Chairperson’s report

The social dinner

The social dinner was scheduled to start at 19h30 on Friday evening. At around 18h45, members were registering at the foyer. Mr. Bradley Daniels was the program director for the evening and started on time. He introduced himself and remarked about the setting association in general. The Chairperson of the IFPAARSA, Mr. Raj Govender, welcomed guests and emphasised the crucial role the association can play in social justice activism. Alumni introduced themselves to each other.

The session’s main speaker, Prof Farid Esack (see bio on Appendix 3) was introduced by Bradley Daniels. His topic was entitled “Understanding the role of social justice leader in the ‘new’ South Africa.” His talk was rescheduled to the last slot on the programme due to him arriving late. Prof Esack touched on his humble beginnings and difficult childhood at Bonteheuwel, a coloured township in the Cape, to encourage alumni to plough back in their communities. He emphasised the fact that many activists are more focused and concerned about ‘getting there’ that they forget about their backgrounds. He maintained that success is not about ‘getting there’ but rather more about what you can do for others when you ‘get there’. The challenge for alumni was therefore to think about what they want to do for their communities since Ford has assisted them in accomplishing their dreams.

Whilst meals were being served alumni were entertained with poetry and background music by the marimba dance group called Youth Success Project from Soweto. The group is an initiative of a young man called Vusi Tshabalala from Soweto. Mr Sam was the photographer for the event. At around 22h20 Mr Siphelo Ngcwangu made announcements and vote of thanks, marking the end of the evening.

Workshops

The program started at 08h30 and was directed by Ms. Phinah Kodisang. The purpose of the day was to enlighten the alumni about the areas of concern that the LOC had identified, hence all the presentations. Mr. Aaron Ramodumo, secretary of IFPAARSA, gave a synopsis of the review of the program, the programs developed and progress made thus far and what the future holds for SA alumni. Dr Edith Phaswana, Deputy Chairperson of IFPAARSA, followed with the preview of the resource manual which has been compiled by alumni for alumni. This manual will be made available to alumni.

Synopsis of Invited Presentations

The first presentation was delivered by our fellow alumnus Mr Andile Mngxitama, a well-known social activist in contemporary South Africa. His presentation was entitled Development not Charity. In his presentation, Andile went on to echo the sentiments presented by Prof Esack the previous night. He challenged alumni to think deeper about the role played by government and academia in addressing social justice issues in SA. He argues that not much is being done by these institutions, citing his disappointment with the social sciences and its failure to transform SA society. He urged alumni to confront pertinent issues that derail the country’s progress. He indicated that we often settle for short term solutions to long-term problems to address inequalities in our society, hence too much reliance on aid and ‘quick-fix’ solutions. He argues that the much popularised Mandela Day has lost substance in the sense that we allocate only 67 minutes to address challenges.

The second presentation by Mr Meiya Nthoesane, an alumnus, who is also a research assistant at UNISA, focused on writing for publications. The intention was to allow alumni, as activists to start thinking about writing their stories and getting them published. The workshop included research skills and how to convert a research document into an article for publication. Meiya pointed out that knowledge creation is an important area of concern for the alumni if we are to really make a meaningful change in the lives of others.

The third presentation was by Carina Van Rooyen and Ingrid Marais, lecturers from the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Johannesburg. Their topic was Using Social Media as a tool for Civil Activism. What was interesting in their presentation is the way they made a case for social media as a tool to mobilise people, using the events in Tunisia, Egypt and more recently in the UK, as case studies to demonstrate its effectiveness. The use of social media to steer debate was also cited with reference to the ongoing discourse in South Africa, which started on Twitter, between Helen Zille, Western Cape Premier and DA leader and the Art Activist and Artist, Simphiwe Dana. Basic terminologies and tools on twitter were introduced to alumni who were not familiar with the tools. Some alumni reflected on their attitude towards social media and for the first time recognised its usefulness. The presenters also encouraged alumni to open twitter accounts and follow the association. The use of the hashtag for specific issues was emphasised.

The fourth presentation was by Mr. Ricardo Wyngaard, an alumni, who is a non-profit lawyer in the Western Cape. He presented a paper on understanding issues of legislation when working with Non-Profit Organisation (NPOs). The relevance and importance of this topic would provide the association with the options of how to proceed to legitimise the associate association and to increase its visibility within the public domain. He presented a number of challenges that exist as well as opportunities of operations available for NPOs as presented by particular clauses in the constitution of the Republic. He also referred to the grey areas presented in the KING III report in relation to NPO’s. More details about this presentation appear on the resource manual.

Organising Gauteng

This session was facilitated by Mr. Meiya Nthoesane and was exclusive for Gauteng alumni. The purpose was to assist the region in setting up a local network and also drawing up a plan of action for the region. Mr Govender indicated that the current constitution does not make any provision for regional decentralisation. However, an interim structure is needed as it is difficult for regions to coordinate. Amendment to the constitution can only be done at the next AGM. The core areas that are crucial for the association were identified as Building Alumni Capacity, Community Engagement, Sustainability and Identity.

The group was divided into four subgroups and were asked to deliberate in depth the core areas raised and provide a feedback on how the organisation can take action, including the resources needed. The group reconvened and came up with the following focus areas for Gauteng: Publication – journal (scholarship) newsletter (real world issues); Database; Creating partnerships and Fund raising. Implementation was left for the interim structure to take forward

Following this, elections were conducted and the following people were elected to fill the functional areas identified by the alumni:

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  Coordinator/project manager – Siphelo
  
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  Communication officer – Bradley
  
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  Financial manager – Teboho
  
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  Development officer - Olivia
  

During this time some members of the EXCO went to Museum Africa, Newton, Johannesburg where our alumnus Andile Mngxitama was launching his latest publication of the New Frank Talk series entitled: Is Malema a Mugabe? A short political biography of Julius Malema.

The newly appointed coordinator, Mr Siphelo Ngcwangu, gave words of appreciation and thanked all the members for the confidence shown. He concluded by inviting all members to be actively involved in the activities that the new committee will be developing, as these are more about them.

The workshop adjourned at 18h20 and members departed from the venue with the exception of the EXCO who were having a scheduled meeting on Saturday night. Two local organisers were also requested to remain to assist the local organiser.

Evaluation and lesson learned

Alumni were provided with an evaluation form to rate each workshop attended. The purpose was to know the extent to which the various workshops met their expectations. This information will be shared with the presenters. As can be seen from the table below, participant evaluation of all the workshops have been very positive over-all. This analysis is based on the number respondents in each case. There were two categories of spoilt questionnaires which were not included in the analysis. First, there were papers where the respondents did not indicate for which workshop they were responding. Second, there were papers were the respondents circled more than one workshop.

Participants’ ratings of workshops on a scale of 1 (not applicable) to 5 (strongly agree)¹

	Key note address	Writing for publication	Development not charity	Social media for activism	NPO legislations
Appropriateness of presentation	4.4	4.4	4.8	4.4	4.8
Supported social justice skill development	3.7	4.2	4.8	4.4	4.8
Linkages with social justice	4.3	4	4.3	4.2	4.5
Time allocated reasonable	4.3	3.6	4.8	4.5	3.7
Presentation enhanced skills needed for social justice	4.6	4	4.5	4.2	4.6
Opportunity to reflect on social justice	4.2	4	4.8	4.1	4.7
Can recommend workshop to others	4.3	4.2	4.6	4.4	5
Presenter Knowledgeable about the topic	4.3	4.4	4.8	4.5	5
Presenter’ material well organized	4.2	4.4	4.6	4.2	4.7
Presenter’s use of audiovisuals appropriate	3.7	4	4.3	4.3	4.8
Overall content useful	3.8	4.4	4.8	4.6	4.7

Below are some of the comments extracted from the qualitative part of the evaluation.

Some positive comments:

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  The Gauteng alumni workshop was productive and triggered our mandate to deliver on our commitment and promises to plough back into our communities and to engage with national debates that involves social justice
  
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  Overall the workshop was of high standard.
  
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  Well organised and great hotel, clean and comfortable
  
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  Excellent and useful presentations
  
• 
  Well done organisers
  

Some suggestions

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  Conceptualisation and planning of workshops should be part of a year plan to allow participants ample to secure speakers and presenters of their choice
  
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  Punctuality should be promoted
  
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  A full time administrator appointed on an hourly basis to liaise with alumni who are active.
  
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  Presenters should avail themselves to attend to individual concerns
  
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  Fewer presentations in the future to allow more time to engage
  
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  It should be emphasised to all presenters to link their topics with matters of social justice. It is the core of what we strive for.
  
• 
  The keynote speaker was merely talking about himself instead of talking to the topic