In May 2024, in response to Universities South Africa’s (USAf) open call for impact case studies, the University of Cape Town (UCT) made three submissions. USAf’s intention is to gradually build up a national repository of impact case studies, showcasing the work done by South African universities in response to societal challenges. A panel of four assessors who carried out a selection process to decide which submissions would be accepted for publication on USAf’s website in this round was established. Since this was the first time such an exercise had been carried out, the panel was fairly strict in its decision-making, because it anticipated that the impact case studies published in the first round would serve as examples for future submissions as and when USAf issues further open calls. With regards to the submissions made by UCT, the following three were selected for publication on the USAf website:

• supporting adolescents living with HIV in eastern and southern Africa by Associate Professor Elona Toska

• peripartum cardiomyopathy: Understanding pathophysiology, improving diagnosis and therapy in a cardiac disease common in African women by Professor Karen Sliwa-Hahnle
• road fatality interventions by Professor Marianne Vanderschuren.

The Research Office is developing an online repository and dashboard of research case studies of social impact at UCT. The repository will feature outstanding research with social impact – especially research that has been recognised by the university. It is envisaged that the repository and dashboard will attract greater visibility and funding for such outstanding work.

Dr Kathry Ewing from the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics received the 2024 Social Responsiveness Award for her project, iThemba Walkway. Safe and accessible public open spaces are a vital element of our cities and hold the potential to act as important vibrant urban spaces for learning, exchange and practice. Public walkways (passages/laneways) are some of the most neglected and dangerous public spaces in the city. They are often un-zoned or retain complex remainders of erven (and therefore are not linked to a municipal line department and budget); located on the periphery or connect tertiary streets and generally out of sight as they are small and ‘insignificant’; and they often lack crucial service and green infrastructure (for example lighting and trees) and maintenance plans. iThemba Walkway is a catalyst community-driven project that demonstrates active and responsible co-design and participatory development opportunities in Gugulethu. The project connects to the UCT Urban Design teaching and research, which raises awareness of water-sensitive urban design in public space, linked to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 under the theme of urban resilience and safer cities.

‘The secret communications network that helped end apartheid’

Anti-apartheid activist Tim Jenkin took a trip down memory lane and delivered a lunchtime lecture fitting for the time. He spent 60 minutes recounting his role in Operation Vula, a secret mission, which was spearheaded by the African National Congress (ANC) in exile and which helped efforts that led to the fall of apartheid. Jenkin’s lecture formed part of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) annual Summer School programme – a festival of learning and the largest public learning showcase on the continent. His talk was titled: “Operation Vula: The secret communications network that helped end apartheid”

Bringing primary healthcare services to campus staff

The old adage says that prevention is better than cure, and this is one of the key goals behind the Dis-Chem Wellness Centre, launched by the University of Cape Town (UCT), together with medical insurance, Kaelo, and PSG. A fresh take on a clinic originally launched in 2019, the thinking is to offer fundamental health screenings and vaccinations towards preventative health and wellness, and access to affordable healthcare through clinic services and a virtual doctor to Kaelo members.

World Autism Day: Giving students a space to flourish

“Autism is as much part of humanity as is the capacity to dream.” – Kathleen Seidel. In light of this, the University of Cape Town (UCT) gives students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) the power to dream big and the wings to fly. But it takes work, and the university’s Disability Service (DS), a unit within the Office for Inclusivity & Change (OIC), is at the forefront of it – championing inclusivity and transformation in all spheres of campus life and placing the needs of UCT’s growing cohort of students with disabilities at the top of their list. This World Autism Awareness Day, observed on 2 April, UCT News spoke to the DS’s Dr Bridget Johnson, who shines a spotlight on the myriad of support systems in place for students with autism. Dr Johnson is a psychologist in the unit and her role involves ensuring that students with mental health disabilities, as well as specific learning disabilities receive reasonable academic accommodations and concessions.

KiSwahili galvanises UCT’s commitment to multilingualism

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, a Kenyan author and academic, once said: “Language, any language, has a dual character: it is both a means of communication and a carrier of culture.” In realising this and to preserve indigenous African languages, the University of Cape Town (UCT) announced in 2022 that KiSwahili would be taught as an elective course in the School of Languages and Literatures in the Faculty of Humanities. It’s been 12 months, and it’s safe to say that students are loving it. This Africa Month, as the continent celebrates the 61st anniversary of the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, it would be remiss not to celebrate the introduction of KiSwahili at UCT – a significant step towards further diversifying the university’s African languages offering. The roll-out was made possible by a collaboration between UCT and the Institute of KiSwahili Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM).

Youth Month: Art as activism

At the age of 19, Zolani Balekwa has been able to turn personal strife into art, which culminated into establishing his own production house, while honing his skills at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) community engagement video training programme, Stepping Stone. Balekwa, the director of Artivism Productions, explained that his relationship with storytelling can be traced to his childhood. “I grew up in a divided home. There was no unity in the household. Growing up wasn’t a pleasant experience so I would write out my feelings of anger on paper,” he said. It was by chance that he accompanied a friend to Guga S’Thebe, in KwaLanga, Cape Town, where he got his first opportunity to recite a poem in 2019. “After wowing the crowd on the day with a monologue, the arts journey had well and truly started. After immersing myself in poetry, I found that I was able to control my anger.”

Women’s Month: SWEEP leverages entrepreneurship to empower women students

The Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP) is the new kid on the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) student societies block, and their mandate is in a class of its own. SWEEP uses entrepreneurship to empower women students, especially those affected by sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). And while doing so, aims to build a pipeline of successful women entrepreneurs in the country.

Capetonians battle to access nutritious food

The next time you walk into your nearest supermarket to purchase necessities (and nice-to-haves) for supper or tomorrow’s lunchboxes, think about the sizeable number of Cape Town’s population who simply can’t afford to buy from supermarkets regularly, or just can’t get there because they live too far from their nearest store and transport costs a fortune.

Creating a UCT community of support towards reducing GBV

Building upon the university’s existing response and support vehicles for those affected by gender-based violence (GBV), the Office for Inclusivity & Change (OIC) ran a first-responder workshop in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Rape Crisis, to train and equip those students, student advisors or staff who, due to their caring nature, have become trusted confidantes of survivors of GBV.

Blind, visually impaired learners use LEGO to learn through play

From a distance outside the Grade 3 classroom, it sounded like just another English language lesson – with a teacher at the blackboard and a group of boys and girls taking instructions at their desks with a pencil in hand. But it was very different. Learners at the Athlone School for the Blind don’t use pencils and paper, they use braille – a tactile reading and writing system designed especially for people who are blind or visually impaired. It allows them to read, spell and communicate without the use of conventional media.

Queer South Africa’s health system

Health systems in South Africa operate in a cis-heteronormative way that favours heterosexuality and binary gender identities. This practice marginalises the LGBTQI+ community and creates systemic barriers for appropriate healthcare, said Lynn Bust, a project manager at the LGBT+ Health Division at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, which is based in the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS).