The first ever collaboration between South Africa and Scandinavia in the field of rock art studies with a focus on hunter-gatherer rock art was presented to the public during the launch of a book entitled Working with Rock Art: Recording, Presenting and Understanding Rock Art Using Indigenous Knowledge. This new publication is co-edited by Benjamin Smith, director of the Rock Art Research Institute at Wits (RARI); Knut Helskog, Professor of Archaeology in Norway; and David Morris, Head of Archaeology at the McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa.
Smith says that the collaboration holds value for all of the partners and teaches many valuable lessons on how we treat rock art. “Both countries have rock art and paintings of such great international significance that they are registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List.”
In both countries, rock art has a high public profile and the governments have made rock art research, conservation and rock art tourism national priorities. However, the research traditions in each region have followed vastly different trajectories, continues Smith.
The book presents the consolidated findings of a prolonged engagement of research and debate in rock art practice and contains cutting-edge contributions that consider new approaches in three key areas: the documentation of rock art; its interpretation using indigenous knowledge; and the presentation of rock art.
The air is electric and Rene Vosloo is loving it. Since moving to Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth, she has been revelling in the city’s dramatic thunderstorms. Even autumn in Johannesburg is beautiful, she says. The changing colour of the leaves… Here you really notice the different seasons.
Vosloo is the new Registrar in the Faculty of Science at Wits. She moved to Johannesburg last year to take up a position as Head of Administration in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UJ. Her husband moved to Johannesburg four years ago, and Vosloo was tired of commuting and waiting in airports. “We decided enough is enough,” she says.
The offer of a position at Wits was a wonderful opportunity to join an institution steeped in tradition. She gained most of her experience during four years in a managerial position at the newly established Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Both NMMU and UJ are comprehensive universities – founded recently as a result of mergers with technikons – and getting to grips with the culture of an institution that has existed for 90 years has been an enjoyable new challenge.
The other challenges she’s anticipating are firstly, the birthing pains related to the implementation of the new student IT system, and secondly, the move toward online student registration, which Vosloo would like to see happen as soon as possible. “We have to look at our carbon footprint. With online registration there’s no need to print registration forms, and no need to file them afterwards. It’s not only about working smart, it’s also about being sensitive to the environment,” she says.
Vosloo would also like to see her support staff working together with academic staff as a team, to provide service excellence to existing students, prospective students and parents. “We also have to sell the university to all external stakeholders,” she says.
Vosloo started work on 2 January 2013, and is currently navigating her first registration period at Wits. “It’s a hectic time to join,” she says. “But it’s good because by the beginning of next year I will have been through a whole cycle.”
Her favourite part of working at Wits is the enthusiasm of the students she deals with. “Wits is so oversubscribed that they feel fortunate. And they’re passionate about what they do. They really want to be here.”
An insect with a tiny brain and minimal computing power has become the first animal proven to use the Milky Way for orientation. Scientists from South Africa and Sweden have published findings showing the link between dung beetles and the spray of stars which comprises our galaxy.
Although their eyes are too weak to distinguish individual constellations, dung beetles use the gradient of light to dark provided by the Milky Way to ensure they keep rolling their balls in a straight line and don’t circle back to competitors at the dung pile.
“The dung beetles don’t care which direction they’re going in; they just need to get away from the bun fight at the poo pile,” said Professor Marcus Byrne from Wits University.
Byrne and his team previously proved that dung beetles use the sun, the moon and polarised light for orientation. In their experiments, they gave the beetles “caps” which blocked light from reaching their eyes. The team also discovered that the beetles climb on top of their dung balls to perform an orientation “dance” during which they locate light sources to use for orientation.
Now, further experiments, conducted under the simulated night sky of the Wits Planetarium, have shown that the beetles also use the Mohawk of the Milky Way – giving new meaning to dancing with the stars!
“We were sitting out in Vryburg (conducting experiments) and the Milky Way was this massive light source. We thought they have to be able to use this – they just have to!” said Byrne.
Not all light sources are equally useful landmarks for a dung beetle. A moth keeping a constant angle between itself and a candle flame will move in a circle around the flame. However, a celestial body is too far away to change position relative to a dung beetle as it rolls its ball, with the result that the beetle keeps travelling in a straight line.
The scientists suspect the beetles have a hierarchy of preference when it comes to available light sources. So if the moon and the Milky Way are visible at the same time, the beetles probably use one rather than the other.
A few other animals have been proven to use stars for orientation, but the dung beetle is the first animal proven to use the galaxy.
Another new species from Malapa
- By Wits University
Researchers from Wits University, the University of Johannesburg and international scientists announced on Tuesday, 22 January 2012, the discovery of a two million year old fossil fox at the now renowned archaeological site of Malapa in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.
In an article published in the prestigious journal Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, the researchers describe the previously unknown species of fox named Vulpes Skinneri - named in honour of the recently deceased world renowned South African mammalogist and ecologist, Prof. John Skinner of the University of Pretoria.
The site of Malapa has, since its discovery in 2008, yielded one of the most extraordinary fossil assemblages in the African record, including skeletons of a new species of human ancestor named Australopithecus sediba, first described in 2010.
The new fox fossils consist of a mandible and parts of the skeleton and can be distinguished from any living or extinct form of fox known to science based on proportions of its teeth and other aspects of its anatomy.
Dr. Brian Kuhn of Wits’ Institute for Human Evolution (IHE) and the School of GeoSciences, an author on the paper and head of the Malapa carnivore studies explains: “It’s exciting to see a new fossil fox. The ancestry of foxes is perhaps the most poorly known among African carnivores and to see a potential ancestral form of living foxes is wonderful”.
Prof. Lee Berger, also of the IHE and School of GeoSciences, author on the paper and Director of the Malapa project notes: “Malapa continues to reveal this extraordinary record of past life and as important as the human ancestors are from the site, the site’s contribution to our understanding of the evolution of modern African mammals through wonderful specimens like this fox is of equal import. Who knows what we will find next?”.
The entire team has expressed their privilege in naming the new species after “John Skinner, one of the great names in the study of African mammals and particularly carnivores. We (the authors) think that John would be pleased, and it is fitting that this rare little find would carry his name forever.”
The authors on the paper are:
Adam Hartstone-Rose 1, Brian F Kuhn 2,3, Shahed Nalla2,4, Lars Werdelin5, Lee R. Berger2,3 (2013): A new species of fox from the Australopithecus sediba type locality, Malapa, South Africa, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, DOI:10.1080/0035919X.2012.748698
1Pennsylvania State University Altoona, 205 Hawthorn, 3000 Ivy Side Park, Altoona, PA 16601
2Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa
3School of GeoSciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa
4Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
5Department of Palaeozoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, SE-10405 Stockholm, Sweden
City has the potential to attract and retain investment, professional staff and tourists according to latest Prices and Earnings data. Click to read more on the Gauteng City Region Observatory Data Brief: No 3.
Public health matters, says Nongxa
- By Vivienne Rowland
Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Loyiso Nongxa, reiterated the importance of public health and the teaching thereof on a global level when he welcomed guests and delegates to the inaugural event held in the new Wits School of Public Health building today, Thursday, 24 January 2013.
Nongxa addressed about 400 public health experts, professionals and academics attending the International Public Health Symposium, entitled Building Capacity 4 Health.
“This symposium comes at an important time at Wits. Public health matters, it has always been a peripheral issue, but in recent years it has become clearer that in many ways, public health is central to the success and to our response to health care. During the symposium we will focus on critical issues that are relevant, not only local, but at a university with a global profile, dealing with global issues at a local level,” said Nongxa.
The symposium, which has an impressive speakers list, includes sessions and talks by renowned public health experts such as Dr Alex Ezeh, the Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Centre; Prof. Dan Ncayiyana, emeritus professor at the University of Cape Town and former editor of the South African Medical Journal; Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, Executive Director of Discovery Holdings and former director general of health and foreign affairs; Dr Mark Blecher, chief director for Health and Social Development at the National Treasury; and Dr Yussuf Saloojee, director of the National Council Against Smoking.
Delegates were also addressed by Melvyn Freeman, Cluster manager: Non-communicable diseases in the national Department of Health and visiting Professor at Wits University, speaking on behalf of the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.
“The new Wits School of Public Health building comes at exactly the right time – the time to accelerate the building for capacity or public health is now. We have wasted a lot of time not focussing on the right things. We have significant intellectual capital in our country, led by our universities and research institutions. Let us work together to build the capacity that we need to lead and manage the transition from a curative, expensive, hospicentric and unsustainable health system to one that focuses on prevention and provides universal access to good quality care,” the Minister was quoted as saying.
The symposium sessions scheduled to take place capture different aspects of building capacity for health, while highlighting the public health scholarly activities and endeavours of the Wits School of Public Health: Research as a tool to improve health; Research, policy, advocacy and implementation; Building the next generation of public health leaders; Improving health systems effectiveness and efficiency; and Defrauding the public of its health: a panel debate. For more information or to view the programme, click here.
“The [symposium] theme acknowledges the importance of good health, a mere two years before the target date for the achievement of the millennium development goals. It also highlights the core purpose of our modern new building with its stunning views of Johannesburg – that of enabling the achievement of good health for all, through teaching and promotion of learning, knowledge generation and dissemination, and public health leadership,” said Prof. Laetitia Rispel, Head of the School of Public Health.
The new School of Public Health building is the result of a project spanning since 2010, when the first sod was turned. The R146-million construction was made possible by an investment by Wits, the Department of Higher Education and Training, five trusts and foundations, 11 corporate companies and 521 individual donors.
The aim of the building is to serve as a regional and global focal point that will attract leading academics and support the strongest graduate students. Through this building, Wits will increase the number of public health specialists and doctoral students, meeting a critical shortage in South African and Africa. The building will consolidate research and training divisions, which were previously dispersed throughout the broader Wits campus and off campus.
The day ended off with the official opening during a gala dinner addressed by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande. A special journal issue of the Global Health Action was also launched during the dinner, which includes more than 20 scholarly articles written by academics within the School of Public Health and public health experts.
Speeches
Symposium presentations
Seeking a mathematic model to help rhinos
- By Wits University
The Mathematics in Industry Study Group (MISG) is organised annually by the University of the Witwatersrand and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS).
This year Michael ‘t Sas-Rolfes, an independent conservation economist and member of the IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group introduced an economic slant on the problem of rhino poaching.
The economic behaviour of the illegal rhino horn trade is not dissimilar to that of the market for illegal drugs. It appears that rhino horn experiences a degree of price inelasticity – this is a technical term for situations where consumers are relatively insensitive to price increases.
This may be exacerbated by what economists refer to as the “snob” effect, which perpetuates the price hike of a commodity; a simple example of this is the luxury car market where the prestige associated with owning this commodity is tied in to how expensive it is. This combination of factors is lethal for rhinos, as all attempts to restrict supply to the market simply make illegal activity increasingly profitable.
Since 2008, South Africa has seen a substantial increase in rhino poaching, at a rate that continues to increase each year. With the current average retail price of rhino horn on the black market alleged to be some $65 000/kg, with fluctuations up to as much as $120 000/kg, this means that a single rhino horn could sell for anywhere between R2.8 million and R5.3 million at retail level. With these figures, rhinos are walking around with horns worth more than solid gold – a difficult asset to protect and a large temptation for opportunistic poachers. The ultimate goal would be to both drive the price of rhino horn down and increase the probability of intercepting poachers before they strike so as to disincentivise rhino poaching. At present, punishment of individual poachers does not appear to be solving the problem.
One of the main objectives of the study group is to model the potential effect of legalising rhino horn trade, both on the market and on various rhino populations. Rhino horn trade is currently banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and legalisation is a solution suggested by economists and many landowners and rhino custodians. Legalisation of rhino horn trade will allow rhino farmers to enter the market and harvest rhino horn without harming the animal (since the horn grows constantly like hair or fingernails). Legalisation of rhino horn might drive down the price of horn, but it could open up further demand – without a model, predicting the behaviour of the market is difficult. Mathematical modelling is a process by which one can develop a set of mathematical equations that aim to capture the dynamics of the problem at hand.
The modelling process begins with constructing an equation that describes the way the rhino population changes. We are able to fit parameters to data and predict the growth pattern of a population of rhinos. If the growth rate of the population exceeded the rate of poaching, the rhino population as a whole would increase in the long run. The situation we are in at present is that the poaching rate exceeds the rate of population growth. If this continues, the extinction of rhinos is inevitable. Another approach is to disincentivise poaching by increasing security. While in theory this may result in a decrease in poaching, the security cost to game farms, private reserves and government parks is becoming astronomical. Without a substantial increase in revenue these parks are unable to sustain such high security costs.
The mathematical model is then further developed to include external factors such as effect of poaching on the rhino population. Modelling the dynamics of price fluctuation in terms of supply and demand, and inferring the nature of these by fitting functions to historical data allows one to mathematically analyse the dynamic interplay between the number of rhinos and the price of their horns on the black market.
In addressing the prospect of legalising the market one is able to introduce factors relating to farming and the impact of legitimate businesses entering into the market of rhino horn trade. The revenue generated from legal horn trade will allow farmers to better protect their land and animals. Farmers will be able to harvest approximately two thirds of a rhino’s horn without causing harm. The harvest rate is included in the model to incorporate a control variable that is adjustable according to different suggested scenarios allowing us to predict market behaviour and drive the price to a sustainable level.
A further concern is the impact that farming might have on free-ranging populations of rhinos that are maintained in natural conditions and not dehorned – this is a particular concern for rhinos in other countries and of other species. By distinguishing between two different styles of rhino management, intensive and extensive, the model is also able to assess the potential impact on this mix of different emerging demand scenarios.
The study group reported their findings to industry on Friday, 18 January 2013 at the workshop hosted at Wits University. This preliminary work will be continued at Wits with the aim of informing those in a position to make decisions that will ultimately lead to the successful elimination of poaching.
This article was written by Byron Jacobs, Michael Mitchley, Michael ‘t Sas-Rolfes, Lee Phahladira, Dipo Aldila, and Vimal Lalla, members of the Optimal management strategy for white rhinoceros Study Group at MISGSA 2013.
Tribute to Amina Cachalia
- By Wits University
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg extends its deepest condolences to the friends, family and comrades of the late Amina Cachalia, a lifelong activist who dedicated her life to fighting for freedom in South Africa. We acknowledge the passing of Amina with great sadness for in her we have lost not only a freedom fighter but more importantly a human rights activist and a protector of the vulnerable.
Amina, and indeed her family, are close friends of Wits. In recognition of her achievements, the University bestowed its highest honour, an Honorary Doctorate of Laws on her in 2004, the same year in which the National Order of Luthuli (Bronze) was bestowed on her by the South African government. A brief synopsis of her life follows below, reflecting something of the tremendous contribution of this great stalwart of our society.
Prof. Rob Moore
Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal
Wits University
Biography:
Amina Cachalia (nee Asvat) was born on 28 June 1930 in Vereeniging, the youngest daughter of Ebrahim and Fatima Asvat. The family’s tradition of political activism dates back to her father’s close association with Mahatma Gandhi and the first passive resistance campaign of 1907. Amina’s subsequent political activism and championing of women’s rights was almost preordained.
Amina ensured that she was sent to school in Durban in the mid-1940s because she was aware (partly through role played by her sister) that the women’s passive resistance campaign would be launched from that city and she wanted to be part of it. The organising committee, however, decided she was too young, slight and frail to go to jail and, much to her chagrin; she was prevented from participating actively at that stage.
She returned to Johannesburg towards the end of 1947 when the campaign drew to a close and, because of the parlous state of the family finances, she took up a number of jobs, eventually settling into permanent employment as a secretary in a garment factory. Her experience as a woman in the workplace underlined for her the importance of financial independence and the need to amass skills and she founded the Women’s Progressive Union (WPU) to foster training, skills development and the financial independence of women. The response to the WPU was enthusiastic and the union grew and flourished for four years under Amina’s mentorship, until she went to jail in 1952 during the Defiance Campaign.
In the 1950s she was an active member of the Peace Council and was politically active in the Indian Youth Congress, of which she was an executive member; the Indian Congress; and the Federation of South African Women (Fedsaw), of which she was the national treasurer. She was involved in organising the protest campaign against passes for women and was one of the leaders of the 20 000-strong march of women on the Union Buildings in Pretoria in August 1956. As part of her ongoing political activism she helped organise the Congress of the People in 1955 and attended as a delegate. During the Treason Trial she was involved in looking after the dependants of the trialists. As the political struggle against aparthied gained momentum in the late 1950s Amina Cachalia’s active leadership role in Fedsaw and the Youth Congress as well as her participation in the structures of the Transvaal Indian Congress brought her into close contact and cooperation with the Congress of Democrats, the Coloured People’s Organisation and the African National Congress. Her political activism and her involvement in the organisation of protests and campaigns continued until the government’s crackdown on organisations in 1960.
Thereafter, Amina pursued her political activities clandestinely and, as a result, was served with a restrictive banning order in 1963 while she was recuperating from a serious heart operation. During that year she played a key role in planning and executing the escape of Arthur Goldreich, Harold Wolpe, Mosie Moolla and Abdulhai Jassat from the prison in Marshall Square. Her underground activities continued throughout the period of her banning, which lasted from 1963 to 1980. Her late husband, Yusuf, too, was banned and for 10 years was under house arrest. In the 1980s Amina Cachalia served as a patron of the Federation of Transvaal Women (Fedtraw) and was active in organising women in the liberation struggle. During this period she participated in bodies, including the United Democratic Front, which were actively opposed to the Tricameral Parliament. When the ANC Women’s League was resuscitated in the 1990s, she served on the committee of the PWV region. She was elected a Member of Parliament for the National Assembly in the first democratic elections and was offered an ambassadorial posting but was unable to accept because of family commitments.
Amina served in organisations and groups that focussed on the upliftment of women, the nurturing and protection of children, and the rehabilitation of the disadvantaged. She was a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Ububele (a psychotherapeutic rehabilitation centre in Alexandra), and Operation Hunger. She served on the Finance Committee of the National Women’s League and several other projects in recent years.
Amina deposited her papers in the Wits Historical Papers research archive. See here.
New unit tackles good governance
- By Erna van Wyk
To improve cross-school interface and research, the School of Economic and Business Sciences (SEBS) and the School of Accountancy (SoA) have over the past two years established a research unit to collaborate on research pertaining to strategic issues in business.
This effort resulted in the formation of the Strategic Forecast Research Group (SFRG) which, in collaboration with international researchers and academics, essentially focusses on researching good governance and social responsibility.
“Since the international financial crisis started in 2008, the issue of good governance has become prominent in the search for ways to improve financial management; corporate governance and social responsibility, both locally and internationally,” says Prof. David Coldwell, Head of Division of Management and Human Resources Management in SEBS.
“Although considered ‘soft issues’, governance and the business case of social responsibility are very important issues. We need fewer tycoons and more statesmen who have a vision beyond simply their own personal aggrandizement. We need people who can make a contribution to society. There was a recent period in the West when it was considered that ‘greed is good’. But there is no future in that kind of egotism. The 2008 financial crisis can partly be attributed to that kind of thinking of greed and conspicuous consumption,” he adds.
The formation of the SFRG has also been in line with Wits University’s strategy to combine areas in which research has not been very high and generate more research products of international standard and published in the best journals in the world.
“We are looking at new regulations on aspects such as audit quality; risk management; business ethics concerned with how to deal with financial crisis and how to intervene in that situation to minimize damage to the company; social responsibility in term of leadership; and corporate shared values. We have already produced a large number of international papers, some in top journals, and a large number of conference papers, both national and internationally,” Coldwell says.
The SFRG is one of the ways researchers can get rid of the silo-thinking mentality. “Cross-disciplinary research emphasizing different aspects in accordance with those particular disciplines is important because it generates a group think tank rather than just one or two people working together. This helps both developmentally by producing new researchers and it increases productivity across the board. And it is in line with the University’s Vision 2022: to be firmly embedded in the top 100 universities in the world by 2022,” he adds.
Coldwell says it is also important to be a research unit that has direct strategic impact internationally and that finds solutions to problems in South Africa. The unit has a strategic forecast aspect to identify issues which are likely to develop, and to research problem areas to find possible solutions. It also takes a critical stand towards existing socioeconomic situations and gives some scholastic input to them. The unit incorporates both empirical and conceptual research.
According to Coldwell this is an exciting time for the unit especially because of the high caliber of young researchers who participate. The core aim of the unit is to build a body of research that has proven impact in society.
This is done by the collaboration between Wits researchers and postgraduate students from the two Schools, as well as with researchers and academics at other South African universities and at universities across the globe.
Members of the SFRG include:
Prof. David Coldwell (SEBS), who manages the unit;
Mr Chris Callaghan (SEBS);
Dr Michael Samuel (SEBS);
Ms Tasneem Joosub (SoA);
Mr Warren Maroun (SoA);
Prof. Elmarie Papageorgiou (SoA);
Prof. Jill Solomon (Kings College, London/Henley Business School, UK);
Prof. Gabriel Eweje (School of Management, Massey University, New Zealand);
Dr Andrea Fried (Chemnitz University, Germany and Linköping University, Sweden);
Dr Ayande Alpha (School of Business and Management. University of Quebec, Canada);
Prof. David King (Ohio State University, Ohio, USA).
Congrats to the Born Frees
- By Wits University
Education experts from the Wits School of Education have welcomed the 2012 matric pass rate. Reviewing the 2012 matric class, the analysts said the focus should not be on pass rate alone but also on the quality of education.
