Netherlands,
education and the arts, especially her commitment to the
training of young dancers of all races.”
She is now writing a book titled Tranceformations and going
with her husband on an extended trip to Sydney, Australia to
join Nadine and their granddaughters.
2008 MID, Blankets of Shame,
Luyanda Sidiya & Sonia Radebe
MOVING INTO DANCE
AWARDS
AND
HONOURS
1995
FNB Vita Dance Umbrella
Choreographer of the Year
1997
MID Mophatong FNB
Vita Special Achievement
Award for “developing
a uniquely South African
voice in contemporary
choreography and dance
acknowledged both here
and abroad”
1998 & 2008
named as one of the
Top 100 People in The Star
newspaper
2000
FNB Special Award as
“one of South Africa’s
national cultural treasures,
a remarkable social activist
whose exceptional work in
specifically African dance
changes lives, perceptions
and the face of South
African dance”
2004
Lifetime Achievement
award from the Arts and
Culture Trust
2014
Knighthood in the Order
of Oranje-Nassau
2014 Sylvia Glasser, Netherlands Knighthood
Photo John Hogg
RESEARCHING PHILANTHROPY
Thinking about
Gifting in Africa
BY DEBORAH MINORS
GETTY IMAGES
“THE NOTION OF PHILANTHROPY REFERS TO
THE LOVE OF HUMANITY, A MORAL PHILOSOPHY
MANIFEST ACROSS AFRICA AS UBUNTU”
RESEARCHING PHILANTHROPY
Prof. Alan Fowler
Chair in African
Philanthropy
“A critical research theme will start to explore
endogenous philanthropy, or gifting, across subSaharan Africa,” he says.
Gifting is an age-old practice in Africa and plays a
central role within communities across the continent
and the Diaspora. The notion of philanthropy refers
to the love of humanity, a moral philosophy manifest
across Africa as ubuntu (“a person is a person through
other people”).
The Southern Africa Trust helps civil society
The
objective is to create a
research, academic and
teaching focus around the
production and publication
of knowledge on gifting and
its many roles within African
societies. The Southern
African Trust is the partner
organisation.
After living many years in
organisations participate in policy dialogue so as to
The Wits Business School has
launched an initiative bringing
African philanthropy to the
continent as a field of research
and learning. A Chair in African
Philanthropy, the first of its kind
on the continent, will lead the
process. The Ford Foundation
funded the start-up of the Chair,
which Visiting Professor Alan
Fowler will initially occupy.
African countries, Professor
Alan Fowler is currently Emeritus Professor, Institute
of Social Studies, Erasmus University, The Hague. He is
British and speaks English, Dutch and Swahili. He has
been actively involved in both the theory and practice
of international development, concentrating on civil
society organisations. His expertise span politics and
give impetus to the voices of
the poor. Executive Director
Dr Bhekinkosi Moyo regards
philanthropy as the new
paradigm in development, but
equally values investment in
education.
“We have learnt the importance
of practising philanthropy
and studying it,” he says.
“Integrating theory and practice
ensures there is a link between
resources, their utilisation, and
the needs of Africans – this is
why the Chair was established.”
The Chair links the private sector and personal giving
with educational programmes, and with critical areas
in the African economic and political landscape that
provide additional opportunities to achieve sustainable
development.
political-economy; the design, organisation and
Professor Steve Bluen, Director of Wits Business
management of non-profit organisations involved
School, says, “Our mission is to create the academic,
in development; rural extension; vocational training;
research, leadership and character excellence
adult education; and electronic engineering.
conditions that nurture graduates who achieve
Professor Fowler, a self-confessed “pracademic”, will
move away from practical consulting to concentrate
on research and writing as the incumbent Chair in
beyond themselves as Africa’s leaders, in business and
in society. This Chair fits perfectly with who we are as
an institution and what we aim to achieve in Africa.”
African Philanthropy.
PAGE NAME
Rogue
genes
& heart
attacks
When a 21-year-old woman
died under his care from her
fifth heart attack, Dr Evan
Stein began researching and
then described the frequency
of inherited high cholesterol –
familial hypercholesterolemia
(FH). It affects one in 70
Afrikaners and is also
prevalent among Jewish
and Indian South Africans.
In December 2015, Dr Stein
funded the establishment of
an FH facility at Wits.
BY DEBORAH MINORS
GETTY IMAGES
FAMILIAL PHILANTHROPY
Dr
Evan Stein (pronounced “stine”, not “stain”) carries
a recognisable South African accent beneath an
occasional American twang that’s developed since
his emigration in 1974. He was born in Zimbabwe
and came to study medicine at Wits in 1965.
“I didn’t want to go where everyone else went,” he says. “UCT was
Rhodesia-by-the-sea!” This and Wits’ rugby tradition enticed him. He
played prop in Wits under-20A. “I was two inches taller then and about
the same weight, but it was differently distributed then…” he says.
Weighty matters – specifically lipids (fats) and cholesterol metabolism
– would define Stein’s career. He graduated MBBCh in 1970 and then
“I IDENTIFIED
THE HIGH
FREQUENCY
OF FH IN THE
AFRIKANER
POPULATION”
seminal incidents during his internship set the trajectory for his life’s work.
“A 21-year-old girl with a severe and rare form of inherited high
cholesterol died under my care a month into my internship,” says Stein.
“A month later, I was caring for a 28-year-old man with a heart attack,
who also had FH. These incidents provided a lifelong interest in
cholesterol metabolism.”
In 1972, Stein, then 25, established the first lipid clinic in South
Africa. His mentor, Professor John Hansen (honorary PhD
1997), facilitated the establishment of the Familial Lipid
Disorders Centre located in the Transvaal Memorial Hospital
for Children. Professor Dennis Mendelsohn (BSc 1949, BSc
Hon 1950, MBBCh 1954, DMed 1963) at the South African
Institute of Medical Research and Professor Issy Berson
provided laboratory space and research funding.
“They made it possible to turn this initial interest into a real
research career.”
Stein served as clinician-in-charge at the lipid clinic until 1974.
Then he went to McMaster University Medical Center in Canada
to specialise in Medical Biochemistry. In 1977, he moved to the
USA to take up the post of Director of the Chemical
Pathology Division at the University of Cincinnati
Medical Center. He was also appointed to
the Department of Internal Medicine
and had a patient practice in the
Lipid Research Center.
DR EVAN STEIN
Over the last four decades he has investigated and
“I identified the high frequency of FH in the Afrikaner
researched cholesterol-lowering treatments. He was
population, mostly by screening for high cholesterol
one of the initial investigators to study statins and
in cord blood from the placenta of newborn babies,”
carried out the first human clinical trials for the latest
he says. “The frequency I came up with was one in
and most effective drugs, PCSK9 inhibitors.
66. It took two years of arguing with an external
In 1987 he left the University of the Cincinnati
as a tenured full professor and established three
companies: the Cholesterol Treatment Center; the
Christ Hospital Cardiovascular Research Center for
examiner who said this was nonsense – the recognised
frequency for FH around the world was one in 500
at the time. Over the years further data came out
confirming one in 70 in the Afrikaner population.”
clinical trials; and Medical Research Laboratories,
“If we didn’t have cholesterol, we wouldn’t survive,”
a central lab for clinical trials conducted by the
says Stein. “It’s a brick in the wall of every human
pharmaceutical industry and the National Institutes
cell. Every cell has the enzymes required to make
of Health. Stein sold it to Pharmaceutical Products
cholesterol, but most is made in the liver and
Development Inc in 2002.
transported through the blood stream to other cells.”
“My wife, Lindsay Stein, PhD, [née Smith] (BA Honours
So what is the role of cholesterol in causing heart
Speech & Hearing Therapy 1972), was closely involved
disease? It all comes down to how cholesterol is
in the Cardiovascular Research Center,” says Stein.
transported through the blood stream.
In the 1990s, Stein started other companies serving
Oil tankers, faulty ports, and a misguided
captain
the pharmaceutical industry and mostly related to
cholesterol metabolism and diabetes. In 1992 he and
a colleague established Medpace, which provides
clinical trial management services. In 1995 he formed
the Metabolic & Atherosclerosis Research Center. In
2015, he and Dr August Troendle, the Chief Executive
of Medpace, established LIB Therapeutic, a biotech
pharmaceutical company that develops drugs for
cholesterol treatment.
A PhD about FH causing heart attacks
“Think of cholesterol as oil and the liver as the Middle
East,” explains Stein. “Although the world can make
its own energy, we depend on production in the
Middle East. Cholesterol is oil and can’t be transported
on its own through the blood stream because blood
is water-based, meaning the oil will separate, float
because it’s lighter, and stick to solid surfaces.
“Just as oil tankers transport oil through the ocean,
we have ‘tankers’ called LDL [low density lipoprotein].
Throughout his entrepreneurial ventures, Stein
Our LDL tankers have a water soluble protein shell
continued in academia. He was a voluntary professor
and carry cholesterol inside. The LDL moves safely
at the University of Cincinnati until 2015, and still
through the blood stream after being loaded with
teaches and lectures extensively in the USA and
cholesterol and instructions to transport it to various
abroad as a visiting professor. He has published nearly
cholesterol-needing cells. These cells have special ports
300 papers in peer-reviewed journals and carries a
or terminals, called LDL receptors. The protein coating
Hirsch index of 77 with over 31 000 citations. While at
on the LDL tanker acts like the captain. It exchanges
Wits his research on inherited high cholesterol earned
signals with the LDL receptor and, if all is okay, ‘docks’
him a PhD in 1981.
and safely offloads its cholesterol and other contents.
FAMILIAL PHILANTHROPY
“...IT CAN LEAD TO
VERY EARLY HEART
DISEASE AND DEATH
AS YOUNG AS TWO OR
THREE YEARS OLD”
50%
“Just as oil serves no purpose during transport
through the ocean, cholesterol has no purpose while
being transported in the blood stream. However,
when LDL tankers accumulate and stay too long in the
If YOU
have FH
your CHILDREN
have a 50% chance
of inheriting FH
blood stream, the cholesterol leaks out, then infiltrates
and damages the arteries – similar to when a rusty
oil tanker ruptures, releases its oil and damages the
environment. This is why LDL is sometimes called bad
cholesterol.
“In FH the most common defect is in the terminal,
the LDL receptor, which is under genetic control. FH
causes genetic defects that affect the construction
of the LDL receptor and impair its off-loading of
cholesterol. If the LDL tankers aren’t cleared (which
starts at birth in those with FH), they accumulate in
the blood stream and eventually release cholesterol,
which blocks the arteries and causes a heart attack.”
The rogue gene
FH is the commonest inherited disease in the world
associated with significant morbidity and mortality
(disease and death). It affects one in 250 or 30-million
people worldwide. In South Africa, in the Afrikaner,
Jewish and Indian populations, it’s even more
There’s a 50/50 chance that first degree relatives –
brother, sister, father, mother or child – will have FH
as it is not gender specific.
“If you’re unfortunate enough to inherit two rogue
genes, one from each parent, you will have no
functioning ports or LDL receptors at all,” says Dr
Stein. “Soon after birth, LDL cholesterol is extremely
high and deposited everywhere – in skin, tendons and
eyes. It can lead to very early heart disease and death
as young as two or three years old.”
The Evan Stein Centre for FH at Wits
In 2013 Stein and Professor Frederick Raal (MBBCh
1981, MMed1991, PhD 2000) conceived a programme
to detect and treat FH. Raal is an endocrinologist and
runs the lipid clinic Stein established in Johannesburg
45 years ago.
common: one in 70 to one in 100 – the highest in the
In December 2015, the Wits Council approved the
world. The reason? A rogue gene.
establishment of the Evan Stein FH Centre, made
“It’s because of the gene founder effect,” explains
Stein. “A few of South Africa’s early immigrants in the
1600s stepped off a boat from Holland or France with
that gene, and because early settlers lived in isolated
possible by a $460 000 donation from Stein and
a $750 000 endowment from the University of
Pennsylvania that Stein enabled, related to work they
had done together.
communities for many years, the rogue genes spread
Stein concludes, “This is a way for me to contribute
quite widely.”
here where funding for FH research is limited.”
NIC KOHLER
PHOTOS CREDITS: COURTESY OF NIC KOHLER AND HOLLARD
PROFILE
Climbing Mountains,
Changing
Capitalism
Nic Kohler, Wits alumnus (BSc 1993)
and the CEO of the Hollard Insurance
Group, talks to Heather Dugmore
about alpine challenges and the need
for business and capitalism to change.
BY HEATHER DUGMORE
NIC KOHLER
W
e all know that accident and
“Accidents are an important part of learning and
health insurance is only really
building skills. Admittedly small accidents are better
tested in complex, bizarre
than big ones but I believe in perseverance, and
situations – and who better to
in getting right back on that horse or bicycle and
attest to this than Nic Kohler.
climbing the next mountain,” he says.
Over tea in his office at Hollard Insurance’s head office
Perseverance and hard work run in the blood of this
in Parktown, Joburg – a stately complex with Herbert
third generation Witsie, who was a resident of Ernest
Baker buildings and giant old jacaranda trees lining
Oppenheimer Hall in the late 1980s/early 1990s when
the driveway – he shares the following story:
he studied statistics and actuarial science.
“Halfway through Day 6, on a steep,
treacherous descent, I went too fast
and landed up flying off the edge of a
cliff. I fell only a short distance, but the
handlebars sliced open my stomach and
thigh muscles.”
Kohler is describing what happened in
2012 during the Italian leg of the Transalp
Mountain Bike Stage Race across the Alps.
This is one of the toughest mountain bike
races in the world.
He had to be airlifted to an Italian hospital
by helicopter. The handlebars missed his
femoral artery by less than a centimetre.
If it had been severed he would not be
here to tell the tale. If he hadn’t been
comprehensively covered for this extreme
kind of emergency … well, he was.
“The main trauma was not being able to
finish the race,” he smiles. “And when I
got back to work of course I had to put up
with endless ribbing from my colleagues
about whether I was competent to be
running an insurance business, for which
sound risk management is critical.”
“In 1989 there was plenty of police action on campus.
These days he’s slightly more wary of vertical descents
They would frequently use teargas to disperse crowds
but nothing will keep him off his mountain bike or
of students calling for Mandela’s release, which, as we
away from that monster of mountain bike races, the
know, happened in February 1990,” explains Kohler,
Cape Epic. It’s also much closer to his home in Joburg
who chaired the first non-racial house committee at
and excellent medical care.
EOH in 1991.
PROFILE
Everyone on campus felt the gravitas of the era, but there was also plenty of
youthful folly, and Kohler admits that he “may have run through the streets
of Hillbrow with very little clothing on and frightened the life out of the fish in
the Wartenweiler Library fountain.”
As he speaks, the different tones of his personality joust for position. The side
of him that believes you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously sprinkles the
conversation with playful anecdotes, but his deeply respectful, responsible core
being moves to centre stage every time.
There is no doubt the fish in the
fountain can also attest that he put
in serious hours of study in order to
graduate. And to get where he is in his
profession he has continued working
“I BELIEVE IN
PERSEVERANCE,
AND IN
GETTING
RIGHT BACK
ON THAT
HORSE OR
BICYCLE AND
CLIMBING
THE NEXT
MOUNTAIN”
extremely hard for 24 years, 19 of
which have been with Hollard.
“The knowledge, wisdom and belief
that we all have the power to change
things that seem unmovable, all of
which I gained during my time at Wits,
has enabled me to contribute, through
Hollard, to a more sustainable society,
and a work environment where people
can thrive,” says Kohler, who strongly
believes that capitalism and business
need to change.
“There is no doubt in my mind that
the extraction mindset of business as
we know it, and the capitalist system
within which we currently operate, are
unsustainable. This form of capitalism,
which seeks to maximise shareholder
wealth above all else, created the
global financial crisis of 2008 and the
subsequent increase in unemployment,
Nic on the Transalp
Mountain Bike Stage
Race across the Alps
social unrest and austerity measures.
“If we don’t start to embrace the concept of a more conscious form of
capitalism, if we don’t accept the responsibility of helping to address inequality
and becoming more constructive contributory members of society, then I fear
we will all become the helpless observers of an unravelling.”
NIC KOHLER
He explains that in South Africa, where the
“OVER THE NEXT
FIVE YEARS, WE HOPE
TO BRING 500 000
YOUNG PEOPLE
CLOSER TO WORK”
unemployment rate is between 25% and 37% and
where 53% of youth are unemployed, companies
need to rethink their role in society, both in terms of
the business they do and the way in which they do
business.
“While there is no doubt that the profit motive is a
critical part of business, it cannot be the sole measure
of a company’s success. Performance indicators
must also measure how a company is contributing
to building social capital, human capital and
environmental capital.”
Kohler adds that the wage gap between CEOs or
business owners and the majority of staff members is
far too large and that companies need to address this.
“At Hollard we are making sure that the greatest
percentage increases are being paid to the lowest paid
staff to ensure that they can lead dignified lives,” he
explains.
To achieve this, the company is researching basic
living costs and educational costs and has raised the
minimum wage to reflect this. “I also believe that we
have shown restraint in executive pay and I think it is
an issue we should be prepared to address further. I
would support capping of executive pay. There comes
a point when you are earning enough and more than
this is greedy. We live in a country with an enormous
inequality problem and we need to be sensitive to this
and to play our part in addressing it.
“I am confident that if all South African institutions think more holistically
about our impact on and contribution to broader society, then we will
collectively make an important difference.”
Hollard is a founding member of an initiative called the Harambee Youth
Employment Accelerator (harambee.co.za), which seeks to address market
employment failure by matching and placing disadvantaged but talented
young people in full-time employment through an outstanding bridging
programme.
PROFILE
Harambee helps young people with a
Education at all levels is a key focus for
matric or equivalent qualification who
Kohler, who regards it as South Africa’s
have been looking for a full-time job,
most pressing problem and one that
but have not been able to find one. It
needs to be creatively solved.
does the same for young people with
a university degree or other tertiary
qualification.
“I am proud to say that from 2011 to
2015 the initiative has placed over 20
000 young people in formal jobs,” says
Kohler. “Over the next five years, we
hope to bring 500 000 young people
closer to work, providing all of them
with market-relevant employability
services and assisting 100 000 young
“BUT
MOST
OF ALL,
WE NEED
PEOPLE
WITH
HEART”
people to find formal jobs.”
“There is this fascinating book called
Abundance: The Future Is Better Than
You Think, by engineer and physician
Peter Diamandis, who is part of an
organisation called Singularity University.
“It’s all about using the power of
rapidly developing technology to
start overcoming humanity’s biggest
challenges, including education, poverty
and inequality,” Kohler explains. “If
used appropriately, technology can
increasingly enable citizens in developing
As the parents of four, he and his wife
countries to take charge of improving
Janet are committed to South Africa and
their own lives and prospects, rather
to helping improve the lives of fellow
than being constrained by inefficient
South Africans.
governments.
“I hope to raise wonderful, hardworking, socially
“Technology can be used to clean water in deep rural
conscious children. Three of our children are under 10
communities. It can be used to facilitate education and
years of age and our fourth, a foster child, is 21 and
generate energy efficiently, cheaply and renewably.
working in a call centre.”
“When 800-million resourceful African people,
They fostered their oldest daughter, Ivy Tshabalala,
unconstrained by conventional wisdom, are able to
when she was 13 years old. She is the child of Kohler’s
access better education and the World Wide Web,
late housekeeper, Catherine Tshabalala. Shortly after
there will be an explosion of global innovation and
graduating from Wits he made a commitment to
progress. The world will move forward rapidly,
Catherine that if anything happened to her, he would
without waiting for governments that may or may not
help Ivy to get a decent education. Sadly, Catherine
follow through on their promises.”
passed away.
He believes that South Africa and the world need
“I managed to find Ivy near Harare in Zimbabwe. I
idealists, imaginers and revolutionary thinkers: “We
went there with the intention of making sure that
need the curious, the explorers and the lifetime
she was in a good school but she was living in such
learners. We need people with a head for paradox and
terrible conditions that I received permission from
hands for hard work. But most of all, we need people
her relatives to foster her. My wife was incredibly
with heart.”
supportive of Ivy becoming a member of our family.”
Q
&
A
GAME CHANGER
Wits alumnus Gideon Khobane,
39, is the new Chief Executive
of SuperSport. He joined the
MultiChoice Group in 2008 and
held posts as Head of Marketing
and Publicity for M-Net Africa and
Director for Research and Business
Intelligence for M-Net South Africa.
He is a chartered marketer
and holds a Master’s in
Strategic Management
(2014) from WBS.
BY DEBORAH MINORS
with
Gideon
Khobane
BY DEBORAH MINORS
Q&A
In 2008 your task was to grow the
Africa Magic portfolio of channels. Are
you satisfied with the growth and do
you think these channels deliver the
content Africa prefers?
What was your (part-time) campus
experience at Wits and how did you
balance work, life and study?
Consumer preferences change over time. The
My challenge was working on the individual
challenge in the video entertainment business is
assignments and final dissertation. My
to continually evolve and look for new ways to
supervisor’s support was critical. The campus
entertain diverse audiences; to create an affinity
experience was phenomenal. I made lifelong
with the content by establishing new reality
friends and Wits was very supportive. I really
formats, drama series, or comedy specials.
enjoy learning so it wasn’t a massive sacrifice.
In 2012 we refocused the Africa Magic business
to meet the needs of consumers in West
Africa, and Nigeria in particular. This market has
a deep affinity with video entertainment – the
size and scale of the “Nollywood” film market
attests to that.
What’s your opinion of those who
audition for reality shows like Big
Brother Africa, which you launched?
Attending lectures and group meetings on
weekday evenings and Saturdays was easy.
Fortunately MultiChoice corporate culture
supports individuals who are keen to study
further.
To what extent has your Master’s and
your Wits experience prepared you for
the role of CEO of SuperSport?
I’m not certain that any education can prepare
one fully for the challenges of running a
multinational business. Education is key but
experience and internal support are vital. I
It takes a certain type of individual to leave the
believe my studies at WBS challenged me to
security of family and friends to participate in a
push my thinking beyond what I imagined I was
“social experiment” for three months! I deeply
capable of achieving. It was an intellectually
respect the applicants as I think it requires
challenging and rewarding experience.
incredible confidence and self-esteem to open
yourself up like that to an entire continent. You
have to be willing to be judged and have your
life choices and lifestyle scrutinised.
You launched the Face of Africa, the
Channel O Music Video Awards, Idols
East & West Africa, and the Africa Magic
Viewers’ Choice Awards. Does Africa
have talent?
What’s your opinion on university
sports and are you a sportsman
yourself?
I’m not qualified to give an opinion just yet!
University sports will thrive only if we build
secondary school sports across all of South
Africa’s economic sectors.
Sport is life! I run regularly and play football
Africa is brimming with talent. Talent requires
and golf socially. I love Arsenal FC, Bafana
opportunity and I’m happy to have played a
Bafana, the Proteas and the Springboks. I
part in unearthing this talent for Africa and the
think all human beings identify with sporting
world. There is still more to be done to support
achievement; that’s why we celebrate with our
Africa’s creative industries so they thrive and
sports stars when they win, or commiserate
become commercially successful. We need to
when they don’t.
do more to support our artists, actors, designers
and the broader creative fraternity.
DR CYRIL MAZANSKY
The
Photographer
Radiologist
Over the years it has emerged that many of our alumni
medical doctors and specialists have incredible artistic talent
and interests outside their medical careers. Dr Cyril Mazansky
(BSc Wits 1966, MBBCh 1969) is one of them.
Sunrise on Moraine Lake, Canadian Rockies
LENS OF A MEDIC
BY HEATHER DUGMORE
Top: Leading into Upper Waterfowl Lake
Middle: Marrakesch, Morocco
Bottom: Turret Arch through North Window,
Arches National Park, Utah
DR CYRIL MAZANSKY
“A
s much as medicine intellectually
stimulated me and I hope I was a good
doctor, it was not an all-consuming
passion. I firmly believe that to truly fulfil
oneself intellectually, one must develop
other interests besides one’s career,” says Dr Cyril Mazansky, who
has always pursued several interests, including photography.
He moved to Boston in 1972 after graduating with his medical
degree in order to pursue a speciality in radiology.
“When I qualified, South Africa offered training in many top
specialities, but I did not think that radiology was one of them. My
best option was to move to America, where I was accepted at the
Boston University School of Medicine training programme,” he
explains.
“In America, Wits Medical School has always been held in high
esteem, and its graduates have almost uniformly done well. I think
this made it easier for me to get my residency in Boston.”
Mazansky was 27 at the time, married to his Witsie wife Harriet,
who was 25, and they had a one-year-old daughter.
Assimilating into American society
“We effortlessly assimilated into American society. Compared to
South Africa at the time, it was such an open society. I loved the
culture, the interest in politics and the arts among my colleagues,
and the constant drive to break new boundaries,” Mazansky says.
“It is my belief that the American higher education system,
grounded first in an undergraduate degree that is rooted mostly in
the liberal arts, in general makes for more well-rounded individuals.
They may then choose to embark upon a specialised university
postgraduate degree in the professions, arts or sciences.”
Now 71 years of age, Mazansky retired from radiology at the end
of 2014. He counts himself fortunate to have had a great career in
Boston, and at the same time to know great love in his marriage
and for their two daughters, Janet and Ruth, who are married and
living in America.
LENS OF A MEDIC
“I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT TO TRULY
FULFIL ONESELF INTELLECTUALLY,
ONE MUST DEVELOP OTHER
INTERESTS BESIDES ONE’S CAREER”
Lake Louise, Canadian Rockies
DR CYRIL MAZANSKY
He now has more time
on his hands to focus on
his extraordinary range of
photographic, historical and
literary interests.
Ever since his high school days at
King David Linksfield, he has had
an interest in Anglo-European
history, as well as the scholarly
historical aspects of Judaic studies.
One of the books he has authored
covers the bibliography, history
and typology of the traditional
Jewish sages and scholars over
the centuries, titled: The Sages of
Our Tradition: Interpreters of the
Tanakh and Talmud.
A large collection of British
military swords
As part of his Anglo-European
interest, he created a large
collection of British military
swords covering a 400-year
period. He and Harriet donated
this collection to Brown University,
which has the largest universitybased military research collection
and study centre in the United
States. He wrote a book on British basket-hilted
swords that was published by the Royal Armouries of
Great Britain, titled: British Basket-Hilted Swords: A
Typology of Basket-Type Sword Hilts.
He has also built up a comprehensive cigarette and
trade card collection that is thematically based on the
military and historical aspects of Great Britain and its
Empire. Coinciding with the centenary of the start
of the First World War, he published a card-based
book earlier this year, titled: The First World War
He is currently writing a book on the history of Great
Britain and the British Royalty. It will be extensively
illustrated with the cards from his collection.
Then there is his fascination with Winston Churchill,
whom Mazansky has always greatly admired. He has
been very active in the International Churchill Society
and the Churchill Centre, and has first editions of all
of Churchill’s writings.
on Cigarette and Trade Cards: An Illustrated and
Which brings us to his photography, which he
Descriptive History.
describes as “a lifelong passion”.
White coats, Tobias
and Tattersalls
“In the 1960s, the Medical School was still in
Hillbrow and all of us medical students wore
our white coats as a badge of honour.”
Dr Cyril Mazansky did his clinical did my clinical work at the Johannesburg
General Hospital under Professors Bothwell and Barlow, both of whom
had an international reputation. Professor Bothwell was the Head of the
Department of Medicine, specialising in haematology and oncology – he
made a name for himself for the research he did on iron in the blood.
Professor Barlow was a famous cardiologist.
A powerful, dynamic person
“I took time out of my medical degree to study microbiology under
Professor Phillip Tobias. He had a tremendous influence my life,”
Mazansky recounts. “He was such a powerful, dynamic person and he
taught me the value of research. This was in the mid-1960s, when DNA
and genetics were coming to the fore, and we explored this in his course.
I clearly remember asking him: ‘what is the practical value to humanity of
studying this material?’ and he replied that some of the greatest medical
advances to humanity have come from basic research that was initially
done just for research’s sake. I always remember that conversation, and
have thought about it many times in Boston, where the biotechnology
industry is an enormous asset to the state economy.”
There were no computers or calculators
Tunbridge Wells, Vermont
“As a medical student, I had a huge amount of work to get through as
I had to put myself through medical school. I tutored Maths, Science,
Hebrew and Latin, and I worked for horseracing bookies in downtown
Joburg at the Tattersalls. There were no computers or calculators then
and I had to keep tally of how much the bookie stood to win or lose on
each horse and on each race. So I had to add everything up in my head
quickly and accurately because any inaccurate information would cost the
bookie a lot of money. To this day, I can still calculate at speed.
The investigative and diagnostic aspects
“I chose to specialise in radiology because I always preferred the
investigative and diagnostic aspects of medicine to the therapeutic side. It
turned out to be an extremely exciting time to practise radiology because
it was the beginning of the technological revolution. From the 1970s we
had CAT scans and MRIs. From the mid-1980s mammography really
took off. It had been non-existent in my early years of practice. It was
highly rewarding to be able to offer this to women; in countless cases
it has meant the difference between a death sentence and a fruitful life.”
DR CYRIL MAZANSKY
“SINCE I WAS
A KID I HAVE
ALWAYS LOVED
PHOTOGRAPHY
AND NEVER
TRAVELLED
ANYWHERE
WITHOUT A
CAMERA”
“Since I was a kid I have always loved photography and never
travelled anywhere without a camera. I started taking it very
seriously, focusing on fine art photography after I joined the
Photographic Society of America in the mid-1980s.
“My eyes were opened to how important light and composition
are to create a fine art image, and I started going on dedicated
photographic trips around the world: from trips throughout
America to Europe to Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert.” He has won
prestigious awards for his works and exhibits globally, most recently
at the Jodhpur Photographic Society in India, which features
photographers from around the world.
“The rewards of
photography for me are
a combination of several
factors: it is an expression
of my artistic interests;
it allows me to explore,
in-depth, so many beautiful
parts of this world; and it
offers me the opportunity
to experience a deep
spiritual and emotional
connection with the glory
and wonder of nature.”
It would appear that
Mazansky has, in many
ways, led a charmed
life. Is this so? “No life
is charmed, we all have
disappointments along the
Masks on Canal Bridge,
Venice Carnival
way,” he replies.
“What matters is that when things don’t go quite how we want
them to, we find it in ourselves to make up for this, improve, pick
ourselves up and start again. In life, we constantly have to assess,
reassess and adapt.
“This is the key.”
PAGE NAME
Places
to visit at Wits
ADLER MUSEUM OF MEDICINE
Wits Medical School, 7 York Road, Parktown
Tel +27 (0) 11 717 2081 | [email protected]
Cost free but venue hire tariffs on request | Hours:
Monday to Friday 09:00 – 16:00. Saturdays on request
WITS ART MUSEUM | WAM
University Corner, Corner Jorissen and Bertha Streets,
Braamfontein | Tel + 27 (0) 11 717 1365/58 |
[email protected] | www.wits.ac.za/wam
Hours: Wednesdays to Sundays 10:00 – 16:00
WAM has a café and hosts regular events and exhibitions.
Admission free. Donations encouraged.
WITS THEATRE COMPLEX
East Campus, Wits University, Performing Arts
Administration, 24 Station Street, Braamfontein |
| www.wits.ac.za/witstheatre | PAA reception hours,
08:00 – 16:00, Monday to Friday | Theatre costs vary
according to programme | Tickets: www.webtickets.co.za
THE WITS CLUB
Wits Club Complex, West Campus, Wits University
www.olivesandplates.co.za | Hours: 07:00 – 17:00
for breakfast and lunch from Monday to Friday.
Booking is essential.
PLANETARIUM
East Campus, Wits, Yale Road off Empire Road, Entrance
10, Milner Park, Braamfontein | Tel +27 (0) 11 717 1390 |
[email protected] | www.planetarium.co.za
Hours: Kiddies’ show (5 – 8 years), Saturdays 10:30, R27
Details accurate at time of publishing. Please contact facilities directly.
MAROPENG, THE CRADLE OF HUMANKIND
AND THE STERKFONTEIN CAVES
Directions: Off R563 Hekpoort Road, Sterkfontein,
Gauteng | Tel +27 (0) 14 577 9000 |
[email protected] | www.maropeng.co.za |
Hours: 09:00 – 17:00 daily | Costs: Maropeng: Pensioner
R77, student, R90, adult R144, child (4 – 14 years) R80
| Sterkfontein Caves: Pensioner R77, child (4 – 14 years)
R87, student R90, adult R149 | Combination ticket:
Child (4 – 14 years) R129, adult R194
THE ORIGINS CENTRE
West Campus, Wits, cnr. Yale Road & Enoch Sontonga
Avenue, Braamfontein | Tel +27 (0) 11 717 4700 |
[email protected] | www.origins.org.za
Hours: Daily and public holidays 09:00 – 17:00 | Costs:
Adults R80, children (u/12 with adult) R40, guide fee
(minimum 10) R200, learners R45, teachers (with school
groups) R55, lectures, temporary exhibitions/walkabouts
and films R50, Giving Back ticket R40 + 4 non-perishable
food/toiletry items
WITS RURAL FACILITY
Directions: From JHB, N14 and from PTA, N4 to
Witbank (eMalahleni) to Belfast (eMakhazeni) to R540
to Lydenburg (Mashishing) to R36 to Abel Erasmus
Pass to R531 to Klaserie then Orpen Road turn-off
2km past Klaserie, Limpopo | Tel +27 (0) 15 793 7500 |
[email protected] | www.wits.ac.za/wrf
Cost*: Terminalia and Vaalboom en-suite units: R684
for two, R278/extra person | Lodge: pps R254, single
R382 | Anselia self-catering unit: pps R321, single R435 |
Aerocamp: pps R285, single R399 | Bushcamp/4-person
dormitory: R124 pp. * Wits rates quoted. Refer to website
for public rates.
PAGE NAME
Sir Jack Zunz
Engineering an
Opera
House
BY GAIL GORDON
J
In recognition of his contribution to
engineering and the built environment, as
well as his contribution through the Ove
Arup Foundation, Sir Jack Zunz received
an Honorary Doctorate of Science from
Wits University at its Faculty of Engineering
& the Built Environment graduation
ceremony on 9 December 2015.
Zunz, 92, who was unable to travel from England to attend,
pre-recorded his address. A retired director of Arup, James
Oppenheim accepted the scroll on Jack’s behalf.
ack studied civil engineering at Wits, where
The roof of fan-like precast concrete arches employed
he met zoology student, Babs Maisel. They
techniques that were used for the first time.
married in 1946 and Jack graduated in 1948
– a class renowned for a significant cohort
of world-renowned engineering alumni. Jack
moved to London and in 1950 joined Ove Arup &
Partners. In 1954, Jack returned to South Africa to
Jack became Chairman of Ove Arup in 1977 and
global co-chairman in 1984. He was knighted in
1989 and received numerous prestigious awards
recognising his contribution to the built environment.
establish Ove Arup here with Michael Lewis (BSc Eng
In his acceptance speech for his honorary degree
Civil, 1949). The firm was awarded the design of
from Wits, he said, “Education has always been a
Johannesburg’s Brixton Tower.
passion in my life. Education really is key, and you can
On 26 March 1960, Sharpeville happened. Jack
never spend enough – not just money, but time.”
was unable to reconcile himself with a society in
The Jack Zunz Scholarship was created to provide
which police opened fire on thousands of protestors
advanced study opportunities for talented engineers
opposing apartheid “pass” laws. Sixty-nine people
within Arup. The University of Technology, Sydney set
died. Jack returned to the UK.
up The Zunz Lecture Series in his honour.
He began work on the Sydney Opera House,
His legacy and Arup’s spirit of education endure
designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon. The design
in South Africa through the Arup Education
presented huge engineering challenges. Ultimately
Trust, established in 2010. The Trust sponsors
the solutions proposed were under Jack’s leadership
undergraduate study in the built environment and
in collaboration with Utzon.
runs a high school holiday programme.
GETTY IMAGES
WITSIES IN SYDNEY
PAGE NAME
Several Witsies were involved through Ove Arup
in the Opera House:
Michael Lewis (1927–2011) and Jack met at Wits and Jack
introduced Lewis to Sir Ove Arup. Lewis joined Arup in1950 and
in 1954 co-established Arup South Africa. In 1962 Arup asked
Lewis to lead Arup’s work on site in Sydney, while Jack led the
engineering design team in London. Lewis went on to lead Arup’s
Sydney office before moving to London where he headed up
infrastructure work.
Cliff McMillan, Principal at Ove Arup New York and Jack’s friend
since 1966, says, “Michael Lewis merits special credit. He was
responsible for all the difficult action in Sydney.” McMillan (MSc
Eng Civil 1966) himself celebrated 50 years at Arup in 2015. He has
an enduring interest in the Opera House. “I arrived in the London
office in early 1966, shortly after the architect, Utzon resigned – it
had everyone talking. The roof structure construction was already
well advanced.” That further kindled McMillan’s interest in
computer-based analysis of complex structures. “For my Master’s
I taught myself Fortran to analyse structures at Wits using the IBM
1620 – with all of 16k storage!” McMillan first visited the Opera
House in 1975 and has returned frequently. “It never ceases to
impress me,” he says. “I’ve given many presentations on it and
now, with Jack, am one of few surviving ‘authorities’ in Arup.”
Alan Levy (BSc Eng Civil 1956) went to London after graduating.
In 1961 Arup persuaded him to accept the position of resident
engineer of the Opera House. Levy, then 28, spent a year in
Sydney helping with the design and building.
Right panel, top - bottom: Sir Jack at Ove Arup | Sir Jack Zunz (L) at Ove Arup
| Sir Jack and Lady Zunz at home in London, December 2015 | Lady Zunz
and Sir Jack the day Sir Jack was knighted in 1989 | Bottom L-R: Jack Zunz,
Michael Lewis, Alexander Sascha Magasiner, Arthur Moss-Morris
PART ONE
The Many Happy Returns series in the WITSReview invites
alumni who have returned to campus since graduating to share
their memories and observations of Wits then and now.
PARTONE
In Part 1, five alumni born
on 29 February returned to
campus for their first birthday
in four years! They are among
the 82 “leapling” Witsies
worldwide and arguably our
“youngest” alumni.
Leap-year alumni (L-R): Matthew
Zylstra, Mohsin Seedat, Carla MartinsFurness, Hannah Le Roux, and Nicole
Gundelfinger (front)
HAPPY RETURNS
LATE 1980s
Associate Professor Hannah le Roux, PhD (BArch 1987, MA 2002) studied architecture at Wits. The late Pancho
Guedes (BArch 1953, honorary DArch 2003) was head of Architecture during her first degree so it’s appropriate
that she write his obituary 30 years later. Hannah (13) is now Director of Architecture in the School of Architecture
and Planning at Wits. She’s seen some changes since her student days when graduation exhibitions were held
in the Flower Hall. “You never think of Wits as having heritage because it’s quite a new university in the global
scheme of things, but it’s getting to a point where there is actually heritage,” she says. “The Revolving Restaurant
closed a year or two before I came, and they should bring back the cable-car [at the Tower of Light].” The gallery
near the School of Law is important heritage. “It was Rembrandt, I think, who paid for it, but as part of the Rand
Show, not as Wits. It’s a really beautiful building but nobody’s taken it on as a restoration project.” Hannah
reveals there used to be a sauna in the Bozz change-rooms. “It was always on, so we’d sometimes go on Friday
afternoons.” Nowadays the PPS Lounge in the Matrix is the place to be; there’s free coffee and Wi-Fi. “Our senior
students go there to work. They just disappear!”
EARLY 1990s
LATE 1990s
Dr Carla Martins-Furness (BSc 1995, BSc Hons 1996,
Mohsin Seedat (BSc Eng Industrial 1999, GDE 2001) is
MSc 1999, PhD 2009) met her husband, Damion
an Associate Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers who
Furness (BAS 1994, BArch 1996), at Wits. “At the Bozz,
studied industrial engineering at Wits. “I remember the
on Valentine’s Day,” she recalls. Carla, 11 (44), always
Chamber of Mines building very well,” he says (noting
wanted to come to Wits. “I was accepted at Tukkies,
that it now has a fourth quadrant), and sitting on the
but I wanted to come here. Wits was renowned as the
steps of the Mech Eng building between lectures.
best university in South Africa.” She remembers first
Mohsin, 10 (40), says parking issues persisted in his
year as “a lot of work!” but also the camaraderie. “Yale
student days: “We had those ‘meter-maid’ security
Road wasn’t closed,” says Carla. “They put a poster by
guys. They’d look at your sticker and see where you
the robots, which said ‘motorists, be careful: do not run
could park.” Yale Road parking was the most sought-
over a student; wait for a lecturer!’” She remembers
after; close to everything. The late Peter Roberts
political tension preceding 1994, and students dancing
(BSc Eng Mech 1987) was a favourite lecturer: “He
and singing in unison; the impact of their rhythmic
was witty, funny, connected easily with all students,
footfalls causing the floor of the Oppenheimer Life
passionate about the auto sector and a fundi on
Sciences building to vibrate. Protest characterised
production techniques,” recalls Mohsin. He credits his
those days: “A lot of intimidation, a sense of what’s
Wits education for his career success: “My Wits degree
gonna happen next? Similar to what we’ve experienced
gave me the opportunity to work on and lead some
now,” says Carla. She would know – she lectures in
of the largest and most exciting power projects in the
the Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology and
world,” he says. Mohsin has returned to campus since
witnessed #feesmustfall. Carla credits strong female
graduating: “The Planetarium is amazing – I came here
lecturers for her scientific career at Wits. Among her
a couple of years back – [but] they can make it more
mentors were Professor Valerie Mizrahi and Dr Michele
exciting for the kids.” Mohsin says it seems that Wits
Ramsay (PhD 1987). “There was still much patriarchy in
is in good hands. “Campus looks cleaner; the buildings
science and these women were powerful role models,”
are upgraded and covered in beautiful artwork. I
says Carla. “They made us feel we could get there.”
hope the high standards of education we received are
With four Wits degrees, Carla certainly has.
retained for generations to come.”
HAPPY RETURNS
Matthew Zylstra (BSc 2001) claims meeting his wife, Lee-Ann (née
Van der Westhuizen) at Wits is the reason he almost failed Statistics
in second year. “My wife was at JCE res for a few months – then she
moved in with me…” he says. Although their early co-habitation was
distracting, Matt, 9 (36), graduated in Actuarial Science and he’s now
a healthcare actuary at Discovery. At Wits he played water polo and he
still does. “I met my wife at a ski club party on campus and she came to
watch my water polo training during lunch,” he recalls. Matt also played
squash. “I used to play my lecturer, Stephen Jurisich [BSc 1986, BSc Hons
1988].” Classroom-time also made an impression. “I was amazed at a
blind student who came to my mathematics lectures. I couldn’t imagine
learning maths without being able to see – he definitely inspired me.”
Matt remembers exams in Hall 29. “That’s a cold hall in winter,” he
says. He and his friends took bets: “We’d have just slops and shorts
on and see who could persevere. You won a case of beer – the stakes
were high!” The biggest change on campus is the canteen: “The Matrix
was completely different when I was here, with only one restaurant,”
and signage has improved (he’d had nightmares about getting lost on
campus). He found his way and says, “Wits was the best start I could
have asked for to become an actuary. Campus looks even better than
before, and I hope to be able to send my children here one day.”
LATE 2000s
Nicole Gundelfinger (BA 2010, PDM 2011) studied law at Wits and
management at Wits Business School. Her favourite haunt as a student
was the Library Lawns on East Campus. “Nino’s at the Matrix made
“CAMPUS
LOOKS EVEN
BETTER THAN
BEFORE, AND
I HOPE TO BE
ABLE TO SEND
MY CHILDREN
HERE ONE
DAY.”
the best – and cheapest at R10 – cappuccino!” recalls Nicole, 7 (28).
An enduring memory is the pervasive parking issue. “I remember the
parking nightmare and having to walk up from the bottom of West
Campus to the top of East Campus!” More favourably memorable was
Nicole’s English lecturer. “By far my best – Timothy Trengove-Jones had
the sharpest sense of humour!” She emphasises it’s Trengove, not grove:
“He used to give us huge grief when we submitted assignments with
that pesky little ‘r’ stuck in!” Nicole’s graduation proved the penultimate
experience: “I clearly remember the ceremony in the Great Hall. I
remember feeling so honoured.” Nicole’s qualifications have served her
well; she’s now Digital Marketing Manager at MultiChoice. “Wits is wellknown around the world and my Wits qualifications set me on a path
to success,” she says. “I wouldn’t be where I am now without this.” On
returning to campus Nicole remarked, “The buildings are brighter. I can’t
believe how much has been done to improve infrastructure!”.
To arrange your own happy
return to campus, contact
the Alumni Office for a free
campus tour and/or discounted
rates on selected destinations
including the Origins Centre.
Email [email protected] or
[email protected]
or call 011 717 1093.
PAGE NAME
WITSIES WITH THE
WRITING
EDGE
BY DEBORAH MINORS
WRITING EDGE
The Dream House by Craig Higginson
Craig Higginson (BA 1994, BA Hons 1995, MA 2010)
Manifest Reality: Kant’s Idealism and his
Realism by Lucy Allais
is an internationally acclaimed writer and theatre
Lucy Allais (BA 1995, BA Hons 1996) is a Professor of
director. He won the UJ Prize for South African
Philosophy at Wits and the Henry Allison Chair of the
Literature in English for his novel The Landscape
History of Philosophy at the University of California,
Painter (2011), for which he earned his MA cum
San Diego. As an undergraduate she won the James
laude in Creative Writing from Wits. The Dream
Grieve Prize for Best Philosophy student and she was
House (Picador Africa, 2015) is his fifth novel. It is
a Rhodes Scholar in 1996. She also holds a BPhil
set in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, where an
(1998) and DPhil (2001) from Oxford. Allais’ research
elderly white couple are packing up their farmhouse.
has focused on the philosophies of Immanuel Kant
Wheelchair-bound Patricia; her farmer husband
(1724–1804), one of the most influential Western
Richard; their enigmatic driver Bheki; and domestic
philosophers ever. Allais’ book Manifest Reality:
worker Beauty each narrate their perspectives. Then
Kant’s Idealism and his Realism (Oxford University
Looksmart, born on the farm and favoured by Patricia,
Press, 2015) is about Kant’s metaphysics (the first
who ensured he received a quality education, returns
principles of things) and epistemology (nature and
from Johannesburg after a long absence. The Dream
scope of knowledge). Allais interrogates a position at
House is a meditation on memory, ageing, meaning,
the centre of Kant’s philosophy: his account of the
family, love and loss. The novel is a portrayal of a
nature of the relation between mind and reality. Kant
country pulled between affection, anger, nostalgia
sees this position as crucial to solving the problem of
and resistance. Nobel Laureate and alumna, the
freedom of the will, which forms the basis of his moral
late Nadine Gordimer (honorary LLD 1984), earlier
and political philosophy. The publisher describes the
described it as “an open and frank exploration of
book as written by “a leading Kant scholar… [which]
human life that resonates beyond race”.
promises to be a landmark work in Kant studies.”
WRITING EDGE
What if There Were No Whites in
South Africa? by Ferial Haffajee
Encountering Difference by Robin Cohen
& Olivia Sheringham
Editor-in-Chief of City Press newspaper, Ferial Haffajee
Robin Cohen (BA 1964) is Emeritus Professor of
(BA 1989) is one of South Africa’s thought leaders
Development Studies, Principal Investigator on
and social commentators. She sits on the boards of
the Oxford Diasporas and former Director of the
the World Editors Forum and the International Press
International Migration Institute at the University of
Institute. She is lead judge of the CNN MultiChoice
Oxford. Since his days as an undergraduate student
African Journalist of the Year Awards and has won
at Wits, he has pondered the question: Why does
several local and international awards related to
conflict mark so many inter-ethnic relationships
media freedom and independence as well as for her
and are there other places and ways of interacting
reporting. In What if There Were No Whites in South
which increase harmony? Professor Cohen has now
Africa? Haffajee examines South Africa’s history
co-written a book analysing how and why people
and present in the light of a provocative question
of different origins and backgrounds manage to live
that yields some thought-provoking discussion and
with one another. In Encountering Difference (Polity,
analysis. She writes, “Perhaps because I grew up
2016), he and co-author Olivia Sheringham examine
reporting the making of the Constitution and now
how difference has been overcome in particular
enjoy the opportunities and protections of that
areas such as islands, port cities and cities formed by
sacrament, I feel my equality in deep and appreciative
migration and globalisation. They consider how the
ways.” From round-table discussions with influential
concepts of “identity formation”, “diaspora” and
South Africans to research, personal thoughts and
“creolisation” (creating new cultures from prior ones)
powerful anecdotes, Haffajee takes the reader
help us understand cultural encounters. Encountering
through the rocky terrain of race rage in South Africa
Difference traverses social and political theory,
and grapples with what it means to be South African
history, cultural anthropology, sociology and human
in 2015 and beyond.
geography. It includes insights from musicology and
linguistics. All these suggest how we can mitigate
cultural conflict through everyday social changes and
explore new ways of overcoming difference.
WITS PRESS
BookReviews
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A CHURCH OF STRANGERS:
THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH OF THE
KINGDOM OF GOD IN SOUTH AFRICA
BY ILANA VAN WYK
Published by Wits University Press, 2014
This fine anthropological study
These men are latter-day
of the Universal Church of the
evangelists with Bible in hand
Kingdom of God raises some
and the right quotation for
penetrating questions about
every crisis. It has become an
the purpose of a church and
entrepreneurial race and the
who is served by Christianity
successful churches, such as
in the broadest sense and by
the Universal Church of the
this particular Pentecostal,
Kingdom of God, move from old
charismatic church in a narrow
shop front to cathedral status
sense.
in Durban’s Smith Street or to
South Africa since 1994 has seen
an upsurge in new churches
in city centres. These new
Soweto. (Their Cathedral of Faith
is ostensibly the largest church
building in Southern Africa.)
churches have shifted their
Pastors have commoditised
appeal from white, relatively
religion into a product that
affluent Christians to aspiring
appeals to the poor, the hopeful,
black congregants and work
the urban migrant. Often noisy
with missionary zeal; if you travel
affairs making use of amplifiers,
along Louis Botha Avenue from Hillbrow to Alexandra
these churches offer entertainment and excitement
in Johannesburg you will spot many “churches”
while promising salvation in the next life and wealth,
popping up in old shops and derelict buildings.
happiness and cures for all ailments in this life. There
Nigerian, Kenyan, Ghanaian and Malawian preachers
is a beguiling mix for the vulnerable; if you pray hard
have entered Africa to preach a prosperity gospel and
enough, have strong faith and pay the tithe and more,
wage spiritual warfare, with dramatic sermons against
the demons will be exorcised, all your dreams will
demons, witchcraft and Satan, while promising
come true, and a job, a house, the perfect partner or
congregants material rewards if they donate to the
the panacea for multiple illnesses will be delivered.
church generously.
BOOK REVIEWS
REVIEWS BY KATHERINE MUNRO, SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING
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This is a book that deepens one’s scepticism. The title,
unstable. There is a high turnover of congregants.
A Church of Strangers, is arresting but peculiar as one
It seems more important to fill the stadiums than to
assumes that a church is a religious and community
follow up. People seem to come and go in search of
organisation supporting and connecting its members
answers.
in a social welfare network of help through life’s
trials and tribulations. Not this church; it discourages
social intercourse, intimacy and connectedness.
This particular church is of Brazilian origin and its
missionaries spread its word in the UK, the USA,
Jamaica and parts of Africa.
A particular challenge for an anthropologist is to
retain a balance and a distance between scientific
investigation and participation. Van Wyk does not
shy away from these ethical dilemmas. Her command
of the literature takes her deep into the ethnological
studies of religion in other parts of the world and
The author, Ilana van Wyk, undertook the field work
the bibliography is a model of sound scholarship.
for this study (the immediate objective of her research
There are plenty of text-notes and cross references
was a PhD) in the period 2002 to 2005 in Durban,
but the reader is not overwhelmed by detail. The
where this church had a strong and growing presence.
style of writing is engaging and, having recently read
By 2005 it was the fastest growing church in South
the classic Ellen Hellman study of the slum yards of
Africa, with a new church opening every week. The
Johannesburg of the early 1930s, I rank this book
South African Council of Churches and the Human
as an anthropological classic in the making. I would
Rights Commission landed in hot water, though,
like to know, though, if Van Wyk sees Pentecostal
when they tried to launch an enquiry into financially
evangelism as a real solution to societal ills and how
exploitative practices and psychological conditioning.
this particular church fits into the wider spectrum of
Van Wyk comments on her surprise at discovering
church choices.
that this church discouraged close social ties between
I found the analysis of the shifting centre of global
members. However, her study deftly weaves the
Christianity towards the emerging developing
experiences of the many people she sought and
countries of the global South, and the success of this
interviewed with an analysis of the methodologies
particular church in appearing to be both global and
and strategies of the church at a macro level. I found
local and to indigenise a Brazilian message, particularly
it interesting that Van Wyk joined the church, at least
insightful. Because this study was rooted in a specific
in the sense of attending services and attempting to
period of fieldwork, one did wonder about future
talk to pastors, bishops and ordinary people. This led
trends and directions both of this particular church
to another finding, namely that the membership is
and of the Pentecostal appeal.
WITS PRESS
PICTURING CHANGE: CURATING VISUAL
CULTURE AT POST-APARTHEID UNIVERSITIES
BY BRENDA SCHMAHMANN
Published by Wits University Press, 2013
This book by Brenda
and changes in councils and
Schmahmann, Professor in
governance) meant that there
the Faculty of Art, Design and
was a particular challenge to give
Architecture at the University of
accessible visual expression to
Johannesburg, is the product
these structural and intellectual
of research supported by the
shifts and indeed revolutions
National Research Foundation. It
after 1994.
is serious, scholarly, provocative
and very readable. The work
gives a fascinating insight into
transition and transformation
through the medium of the visual
arts, university insignia and art
collections assembled by South
African universities.
Universities are patrons,
purchasers, repositories and
depositories of public art.
Art collections are among
the tools of education in fine
arts, sociology, history and
anthropology. Art collections
housed in galleries or even in
How do universities acquire status to demarcate and
spaces like libraries, council chambers and senate
enhance their importance, relevance and presence
rooms accumulate through the decades to become
in society? Schmahmann shows how art collecting,
part of the fabric of the institution, a treasured
insignia and elaborate costumes worn at graduations
public commodity. But there is an expectation
are codes for conveying complex messages about
of accountability in the display, collection and
positioning, the recreation of an image and
interpretation of these art works. Often universities
significance. It was never a simple matter or just a
receive gifts of works of arts or commission works
public relations exercise. The redesign of so many
for museums or public spaces. The author largely
universities in a transformed shape after 1994 to shift
concentrates on four South African universities – Cape
from a model of apartheid stratification or colonial
Town, Rhodes, Wits and Pretoria, which almost stand
rectitude to being inclusive, South African, culturally
for case studies of the visual transformative agenda,
diverse, relevant and a lot more open was also played
but other universities, for example the Free State and
out in the forms, symbols and codes revealed in
the University of Johannesburg, also feature. The
new coats of arms and art works. There has been
study does not encompass architecture.
a conscious effort to express the arrival of both old
and new universities in a different political space.
The remaking of the university (the amalgamation
of previously segregated universities to become
new higher education post-apartheid institutions,
the conversion of technikons into universities,
One particular challenge for many universities was
what to do with older art works commissioned when
different ideologies prevailed. The commemoration
of the Great Trek had to be given a more distant
historical perspective by the addition of new
contemporary works of art at the Free State University.
BOOK REVIEWS
The Louis Trichardt ox wagon was an iconic symbol
The Wits collection of portraits has now been moved
of the Great Trek and the makings of Afrikaner
from the Council Chamber and Senate foyer and
nationalism at the University of Pretoria but was
consigned for safekeeping and care to the upper,
dispatched to an off-campus museum.
remoter reaches of the Wartenweiler Library. They are
Rethinking university insignia leads Schmahmann
into investigating the shifts, adaptation and redesign
still part of a tradition but now are much less visible as
daily points of reference.
of coats of arms, motifs and ceremonial dress to
A final chapter addresses the delicate question of
introduce new African identities and move away
the arts, the pitfalls of censorship and the right to
from Eurocentric biases, but heraldic continuities
freedom of expression. Schmahmann discusses
and traditions are still drawn upon. I was personally
four case studies of art works at four universities
particularly interested in the chapter on art collections
which were perceived as controversial and raises
and new acquisitions of public art to support
the question of the management and responses of
the repositioning and transformative agenda of
university authorities to external and internal criticisms.
a university. Wits University added to the duo of
The 1996 ceramic ashtray in the shape of a vagina,
historical narrative paintings by Colin Gill and JH
entitled Useful Objects, crafted by Kaolin Thomson,
Amshewitz, which generations of students know from
was the winner of the prestigious Martienssen Prize
their study time spent in the William Cullen library, by
at Wits and resulted in a row when the then deputy
commissioning Cyril Coetzee to create the third giant
speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Kgositsile,
wall-filling canvas, T’kama-Adamastor, in 1999. It did
used her dislike and reaction to the work to try to
not take long for this painting to become a traditional
modify the new Films and Publication Bill to be more
and almost iconic treasure and it did not raise any
repressive. The University stood its ground and did not
controversies.
remove the work from the exhibition.
Portraits, paintings and busts acquired by other
In summary, this book by an art scholar of note is
universities reveal new histories, new interpretations
a balanced, original and well researched analysis of
and different priorities. It is worth remembering
the role of the arts in the transformative agenda of
that these art works will themselves become
universities. It is a beautifully produced book with a
representations that fit the struggles and mind-sets
good selection of excellent colour photographs. It is
of the current generation and will age into fusty
a work that should appeal to all who are interested
traditions. Another tradition that has been reinvented
in South African art history in the making and should
but where there is continuity is the commissioning
also be read by University movers and shakers who
of official portraits of university officers (chancellors,
wish to patronise artists and grow their art collection
vice-chancellors, chairmen of councils). Portraits are
while at the same time thinking about the meaning of
meant to flatter, to compliment and to endure and
their authority and how they wish future generations
hence artists with modernist leanings are constrained
to view their legacies. This is particularly apposite
by their brief to portray verisimilitude. The official
now that so much art is being produced to honour
portrait marks a term of office and a dedicated service
the memory of Nelson Mandela, some of which will
to the University and here the author discusses how
no doubt find its way into university collections. Art
some renowned South African artists have risen to
is a source of pride, of identity and expression, but
the challenge. The problem remains where to hang
we are usefully reminded that there is also a political
such portraits of elderly, grey, mainly white males
dimension.
representing another era and other politics.
IN MEMORIAM
Obituaries
BY DEBORAH MINORS
WITS UNIVERSITY FONDLY
REMEMBERS THOSE WHO
HAVE PASSED AWAY
JEREMY ROSE (1963–2015)
TONY WILLIAMS (1926–2016)
Renowned South African
Dr Antony Arthur Butler Williams
architect Jeremy Robert
(BSc Eng Civil 1948, PhD 1976)
Rose (BArch 1988) died on
passed away on 4 February 2016.
20 December 2015, aged
He was born on 24 February 1926
52. He was born on 24
in Kokstad and matriculated at
May 1963 in South Africa.
Michaelhouse. He enrolled at Wits
At Wits he was a member
in 1944 but joined the navy to serve
of the National Union of South African Students
in WWII. He returned, graduated in 1948 and then
(NUSAS) and active in the End Conscription Campaign.
studied further at Imperial College and Cambridge
Before 1994 he lived in Botswana as a conscientious
in the UK. Tony spent 35 years at the Council for
objector. In 1995 Jeremy returned to South Africa and
Scientific and Industrial Research, specialising in soil
he and Phill Mashabane established Mashabane Rose
mechanics and pioneering the field of geotechnical
Associates. Over the next 20 years the practice would
engineering. He was widely published and eminent,
produce iconic projects including the Origins Centre at
having being awarded the South African Institution of
Wits, the Apartheid Museum, Liliesleaf and Freedom
Civil Engineering Meritorious Research Award (2015),
Park – the latter two Jeremy presented at the 2009
the Institute for Engineering and Environmental
World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Spain. He
Geologists’ Gold Medal (2005), the JE Jennings
supported the contemporary South African art scene
Award (1998); the South African Geotechnical Gold
and was himself a talented draughtsman, painter and
Medal (1991); and the J Douglas Roberts Award
sculptor. He relentlessly pursued excellence in design
(1980). In retirement Tony enjoyed travel, fly-fishing
yet balanced his high expectations with genuine
and wild flowers. He worked with his son, Matthew,
empathy. He enjoyed teaching and was a warm and
to establish the Red Desert Nature Reserve in Port
enthusiastic mentor. He was a gentle giant with a
Edward. Tony was a formidable squash player and
cheeky, mischievous wit and a big laugh. He would
achieved colours at university and provincially. He was
greet his colleagues with a hearty, “Good morning,
a gentleman, a sportsman and a scholar. He was a
Comrades!” Jeremy’s memorial on 30 January 2016
proud Wits alumnus and produced a memoir, Some
took place at the Apartheid Museum. He leaves his
Reminiscences of the ’48 Class of Civil Engineering. His
daughter, Maya, and partner Mary Wafer (PGD 1999,
wife of over 60 years, Vron, their four children and six
MAFA 2009).
grandchildren survive him.
OBITUARIES
PANCHO GUEDES (1925–2015)
Architect, artist, philosopher and
professor, Amâncio “Pancho”
d’Alpoim Miranda Guedes (BArch
1949, honorary DArch 2003) died
peacefully near Graaff Reinet on
7 November 2015, aged 90. He was
born in Lisbon on 13 May 1925 but
PANCHO IMAGE CREDIT: IMAGENS4.PUBLICO.PT
moved to Mozambique in 1933.
Educated in South Africa, Pancho
Pancho’s progressive sympathies
matriculated at Marist Brothers
did not endear him to Portuguese
College in Johannesburg and studied
colonists in Mozambique. At
architecture at Wits. Here he was
independence in 1975, he was
inspired by the previous generation
forced to leave Maputo in haste.
of revolutionary modernists, notably
Herbert Prins, an architect friend in
Rex Martienssen (1905–1942) and
Johannesburg, recruited him to head
Norman Hanson. They were critical
the Department of Architecture
followers of Le Corbusier, whose
at Wits. Here he was an inspiring
letter to the “Groupe Transvaal”
and iconoclastic professor who
Pancho later framed and displayed in
appointed excellent teachers, among
the Wits library. Pancho met Dorothy
them several women, including
“Dori” Ann (née Phillips) at Wits,
Marilyn Martin, Mira Fassler Kamstra
and they married in 1947.
and Jenny Stadler.
In 1950 Pancho returned to
Pancho retired from Wits in 1990.
Mozambique and began practising
He was subsequently rediscovered
privately in Lourenço Marques
as an alternative modernist of
(Maputo), later that decade
great significance and his work
becoming a patron of the young
was exhibited in Lisbon, Venice,
art student Malangatana Valente
Switzerland and South Africa. With
Ngwenya. In the 20 years that
his passing, a new generation
followed, Pancho designed
knows his rich legacy, which remains
prolifically, notably celebrated
significant in fashioning an African
projects including The Saipal Bakery
architectural identity.
(1952), Smiling Lion apartment block
(1956) and “Clandestine Nursery
School” in the Caniço (1968).
“With his passing,
a new generation
knows his rich
legacy, which
remains significant
in fashioning an
African architectural
identity”
Hannah le Roux, PhD (BArch 1987,
MArch 2002), Associate Professor,
Wits School of Architecture.
IN MEMORIAM
MARGARET
THOMPSON
(1937–2015)
HELEN NOLTE
(1933 – 2015)
ANNE SASSEN
(1958–2015)
Helen Ruby
Pianist and
Margaret Louise
Smith Nolte (née
English teacher
Thompson
Gordon) passed
Anne Sassen (BA
(née Lennox) (DOH 1958) died
away on 29 July 2015, aged 82.
Ed 1993) passed away on 22 April
peacefully in Port Elizabeth on
She was born on 27 July 1933 and
2015 after a devastating stroke 10
28 July 2015, aged 77. She was
held three degrees from Wits: BSc
months earlier. She was 56. Anne
born in Morocco on 13 October
1954, BSc Hon 1955, MSc 1956.
was born on 12 June 1958. She
1937 and came to South Africa in
During her postgraduate studies,
was a talented pianist and obtained
1946. She matriculated at Pretoria
Helen worked in the Zoology
her Licentiate in 1981. She was
Girls’ High and then studied
Department at Wits. She married
included in the International Who’s
occupational therapy at Wits.
a former Professor of Genetics at
Who in Music in 1982 and became
She practised in Johannesburg
Wits, Daniel Johannes Nolte (DSc),
a fellow of London’s Trinity College
and is credited with pioneering
shortly before earning her Master’s.
of Music in 1983. She graduated
occupational therapy in the
Earning this degree was all the
with a degree in education from
medico-legal field. This was after
more remarkable for the fact that
Wits in 1993 and then earned
she gained considerable experience
Helen wrote the dissertation from
her Honours degree from the
working with Workmen’s
her hospital bed. She developed
University of Johannesburg. She
Compensation patients and later
rheumatoid arthritis at the age of
taught English at Jeppe Girls,
helped establish the Independent
16, which interrupted her studies
Athlone Girls and Queens high
Living Centre for the disabled.
for a year. Despite being plagued
schools, among others, and she
Margaret retired in 2003 and
by ill health her whole life, Helen
worked with an NGO assisting
moved to Port St Francis. Here she
endured. She left her job as a tutor
Soweto’s teachers. Anne was an
set about improving conditions
and lecturer at Wits to raise her
informed and unique teacher with
and resources at the Sea Vista
children, and she later qualified
a genuine belief in the power of
Primary School. In October 2013
and worked as a teacher for many
words and the magic of reading.
Margaret wrote to the Alumni
years. Helen regularly attended the
She loved art, music, literature,
Office and shared excerpts of her
annual Founders’ Tea and she was
theatre and language. She read
manuscript, Remember when –
a Wits benefactor. She donated
Italian and isiZulu at university and
Wits experiences: On being an OT,
to the School of Animal, Plant &
was learning Tshivenda and Sepedi.
which she wrote for her children.
Environmental Sciences to support
Anne was fiercely intelligent, an
Margaret wrote that Wits gave her
the field of Zoology, and she left
energetic organiser, deeply sincere,
“a kick-start in the most satisfying
a bequest to Wits Donald Gordon
and serious about basic human
career [she] could have wished
Medical Centre for teaching and
values. She leaves her parents and
for”. She leaves a son and two
research into rheumatoid arthritis.
sisters, Peta and Robyn (BA 1993,
daughters from two marriages, and
Her daughters Danielle (BA PDE
MA 2005).
Tim, her partner of many years.
1984, MA (ClinPsych) 2006) and
Andrea (MBBCh 1987) survive her.
OBITUARIES
CYRIL TOKER (1930–2015)
Dr Cyril Toker (MBBCh 1952, MMed 1962) died in Florida,
USA on 8 August 2015, aged 85. He was born on 29 March
1930 in Ermelo, South Africa. He studied Medicine at Wits,
as did his younger brother, Eugene (1957), and their father,
Philip (1927). Dr Cyril Toker became a Fellow of the Royal
College of Surgeons in 1957 and won the Hallett Prize. He
emigrated to New York in 1962 and specialised in pathology at Mount Sinai
Hospital and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. A pioneer in the field
of Surgical Pathology, he was the first to identify the Toker cell and trabecular
carcinoma of the skin (also known as Merkel cell carcinoma). He became Professor
of Pathology at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical
School. He published over 100 papers and wrote a medical textbook and a
novel, The Sibylline Books, which references Wits. In 1999 he obtained a Juris
Doctor degree from the Florida Coastal School of Law. He was a man of courage,
persistence, intelligence, kindness and humour, dedicated to justice, fairness
and environmental conservation. He was passionate about aeroplanes and his
grandchildren called him “Captain Cyril”. His wife of 47 years, Karen, children
David and Rachel, his brother, and four grandchildren survive him.
YVONNE STEIN (1933–2015)
Yvonne Lorna Stein (née Fridjhon) died on 19 April 2015 in
London, aged 82. Yvonne was born in Pretoria on 12 April
1933. She attended Kingsmead School in Johannesburg. She
graduated from Wits with a BA Honours in Social Work in
1954. She made a major contribution to family, couples and
individual psychotherapy in Johannesburg, spending a large
part of her working career at the Johannesburg Child Guidance
Clinic and in private practice in Norwood. In 1987, Yvonne and
her husband emigrated to the UK to be closer to their children.
Here Yvonne continued her career in social work. Most recently
she worked at the Helen Bamber Foundation, where she initiated and provided a
family therapy intervention programme for families and individuals seeking asylum
in the UK. She inspired many people both personally and professionally. She was a
valued therapist, supervisor and teacher in her field. Her children, Alan, Mark and
Lynne, and seven grandchildren survive her. Yvonne’s husband, Professor Harry
Stein (MBBCh 1949), to whom she was married for 61 years, died three months
earlier on 31 December 2014.
TRIBUTE
TRIBUTE:
AUBREY SHEIHAM
1936–2015
By Lynda Murray
The late Dr Aubrey Sheiham
and his wife Dr Helena
Sheiham, June 2011
A
ubrey Sheiham, epidemiologist, emeritus
It is related to this last-mentioned area, inequality,
professor of dental public health at
that Aubrey and his wife Helena have made a
University College London (UCL), and
profound contribution to Wits. In 2015, the couple
major donor to Wits, has died aged 79.
had already donated over R11-million to support the
Born on 12 September 1936 in Graaff-
Vice-Chancellor’s focus on addressing inequality. The
Reinet, Aubrey graduated from Wits with a Bachelor
gift is initially being used to support a programme in
of Dental Science (BDS) in 1957. In 1958 Aubrey
the Wits School of Public Health to research the social
went to London, where he first worked at the London
determinants of health and health inequalities.
Hospital Medical College. In 1966 he married Helena
Cronin, a philosopher. In 1984 Aubrey moved to UCL
as professor of dental public health. He retired in 2001
as professor emeritus.
Aubrey was globally eminent. Among other accolades,
he received honorary doctorates from the University
of Athens and University of the Western Cape, and in
2015 he received the Distinguished Scientist Global
Retirement did not end Aubrey’s career. His relative
Oral Health research award from the International
and friend Professor Sir Michael Marmot points out
Association of Dental Research. Late last year Aubrey
that Aubrey had 264 publications at the time of
received an honorary fellowship of the Faculty of
his retirement, yet published a further 242 papers
General Dental Practice, Royal College of Surgeons.
subsequently. Aubrey also supervised 52 PhD students
Helena accepted the award on his behalf.
from 20 countries. It is not just the quantity but also the
quality of Aubrey’s research that Sir Michael highlights.
He praises Aubrey’s use of carefully researched
evidence to inform the promotion of oral health in
“three complementary directions” – diet, (“[h]e played
a central role in keeping the evidence on sugar and
dental caries before policymakers”), whole-population
In a tribute to Aubrey, his UCL colleagues Professor
Graham Hart and Professor Richard Watt described him
as “highly respected, much admired and loved…for
over 30 years he was an inspirational teacher, mentor
and public health advocate for social justice and global
health”.
thinking (“[t]his radical approach had a profound effect
Aubrey won’t just be remembered for his scholarly
on oral health policy in the UK and internationally”) and
contribution, his visionary policy work and his social
the social determinants of oral health (“Aubrey did as
justice advocacy, because all who knew him remark
much as anyone to put inequalities in dental health on
on his generosity, kindness and care that he showed
the intellectual and policy map”).
towards others.
WITS END
Contradictions of Identity
O
n my vehicle being
BY KEYAN G TOMASELLI*
At the height of the “everything must fall”
protests late last year I picked up a Canadian
professor from the airport. His first reference
to making sense of a very strange South
Africa was to invoke Trevor Noah’s The Daily
Show: “When South Africans are collectively
angry, they sing and dance.” This anecdotal
insight underpins Handel Kashope Wright’s
key theoretical insight in developing originary
African cultural studies as being about
“bodies that do not belong” (in the North).
Wright originally hailed from Sierra Leone.
searched and my
passengers being frisked
on our daily entry onto the
University of Johannesburg
campus, the private security
guards always addressed
Handel in Zulu, then in Tswana and then, in
desperation, Sotho. When they got no response
in any of these languages, I revealed Handel’s
Canadian citizenship. How could a black man
not speak Zulu? Did he not know who he was?
For me, the significance of the encounter was:
“Does Wright really have a body – or perhaps
language – that does not belong anywhere?” Is
he rendered thus stateless – a makwerekwere?
WITS END
Peter Sellers once played a bungling Indian actor
Ian Player and Johnny Clegg, among others, were
accidentally invited to a lavish Hollywood dinner in
inducted as “White Zulus”. Why are Tswana speakers
The Party. A fish out of water, Bakshi blunders about
with accented Zulu othered as “not African” by the
observing people in embarrassing situations and
Durban Zulu-speaking rank and file? Afrikaans is
unintentionally causing minor damage to fittings and
considered indigenous by the First People. The first
fixtures. He is yelled at: “Who do you think you are?”
known Afrikaans script is in Arabic, emanating from
I once felt like that when I tried to cash in a 20-year
the Malay slaves brought to the Cape. Is speaking Zulu
investment. The company claimed that my John
without an accent the key to ethnic adoption? How
Hancock bore little resemblance to my earlier scrawl.
does one then tick the form asking about “race” (for
Clearly, I did not know who I was and I had to prove
statistical purposes?).
my bona fides by signing and providing all kinds of
certified documents to convince the company that the
investment was mine.
The roles that we know we are playing are often
demonised as “belonging” somewhere else. Identities
are constructions; they are not cast in stone, pigment
But few South Africans have these items – utility bills,
or language. Most of us would like to construct our
bank statements, fixed street addresses. That’s the
own identities rather than having categories assigned
flaw with Black Economic Empowerment legislation.
to us by bureaucrats and ideologues – we don’t like
Only those with verifiable documentation can
being told where to belong. In the USA self-identified
invest and participate in the formal financial sector.
Irish, Italian, African, Chinese and other hyphenated
No wonder the masses are calling for the fall of
Americans are all overwhelmingly patriotic Americans.
everything.
They know where they belong even as they identify
Where Wright made notes on how his identity was
and behave differently.
being constructed for him by the security guards (who
As Trevor Noah asks, why are South Africans so
were looking for petrol bombs), Bakshi’s response
insular?
was: “Where I come from, we know who we are.”
It’s disconcerting when a faceless manager tells me
that I am not who I know I am because he thinks that
my signature is different – photo IDs, fingerprints and
DNA aside.
Blackface, whiteface, purpleface, Trekkie faces
(Klingons, aliens of various kinds) – man, Al Jolson
must be mystified at what goes on in SA. Trevor Noah,
please come home. We really need you, and Schuster
needs some help. We all need some help.
Wright himself learned that he was positioned as
“African” and “black” when he first
arrived in Canada as a graduate
student. Until that time he thought he
was just human. When I have worked
at African universities and with black
and African studies centres in the US, I have
been assumed to be black, because of the
nature of my academic activism rather
than what I look like. Only in South Africa
am I irredeemably “white”, or a “body
that does not belong”.
* KEYAN TOMASELLI IS DISTINGUISHED
PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
JOHANNESBURG. [email protected]
Make the most
of being a Witsie.
Stay connected
www.facebook.com/witsuniversity
www.twitter.com/witsalumni
University of the Witwatersrand Alumni
www.flickr.com/groups/witsie
[email protected]
www.wits.ac.za/alumni
Alumni House
Wits Club & Barns Complex
West Campus
Tel +27 11 717 1090
Fax 086 406 4146
WITS
MATTERS
www.wits.ac.za/annualfund
Enquiries: Purvi Purohit, Senior Liaison Officer, [email protected]
Tel +27 (11) 717 1093 or [email protected]

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