Chris van der Westhuyzen: While UCT students value their right to be engaged with and deliver input on university matters affecting their constituencies, recent actions by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Max Price, appeared to give short shrift to student opinion on the university’s controversial race-based admissions policy that is currently under revision. 

Stuart Thembisile Lewis: In a Tuesday night seminar hosted by the Humanities faculty, Professor Jane Duncan, presented statistical evidence clearly showing that protests in South Africa are being regulated in increasingly violent ways, particularly under the Zuma administration.

The seminar, entitled "The Regulation of Protests under Jacob Zuma", was based on evidence Duncan, along with Politics Masters student Andrea Royeppen, had gathered in order to begin writing a book, set to be finished in six months, that she has tentatively named The Rise of the Securocrats?

Chelsea Haith: Promoting his book A Bantu in my Bathroom Eusebius McKaiser spoke to an audience at Rhodes University on 3 May about the topics he tackles, the idea of living the authentic life and his fears surrounding Rhodes students’ lack of critical engagement with political and social issues.

An old Rhodian himself, McKaiser explained that he has thus far chosen not to promote his book in Grahamstown, his hometown, reasoning that he perceives critical disengagement and apathy as being particularly prevalent amongst Rhodes students for the issues he address in his book.

Roxanne Jones: The 4th Year UCT medical students, in association with the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), recently did a research project on hookah smoking. 

The motivation behind the research was to gain a better understanding of the knowledge, attitudes and practices involved with hookah pipe smoking.

Krysia Gaweda: RideLink is a Green Week project under Green Campus Initiative (GCI), where UCT students are encouraged to carpool with other students who live close to them. 

RideLink offers an online service in which members of the UCT community are able to sign up and are matched to other students according to their routes of travel. 

Leah Solomon: The heavy metal community has recently lost one of its founding fathers. Jeff Hanneman (49), guitarist and co-founder of thrash rock band Slayer, died of liver failure last Thursday.

Hanneman had been off the road and not performing since 2011, when he had contracted a very rare skin disease which eats away at the flesh. Reports have said that he contracted this disease after he had been bitten by a spider.

Shandu Mulaudzi: Pikitup employees held an illegal “strike” outside their head office in Braamfontein this morning.

The workers, who are members of South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) were picketing, singing and dancing causing “chaos” on the street while members of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and Pikitup security tried to maintain order.

Chelsea Haith: A small business owner exchanged gunfire with three armed suspects in a high-speed car chase across Grahamstown on Monday.

The business owner dropped off one of his employees at the Standard Bank on High Street mid-morning on Monday. The employee was accosted by two men near the entrance of the bank and relieved of an undisclosed amount of cash.

MARISSA BRITS: Taaibos and Katjiepiering collaborated with TuksRag to donate a swing, a see-saw and lunch packs to the Reagaboka Drop-In Centre in Hammanskraal on Friday 26 April.

Although the event started off with some unforeseen delays, which included detours around Hammanskraal and its surroundings, the Rag Projects HK of Katjiepiering, Juanita Opperman, said that the event was an amazing and rewarding experience that makes you want to do more for the community.