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Unsanctioned sleepovers
Stellen-Buzz with SMF
April 18, 2025
Dear reader,
My positive spark from last week has been temporarily snuffed out.
I am still baffled that the media seating at the Danie Craven Stadium is situated at the very back of the grandstand. It is extremely inconvenient to squint during the entire duration of a rugby game because the players are too far away to identify. It was, however, very easy to make out that Stellenbosch University lost the game.
It is also a cruel karmic joke that Adobe InDesign randomly crashes at 4am on the day that your assignment is due.
The journalism honours class was tasked with interviewing any type of ‘prominent person’, writing a feature article about them, and creating a magazine layout to display said article. This task occasioned the first unofficial ‘sleepover’ of the year, as multiple people stayed at the department until the first rays of sun peeked over the horizon. I will not be at my optimal functioning for the next few days.
Luckily, we are going into the long weekend. To those who celebrate, Happy Easter! To those who do not, I hope you have a restful weekend.
To pique your interest about the happenings of SMF News, here are some brief insights into the prominent people that were written about this week:
Masixole Wellington Ngqubungu – The security guard that has captured the hearts of many Stellenbosch University students. You’ll find him in the parking lot between the Harmonie residence building and the Lombardi building. I chose to write about him because he is an absolute ray of sunshine and he brings so much joy to so many people in the town. I thought it was only right that people got to learn and know more about him than just his fantastic dance moves. 🤍
– Daniela Botha
Bianca Augustyn – She’s currently an assistant coach for the Maties women’s rugby team. She is also a former SA 7s player and she was the Maties captain when the women’s team won the inaugural Varsity Cup women’s tournament in 2023. What was really interesting to me about her is that before she joined the Maties squad in her second year, Bianca had never played competitive rugby before. She had only ever played casually with family. So in just four years she went from having just started competitive rugby to making the SA squad.
– Annemieke Thomaidis
Zubin – An indie artist and content creator. Despite graduating with a BA (International Studies) degree from Stellenbosch University in 2023, he is now a full-time artist. Zubin had many achievements last year, including one of his songs becoming the theme song of the SA20 cricket tournament.
– Iman Allie
Dr Alfred Schaffer – Nie net is hy ’n fantastiese lektor en digter nie, maar hy het ook my ouers oorreed om my toe te laat om tale te gaan swot.
– Kobus Erasmus
Tallulah Rose Glasby – A master’s student in her second year at Stellenbosch University. She is the only person in the country studying/researching biocrusts, which are communities of living organisms living on the surface of soil.
– Ishmael Mabena
Mesias Alfeus – He came from poverty and now he’s the youngest associate professor at Stellenbosch University.
– Uendjii Kandanga
Merissa Meyers – She’s from Kimberley and has events creating spaces for children to have fun and something to do because all the entertainment venues have closed down. Kimberley had a cinema, bowling, and gaming shops, but everything is gone. She took the initiative to step up.
– Casey-Lee Anthony
Anke Spies, newsletter editor.
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The weekly rundown:
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Engineers will continue to monitor the condition of the bridge on the R304 outside Kayamandi on a daily basis until a contractor has been appointed to start with construction work, according to Stuart Grobbelaar, communications manager for Stellenbosch Municipality. |  By Hannah Abrahams |
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 By Christopher Naidoo | A new initiative to provide swimming lessons to underprivileged children from Ida’s Valley is facing a possible halt due to the temporary closure of the Cloetesville municipal pool. |
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The Van der Stel executive committee is concerned that multiple sporting codes might lose access to the Van der Stel sports grounds, following a recent announcement that Stellenbosch Football Club (SFC) will operate the grounds for the next 30 years. |  By Kobus Erasmus |
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Visual of the week:
Final battle
The University of Cape Town’s Ikey Tigers won their first Varsity Cup title in 11 years when they beat Maties at the match on Monday 14 April. The picture shows Ikeys’ left centre Thomas Nel trying to defend the try line as Maties’ right centre Ryan Manuel approaches.
PHOTO: Buhle Bam
Get to know me!
What is your favourite song and who is your favourite artist?
I'm an avid music-listener so it's difficult to choose just one, but I think currently my favourite song is "Knockin" by MJ Lenderman, specifically the live version.What is your favourite film?
Johnny is nie dood nie (2016), directed by Christiaan Olwagen.What is your favourite book, and what are you currently reading?
Just based on how many times I've reread it, my favourite book would have to be Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. Currently I'm reading A matter of life and death by Andrey Kurkov.What is your favourite place you’ve ever visited and why?
Khomeesdrif Camping Site on Riviersonderend.If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Keeping in theme with my favourite movie, I would have loved to meet Johannes Kerkorrel.If you weren’t studying journalism, what would you be doing?
Probably doing my honours in political science or Afrikaans and Dutch. One day I would love to learn more about Ancient Cultures. As an academic subject, Ancient Cultures is the one that got away.What is something most people don’t know about you?
I had a bit of an emo phase in high school, so I can still recite the entire history of the band Panic! at the Disco album by album.What is your current guilty pleasure?
My guilty pleasure is and always will be getting the Ambrose pizza from Holy Dough, except I don't even feel guilty about it.What do you do if you’re not busy working?
I love going on walks and annoying my cat, Mouse, whom I love very much.What do you want to achieve this year?
To be very honest, I just want to make it to the other side in one piece.
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