VC's tribute to staff

Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof Njabulo S Ndebele honoured the achievements of a number of academic staff at an informal gathering hosted at Glenara. Among the guests were Prof Margaret Hewett, Dr Dick Ng'am, Prof Martin Schwellnus, Dr Peter Bruyns, Prof Peter Knox-Shaw (winner of this year's UCT Book Prize for Jane Austen and the Enlightenment) and Dr Sam Radithalo (who published The Dean of African Letters, a tribute to Prof Es'kia Mphalele).

UCT chapter is best

Hats off to the UCT student chapter of the Black Management Forum (BMF), which has won the Student Chapter of the Year Award at the BMF Annual Achiever Awards. UCT BMF chair Noloyiso Ntayiya said the award highlighted the relevance of a society like theirs on campus. The chapter won the award for their "ability to illustrate academic excellence, creativity and initiative, and for playing an active role in youth development". "Being awarded best student chapter validates the fact that UCT produces world-class leaders who are nationally acclaimed." Ntayiya said the achievement would set the tone for other student societies and would engender student leadership.

Info systems expo

There was no doubt that UCT had entered the information age when the Department of Information Systems showcased the systems development work of third- and fourth-year students in its Project EXPO 06. The third-year groups had to come up with projects on inventory management, working with an industry sponsor. In turn, the honours students had to find a specific concern within a business and design a solution. The top-performing group for the third years was Blue Gecko, while Advance won the honours section. "There was a combination of skills in the group," said Advance's Tasneem Abdurahman, "a good balance between the analytical and the technical skills." Projects were varied. The third-year group Red Lemon Software, for instance, who finished third in their category, designed a prototype system for a US company that sells salads online, targeting executives and the health conscious.

MDC member visits UCT

Roy Bennett, national treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and third-generation Zimbabwean farmer, called his government a "dictatorial, tyrannical regime". Speaking at the last sitting of the UCT Student Assembly for 2006 in late October, enemy-of-the-state Bennett pleaded with what could be our future leaders to spark active political intervention in this "second-class democracy". "The people of Zimbabwe supported South Africa during apartheid, Zimbabwe doesn't enjoy the same amount of support now," he said.

Apology

The Communication & Marketing Department offers sincere apologies to Assoc Prof Lungisile Ntsebeza for misspelling his name in the most recent edition of the research publication, Impact. Sadly, human error and proofreading gremlins were to blame.