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Top achieving student makes a positive difference

16 October 2020 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

Qinisani-Qwabe_web read more — Qinisani Qwabe, one of the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans, considers it important to always reach out and contribute to someone's life, no matter how small it may be.

Looking back at 2020, most people will not have fond memories. But for Qinisani Qwabe, a second-year PhD student in the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Development and Extension, 2020 turned out to be a good year.

On 10 September, he heard that he was selected as one of the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans in the education category. As if being elected as one of the prestigious group of young people is not enough, Qwabe added another feather in his cap when he was chosen as one of 21 young scientists by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), in collaboration with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI).

When offered the chance to represent South Africa at a BRICS Conference in Russia, he seized the opportunity with both hands. At this virtual event, he presented a paper on a topic he cares about a lot – ecology. His paper, using a South African case study, was titled: The role of agrobiodiversity on environmental management and its impact on human ecology.

Sustainable resources

From an early age, growing up in a very isolated community called iSihuzu on the outskirts of Richards Bay, Qwabe worked hard. He not only reaped the rewards by seeing all his tuition fees paid, but he was also offered opportunities to make a difference in society.

“I want to see a society that leads a sustainable life and values its natural resources. This is what wakes me up every morning. That is what I am working towards,” he says.

Qwabe has a registered organisation that, among others, seeks to achieve agricultural biodiversity, respect and value for local knowledge, sustainable development, as well as youth and community engagement.

The organisation has two legs – one dealing with agricultural production and the other focusing on social entrepreneurship. “As part of this social entrepreneurship initiative, we are working with schools in the north of KwaZulu-Natal, where we do outreach programmes (e.g. donating school uniforms), and run projects driven towards sustainability,” says Qwabe.

But he believes that it is his voice on indigenous foods, together with his passion for research – complemented by community development initiatives – that contributed to his selection as one of Mail & Guardian’s top 200 Young South Africans.

A greater vision

He is happy to be in the academia and believes that it will propel him towards his greater vision.

“My vision for my future is to be well-known for my contributions on matters of environmental sustainability, and equally so, for community development. Parallel to my philanthropic undertakings, I envision being a leader in one of the leading organisations on environmental sustainability, such as the World Health Organisation's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO),” says Qwabe.

Here he would like to focus his energies on food security, nutrition, and food safety; sustainable management and use of natural resources and forestry; and institutional capacity building for the sustained management of natural resources and increased agriculture production.

The next generation

Qwabe believes he is making an impact and building a solid foundation for the upcoming generations to build upon. He urges the youth of South Africa to strive to make a difference. “No matter how small it might seem,” he says.

“To borrow from the American songwriter, Michael Jackson – WE are the world. And that 'WEness' denotes that each one of us has a role to play.

News Archive

Getting out of the dark

2015-06-10

ESKOM is making daily announcements on the status of the power grid.

Anton Calitz, Electrical Engineer at University Estates, is in continuous contact with Eskom and Centlec in an effort to stay abreast of load shedding.

According to Anton, Eskom has recently - the week of 20 April - been focusing on the evening peak, and has announced STAGE 1 load shedding from 17:00-22:00; thus, the Bloemfontein Campus should be able to continue business as usual during the day, except for Thursdays from 18:00 and, possibly, Fridays from 17:00.

Where can I get more information about load shedding stages?

Apart from Eskom’s webpage, staff can also visit GRID WATCH. Click on "Search", then under "Schedules". Look for "Mangaung Local Municipality", and select "GROUP 4". Save this location. “This can even be loaded onto your mobile device.”

“The time slots can be seen for a couple of days in advance, to allow us to plan around the possibility of load shedding in our daily lives,” said Anton.

Please note: ESKOM can change the STAGE level at any time. Therefore, keep an eye on GRID WATCH and News24.

View the typical seven-day planner for the Bloemfontein Campus (Group 4), which indicates the STAGE 2 and 3 possibilities. Take note that, on some days, the STAGE 2 and 3 time slots are the same.

More load shedding tips: Your IT needs

The UFS Data Centre (Computer Room) is fully serviced by a generator facility, and can function without external power supply for a few days.

The generator servicing the UFS data centre does NOT provide power to the outlying facilities. This implies that all digital equipment at gates, booms, and access points will be shut down until the power is restored to these facilities. “We are now, in collaboration with Nico Janse van Rensburg, in a process to install UPS facilities at these points, which will ensure two to three hours of power supply at these points, even during load shedding,” said Dr Vic Coetzee, Senior Director: ICT Services.

No Wi-Fi will be available, as it is dependent on the power supply to the buildings where it is installed.

All servers are contained in the data centre, and will be kept running by our generators.

How to manage load shedding and your IT needs:

1. Get into the habit of saving your work regularly on computer so that you don’t lose your work/files during load shedding.
2. Back up important data. Keep to a schedule of regular back-up. Make sure your computer back-ups are safe and recoverable.
3. Keep all electronic devices charged and ready to run on battery power. Keep your cellphone charged: some old-style Telkom landlines will still operate during power outages, but others won't.
4. Remember, when power supply is restored, it sometimes happens that a power surge is sent through the network, which will damage your computer. Fortunately, laptop computers will not suffer this fate as their power is provided through an external power pack. Often, this power pack will be damaged, but not the laptop itself.
5. It makes good sense to reboot your computer daily, not only in terms of power shedding, but also in terms of updating the drivers, software, etc.
6. Switch off all computers and other electrical equipment at the wall plug overnight and on weekends.
7. Should your IT equipment not switch on after a power outage, log a call with the ICT Services. You can also call them at x2000.

More information, guidelines and contact numbers

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