RESULTS and FIXTURES

RESULTS

Soccer

Soccer Internal LeaguePool BAllen Webb 0-4 BlackgoldTeam Oppie 3-0 Cullen BowlesJan Smuts 3-2 GoldfieldsPool ARaw Materials 7-2 LinguisticsPiet Retief 1-5 Cory/MatthewsRovers FC 1-2 AK47

F11 0-0 MSA

This year, It’s bigger and better

By Tshilidzi Mutavhatsindi

After last year’s chaotic Internal Soccer League where the Oakdene players attacked the referee in the finals, this year’s Rhodes Internal League definitely showed new promise, displaying excitement and extreme competitiveness. The Rhodes Internal Soccer League is currently run by the Sports Administration, after last year’s sponsor, Rhodes Music Radio (RMR) pulled out. “RMR pulled out as sponsor due to lack of manpower and resources to focus on the Internal League,” said RMR station manager, Gugulethu Mhlungu.

Is South African soccer too black?

By Darren Anderson

South African sport can be categorised into the Big Three: cricket, rugby and soccer. In cricket and rugby, there has been a large increase in black players. Many argue that this is because of the introduction of the quota system, which ensures previously disadvantaged black players the same opportunities as white players. The quota system has had a fair share of success in introducing diversity to many sports within the country.

Off the Mark

By Ollie Field

The Indian Premier League. A festival of cricket that has W.G Grace turning in his grave and makes every member of the MCC at Lords cringe in disapproval. Cheerleaders, mass sponsorship deals, strategic time-outs and big pay-outs to players in US Dollars makes it sound more like American Football than the gentleman’s game of cricket, and yet it has a mass following around the world.

Rhodents meet UCT on home turf

By Lauren vd Vyver

Pic by: Desiree Schirlinger

A friendly clash of hockey sticks ensued when the University of Cape Town (UCT) visited the ABSA Rhodes Hockey Club on 1 May. The long weekend was alive with Rhodent support and talent on the turf. The Rhodes teams came out on top by overcoming UCT’s social hockey teams. A close encounter between the Rhodes and UCT social ladies teams ended in a 3-2 win for the hosts.

Off to a Dream start

By Darren Anderson

The Rhodes Rugby team, also known as the Dream Team, got off to a near perfect start on Saturday, 2 May, by defeating the UCT internal league team, Ikhaya, with a convincing 15-0 score. The score line may have come as a shock to many Rhodents as the general feeling in the Rhodes Great Field stands, prior to the game, was that the Dream Team was in for a thrashing. This feeling was short lived.

Letter to the editor

Today I taped my mouth shut for the 1 in 9 campaign. I thought little about why I was doing it or why the entire event was taking place. All I knew was that it was time I stopped watching and started participating. This was my first event. Today was also the first time some people haven’t been able to look me in the eye. Today was the first time someone has deliberately crossed the street to avoid me. Today I watched people’s eyes slide over me like water over glass, taking in only the purple shirt and black tape. Twice I had people comment on the stupidity of what I was doing merely because I couldn’t answer back.

CLT 101: Talking to the clitoris

By Paige Knight

With exams fast approaching, I thought I’d make my column a bit more educational. Sex education first needs to start off with a language, so we can communicate. Whether this language will consist of sentences or grunts and moans, is up to you. Critical Language Teaching, better known to linguistic students as CLT, is a method for teaching language. There are four steps to gaining communicative competence, which is the central concept of CLT. A man called Dell Hymes said that linguistic competence was useless on its own. In order to communicate effectively, we must know the rules of the language to be able to use the language appropriately.

Open Column

By Deva Lee

The first year the One in Nine Sexual Violence = Silence protest was staged at Rhodes, a group of about 80 women participated. The campaign has grown each year, and last week 412 people participated in the protest. Purple shirts penetrated most buildings on campus and, for most students and many Grahamstonians, an encounter with a protester was inevitable.

Undrstndn Txtn

By Jamaine Chiwaye

Texting is one of those occurrences in the 21st century that no one can grasp in its entirety. Even the Mxit addicts who spend countless amounts of time flexing their thumbs cannot lay claim to total domination of the world of text. However, although we don’t understand everything, it doesn’t stop anyone for one moment. What we don’t understand, we questions. But what happens when the answers are more questions and all you do is find circles with angles? That is when the questions should be answered by Rhodents.

From the Editor

By Kate Douglas

Rhodes students have been out-doing themselves lately. There seems to be a buzz of action that I don’t remember to have existed quite like this before. Maybe it is simply in light of the recent elections, but whatever started this, it’s great to be affiliated with it.

I’m sure you have noticed, that societies are becoming more politically active. ZimSoc, which has previously avoided taking a political stance concerning Zimbabwe, launched the “Save Zimbabwe Now” campaign where students and lecturers fasted to create awareness surrounding the situation in Zimbabwe. The Anti Sex and Gender Based Violence Week saw over 90 women take off their clothes and pose for a photographer as a statement against sexual violence. The launch of these photos was last Wednesday in the Eden Grove Foyer. It takes bravery to push past your own insecurities and vulnerability in order to make such a powerful statement.

And then there were the elections. It was fantastic to see how different student societies approached the party rallies and talks on campus. The best part of some of these was when students were allowed to ask questions. I watched representatives from numerous societies asking questions that really penetrated each party. They were educated, relevant and sometimes critical questions and I found that the party answers told me what I needed to know.

We are also seeing a very strong feminist movement on campus, which could possibly be the most feared body on campus. They are extremely politically involved and this has caused controversy on campus before. But what is so admirable is that these women are willing to place themselves in the line of fire and take the abuse and threats. They are not intimidated, and will not be shut up. The result is that they have our attention and we are talking about the issues they bring forward.

3rd World Spectacular

X the local terrorist

By Jonathan Booysen

Pic by : Jonathan Booysen

To many, the name X-Nasty refers to the man who so effortlessly captured the audience at the recent Linton Kwesi Johnson concert. But how many have met X-Nasty the playwright, who wrote the drama Ndiyindoda! I am a man! and performed it at past National Arts Festivals? Or X-Nasty the social activist, who has helped build schools and educate young minds in the heart of the Fingo Village township in Grahamstown?For all these accomplishments, however, Xolile Madinda (otherwise known as X-Nasty or X) is taken aback when he learns that the interview is solely directed at him, because he believes that he is one with the people of his community. Born in 1979, Madinda tells of his days as a young boy growing up in Fingo Village, the township in which the basis of his community work lies today. He was raised in a home built on the foundations of Black Consciousness, laid down by Steve Biko, where love for your fellow man and acknowledgment of your own limitations were core values. “I reflect that philosophy through Hip-Hop,” says the passionate MC, who has been writing poetry for over a decade.

Hip hop sensation to hit Grahamstown

By Kabelo Mosate

Graphics supplied

Vakele Genu has been in the music scene for over a decade now. He might not be well known in the commercial zone just yet, but he is setting the underground scene on fire. ‘Pureful Artistic Ginger’, as most people might know him by, is a 21-year-old rapper from Uitenhage, Port Elizabeth.

Genu is a second year BA student, majoring in drama, music and journalism and media studies. In 2001, he started recording his own songs in studio. Genu sent his demo to Chaka Chaka records in 2004 and got good reviews, but when he was told to change his style, Genu refused the offer. As an underground rapper, he says he wanted to keep true to himself and not be influenced by commercial fads. “I do my own music and don’t want other people to interfere with that process, as they will dilute the meaning behind me and the music that I do”. Also, in 2004, Genu entered the Rap Olympics which were held in Cape Town and came in second out of 44 contestants.

Drunk and disorderly in Grahamstown

The Lounge Around

By Geraldine McMeekin

The usual walk to the Rat, stumble to EQ and crawl to Friar’s has been interrupted by a new kid on the block – Lounge Around. A buzz has surrounded this new hotspot on New Street, a relaxed jazz lounge for those fond of really good cocktails and even better music.

Lounge Around opened with a bang in the last week of April. The sleek modern style of Lounge Around follows a red and black colour palette, which highlights its sophistication. The interior conjures images of fashionable Sex and the City types draping themselves over the tall chairs and casually ordering up cocktails. Manager, Sven Tozer, describes it as his “home away from home”, indicating his dedication to creating a relaxed and refined party experience.

Review on Gus Van Sant’s Milk

By Maya Sapieka

Rating (four popcorns out of five)

Pic Supplied

Directed by Gus Van Sant, whose other works include Good Will Hunting and Elephant, Oscar-nominated Milk tells the riveting story of hailed American gay activist, Harvey Milk. The film is honest, brutal and speaks to all audiences whether gay or straight.

Freedom of the press: the first to go

By Jessica Edgson

Pics supplied

What do Mugabe, Hitler and the apartheid regime all have in common? Besides, of course, bizarre facial hair and ‘unusual’ political ideals, the answer is that they all had a vendetta against the freedom of the press.

Press freedom is an important part of maintaining a democracy and it is usually the first thing to go during times of political unrest – a time when it is needed the most. That is why a new draft press law in Sudan is causing quite a bit of unease. The draft law gives Sudanese authorities the right to shut down newspapers, as well as fine them heavily for presumed misconduct. The draft press law may be new, but press restrictions in Sudan have been on the up and up for the past few years.

Interesting times ahead after SA elections

By Camagwini Dolweni

Although the ANC has won the national elections after a number of rallies and the millions put into their campaign, they nevertheless narrowly missed achieving the two-thirds majority they had hoped for. Instead, they accumulated a notable 65.9% of the votes which left them only 0.7% short of their goal. The significance of this ‘defeat’ now begs the question: what does this mean for the future of the country, the ANC and their opponents? Where there were many fears of the ANC gaining excessive control with a two-thirds majority, there is now the prospect for anti-Zuma and anti-ANC voters that all may be well.

The politics of politics

By Craig Wynn

I am in a great mood right now; my entire tune has changed, and for the better. On Saturday I watched a brief portion of the inauguration of President Jacob Zuma. Those three massive Airbuses flying over the beautiful ceremony at the Union Buildings, the cheering and ululating crowds and the sound of Mama Africa’s ‘Pata Pata’ being played by a military band all gave me that good old sense of patriotism. This was something that some of us thought we would lose when Zuma came into power. But I don’t think so. Call me crazy or too high on life, but I reckon there is a lot of promise in our new president and his government, despite the criticism.