An outdoor gym facility has been launched on the Bellville Campus to address the fitness needs of students and staff.

Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chris Nhlapo, said he immediately accepted the proposal for the creation of an open-air gym on the Bellville Campus.

“You can only be One Smart CPUT if you are healthy and fit,” said Nhlapo.

He added that he is delighted to notice that staff and students are using the athletic track for jogging purposes.

Nhlapo emphasised that a healthy mind should be accompanied by a healthy body and encouraged students to use the facilities to de-stress.

He said the facilities are an investment in the university’s infrastructure and that the Bellville Campus is the first phase of the project as more outdoor gym facilities will be set up on other CPUT campuses.

The facilities were procured through Outdoor Gyms by Play on Art, a 10-year-old business company which sets up outdoor gyms countrywide.

The company’s owner Breann Jacobs commended Phillip Chibvuri, from the CPUT Business Unit, for coming up with the perfect location for the gym.

She said she hoped that the CPUT community will use the gym and get stronger and feel better physically. “Students should inspire their friends and consider introducing fitness competitions or other events around fitness.”

She added that outdoor gums are freely accessible to everyone and don’t require subscription fees such as indoor gyms.

CPUT Budget Controller, Thabo Molelengoane, said the freely accessible facilities would encourage the youth to be more active physically.

“It shows that CPUT cares about the wellness of its staff and students,” Molelengoane said. “We are inspiring other universities to promote a healthy lifestyle. Thanks to the management for coming up with the initiative, it’s a start of good things to come.”

Physical trainers led volunteers in certain exercises and other fitness drills as well as demonstrated the use of all the facilities in the gym.

"We are raising obese kids, so the facilities will be enriching the lives of both the staff and students,” said Zandile Jacobs, Housing Manager: Bellville Campus.

Written by Kwanele Butana
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CPUT recently hosted the inaugural Student Accommodation Risk and Life Cycle Summit.

The summit, which was organised by the Association of College & University Housing Officers International Southern African Chapter (Acuho-I SAC), took place at the Granger Bay campus. Twenty-four Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and affiliates registered for the event nationally, regionally and internationally.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, in-person attendance was limited to attendees from South Africa only, while foreign attendees could participate online.

“The topic of student accommodation has always been a big one, however, the trends and the risk and life cycle of the sector have not been extensively discussed. Acuho-I SAC sought to do this,” said Phillip Chibvuri, from the CPUT Business Unit who is the Board Treasurer for the ACUHO-I Southern Africa Chapter.

“The aim and goal are to get a sectorial risk register, which the association will use to monitor and treat risks and engage various stakeholders including governments, private sector and more.”

The speakers included the CEO of Higher Health, Dr Ramneek Ahluwalia, who delivered the keynote address, Dr Derek Jackson from Kansas State University in the United States, who spoke on financial recovery as well as several other speakers on incident management and disaster recovery plans.

Chibvuri said feedback from the summit is trickling in and the results are encouraging.

“This is just but a step in getting the sector to collaborate more to achieve a greater cause.”

He said the summit gave attendees a deep understanding of incident management and risk management.

 “I am pleased that the members took to understand the world of risk which is inevitable given the times in which we survive, and more importantly, the need to manage the reality of risk in any organisation/operation and communicating it. The sectorial risk register will set the tone for more collaboration among HEIs in this area. We have the information/knowledge at our disposal sometimes and we have to use it to our advantage all the time to manage risks and prepare for incidents.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phanadapreneurs, a Community Engagement Student Leadership Academy student project team, recently hosted a Community Engagement Business Bootcamp at the Cape Town Hotel School, Granger Bay.

Jacqui Scheepers, Manager: Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, said: “The bootcamp provided for engagement across multi-sectoral boundaries with the aim of stimulating enterprise development and enhanced business practices in the informal sector.”

Student entrepreneurs, startups, emerging entrepreneurs, parastatals, local provincial and national government, business support development agencies and funders all formed part of the auspicious event. The focal activities of the event included information sharing, dialogue, skills development, business success storytelling, networking, but most importantly how students can contribute and assist with economic growth within their respective communities.

“The bootcamp forms part of a broader initiative by the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Units, Centre for Community Engagement and WIL [Work Integrated Learning], where students are encouraged to be more agile in their approach and are encouraged to think of ways and means to alleviate socio-economic issues within their respective communities,” said David Haarhoff, project lead.

Haarhoff added that they strive on equal opportunity. “From a Community Engagement perspective, it is imperative for us to continuously enhance students’ capabilities by offering such projects where our students are exposed to creative thinking and offered the opportunity to grow in all spheres of life through contributing to the well-being of small business enterprises and society at large,” he said.

In his opening address, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, Prof Paul Green, encouraged students and entrepreneurs to explore, experience and most importantly, to be flexible in their thought processing when considering this critical issue of socio-economic advancement in their communities.

The keynote speaker, John Peters, Chief Director: Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, sketched the current scenario in South Africa in terms of high youth unemployment rate, low start-up rate of new business and high discontinuation rate of existing businesses. Peters further highlighted a weak entrepreneurship culture, regulatory and bureaucratic constraints, inadequate, fragmented and uncoordinated support eco-system, infrastructure, crime/extortion and other binding constraints as well as a lack of information and awareness.

Peters advised that government offers a number of financial and non-financial support to start-ups and encouraged the youth present to utilise these services. He urged students to become tech savvy, and to welcome competition, stating that it can sharpen their thinking and will allow them to be more efficient and more effective. In closing he alluded that most successful entrepreneurs never relied on handouts and/or begged government for support.

Jayde Barends, Senior Technology Transfer Officer, CPUT Technology Transfer and Industry Linkages, provided context in respect of her department and the technology transfer process from idea conceptualisation to socio-economic impact. Rushdeen Rose, Project Coordinator, Technology Station: Clothing and Textile, CPUT provided a detailed outline of services offered by the technology station as well as the various training programmes and industry initiatives the station is currently embarking on.

Phillip Chibvuri, Finance Specialist within the Residence Department at CPUT, provided context in terms of financial architecture and encouraged students to take time to know the worth of their “money”.

Director: Advancement Department, Calvin Maseko, highlighted that his department considers all three pillars of CPUT when embarking on fundraising initiatives. This includes Learning and Teaching, Research and Community Engagement.

Christopher Cupido, Acting Head of Department: Entrepreneurship and Business Management touched on the ENACTUS programme with a particular focus on students’ social enterprise development through ENACTUS as a CE project.

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) was also represented at the Business Bootcamp by Xola Gxilishe, Jobs Officer, who gave a rundown of entrepreneurship and youth cooperative development programmes offered by the agency.

Amangile Botya, Akha Bobo, Williams Matsepone and Sakhile Mabena, young entrepreneurs, CPUT students and alumni, shared their respective business success stories. Scheepers viewed the bootcamp as a step towards the strengthening of partnerships and relationships within the business development sector and aims to engage in further community engagement initiatives and projects.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Civic Engagement Unit, Centre for Community Engagement, Work Integrated Learning collaborated with CPUT Residence Finance to disburse used and written off items from CPUT residences to communities as part of their Social Investment Project.

The project began a few years ago with the disbursement of used mattresses and bed frames from residences in District Six, Bellville, Mowbray and Wellington campuses. Currently the residences are busy replacing the small desks which are being replaced with new ones. Dedicated residence management and house parents engage with the Civic Engagement Unit to ensure that collection of used items coincide with the delivery of new items to the residences. Wherever possible house parents, Residence Student Assistants (RSA’s)and leadership academy students assist the communities on the day of collection which is labour intensive.

Community organisations which have benefited from the project thus far are: Saartjie Baartman, Ladles of Love, Vision Child and Youth Care Centre, Langebaan Policing Forum, Jenny Alexander Community Upliftment Foundation, Camissa Solutions, The Ark City of Refuge, Sons of God reach NPC, Gift of the Givers, Ram Charity, Agape Family, Leliebloem Home, RWCW Foundation, Restoration & Leadership Skills Home, Al SABR Foundation, Hanover Park home of Safety, Victory Outreach, Open Foundation, TAG Restoration Centre, and Umsimbithi Foundation.

These organisations deal with disaster response and poverty alleviation as part of their service to vulnerable communities. Jacqui Scheepers, Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Manager believes that “the project gives credence to CPUT’s Oneness and Smartness through acts of kindness and demonstrating compassion (human heartedness) by the university further cementing and living the philosophy of Ubuntu”.

Phillip Chibvuri, Residence Finance Specialist, Finance Administration, says CPUT as an institution surrounded by communities, “there is a deep sense of responsibility and approach to our social fabric and contribution thereof”. “These projects will continue as our vision and mission as a university is designed to benefit the environment in which we operate while preparing the next generation of responsible citizens,” says Chibvuri. He further states that their projects are not theoretical but practical and hands on where there is meaningful cohesion between the community and the students fostering social change and responsibility in building a thriving civil engagement process.

Debbie Lindenberg, from The Community Policing Forum says: “A huge thank you for the desks which were distributed to two schools in Langebaan and to Redlinghuis. They were so appreciated.”

A community partner, Mark Govindsamey from Camissa Solutions expresses gratitude for the donation. “It will be appreciated by those we bless with them. Now more than ever, due to the loss of personal items in areas affected by the storm we had. Thank you to all at CPUT,” says Govindsamey.

Sydney Hlongwane, third-year student in Management and Project Management, Faculty of Business and Management Sciences says: “I acquired managerial skills aligned with my course work and gained hands-on experience. Running this project has helped me to improve my leadership, communication, and administrative skills as well as my client engagement abilities.”

David Haarhoff, the Civic Engagement Project Lead indicates that Community Engagement can simply not be deemed as a tick box exercise. “It requires passion, empathy, sympathy, and a sense of alignment with the ubuntu philosophy. I believe in the philosophy of each one reach one. Reaching out to the respective organisations is a true testimony of our University’s seriousness in contributing to society at large.

“This aligns to our mission and vision and our strategic blueprint. I am extremely excited to be part of this social investment project as it aims to assist communities in rebuilding where there has been lost or towards the betterment of communities,” says Haarhoff.

This project is ongoing and shows how through collaboration and partnerships CPUT staff and students can make an impact in their communities.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In a vibrant celebration held at the Bellville Campus, Vice-Chancellor Prof Chris Nhlapo proudly cut the ribbon at the official naming ceremony of the student residence, Seriti House.

The residence, which first opened in 2011, has been known as New 200-bed Residence, but from 4 September 2024 will proudly be known by its new name.

Derived from Sesotho, Seriti means integrity and dignity. It describes the aura cast by people as they go through life – the shadow that grows through doing good and diminishes through malice.

Programme Director for the event, Phillip Chibvuri, welcomed all attendees and said the event was a proud moment for the institution.

It included music, cultural performances and poetry while attendees came dressed in African attire.

Zandile Jacobs, Head of Residences: Bellville, said the journey to the point of naming had been a long one and appealed to students who reside in the residence to take care of the building for future students.

Residence Business Manager Johnny Basson also reflected on the residence’s history and said the place where the residence was built in 2011 used to be just bush and vegetation.
“As the name we are here today to celebrate, we will cast the shadow of good ideas, good governance and plant the seed of proud legacy as we blast the institution into an unimaginable height,” said Basson.

Zukiswa Kama said she has been the residence coordinator for the past 11 years and was overwhelmed that the day had finally come, adding it was a momentous occasion for her, the students and the whole CPUT community.

Nhlapo unveiled the new plaque to commemorate the event and said it was a wonderful occasion to rename the residence Seriti House, adding that the name “speaks to a decolonial agenda”.

He said selecting the correct name was an important and systematic process and he urged the residents of Seriti House to live up to the meaning of the name.

Central SRC President Thamsanqa Zondi said Seriti House would not only be a place of residence but a house where friendships are formed, ideas are nurtured and futures are shared.

Dean of Students Nonkosi Tyolwana thanked the organising committee, the performers and all role-players who made the event a success.

Reflecting on the event, Chibvuri said: “It was a great way to plant the seed of the African legacy as we start heritage month and the naming of a building in an African language was most elevating and momentous for many. As CPUT celebrates this naming launch, the rest of Africa would have ululated with us as we advance and drive towards a promising future, yet building a rich history for our generations to come.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CPUT recently marked a significant milestone with the official launch of the institution’s first high-tech business lounge, highlighting the university’s commitment to innovation and excellence.

Situated at the Hanover Street Residence on the District Six campus, the venue comes equipped with state-of-the-art technology and is envisioned as a hub for networking, innovation and growth, enabling professionals to connect and collaborate.

The lounge features a 24-seater boardroom, a discussion lounge area with all amenities, air-conditioning and a fully customisable furniture arrangement system to accommodate more people when needed. It is located in a quiet corner away from disturbances, ensuring that discussions are held in a business-enabling environment.

The interior design of the lounge was done by alumna, Amore Strauss, a BTech in Interior Design graduate. Strauss has worked for well-known Cape Town interior design businesses and showed a keen interest in giving back to her university.

"At CPUT, we have always strived to push the boundaries of innovation and excellence,” said Business Manager, Johnny Basson, during the official opening.

“Our vision for this lounge is to create a space that embodies these values – a place where business meets comfort, and where technology enhances productivity and collaboration.”

He said the high-tech business lounge is designed to cater to the needs of today’s dynamic professionals, providing a seamless blend of work and relaxation. “Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including high-speed internet and top-notch security, the lounge aims to foster an environment of efficiency and convenience. “

The facility is expected to elevate CPUT's third stream income generation and to create lasting network opportunities beneficial to the institution and its broader community.

Acknowledging the efforts behind the project, Basson extended his thanks to his dedicated team, including project manager, Residence Finance Specialist, Phillip Chibvuri, as well as all partners and departments who played pivotal roles in bringing the vision to life.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Chris Nhlapo unveiled the plaque and cut the ribbon, symbolising the official opening of the venue.

He said the project is in line with international best practice and thanked all role-players who contributed to it.

Chibvuri said, the project was done as part of “a larger scale thinking with the design of our living and learning spaces”.

He said the “residence facelift project” which was launched by the Residence Business Unit, focuses on utilising spaces optimally and incorporating the design element to speak to clients and their wellbeing. “Research has shown that there is a deep connection between interior design and productivity, and this is what we are fostering in our own spaces, particularly the residences. We have long been craving for orange juice but while in an orange tree. The university community should expect more in due course as we intensify our approach to residence services, designs, look and feel as well as sustainability.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.