A hardworking Human Resource Management (HRM) student recently won first prize in the Marius Meyer South African Board for People Practices (SABPP) Excellence Awards.

Third-year student Andiswa Vili outshone students from higher education institutions around the country to scoop the award.

An excited Andiswa said lecturers had to nominate top-performing students for the award.

“We were instructed to propose in a five-minute pre-recorded presentation how an African HR Practitioner could upskill oneself on self-management and working with people in any one of the SABPP standards,” she said. 

During her studies, she has achieved distinctions in well over 70% of her modules and was selected as one of the recipients of the EJ Lombardi Trust Bursary and the Western Cape Local Government SETA Bursary. Andiswa also managed to secure an internship with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems International (a Fortune 500 Multinational IT company) where she was offered a permanent position as a Junior HR Business Partner at the end of the programme.

The SABPP, through the National HRM Student Excellence awards, rewards exceling students in the Human Resources and related fields.

This serves as recognition of their outstanding performance in the field at accredited universities in South Africa; and recognition of outstanding performance by SABPP registered student members.

Head of the Human Resource Department, Dr Liiza Gie, said the purpose of the awards is to encourage and empower top performing, deserving students to keep the profession’s flag flying high.

The awarding of the prizes was administered by the SA Human Resource Universities Forum (SAHRUF). The 2022 theme for the SAHRUF is: Managing Talent in an African Hybrid World of Work.

Andiswa said her first reaction after hearing that she had won “to scream with my inner voice”.

“ I was extremely happy because the topic was one very close to my heart and my presentation touched on a lot of intricacies regarding the role to be played by the HR field in the advancement of technology and 4IR as we move more towards working online/virtually. I felt reassured, and my thoughts and ideas were validated after winning first prize.”

The young HR entrepreneur said it was also an honour to be invited to the SABPP 40th Anniversary Celebration and Awards Ceremony, where the award was presented to her.

Andiswa thanked her lecturers and family for their support.

“I have nothing but love and gratitude for all my lecturers, especially Mr (Sihlangene) Mgudlwa - he saw something in me that many had either not seen or ignored, a passion for the field of HR and a pursuit of excellence that I had forgotten I had in me.”

“I would not have been able to achieve half the milestones I achieved this year, without my family. I am truly grateful to everyone who has supported me in everything I pursued in my journey,” she added.

She plans to relocate to the United Kingdom to expand her business and embark on her postgraduate studies.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Student Thandolwethu “NT” Jikwa is one of the stars of Mzansi Magic’s DSTV popular drama series, Nkululeko.

Nkululeko is a coming of age story set in the dusty streets of one of South Africa's most infamous townships, Khayelitsha. The story is about a young boy who jeopardises his bright future as a result of one impulsive decision.

Thandolwethu plays the character of Thando the informant, who is just a typical township guy who is part of a gang and a right-hand man to the gang’s leader, Zuks. Thando does anything for Zuks. However, when it comes to making money, he snitches on everyone to the cops without thinking twice.

The second-year Human Resource Management student says he enjoyed starring on the show alongside the industry’s veterans.

“It was a very nice experience because I got to work with the legendary actors Chris Gxalaba, Tina Jaxa, Sizwe Msuthu, Thoko Ntshinga and others, so you get to learn a lot of things from them and the other young co-actors too,” he says. “So it's tremendously exciting to be around people who have the same vision as you.”

He adds that the CPUT Arts Society prepared him for his journey on the small screen. Last year he played the lead role in a theatrical play The Spirit of Shakespeare in Africa. The play, which was directed and written by Thami Mbongo and choreographed by Mhlanguli George, went to the National Arts Festival and the Cape Town Fringe Festival.

This experience secured him another role in a theatrical dance production by Mhlanguli George in which he played the role of a spirit caller. “I learned a lot while working on that play, being disciplined, focused and that loving and nurturing your work is important.

Thandolwethu says that while growing up as a young boy, he would often imitate movie actors in front of the mirror. However, he credits the CPUT Art Society for nurturing his craft.

Catch Nkululeko on DSTV channel 161 every Wednesday at 23:00. The series, which has 13 episodes, was first screened on the channel every Sunday at 20:00 earlier this year.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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CPUT’s dynamic rugby team will make their debut in the hotly contested FNB Varsity Shield presented by Steinhoff International this week when they will square off against UWC in the opening match.

FNB CPUT is making history as the first-ever from the institution to qualify for the competition and the captain and his team are appealing to the CPUT community to back our boytjies.

“CPUT students must be proud of this institution. It’s our first time to enter Varsity Shield so they must come to support us. I think they are excited to see us playing in Varsity Shield and we will do our best,” said team captain, Camagu Dlisani, a third-year Human Resource Management student.

He said the team had been training hard and their preparations had included a training camp.

Varsity Shield is played in round robin format while the final games will be knock outs.

Last year’s competition was won by the Wits team who beat UWC in the final.

Seven teams are competing for the title this year.

Thursday’s opening match between FNB CPUT and FNB UWC will be hosted by UWC and is scheduled to start at 16.45. It will be broadcast live on Supersport 1.

The CPUT team’s first home game will be on February 27 when they’ll face off against FNB UKZN in Wellington.

To view the fixtures go to: http://varsitycup.co.za/varsity-shield-fixtures/

Tickets on sale at the UWC Sports Stadium, R10 when you produce your staff or student card or R20 without.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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