Students bring Saxy back

Mother City morning traffic was given a splash of skin and colour as some 1,200 UCT students hit the streets in the annual SAX Appeal drive on Thursday, 9 February.

Road warriors: Leilah Latief, Aadam Wei, Fareedah Davis, Ielhaam Isaacs, Ashley Detyt, Faheem Jakoet and (in front) Regan Summers added colour and whimsy to the sale of Sax Appeal.	Motoring magazine: Nonqaba Bengu and other UCT students did their best to convince motorists to part with a R20 for Sax Appeal.

The energetic students were on the go as early as 4am to get sales of the popular magazine underway. All proceeds (with R1 million the target) from sales of the 40,000 copies go to student-run charity SHAWCO, aka the Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation.

The 79th edition of Sax Appeal was themed Bringing Saxy Back. The students' eye-catching (and often minimalist) outfits certainly worked a treat as they enthusiastically cajoled motorists to part with R20 for a copy of the magazine.

Peddler Ross Hare said the lure of having fun making a positive contribution to the development of education in the country was a big motivation to sign up for SAX Appeal. "An important problem that needs to be addressed in this country is education," he says, "and as the leading university in Africa and South Africa, we need to be doing as much as we can to correct these kinds of problems."

Convincing sleepy motorists to splash the cash proved to be easier for some than others. Some depots exhausted stock quickly, while others found their customers to be more miserly.

Most of the students agreed that SAX Appeal was a scream - when they managed to sell it. "It's fun when you get stuff sold," reported first-year student Kim Enfield.

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