Kopano celebrates spirit of past and present

Old and new: (From left, back) Ross Robertson (head student), Geoff Budlender (former resident), Prof Hugh Corder (former resident) and Hugh Amoore (former resident); and (left, front) Georgie George (deputy warden), Moonira Khan (executive director of student development), Gondai Mapfumo (senior subwarden), Dr Stuart Saunders (former warden) and Prof Evance Kalula (current warden) were at the Kopano residence dinner that brought old boys and current residents together for the first time.

Old boys and new boys mixed for the first time when 50-year-old Kopano residence - originally a donation of army huts from the post-war government - hosted its first ever High Table dinner.

The event served as launching pad for an initiative by Kopano warden, Professor Evance Kalula, and students to put the current batch of residents in touch with alumni and leading professionals in the community, and that way foster some useful networking.

The dinner's impressive guest list included Dr Stuart Saunders, former vice-chancellor of UCT and also one-time warden of Kopano; as well as former residents Chair of Council Geoff Budlender, registrar Hugh Amoore, and Professor Hugh Corder, dean of the law faculty. Also at the soiree was Moonira Khan, the newly appointed executive director of the student development and services department at UCT.

"This was really an effort to show how things were done in the past and to learn from it, and to show how some things have changed and how some things are the same," said Georgie George, deputy warden. "And we wanted to celebrate the special spirit of Kopano."