At the Welcome Dinner, held on 26 February, certificates were awarded to the top 5 students in each undergrad residence from the November 2018 exams.  Advocate Shuaib Rahim, Senior Lecturer:  Faculty of Law, presented the following awards:

Allan Gray House Top 5:

  1. Bennita Benza - 78.50%
  2. Bridget Mtetwa - 76.25%
  3. Nashe Muchenje - 75.88%
  4. Hasina Joosub - 73.13%
  5. Kelsey Nebbe - 72.88%

Graham House Top 5:

  1. Nsikelelo Mazibuko - 73%
  2. Thomas Mafuyeka - 70.75%
  3. Lubabalo Zwengu - 70.64%
  4. Siwaphile Sokoni - 69%
  5. Jordan Nebbe - 68.18%

Prince Alfred House Top 5:

  1. Mbali Khumalo - 78.20%
  2. Selunathi Sandi - 76%
  3. Siyabulela Javu - 74% & Dimakatso Pitja - 74%
  4. Tapiwanashe Zinhumwe - 73.60%

 


At the Drostdy Hall Leavers Dinner, on 08 October, many students were honoured for their achievements throughout the year. These included academic, leadership, cultural, sporting, as well as the Dean of Students Leadership Award.

Nhlanhla Malisa, Drostdy Hall Senior Student, presented the following awards:

As there is no academic award for the postgrad students of Celeste House, there is the Celeste House Student of the Year Award, which was presented Barnabas Muvhuti.

Barnabas is currently in his second year of study of PhD in Art History, under the Department of Fine Arts. His research mainly focuses on the neglected black modern art teachers in Zimbabwe. He is also interested in promoting the works of contemporary Zimbabwe-born artists and any form of art that interest him at Rhodes University. He has written articles on accredited online journals/websites that promote artists based on their art works and live performances.

This year, he has written articles for ARTTHROB, Africanah.org, and Tuffs University. The ARTTHROB article, which he co-authored with Lifang Zhang, was based on the exhibition of Berni Searle. The exhibition took place during the National Arts Festival. The exhibition’s title was as follows; Site of Memory: Berni Searle’s A Place in the Sun. He has also written an article for Africanah.org, based on a live performance of Rhodes student “Viwe Madinda”, which also took place during the National Arts Festival.

Barnabas has recently presented his paper at the Rhodes University Postgraduate Conference that was held on the 22 & 23 August 2019. The paper focuses on a modern forgotten artist Job Kekana. The title of the paper was “Destinies Shaped by Geography: Job Kekana in the shadows of Ernest Mancoba and Gerard Sekoto”.

Besides promoting artists, Barnabas is also interested in conducting research on migration. In 2018, he started his research for Turf University and the report was published this year in February. The report compares the experiences of migrants living in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) to the experiences of migrants living in major urban centers of South Africa (Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban).

Barnabas Muvhuti also received a Cultural Award for his achievements listed above.

Two further Cultural Awards were presented as follows:

Nande Siko, of Allan Gray House, for outstanding achievements in the performing arts.

  • Performed at the National Arts Festival in a piece called SALT.
  • SALT won the award for best Director and overall best play.
  • Participated in the following plays; Molora, The Bald Soprano, both directed by Siphosethu Balekisi.

 Mziwonke Qwesha, of Celeste House, for outstanding achievements in creative writing.

Winner of the World Radio Day Scriptwriting Award (African continent).  14 February 2019. (Chosen as the best radio playwright in the African continent during the World Radio Day celebrations hosted by UNESCO) United Nations Educational and Scientific Committee.

Voted the Editor’s choice by Gamaphile for his upcoming novel: “Each Blood, The Tombs We Count”. April 2019.

Conducted creative writing workshop for the matriculants of his hometown school, Zanovuyo, at Frankfort. 7 August 2019.

Presented a paper titled: Poetics: What factors, influences, techniques, if any, make a writer to write?  At the Rhodes School of Languages and Literatures Postgraduate Conference on 16 August 2019.

Presented a paper titled: Poetics: What factors, influences, techniques, if any, make a writer to write? During the Rhodes Postgraduate Academic Conference on 23 August 2019.

Ten minutes of his thesis, ROOM 619, will be performed by the Rhodes Drama department students on 11 October 2019, as part of the Drama Department’s final year students directing assessment. (Room 619 is Mziwonke’s research on the repatriation of the spirit of the father of Black Consciousness, Steve Biko. Mziwonke portrays his research findings in a theatre piece as part of his MA Creative Writing studies)

The Dean of Students Leadership Award was presented to Bennita Benza, of Allan Gray House, for excellence in leadership.

Bennita Benza is the current Head Student of Allan Gray Residence who is also in the second year of her Bachelor of Social Science degree.

Bennita does nothing in half measure and her academic, leadership and cultural achievements in 2019 alone are testament to that.

Bennita is not only a high achiever in the academic field but she also holds various leadership positions.  She is currently serving as a member of the ZimSoc committee; she is the Allan Gray House Head student, the Drostdy Hall Community Engagement Rep who together with the Allan Gray and Prince Alfred Rep took the two residences to a position of finalist for Rhodes University Community Engagement Awards 2019. She is also the class representative for Sociology 2.

Bennita was recently nominated as the President of the Golden Key Society for 2020, which is fitting as she is recognised as one of the top 15% students in the Humanities Faculty, by the Golden Key Society. Furthermore, she was awarded the Golden Key New Chapter Award for the student who is an all-rounder in leadership, academics and community engagement and she is currently on the Dean’s List for academic merit. Bennita has also been awarded the Neville Robertson Scholarship for being the top student in Humanities at Rhodes University.

When she is not busy with her academic and leadership roles, she is singing in the Makhana Kwantu Choir, a choir that is comprised of Rhodes University students and members of the Grahamstown community. The Kwantu Choir was invited to sing for President Cyril Ramaphosa when he visited Grahamstown this year, an exciting invitation.

Bennita is a hardworking, dedicated and diligent all-rounder who is able to balance her academic, leadership and cultural commitments. She is readily available and willing to help whomever knocks on her door, sees her in the corridors of Allan Gray or meets her in the dining hall. She has great organisational skills which have ensured that she is able to sufficiently plan and execute all tasks put before her. Congratulations Bennita, you are a truly well-deserved recipient.

The External Sportsperson of the Year Award was presented to Khanyisile Hlalethoa, of Allan Gray House.  This award is presented to the best overall sportsperson of the Hall who has shown commitment, dedication & excellence not only in residence sports but also in Rhodes sports in various sporting domains.
  • Played for the Tshwane Volleyball Team.
  • Have been playing for the Rhodes 1st Volleyball Team since when she arrived at RU in 2017.
  • Helped coaching school children from the Grahamstown community.
  • Represented RU at Inter-Varsity and the volleyball team came first.

The Internal Sportsperson of the Year Award was presented to Ayakha Saba, of Allan Gray House. This award is presented to the best overall sportsperson of the Hall who has shown commitment and dedication to inter-residence sports for their residence and who has obtained the highest points in the Hall’s inter-res points system.

The First Year Academic Award was presented to Grace Moses, of Prince Alfred House, for achieving 91%. This award is presented to the first year student with the best overall academic performance from the mid-year examinations.

The Second Year Academic Award was presented to Bennita Benza, of Allan Gray House, for achieving 75.77%. This award is presented to the second year student with the best overall academic performance from the previous November examinations and from the mid-year examinations.

Mbali Khumalo, of Prince Alfred House, was awarded the Third Year Academic Award, for achieving 78.33%.  This award is presented to the third year student with the best overall academic performance from the previous November examinations and from the mid-year examinations.

Saying thank you to the Hall Senior Student, and Res Head Students, and to the Catering Staff:

Last Modified: Tue, 10 Dec 2019 10:00:28 SAST