Rainy days for Tri-Varsity

By Fleur Rollason & Tshilidzi Mutavhatsindi

pic by Karen Crouch

Rhodes did not perform well at the historic Tri-Varsity, held at Fort Hare this year. The weather played a big role with cricket being rained out. The rainy conditions also made for poor driving conditions and made the event itself even more challenging. Despite the chill in the air, a number of spectators showed up to watch the matches, although there were very few Rhodes students supporting.

From left field

by Timmy Hancox

Sorry my essay is late, I’ve been watching the Olympics. The fish-like Michael Phelps won his desired eight gold medals to add to the six he won in Athens. I’m not going to bore you with statistics or comparisons to Mark Spitz, but rather pose the question everyone has been ignoring. What kind of fish-hormone programme has he been the extraordinary experimental subject of?

An uphill battle won

by Lauren vd Vyver

On Saturday 9 August, the Rhodes Athletics Club participated in the PG Glass Mountain Drive half marathon. The scenic race started at the Albany Sports Club and a grueling and windy 21 kilometers followed. With vertical routes up a mountain, the wind seemed to be the only obstacle of the day.

Rhodes Mountain Club reaches out and up

by Leigh Raymond

pic by Leigh Raymond

Once a month, Motlatsi Khosi, development officer for Rhodes University Mountain Club (RUMC), aims to host aspiring climbers from Joza’s Nombulelo Secondary School. Since the beginning of the year, the girls from Nombulelo have been invited to hike outdoors or climb the RUMC walls.

Spiked

by Annetjie van Wynegaard & Leigh Raymond

A night out with your friends could turn into days of nausea and memory loss. It is not a new phenomenon for drinks to be spiked but recent cases of drink spiking at Rhodes are becoming more frequent. Second year student, Karen Tennent, had her drink spiked at the Union on Friday, 25 July this year. Tennent had complete memory loss, but says that she can remember running home. Tennent’s friends told her that they had gone to the Union and were dancing when she told them someone had bought her a drink. She then disappeared into the bathroom, where her friend found her crying. Her friend went to fetch her some water but when she returned Tennent had run home. Tennent woke up the next morning in her own bed, feeling very sick with a fever. She said that she kept on passing out and couldn’t walk. It took days for her body to recover.

Liberal Propaganda

by Matt Edwards

We live in an age where a pizza gets to your home before the police. It’s sad, but it’s true. Now, I have the utmost respect for the South African Police Service. To most extents I even hold the Grahamstown Police Service in high regard. While there are obvious problems with the authorities in this country, I’d still like to allow the police service the authority they deserve. But to put it bluntly, the cops in this town are assholes.

Janet Buckland reigns

by Kutloano Kunutu & Daniel Charvat

 

pic by Karen Crouch

Janet Buckland is the artistic director of the Eastern Cape’s first full-time professional drama company, Ubom! This year, Buckland has been honoured with the Shoprite Checkers/SABC2 Woman of the Year award. Since her move to Grahamstown in the early 90s, Buckland has worked with the community to bring dance to the people, and has been involved in many community dance projects. Kutloano Kunutu and Daniel Charvat speak to Buckland about her award as well as her invlovement in Grahamstown theatre.

Silverdragon Tattoos

by Simone Peinke

 

 

 

 

Pic by Karen Crouch

A nervous client stands, fidgeting her fingers, inside the recently opened Grahamstown store, Silverdragon. Both her ears are adorned with silver rings and studs, and now she’s back for more. She sits opposite an aluminium table laden with piercing paraphernalia. Garry Naudé lifts the ominous needle to her face while expressing words of comfort. Less than five minutes later, the blonde Rhodes student leaves a satisfied customer, her eyebrow ring the latest addition to a host of other piercings.

The cow, the moon and the brownie

By Rafadzwa Mlambob

What goes down well with your favourite hubbly flavour? A glass of wine, maybe? How about a freshly baked muffin, a homemade brownie or even a full sitdown meal? If that sounds good then you’re in luck because Grahamstown’s favourite chill-out joint, Cow Moon Theory, is set to open a fully functional kitchen with an exciting and versatile menu to match.

Ubom! Presents “Risky Business”

by Rodain Joubert

Students at Rhodes may occasionally feel saturated by messages about HIV/Aids, causing them to switch off and ignore the issues at hand. The UBOM! Eastern Cape Drama Company hopes to change that with their latest performance, which aims to look at the condition in a new and enlightening way.

Spot of the week

The Observatory Museum is the perfect place to immerse yourself in Grahamstown’s past. The museum is situated in Bathurst Street, a mere 15 minute walk from the arch.

Playing on the heartstrings of Grahamstown

By Tamzyn Degoumois & Jane Rosen

The Settlers Monument was filled to capacity on Women’s Day this month as Grahamstown turned out to watch a spectacular performance given by the Soweto String Quartet. The theatre came alive with the audience jamming and singing along to old favorites such as “Kwela” and “Imbube”.

Why so serious?

By Jane Rosen

There is no point really in reviewing a movie that made $400 million in the box office in just 18 days after it was unleashed upon the world. Batman fans have been have been eagerly anticipating the sequel of Batman Begins (2005).

The Politics of Politics

by Simon Howell

Politics is not necessarily about states. Indeed, the “politics of politics”, to me, seems to allude more to the power structures that affect the structural and systematic mechanisms known as “governance”, than traditional articulations of the state. For this reason, I thought it might be useful to focus on one area of politics that is becoming ever more disturbing: the politics of Rhodes. It seems to me that Rhodes’ overarching political stance has moved from what, at one time, might have been conceived of as a “liberal institution” to what I would now characterise as a sanitised and sterilised pseudo-nanny state.

Zuma trial: the next installment

by Craig Wynn

graphic by Desiree Schirlinger

“We will do anything to ensure that Zuma becomes the state president,” Julius Malema, president of the ANC Youth League, claimed when speaking to crowds of Jacob Zuma’s loyal supporters after yet another court hearing involving the ANC president on Tuesday 5 August. Zuma was heard at the Pietermaritzburg High Court where he called for the charges of corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering laid against him last year to be declared unlawful and the case itself unconstitutional. Judge Chris Nicholson, however, said that he would leave his decision till 12 September and set 8 December as the date for Zuma’s trial to begin, should his application be overturned.

From Russia with love, not

By Tessa Trafford & Jessica Edgson

One of the biggest stories in recent news is the conflict between Russia and Georgia. For those who, quite understandably, don’t even know where Georgia is, it is a country bordered by Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Black Sea – a part of the region generally referred to as Eurasia. The conflict has erupted because of a dispute over a region known as South Ossetia. This region borders on both Russia and Georgia and is known as a separatist region, a term which refers to an area which has broken away from the country it was originally a part of. On Friday, 8 August 2008, Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin declared that “war has started” after Russia conducted airstrikes on Georgian targets.

What does religion mean to you?

By Nyeleti Machovani

Religion has always been a source of much debate, often bordering on controversy and Rhodes University is no exception. Rhodes can be said to be a melting pot where different races, religions, cultures and beliefs diverge. Nyeleti Machovani hits the streets to find out what  religion means to Rhodents.

From the Editor

By Bianca Silva

Come on folks, let’s paint the town red. Oh, wait, it’s still stained purple from last weekend. On that note I have to be honest, I was very surprised by the number of people who stayed at Rhodes for this year’s Tri-Varsity.

Friday afternoon was characterised by seas of purple hair and overalls, and dodging anyone who looked remotely queasy, a typical Tri-Varsity except I’m still wondering why people weren’t at Fort Hare? Activate had to miss the festivities because we were putting the paper together but judging by the number of people who stayed, it looks like the party was brought home. Tri-Varsity with minimal sport and one university present looked just like another crazy dress-up party. But you cannot deny that Rhodes has a lot of spirit.

Ablaze

By Fleur Rollason

Pic: Jonothan Terry

Fires were raging near Grahamstown and its surroundings on Wednesday, 13 August. The fire spread quickly, resulting in severe damage. Initially the fire broke out at Pumba Game Reserve, situated on the N2 outside Grahamstown. Reportedly, the reserve had more than half of their land destroyed by the fire. This amounts to approximately 3000 hectares of burnt land. The fires also affected the Addo Elephant National Park where, it was reported, 35 chalets were set alight. Visitors to the popular reserve had to be evacuated. Another landmark that was severely damaged was Wylies Farm.

Justice delayed is Justice denied!

pic by Sean William Messham

 

By Meggan McCarthy

Volunteers of the Gender Action Project (GAP) and the One in Nine campaign handcuffed themselves outside the Grahamstown High Court on Friday 8 August 2008, as part of a 12 hour protest in solidarity with the women rape survivors appearing in court.