Women in Leadership launched its 2008 programme at a well-attended ceremony on 9 May at the Granger Bay Campus.

The aim of Women in Leadership, an organisation within the Student Development Department, is to equip female students to become good leaders of tomorrow. The launch featured several speakers who elaborated on how this aim could be achieved.

Ms Mastura Jamodien opened the ceremony by discussing the importance of women’s issues in transformation. Ms Cora Motale, Dean of Students, also added her voice to the proceedings. “We are here to grow and that growth must be sustainable – something to take back home to our society,” she said. Dr Piet Louw, head of Student Affairs encouraged female students to develop their potential as young women by asking themselves who they are and what they have to offer.

The launch included a drumming session as well as musical entertainment from Idols star Ezra. An address on the importance of “going back to basics” by psychologist Bernie September closed the ceremony.

Among the events scheduled for the 2008 programme are workshops on self-management, communication skills, diversity management, project management, conflict management and leadership skills. A tour of parliament, intervarsity debating session and outreach programme will also be taking place.

By Ilana Abratt and Gregory Dean-Brown

Written by CPUT News
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To celebrate World Day Against Trafficking in Persons the Department of Student Affairs and NGO Stop Trafficking of People (STOP) held a seminar to disseminate information about combatting the illegal trade. 

Adv Lionel Harper, acting Head of Student Affairs, said the university’s management denounces the scourge of human trafficking that is confronting the world.

“The entire CPUT community takes a strong stand against human trafficking, even the Council has pronounced that CPUT should create greater awareness among our communities,” said Harper.

“Human trafficking targets the most vulnerable in the society, the poor as well as the uneducated.”

He added that social media has often been used by traffickers to lure young unsuspecting victims into the trade and acknowledged the trafficking of people born with albinism as one of the threats facing the nation, including that of forced drug addiction that is associated human trafficking.

Bertha Bresler, STOP national office administrator, discouraged the audience from wearing or carrying personalised clothing or regalia as well as posting photos revealing their whereabouts on social media.

To demonstrate how gullible and desperate people get tricked into the trade STOP volunteer Sam Stokesberry offered audience members an opportunity to star in a movie to be filmed overseas for R2 000 per day. Most audience members expressed interest by show of hands only for Stokesberry to reveal that in that moment she had managed to traffic many people.

“If an opportunity sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” she emphasised. “Think before you act.”

Videos highlighting the extent of the human trafficking in South Africa and the plight of its victims were screened during the seminar. The clips revealed that people are sold and bought for forced labour, sexual slavery, commercial sexual exploitation and organ harvesting.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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