RHODES UNIVERSITY
NELSON MANDELA HALL
ANNUAL HALL REPORT
2015
Nelson Mandela Annual Hall Report
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CONTENTS
Hall Warden’s report ……………………………………………………………………………………………………Page 4,5
Hall Senior’s report ………………………………………………………………………………………………………Page 6 - 9
Hall Community Engagement Representative report ……………………………………………….Page 10 - 12
House Senior Reports………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 13 -28
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Nelson Mandela Hall 2015
Hall Warden and Adelaide Tambo House Warden – Desiree Wicks
Guy Butler House Warden – Jonathan Davy
Helen Joseph House Warden – Lucy Allan
Stanley Kidd House Warden – Douglas Eastment
Hall Fellows
Prof Jen Snowball
Dr Alan Kirkaldy
Dr Rosaan Kruger
Mr Chris Upfold
Sub-Wardens
Adelaide Tambo House
Lungisile Ndlanzi, Ntombifuthi Memela and Sara Steiniger
Guy Butler House
Somila Tshabe and Anthony Davidovics
Helen Joseph House
Sizalobuhle Ndlovu, Teboho Ramosili and Anele Mngwengwe
Stanley Kidd House
Keenan Collett, Samkelo Mngadi and Keelen Snyders
Hall Administrator - Loranda Faltain
Hall Senior Student – Courtney Jacobs (Adelaide Tambo House)
Hall Community Engagement Representative – Sinetemba Xoxo (Guy Butler House)
House Senior Students
Nonkululeko Nkosi - Adelaide Tambo House, Mbasa Sigcau - Guy Butler House, Relebohile Chabeli –
Helen Joseph House, Chad Keates – Stanley Kidd House
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Hall Warden’s Report
The 2015 Nelson Mandela year was started off with our Hall Committee Leadership camp at
Assegaai Trails. As always, it was enjoyed by all, and everyone came back with a better
understanding of their roles and knowing the team better. I believe that this has contributed
greatly to the successful working relationship our Hall and House Committees had this year.
Due to University requirements a Stanley Kidd Annex building was converted to a female residence and
attached to Adelaide Tambo House. This resulted in Adelaide Tambo House being allocated a large
number of first years, but the House Committee managed this well and the new students were not even
aware of the change. The first year students settled in very quickly and enjoyed the various O-
week activities.
As usual, our year was very busy with all the events and activities we had planned.
We started a new Community Engagement Project in conjunction with the Mandela Week and hosted a
“Ukwakha Ngezandla” day which included a Quilting and Embroidery Exhibition, knitting of 67 blankets
for Mandela, sewing workshops which included a sewing group from the Assumption Centre. Learners
from CM Vellem school were included and taught how to play draughts and given draught boards, which
had been made by the students, to take back to school.
More details are in the reports from the various students. Thanks to everyone’s contribution,
our academic, sports and cultural events, dinners and residence social events were all such fun
and a great success.
At the Leavers dinner in October the following Hall Awards were awarded to students in
Mandela Hall:
Sports Person of the year (internal): Lwando Louis Saunders of Stanley Kidd House
Sports Personality of the year: Cody van Wyk of Stanley Kidd House.
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Community Engagement Personality of the year: Nikelani Mahlangu of Adelaide Tambo House.
Top First year student: Jodie Colville of Adelaide Tambo House
Top Second year student: Lili Flax of Adelaide Tambo House
Top Third year student: Rumbidzai Soko
The Dean of Students Leadership Award: Tinoziva Chipupuri of Stanley Kidd House.
The Hall Shield Award: Helen Joseph House and Stanley Kidd House joint winners
Top 1st year student Jodie Colville
Sports Personality of the year (internal)
Lwando Louis Saunders
Top 2nd year student Lili Flax
Sports Personality of the year (external)
Codie Van Wyk
Dean of Students Leadership Trophy 2015
Tinoziva Chipupuri
Nelson Mandela Annual Hall Report
Top 3rd year student Rumbidzai Soko
Community Engagement Personality of
the year - Nikelani Mahlangu
2015 Hall Shield Award – Helen Joseph House and Stanley Kidd House
joint winners
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Hall Senior Student report
By Courtney Jacobs- Hall Senior Student 2015
Welcome dinner 2015
We had our annual Welcome dinner on the 3rd of March. The theme was Cirque du Soleil. The
Welcome dinner is done yearly in order to welcome the first years to Rhodes University, and to
welcome back the current students of the dining hall. It is a fun event with good wine, food,
and company to start the year off with a bang.
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Sports day 2015
Sports day falls under the hall shield and it is done in order to let the four residences in the
dining hall compete to see who the best at sports is. We played volley ball, soccer, and tug-ofwar.
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Cultural evening 2015
Cultural evening again falls under the hall shield. This is done to let the halls compete against
each other by embracing the African heritage with the use of songs and a short skit. There were
4 countries randomly allocated to each residence to represent. This was done in order to learn
more about the countries in Africa that we may not know very much about. Adelaide Tambo
got Mauritania, Guy Butler got Somalia, Helen Joseph got Kenya, and Stanley Kidd got the
Seychelles.
In the morning before the event in the event we had a quiz. It involved general knowledge
question about Africa.
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Sports day with Jan Smuts dining hall
Sports day was done with Jan Smuts in order to bring different dining halls together. It allowed
the students to interact with students of Rhodes University that aren’t in the same dining hall
as us. We played soccer, netball, volleyball, tug-of-war, and had an ice cream eating contest to
end the day off.
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Nelson Mandela Hall Community Engagement Report
By Sinetemba Xoxo - Hall Community Engagement Representative 2015.
On the 6th of March, Nelson Mandela hall administrator received an email from the former hall
administrator notifying us about the CM Vellem school project led by two academics (Esther
Ramani and Michael Joseph). Their aim for the year was to promote biliteracy (in isiXhosa and
English). They also co-teach with the teachers in the three grade 1 classes they work with, but
due to the condition of the school, they needed assistance with upgrading/ maintenance of the
school in addition to the biliteracy objective.
While adapting to this newly formed partnership, Nelson Mandela Hall was involved in
community engagement events such as: CM Vellem garden revemping, indigenous games
documentation and Mandela Trading live.
CM Vellem garden revamping
The first event took place on the 26th of March. In this event, students from all four residences
gathered as per hall community engagement event participation requirements, and were
transported to the site with the help of wardens and other students in the hall. On arrival at the
site, students began removing the covering vegetation. Following that, they begun to till the
land and made beds in preparation for crops. A noticeable amount of students participated in
this particular event.
A local business supplied the school with crops, and these crops were planted by the grade 1’s.
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Give 5
The hall participated in collecting donations for Give 5, however, the agreement with the
respective Senior Students and House Community engagement reps was that we let the houses
do the collecting as eventually it will contribute to the Hall in total.
Indigenous games
The next project on the 1st of May was indigenous games documentation. As part of the
objectives to promote biliteracy, indigenous games were to be used to teach the learners but
none of African games were documented. As such the hall met and documented a few games
which are yet to be translated into English, then isiXhosa. After the games are documented, we
will try to bring the learners or visit them and play these games with them first.
However, having carefully annalysed the situation, and engaged with the community partner,
the indigenous games might not be an effective solution, hence in 2016 I will personally work
hand-to-hand with the next Community Engagement representative in exploring the option of
constructing cartoons.
Mandela Trading Live
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The 2015 Nelson Mandela hall trading live were organised by the hall warden Mrs Wicks and was titled
“Ukwakha Ngezandla”. Our hall trading live event was an integration of various activities (see the image
below).
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Adelaide Tambo House Report
By Nonkululeko Nkosi – Adelaide Tambo House Senior Student 2015
The year 2015 has been a successful and incredible one for Adelaide Tambo House. As Senior
Student, I am happy of how far we have come and grown together as a residence. The following
reflects on some of the events and activities that took place during the year 2015.
Hall Committee Training
This was where the journey began! The Hall comm training was held at Assegaai Trails and it’s
from this camp that we got to prepare for the year ahead in terms of our respective positions
and plans. It was also a time for self-introspection and self-evaluation through team building
activities and discussions.
It was a fun time as we played games together with our Wardens, accompanied by a good braai
and drinks.
House Corridor Games
One of the many challenges faced in residences is that of communication and sisterly
relationships amongst the fellow students. To break that, we incorporated corridor games
where the different corridors in the residence were a team and competed against other
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corridors. The turnout was great as the event instilled team spirit and support for one another.
Friendships blossomed and everyone got a chance to learn something about someone. The
corridor with the most points from this event was the red corridor.
Hall Sports Day
The annual sports day took place at the Hangar due to weather conditions. It is also because of
this that the turnout was not very pleasing; nonetheless, the students who did show up
definitely had the best of fun. Overall, the event was a success.
Beach Trip
We had a beach trip to Port Alfred and the girls were super excited! This trip wasn’t only a treat
but was also to get our first years to see what else is happening outside our little town.
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International Parade
In awareness of the International students and the diverse nature Rhodes comprises of, we
took part in the International Parade. Our residence represented Swaziland, which we shared
with the Swaziland society, creating a greater opportunity to appreciate our fellow
international students on a much closerbasis.
Adelaidies also showed full support of other countries that our fellow students in the res
originate from.
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Cultural Evening
This year, the theme was #KnowAfrica and this meant that we incorporate any knowledge of
the country we represented as a residence. Adelaide Tambo was representing Mauritania.
Skit: Our play was based on a marriage between a South African wife and a Mauritanian
husband. They relocated to Mauritania but the husband’s family was struggling to accept the
South African wife. After fights and discontentment in the family, the mother of the husband
eventually accepted the South African wife. The moral of the story was that we have to
embrace our different cultures and background and be open minded and willing to learn about
other cultures and traditions.
House Choir: We sang the following songs:

Seanamarena: This is a song about a young girl pleading with her father to take her to
school (university) so she can finally wear her long desired garment of knowledge- the
graduation gown (seanamarena)

Isiponono: This is a love song of a man bragging to his peers about his soul mate based
eThekwini (Durban)

Shosholoza: This is traditional South African folk song that was sung by Ndebele all-male
migrant workers that were working in the South African mines. This song has inspired
several communities to unify under very different circumstances. It has helped people
through many times of struggle, and is now sung in celebration of South Africa’s
national unity
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Guy Butler House report
By Somila Tshabe – Guy Butler House Sub-Warden 2016
House Photo, June 2015
This report will highlight the aspects of residence life in Guy Butler House, considering all
contributions made by the House Committee, House Members, and external events which may
have had an effect to residence life.
This year’s House Committee has served the House with a renewed vigour and vision, as it set
out values that it would lead by, and collated these values into four general aspects that it would
focus on for the year: Culture, Unity, Brotherhood, and Academics, otherwise termed ‘CUBA’.
This was adopted at the Leadership Camp by the four senior people in the House Committee –
the Senior Student, the two House Sub-wardens, and the House Comm ex-officio member, the
Hall Community Engagement rep.
In collating these values and being determined to ensure that they worked as effectively as
possible, they were communicated clearly and understood unanimously by the House Committee
who joined the Hall Committee members of the House Comm. The extent of the understanding
these principles was seen with the welcoming of the First Year students and returners, where a
united front was presented by the House Committee and a culture that was of brotherhood and
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unity was at the forefront of the residence experience. What followed was that the Gents were
comfortable to live together in a space of diversity, barring any underlying cultural or
background differences. Throughout the year, this culture and values were upheld in ensuring a
well-rounded living experience in residence. One instance of this is that the First Year students
integrated well with the returners and were able to it together in all provided spaces in residence,
doing things together. This includes braais, sporting events, and community engagement events.
On the academic front, we found it hard to lead steadfastly. It is important that at this point we
recognise that whilst it may be easy on face value to think that individuals within the residence
are doing work, they may not, or that we think that individuals understand and are current with
their work, they may not be. On this front, some strategies need to be discussed by the incoming
House Committee on the advisement of the Warden. We believe that GB does have the potential
to be one of the leading Houses, academically, at Rhodes University.
Representing at Cultural Evening, Heritage Day 2016
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There are three outstanding examples of how House Committee has gone over and above in its
commitment to making the residence experience well-rounded. The first example is that of the
House hosting a variety of entertainment events geared at integrating the Gents of the House
with other members of the University, both men and women, and also hosting internal House
events so that the members of the House could be together more of a relaxed communal space,
over and above those that have been previously provided in the normal operation of the
residence. The second example is that of the Inter-Res sporting fixtures, of which Gents were
encouraged to participate throughout; aligned with the values, the Gents of the House managed
to maintain a high positioning (between 1st and 2nd place) throughout the fixture season. We
unfortunately didn’t win this as academics became a priority and couldn’t participate or win in as
many fixtures as we had hoped. The third and last example in this regard was the Community
Engagement projects which the House partook in.
This offered an opportunity for the House Members to do something that wouldn’t otherwise be
of their normal scope of reality or something that they are genuinely interested in. The House
Members, with the Leadership of the Community Engagement Rep., managed to carry out
intense programmes which indeed engaged the stakeholders we engaged with. This success was
reflected when the House was awarded the Residence of the Year by RUCE. This indeed was a
highlight as the House is awarded for the second time consecutively.
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I would now like to move on to the transformational events that have been occurring across the
country, and particularly in our own institution.
The #FeesMustFall era
These events, in my view, have been necessary events as they have placed us in the position of
questioning ourselves as a youth in South Africa, and what events and characteristics of society
have led us to this point. This has been a reflective time for the Guy Butler House Gentlemen
too, as we engaged thoroughly in conversation about what transformation means, though in these
discussions, we merely looked at the kinds of characteristics of society which need to change,
rather than trying to give a monotonous definition of what transformation is; I think that we
understood transformation to be more than just skin colour politics, but also about sexuality,
religion, able-ness, and the privileges or disadvantages that these afford or detriment those who
have or who do not have such. We believe that 2016 is also to be a year where such
conversations are to be had, and I trust that the incoming House Committee will facilitate these
responsibly and effectively as possible.
Overall, the residence experience was not diminished by the transformational events that took
place this year, however it did make a few feel uncomfortable in the sense that confronting one’s
own privilege and perceiving such confrontation as a threat may have been unsettling. However,
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we always need to check ourselves in the spaces that we reside, as the possibility of our comfort
may be disruptive to a person who may otherwise be disadvantaged. The House Members have
partaken in most of the engagements around transformation talks and in the #feesmustfall
movement and found these to be largely insightful as Rhodes has never seen a march and
shutdown scale of the proportion these have happened, in the recent past. We are grateful that
our Members have taken root in participating in events of interest.
As we can see above, House Comm and the House Members have played a critical role in
ensuring a well-rounded residence quality of life. At this point in time, I would like to thank the
Warden, Mr Jonothan Davy, and my House Committee for having supported me in this intense,
yet fruitful year.
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Helen Joseph House report
By Relebohile Chabeli – Helen Joseph House Senior student 2015
Being senior student is not easy. It is demanding and it tests one’s character. Along the year it
was very unrewarding and became a drag halfway through. The question I asked myself
everyday was, “Why do you stay Ree? You can get out now.” And I asked it many times and it
was close to the end of my term as senior student that I found the answer.
It is only a position that makes you doubt your skills that is worth being in. If it did not challenge
me. If it was easy and if at every moment there was an audience waiting to clap hands for me, it
would have benefitted me nothing to be senior student. I stayed because I love seeing people
happy. I love order and being one person along with 10 more people in my house committee
bringing about that order, I was happy. I got to live the fullness of res life. From the planning, to
the execution and all to the delight of 88 girls each in their own way.
It was the movie nights, the mornings to go play a sport and win, the nights of rehearsing songs
for the Cultural Evening and the Garden party at the end to seal a good challenging year off. It
was the organising of meetings, sending emails and doing the behind-the-scenes work that
made me stay.
But most of all, I loved the challenge of this position because it reminded me why I applied in
the first place. I have a servant heart and there is no better place to start serving than at home.
And Helen Joseph has been home for the past 5 years. And it is these girls that made it all worth
it.
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Leavers Dinner 2015
Nelson Mandela Annual Hall Report
Helen Joseph House Senior student Relebohile Chabeli
Stanley Kidd House Senior student Chad Keates
receiving the Hall Shield award at Leavers
Dinner 2015
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Stanley Kidd House
By Chad Keates – Stanley Kidd House Senior Student 2015
Stanley Kidd House photo 2015
2015 has been an interesting year for Stanley Kidd with many ups and even more ups. We started
the year off with a bang and although we were unable to retain the RU Jamming title we had a
great time in serenades this year with many laughs from first years and House Comm alike.
2015 House Comm
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Stanley Kidd at Ru Jamming 2015 dressed in togas in perperation for the on-stage performance
Although we were unable to hang onto our serenading crown we managed to win back the
Nelson Mandela Hall Shield because of our combined performance in academics, sport, culture
and community engagement.
On the entertainment side we were thoroughly busy and we organised 2 large residence parties,
one at the union and a second in our common room which really worked out well and brought
much of the residence together. We were also involved in community engagement events
throughout the year and contributed to the 60 minutes for Mandela Day knit-a-thon among other
things.
We also managed a street clean-up from the environmental side that helped make the
Grahamstown streets look a little cleaner with the help of the other reses in our dining hall.
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Stanley Kidd representing Kenya at the International Parade this year
Stanley Kidd participated in lot of events this year but some that stand out were the Nelson
Mandela Sports Day, the Cultural day and the Nelson Mandela versus Jan Smuts Sports Day. We
competed well in all three but only managed to take the gold in The Nelson Mandela Hall Sports
Day.
Despite this fact Stanley Kidd managed to maintain their spirit and enthusiasm throughout the
year to make it a thoroughly enjoyable year for all those who chose to get involved. Last but not
least Stanley Kidd has been involved in inter-res sports all year round and had a great time
participating in the various interesting sports offered this year.
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Some of the events Stanley Kidd participated in during this year
Overall it has been a great year for Stanley Kidd House and next year is sure
to be a cracker!!!
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