DUT RAISES AWARENESS ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

DUT students in the silent protest against Gender-Based Violence at Ritson Campus. Picture by: Sibonginkosi Mabika

Nokwanda Ncwane

Hundreds of students from the Durban University of Technology gathered at the Ritson Campus to take part in the silent protest against Gender-Based Violence on Wednesday, 21 August 2019.

Before the protest, there was a dialogue and a Q&A session about Gender-Based Violence. There was a gloomy and tense atmosphere as victims shared their stories of the various forms of abuse they have been subjected to.

Zola Mdlalose an HIV/AIDS Counsellor who facilitated the dialogue session said "The aim of the protest is to allow victims to speak up about what they're going through, to let them know about facilities they can utilise in order to get through their painful experiences,"
"Because our facilities are limited, if we can't help the victims we refer them to Psychiatrists in the Addington, King Edward Hospital and crisis centres in Durban," the Winterton Residence Ambassador added.

Mandisa Khwela, a UKZN student said we often encourage women to stand up for themselves and walk out of abusive relationships but the moment they do, they're brutally murdered by their partners. "The law enforcement agencies have blood on their hands because they only take action once a person has been killed. A protection order is just a piece of paper, it doesn't do anything to protect the victim from the perpetrator,"

"We as members of the LGBTI+ community are abused by heterosexual people who throw homophobic comments and subject us to corrective rape. At the end of the day, sexual orientation does not define an individual," she continued to say.

"I gained a lot today and also saw that a lot more needs to be done to educate society about Gender-Based Violence. We need to create safe spaces for people to share their stories," said Sondelani Mwandla, a DUT student.

The protest was hosted by the university's HIV/AIDS Centre and the Student Counselling and Health department. The protest was within the Ritson Campus.

ORLANDO PIRATES HEAD COACH RESIGNS

Orlando Pirates Head coach, Milutin Sredojevíc who resigned on Friday night.
Image: Orlando Pirates Media

Nokwanda Ncwane

Orlando Pirates has announced that Head coach, Milutin Sredojevíc has resigned on Friday, for personal reasons he did not disclose, after spending two seasons in charge of the Buccaneers.

A statement issued by the club on their official webiste stated "The club would like to place on record that this decision was taken unilaterally, and it was the management's decision to accept Mr Sredojevíc to vacate his position based on reasons he has presented which are of a personal nature."

"Rhulani Mokwena assumes coaching responsibilities assisted by Fadlu Davids and Franck Plaine." The statement continued to read.

Bidding farewell to the fans Micho said "I would like to take this moment to thank the supporters, the spiritual owners of Orlando Pirates and the chairman of the club, Dr Irvin Khoza. I wholeheartedly appreciate all the 740 days that we have spent together."

"I really value and appreciate each and every moment spent with you and as we are always saying, once and always." He continued to say.

Under Micho, the Soweto giants ended runner-ups in the league to Mamelodi Sundowns in the past two seasons. They also reached the final of last season's Telkom Knockout competition and lost to Baroka FC on penalties. In the 80 games that he was in charge of the club across all competitions, Orlando Pirates won 35 games, drawing 26 and losing 16.

According to Football  256, an online publication that extensively covers Ugandan football and Africa at large, Milutin has been appointed as Head coach of Egyptian club, Zamalek and the club president Mortada Mansour has confirmed the news. However, there is no official statement that has been issued by the club confirming the news.

Zozibini Tunzi: Miss South Africa 2019

Zozibini Tunzi, the 2019 crowned Miss South Africa.   Image from Twitter/Zozi Tunzi.

Zozibini Tunzi has been crowned the 2019 Miss South Africa on National Women's Day at Sun Arena in Time Square, Pretoria.

Tunzi, a 25 year old who is completing her BTech in Public Relations is originally from Tsolo, Transkei in the Eastern Cape, currently living in Cape Town. She represented the Western Cape Province in the Miss SA Contest.

The theme for this year's pageant was Dreamwalkers and the pageant aimed to break out of the narrow idea of what it means to be beautiful  and what it means to be a beauty queen. The organisers loosened the rules to make this year's competition more inclusive, embracing imperfections and the more typical, larger South African figure as there were two contestants labelled plus size according to the industry standards.

Many took to Twitter to congratulate the newly crowned beauty queen. Amongst others was Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa who tweeted "Congratulations to @ZoziTunzi for taking the #MissSA2019 crown. We were inspired by how you addressed questions around the paradigm shift necessary to pursue gender equality and we look forward to seeing you use this platform to be a positive influence and fly our flag high."

Zozibini is the 61st Miss South Africa and is taking over from last year's winner, Tamaryn Green also from the Western Cape who did exceptionally well during her reign scoring a runner-up spot at Miss Universe.