This is a page that will both inspire current students and allow past students to share their experiences, achievements and memories with the rest of the students within their residence: past and present.

We would therefore appreciate any information and photos that you could send us to post on the webpage. Please e-mail our Hall Administrator, Genean Catto at g.catto@ru.ac.za if you could contribute to this prestigious page in any way.

I was fortunate to be part of two halls in my four years at Rhodes {Nelson Mandela hall then later the split of the upper reses to a new Lilian Ngoyi Hall}, this brought about tremendous leadership opportunities which i gladly grabbed with both hands. Starting out as a sub-warden in Centenary House (2008) working with a wonderful team of young men (and Jeremy) with great ideas for social cohesion (and i still maintain that was the best house-comm ever to hit Centenary, but obviously im biased here), and the amount of growth and interesting change in perspective was priceless. The greatest lesson being the greatest appreciation for the colourful diversity the hall brings about and interacting with individuals one would not normally interact with otherwise.

I was never big on sport, so i stuck to what i was comfortable with: Exploring and leading, that’s why in my final year when the wardens asked for ‘old’ students to move to the new residence Joe Slovo (2009) to provide guidance to the new ‘wave’ of 1st years (in essence what was to be the biggest residence with 1st year students in the university) i gladly moved, where i served on the House Comm in my capacity as the Hall Senior student, with a house comm that was keen on making a mark while embodying the true Legend with red socks as well as the phenomenal MaNgoyi who represented everything we strived for as leaders and as individuals. Being part of the whole transformation and inception of a new hall and being part of the team that drafted the Hall Constitution, Ethos, and 1st hall community garden in the whole university was simply a remarkable and moving. Not forgetting the DoS Challenge that put us on the map as the ‘new kids on the block’ that saw Mrs Jeremy performing a rendition of Alanah Myles’ “Black velvet” and Mr Jeremy eating live worms.

Suffice to say I would do it all over again, and change Nothing. The greatest life lesson. Everything i’ve experienced came in handy later on in the working world, from the adaptability to one of the four major banks to taking the lead and the lifelong friends that came out of it. The ability to live a balanced life enabled me to adjust to the working environment (from a community of just over 6000 to a large organisation with over 26 000 employees), meet deadlines and finish a GIBS qualification at the same time.

Started as Graduate Trainee in Corporate Banking, I’m now currently working as a Requirements and Testing Analyst in Retail Banking at the Nedbank Headquarters in Sandton with plans of being a Business Analyst in the not so distant future. 

Malusi Mbulwana: Centenary House Sub Warden 2008 and Hall Senior Student 2009

Last Modified: Mon, 07 Sep 2015 10:29:06 SAST