Wage talks in deadlock

By Reyhana Mahomed, Raul Dimitriu & Bianca Silva

Rhodes University and its catering and maintenance staff are currently in a deadlock over a proposed raise in salaries. Wage negotiations between Rhodes University and the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) have been unsuccessful.

Remembering Ruth

By Jess Levy and Sian Cohen 

The women of Ruth First House commemorated the 25th anniversary of Ruth First’s assassination in conjunction with Women’s Day. First was a multifaceted woman in the struggle for equality in South Africa and abroad.

Tragic accident kills student

By Bianca Silva and Ciro De Siena 

A tragic accident in the early hours of Sunday morning, August 19, left one Rhodes student dead and one critically injured. Deborah Leanne Monckton died at the scene, corner of Worcester and Somerset streets. Passenger Melindah Sango survived but is in a critical condition.

Aware of Aids

By Cairen Harry 

Aids Awareness week commenced with HIV Aloud – a live concert featuring popular bands such as Cassette, Goldfish and Newtown to celebrate the begining of the week themed “Think about HIV”.

From the Editor

“Dude, where’s my stuff? Dude, where’s my stats book? What about Dude, where’s my clothes?”

“Stats book doesn’t fit.” [Grumbles of discontent]

“But I like stats book.”

“But it doesn’t fucking fit.”

“Make it fucking fit.”

“I’m vetoing it. Stuff it is.”

 

“Has anyone seen Azwi’s column? Are we going to get hate mail again?”

 

“You’re on your own Sean William Messham. These are the moments that make you a man.”

 

“Xan, are you drinking champagne?”

“Yes.” [Suppressed giggling]

“Xan, are you getting plastered?”

“It’s my last edition, I’m allowed to.”

[Giggling turns into snorting].

“You know what they say about

people who snort?”

“They’re good in bed.”

 

“Just once, I wanted to put the word penis somewhere in a story.”

 

Ciro De Siena – “Sorry, I’ve got nothing”

There are some things that we all encounter on our daily meanderings in and around Grahamstown. Old cars reversing up High Street. Donkeys. Car guards with weird hand-held devices and, inevitably, fellow students.

Now, I’m about to use a word that begins with ‘s’ and ends with ‘kids’. The reason I’m pre-empting it is because I know that as soon as you reach that particular word you’re going to turn the page and look for something else to read. But I urge you not to, because somewhere further down I’m going to be talking about beer.

The five finger discount

Forget bushdiving. The latest craze: shoplifting. Samantha Cook and Leigh Raymond investigate.

Typing in ‘shoplifting’ in Google provides you with websites designed to give the would-be lifter with an endless tip list. Until recently, even Wikipedia would bring up all the information you would need to begin your very own criminal career. Could this perhaps be linked to the rising numbers of student shoplifters? Winona Ryder never had it this easy.

Rage against the machine

By Paula Gilbert “Music can change the world because it can change people.” U2 front-man Bono said these famous words. Protest music is nothing new; it has been around just as long as war and injustice have existed. In 1985 Bob Geldof and Midge Ure set out to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia by throwing the largest charity concert the world had ever seen. Live Aid became a story of legend and raised £150 million. Today, more than 20 years later, artists are still protesting.

Spot of the week: Pirate’s Pizza

By Alexia Berger

AARGH you hungry? Cheesy way to introduce the spot of the week but you can’t avoid talking about cheese when covering the new local hangout, Pirates Pizza.

Get caught in the loop

By Deva Lee and Kaitlin Keet

 

A fusion of jazz and deep funky house is what brings about the unique sounds of the two man group, Goldfish. The main inspiration behind this interesting blend of genres is jazz, because “most good music comes from jazz,” as Dominic Peters puts it. David Poole describes it as “a jazz subversive”. Their music is a complete intermingling of sounds, “combining instruments with electronica, in a non-traditional way,” says Peters. They intend to bring the art of jazz to a younger audience using house as a medium.

Dude, where’s my stuff?

By Marisa Lourenco and

Phumzile Manana 

It doesn’t take the most brilliant of thieves to card open a res room door, and almost anyone can smash open a cupboard door. How safe is your stuff?

Waging their own wars

The wage negotiations and strike threats have been well-publicized, but what happens to the Rhodes support staff behind the scenes? 

Politics of Politics

By Azwihangwisi Mufamadi

The past few weeks saw yet another attempt by the Rhodes University staff (NEHAWU members) to get their salaries increased by 10%. I learnt this after attending the NEHAWU members’ meeting at the lawn outside the Union building. The meeting was women’s show. In comparison to women, men were very passive to say the least. However, the meeting would have been incomplete without some surprises. It was towards the end of the meeting when one of the SASCO representatives stood up and extended the organisation’s support for the workers’ struggle. I have to admit, the guy has learnt a lot from politics and politicians themselves. Not only has he mastered the art of using whatever platform is available to promote the organisation but he also masters that art of choosing his words carefully and romanticising his listeners by telling them what they want to hear. I admire how committed these guys are to SASCO. “SASCO comes before everything; their lives would rather fall apart while SASCO is coming together,” once said a friend of mine.

A field of their own

By Robbie White 

Tri-Varsity is well-known for its mainstream sports which the crowds enthusiasticly support, but other sporting codes which do not receive as much attention take this opportunity to show their true skill at Rhodes.

Developing the future

By Fleur Rollason 

There is a lot more to Rhodes sports societies than meets the eye. Spectators only see the end result; they have no idea what goes on at a practice session or what Rhodes men and women do for our local community.

Inter-res sport: the review and preview

By Megan White 

With the end of third term drawing near, the race to win the interres trophy has intensified. With five events remaining, Victoria Mxenge and Goldfields will be looking to increase their leads. Canterbury and Goldfields were last year’s winners of the interres sports program in the women and men’s categories respectively. Botha was awarded the Spirit Shield. How are they doing in defending their titles? Here are the current top five for the three trophies up for grabs:

Silver for purple people

By Robbie White and Joy Niemack 

Tri-Varsity in Port Elizabeth this year was well-supported by Rhodes students in their purple gear. The atmosphere was charged with tension as each university team tried to prove themselves the best. The support of the crowds is what makes Tri-Varsity so unique. Painted overalls, dyed hair and the streakers leave everyone waiting to experience another year at Tri-Varsity and this year was nothing different.

 

From the Stands

By Adam Wakefield

I am sitting in a lecture and things are not going well. My eyes battle the beer fatigue as my lecturer drones on about structural causes in wombat mating rituals. Suddenly, hope! Bill, the class clown, decides that he has a theory that he feels would benefit the entire class in assisting our mental development. Bill speaks, and when he is finished the class has a chuckle since it was yet another stupid idea.

All off their trolleys

By Cairen Harry

The SRC’s trolley races turned the Barratt parking lot into a scene of madness last Friday afternoon. Seven teams entered the race, which was held as part of Alcohol Awareness Week.

    

6500 by 2010

By Ian Siebörger, Nompumezo Makinana and Tim Walker

Rhodes University’s latest enrolment plan aims at growing the university to between 6300 and 6500 students by 2010 – even though Education Minister Naledi Pandor has allowed the university to enrol 7000 by then. At the moment, Rhodes has about 6000 students. It will need to keep up its current growth rate of between 2 and 3% to meet the target.