Vision of a 'wireless' Grahamstown

NEWLY appointed Rhodes University vice-chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela has vowed to make Grahamstown a "wireless" City.

He was speaking at his inauguration at the 1820 Settlers Monument on Friday night.

"We would like to work with our municipality and other role players to make Grahamstown a wireless city," he said in a moving speech that paid homage to his family, fallen struggle heroes and others who had shaped his journey to become vice-chancellor of Rhodes University.

Mabizela said a detailed feasibility study would be conducted soon to find ways of funding the wireless initiative and that the university had already started to create WiFi networks at strategic township sites.

He also highlighted the importance of boosting the local municipality's capacity, saying that failure to provide adequate basic services had "serious and far reaching ramifications for our university and its intellectual property".

The municipality has had to deal with frequent water outages recently, caused largely by the town's ailing water and sanitation infrastructure.

Pledging to make a contribution to building a vibrant and sustainable community, Mabizela said the success of the town and university were inextricably linked.

"We are deeply and intimately connected with our local community. It is therefore vital that we become actively involved in finding sustainable solutions to the challenges that face us in this space we jointly occupy."

He said they had a particular responsibility to contribute to the creation of a well-functioning, economically sustainable and prosperous Grahamstown.

A priority was to make Rhodes accessible to academically talented students from diverse backgrounds and provide them with the support to succeed.

"As vice-chancellor of Rhodes University, I make it my personal mission to strive to ensure that no talented, but financially needy, student is turned away," said Mabizela.

Mabizela also called on staff, students, alumni, donors and the private sector to make a contribution.

He also highlighted the need to attract, nurture and retain academic, administrative and support staff of a high calibre.

He said it was important to maintain and grow intellectual outputs and the scholarly reputation of the university and to collaborate with other universities in the province.

By David Macgregor

Source: Daily Dispatch