Tag: Wits Vuvuzela

Sign or forever hold your piece job

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ON THE JOB: Business as usual for Wits cleaner. Photo: Pheladi Sethusa
ON THE JOB: Business as usual for Wits cleaner. Photo: Pheladi Sethusa

Desperate to keep their jobs, Wits cleaners say they signed contracts which they were not given time to read – making them all temporary workers for the next three months.

New company

Ukweza took over from Supercare as the new company to whom Wits has outsourced its cleaning services. Cleaners have claimed for years that Supercare treated them unfairly. Wits Vuvuzela spoke to several cleaners about the new contracts, which were signed during the university break.

New contracts

Maggie* said all the workers were called in on a Saturday to sign the new contracts. The workers were not given copies of the contracts or even given time to read through what they were signing.
“We had no time to read the contracts, but we were scared to lose our jobs so we just signed,” said a visibly upset Johanna*. Once they had signed, she said they were given a thick document to take home and read through. It set out the terms of their contracts.

Temporary work

Only at this point did the cleaners realise they would be working on a temporary basis for three months, after which permanent positions would be given.

Agnes* who has worked at Wits for 13 years found this unfair, especially because the contract said they could be dismissed without warning during those three months. “I have been here for 13 years, how can I be a temp?”

Tokelo Nhlapo from the Workers’ Solidarity Committee said the new contracts also contained a clause which allowed the workers to be body-searched, something he thought would allow for “poor working conditions”.

The workers were forced to sign because they were desperate for employment, he said. They were left especially vulnerable because contract workers were not allowed to have a union. “The university is taking advantage of structural unemployment,” said Nhlapo.

Clauses and responses

Nhlapo also made these allegations on twitter. He was engaged by the vice chancellor, Prof Adam Habib, who replied: “Deliberately lying serves no purpose but destroys Wits reputation.”

Besides the brief interaction on twitter, Nhlapo said Habib and Prof Tawana Kupe had been reluctant to engage with the Workers’ Solidarity Committee, because it was not a “recognised body” in the university structure. “We will continue to engage them. If they don’t listen we will engage students.”

A source from Ukweza management, who asked not to be identified, said: “No-one forced them to sign. They could have left when Supercare left.”

He added that no-one could say whether Ukweza was good or bad yet. “As for the body searching, it hasn’t been implemented so I can’t say anything about that.”

Kupe told Wits Vuvuzela that the allegations made by Nhlapo and the cleaners were not true.
“We would not condone such a practice because we are committed to the upholding worker’s rights and protecting them from abuse,” Kupe said.

He added that fixed term contracts do not automatically make the workers temporary workers. Kupe said the university would engage the Workers’ Solidarity Committee after they took measures “to regularise their status.”

*Names have been changed since the workers requested that their identities be protected.

Sexual lunch: No strings attached?

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Eyebrows have been raised sky high in response to a lunch hosted by lawyers investigating sexual harassment charges at Wits.

Lawyers from Bowman Gilfillan invited a group of the harassment “victims” to an intimate lunch at Papa Vino’s in Rosebank last week – a move that many are saying is a little out of kilter with professional practice.

Email invitation 

The email invitation sent by Bowman Gilfillan said: “We thought it fitting to arrange a lunch for all students affected by sexual harassment at Wits where all of us can meet in an informal setting and provide support for one another.”

It was made clear they would not be asking any questions related to the various sexual harassment cases at the lunch.

The lunch by the firm might have been very innocent in its intent but the ethical implications need to be taken into account, according to some legal experts.

Ethical considerations

Dr Murray Wesson, lecturer at the School of Law, University of Western Sydney said the lunch was “in bad practice”.

“Lawyers should not confer with multiple witnesses at the same time about issues that may be contentious at a subsequent hearing. The reason is that this may give rise to collusion or the appearance of collusion,” said Wesson.

Wesson said while the invitation states that people will not be interviewed at the lunch, it also says that students will be able to drive discussions with one another.

His concerns are around the fact that in such a relaxed and informal setting, conversation could lead to the allegations of the various cases.

Wits Centre for Ethics director Professor Lucy Allias said she found the lunch “strange”. She added that she did not understand how the invitation could be considered appropriate.

She said: “It seems to me very strange to invite victims of a highly personal, potentially extremely traumatic kind of abuse to a joint social event.”

One of the students, or accusers, who was invited but did not attend said: “I don’t want to be with other victims, all of us sitting around and feeling sorry for ourselves.”

Response
Wits Vuvuzela contacted Kirti Menon to get the University’s comment, she said: “I don’t think the venue is relevant and at this stage in the university investigations I would not like to comment further.”
Wits Vuvuzela had been told that the sexual harassment cases are currently being wrapped up and the final reports will be out by the end of the month.

Closed. Back in…

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NOTHING TO SEE: The Friendly Supermarket at the Matrix looks set to remain closed. Photo: Pheladi Sethusa
NOTHING TO SEE: The Friendly Supermarket at the Matrix looks set to remain closed. Photo: Pheladi Sethusa

The friendly Supermarket in the Matrix has been visibly out of business for the past three weeks – with no stock or signs of trade in the shop.

 Shop closure

Approached for an explanation, owner of the  franchise, Johan Mostert spoke candidly to Wits Vuvuzela about his problems, which he claimed resulted from an increase in rental.

However, he later retracted his statement and warned the reporter not to mention his name. He claimed information he had shared had already reached the landlord and it was now a legal matter.

Mostert said the lights at his shop had been turned off because he had defaulted on his rent payments for two months. This was a result of a rent increase, effective from March 1.

“Alles is deurmakaar [everything is in chaos].” He added that enough was enough.

Landlord Jackie Meyer of RFC Group could not be reached for comment after numerous attempts by Wits Vuvuzela.

Now what? 

Another Matrix shop owner, who asked to remain anonymous, said their shop had been extremely busy since the supermarket had closed down and had been forced to bring in more stock.

The source said they had heard rumours that rent had been the reason for the closure. “The rent here is very expensive. The rates are like those at a shopping centre.”

Shop owners explained that every shop at the Matrix pays different rates – calculated on the size of the shop.

There was an increase of about 10% every year, a shop owner revealed. They are allowed 2 months free of rent during July and December, when the university broke for holidays.

Jackie Mung, owner of the Chinese Shop said:  “Everyone has to pay rent. Once you agree you must pay.”

Mung conceded that rent was expensive, but the Matrix was not a special case. Even if he moved somewhere else, he would have to pay rent and operational costs.

He said he was happy with the way he had been treated by management over the 10 years his shop had been operating.

Court Week [3/5]

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Photo: http://www.kenyan-post.com

*heavy sigh*

Had a pretty slow day today, so slow I rested my eyes for a good five minutes *bbm can’t watch*

After getting a R200 parking fine yesterday I was rather reluctant to go back to the High Court but my curiosity got the better of me. I went along with a colleague who also wanted to find out how the rest of the trial would turn out.

In retrospect I should have listened to that little niggly feeling I had on the drive over. Firstly the judge was 20 minutes late, then when he eventually got there we realised that the first witness for the day was also late. So we incurred an extra fifteen minutes of idle chit chat.

When things eventually got underway it was evident that the witness had had time to consider his testimony last night and had very curt answers. The already irritated judge was also quite short with everyone and did not see the need to drag the trial out any longer.

His attempts were in vain though, when the plaintiff took the stand he was up there for an hour straight before they even got to the defense’s cross examination.

The only new information we learnt in those two hours included the fact that “Zola Budd” is the name for a Toyota Hi Ace taxi and that apparently when one police officer arrests someone, all officers present are arresting said person. Illuminating stuff.

I then had a quick lunch at The Guildhall, cnr Market and Harrison street in town. Had the best and cheapest pizza there. Only a scale of 1 to relevant that was probably a zero but oh well.

Anyway thereafter I went off to a trial at the Magistartes Court. It was one of the more dry one’s I have been to this week – but I had to trudge one because our deadline was looming ever closer. Here’s what I managed to get together by deadline this evening:

A GUN AND A BRICK DO THE TRICK

*disclaimer: Our co-ordinator, Kenichi Serino said how we write our individual stories depends on which paper you would be writing for. For this one, I’m writing for the Daily Sun.

*Names changed to protect identities

Pheladi Sethusa

A courtroom at the Johannesburg Magistates Court turned into an examination room yesterday afternoon, as Sam* (36) walked around to show his scar to the magistrate and attorney’s.

Sam was robbed at gunpoint and assaulted by three men in Cleveland, Johannesburg on July 17, 2012. The men made off with his cell phone and dignity, leaving a bloodied Sam at the bottom of a hill.

“They hit me with what I assume was a brick. I started bleeding and the spectacles I was wearing broke,” testified Sam. He said he fell to the ground as he felt dizzy and could not see.

This is when he left the witness stand to show the magistrate, defence attorney Mendes* and prosecuting attorney Shaka*, the scar above his brow.

“The old scar has been noted,” was Mendes’s reply to the physical evidence.

The cross examination by attorney Mendes focused on Sam’s description of the man in the dock, Sechaba* (21).

In Sam’s statement and testimony he could only remember one of his attackers clearly. This was a man with a dark complexion, short hair, medium build and more distinctively a white shirt and earrings.

Mendes stressed the fact that his client had only one pierced ear and hardly ever wore an earring in his pierced ear.

He also mentioned that Sam had only seen his face partially, therefore he couldn’t be sure that Sechaba was one his attackers.

“I could see him clearly as he cocked the firearm,” said Sam.

The Daily Sun reporter noticed that one of Sechaba’s supporters in the court stands was a man with two piercings, a dark complexion and a medium build.

Sechaba has been in custody for just under a year, he had to spend another night in custody as court adjourned due to time constraints. Court will resume at 8.30am on May 23 to hear more from witnesses.

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The Newsroom 6.0

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Well somehow between exhaustion and a coma induced by sheer laziness I didn’t post a “newsroom update”  from last week – a thousand apologies to the five of you that do read this blog.

Last week was meant to be one of our most hectic weeks in the newsroom as we were publishing a twelve page edition. Yet somehow, it turned out to be one of our calmer weeks– especially on production day. Things went swimmingly, we even – wait for it – sent the paper in to the printers on time (give or take 10 minutes). Something which apparently hasn’t been done in the Vuvu newsroom for about two years.  Yay us!

I have trouble remembering anything that happened over the ppast seven days, so I can’t remember much else from that week besides the fact that we did joPs (no, that is not a typo, just a #balcktwitter reference).

Okay on to events I can remember – this past week we had news conference as usual, a very rushed one was had but we all had something to bring to the proverbial table.  We then had guest speaker Gilbert Marcus in to teach us a thing or two about the courts. He taught us the basic ins and outs of courts in SA.

After which we all had to scurry off to get our stories started. I went in the opposite direction and helped out with a video vox –  just find them so fun. The question we posed was about female condoms, we got amazing responses from Witsies.

Later that evening I had an interview on Life Beats, a show on VoW FM. The topic up for discussion was social media – how I use it in my personal and professional life mainly. Luckily I was joined by my friend and colleague Shandukani Mulaudzi and we had a ball just speaking our minds. The host said we had been the most entertaining guests they had had on air in a while.  I really enjoyed being on radio, it may be something I want to pursue now.

On Tuesday morning we went through to watch proceedings at Constitutional Court. It was great being there while something was actually happening, as opposed to just taking pictures outside as I had done before. We went in preparation for court week – which starts tomorrow. We just wanted something we could compare the High Court and Magistrates Court to. Those attorneys and advocates know their stuff, it was interesting listening to them make their arguments.

The week from there on was pretty much down hill, I felt super busy every day but I wasn’t really doing anything. Both of my stories fell off the diary because of late responses from sources but it’s chilled guess it gives us (me) more time to get a better story together.

The only piece of myself I managed to get in the paper was a deep caption of Mfundi Vundla. Come production day it was back to the same 8 pager chaos that we are accustomed to. I was production manager again and this week was surprisingly more challenging than last week.

But as always we made it somehow and luckily we got the rest of that day off, which gave me a chance to catch up on much needed sleep. As a mentioned earlier Court Week starts next week, 8am to 6pm days – I can’t wait!

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I’m locked out

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NO ENTRY: A Locked out student couldn’t even fit her key in the keyhole. Photo: Pheladi Sethusa

Thokwadi Seabela had left out mince to defrost. It was 8pm and after a long day at the UJ Law Clinic, she was looking forward to a nice hot meal.

But when she reached her South Point flat, she found herself illegally locked out – with no clothes, no food and nowhere to sleep.

The Peppermint House resident and fourth year LLB student at UJ was locked out of her flat in April – with no warning.

Although she had paid her rent, South Point administration claimed she was
R8 200 in arrears.

She is not the only one. Lebohang Motaung, 3rd year BSc Chemistry, heard his lock being changed while he was in his Norvic room.

He was lucky though. He was able to persuade admin staff to return his key – but only after an angry exchange of words.

It’s a lockout
Seabela found herself in a worse, and certainly more dangerous situation. When she reached her flat, she thought the key would work.She continued struggling with it, thinking she might have used excessive force and broken it.

She went to ask the security guard, who helped put her in touch with “the guy who deals with locks”.“The lock guy just said: ‘It’s a lockout. It means you haven’t paid your rent’. Then he just left.”

After calling around for a place she could stay for the night, she finally got a hold of her cousin, who put her up for the night in Pretoria.

Not a rare occurrence

Motaung said he had seen students forced to sleep in their building foyers, after being locked out of their flats without notice.

He was locked out because the administration claimed his roommate owed R8 000 – despite having only lived in the flat for a week, and having paid a deposit.

Motaung said it was impossible a new tenant could owe so much money. And even if he did, Motaung could not understand why he was being made to pay for his roommate’s error.

“It turned out they had made a mistake on his account and they did not even try to contact him before locking him out.”

Late payment(s)

When Seabela went to South Point central the day after being locked out, she was told she was late on her January rent payment. She had not even been living in the flat in January.

“When I signed the lease I was told my deposit includes the first month of rent payment, which was in February.”

She had received an inflated statement at the end of March, stating that she owed R8 200. She said alarm bells should have gone off, but she just thought they had included the next month’s statement as well.

“A statement doesn’t constitute a notice,” said a visibly upset Seabela.
Former Van De Stel resident, Kelebogile Mothlomedi, said at her building they used to put up a list on the notice board of students in arrears.

“Students then had a week to pay up their rent before being locked out if they failed to do so.”

Legally speaking

Alina Starosta, Head of Property and Evictions at the Wits Law Clinic, said: “A lockout constitutes an eviction.”

Lockouts like these were illegal because the landlord had not sought a court order to remove the tenants, she said. However, if tenants defaulted on payments, landlords had every right to evict them.
Starosta said students could sue or lay a complaint with the Rental Housing Tribunal in town.

“Students should not let inaccuracies in the statements lie. People often think they can get away with stuff because they’re dealing with students.”

No comment

Wits Vuvuzela approached South Point administration, but were told the responsible person was away on holiday and could not be reached for comment.

Pheladi Sethusa 

Xoxo – Gossip Girl!

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“Gossip Girl” has left the lavish penthouses of New York’s Upper East Side to wreak havoc on our very own West Campus.
On April 13, a number of people noticed that they were being followed on twitter by a user with the handle @WestGG.

This is how they first got wind of Wits’ own gossip girl.She then became active the very next day, sending out tweets containing very personal information about the people she followed.

“She insinuated that I was dating one of my close friends, who was actually in another relationship at the time. It was very childish,” said Yandani Bashman, 4th year LLB.

“GG also taunted an individual about their sexual orientation which is extremely sensitive stuff, so in that regard it can get really hurtful,” said a person who did not want to be named.

Tweeters mobilised to report the account as spam so gossip girl could be suspended, to which the account replied, “you can report me as spam if you wish, but you know I’ll keep coming back.”

Twitter policy does not allow for users to carry abusive content in their tweets. Violating this rule could lead to the suspension of an account.
After being suspended once, gossip girl created a new account under the name @westcampusgg. This account didn’t last long either but was around long enough to cause a stir in the rumour mill.Tweeters again responded by marking her tweets as spam. But all the spam reports couldn’t keep her down as she started a new account for a third time on April 16.

“I felt that it was extremely juvenile but it had the potential to ruin people’s relationships and caused a deep level of distrust within circles of friends,” said one of the account’s most tweeted victims, Livhuwani Makungo, 3rd year BCom Marketing.
“She/he seemed to focus her/his (tweets) on my previous relationship claiming that I was unfaithful and slanderous as if it was a form of retribution. All allegations made against me were false,” said Makungo.

Gossip girl had a lot to say about a past relationship that Makungo had been in. In her tweets she tagged his previous girlfriend and the girls she claims he cheated with.“For the most part I laughed and brushed it off but I did worry about how it affected those who were implicated,” Makungo said.

“Her tweets were out of hand and unnecessary. Whoever is behind the account must just come forward and explain themselves,” said Bashman. He added that there was speculation about who might be behind the account but he believes that there are a number of people responsible for the tweeting.
Another person, who did not want to be named, said they believed the person behind the account must be someone they all know on a very personal level, especially because of the level of information the West Campus gossip girl had access to.

 

Another hit-and-run in campus parking lot

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On Friday night, after a long day on campus Sechaba*, 3rd year Construction Management, walked to his car only to find it dented and surrounded by shattered glass.

A picture of Sechaba's car after the incident. Photo: Provided
A picture of Sechaba’s car after the incident. Photo: Provided

Sechaba’s car was parked next to the bus stop on Yale road, between 9pm and 12am. He had come to campus to pick up friends.On seeing the damage, Sechaba immediately contacted Campus Control to report the matter.

The officers on duty made him fill out an incident form and advised him to come back on Monday to view video footage, if any was available. The officers told Sechaba that the culprit would be easier to apprehend if he was captured by video footage.

 

By Monday, following discussions with his mother, Sechaba decided not to take the matter further. “I decided just to go ahead and fix it myself, luckily I have a few mechanics in my network and the cost of repair is minimal,” said Sechaba.

Sechaba felt that Campus Control did all they could to help him. However, his concerns lay elsewhere, “as students of Wits, we pay so much money to attend here but our needs are treated as second class,” lamented Sechaba.

Wits Vuvuzela spoke to a number of Witsies about whether they felt their cars were safe on campus. Candice Griev, 3rd year BA Law, said nothing major had ever happened to her car except for a minor scrape.

Griev said she had seen vandalised cars at the parking lot for third and fourth years next to the Origins Centre. She saw one incident where someone had written on a parked vehicle with glue “How dare you park here?”

“The thing is there are security guards around here. I don’t understand why this was never addressed and why the person was never caught,” said Griev.
Mitchell Leering, MA Chemical Engineering, said he did not feel that cars were safe on campus late at night. “My car has been hit five times in the last three years,” he said.

Leering said his car had only ever incurred light damage. He said he had friends who had been victims of hit-and-runs with enough damage to be sent in for panel beating over a long period of time.
Leering told Wits Vuvuzela that they had not reported the matter to Campus Control.
“It’s not really worth it, because in our building we get alarms going off for hours without Campus Control coming. What’s the chance that Campus Control will come around to talk about your car?”
Robert Kemp, head of security for Campus Control, said that some parking lots have CCTV camera’s monitoring them. Along with this he said that there are regular patrols in the parking lots during the day.

He stressed the importance of students reporting their issues, so that they could get the help they needed.

Kemp encouraged those who had accidentally damaged cars to always leave a note with their name, number and student number on it. The repercussions for not doing so could be bad if the culprit later caught.

*Name changed to protect identity.