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Wamkelekile, Welkom
Wamkelekile, Welkom
President lays wreath at SS Mendi Memorial
21 February 2019 | Story Supplied. Photo Michael Hammond. Read time 2 min.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, as Commander-in-Chief of the South African Armed Forces, visited the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) lower campus to lay a wreath at the SS Mendi Memorial in honour of the South African soldiers who died when the ship sank in 1917.
The event this morning kicked off Armed Forces Day, first observed in 2012, which also saw the president attend a military parade at Bloubergstrand where he presented medals to South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members in recognition of their outstanding performance in various military operations.
The SS Mendi, a military steamship, sank in dense fog in the English Channel on 21 February 1917, after being struck by the SS Darro, a much larger cargo ship. The Mendi was transporting members of the 5th battalion of the South African Native Labour Contingent to France, to support the war effort.
Before boarding the ship, the troops were encamped at what was then the Rosebank Showgrounds Oval, and which is today a field that forms part of the UCT Fitness Centre, and is the site of the memorial.
A total of 616 South Africans and 30 British crew members died in the disaster.
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Next Generation Professoriate (NGP)
The Next Generation Professoriate (NGP) is a mid-career academic staff development and support programme. Funded by the vice-chancellor’s Strategic Funds, the NGP addresses demographic inequalities in the academic hierarchy. The goal is to help members become associate and full professors.
The NGP was officially launched in September 2015. By the end of 2018, four of its members had been promoted to full professor and a further 14 had reached the rank of associate professor.
The programme is led by Dr Robert Morrell, who has over 35 years of academic experience in South African universities. He has a B1-rating from the the National Research Foundation (NRF) and is an elected member of the Academy of Sciences in South Africa.
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