The University of Johannesburg (UJ) held its launch of the Alumni Sports Affinity Group. It was held as a breakfast event at the Country Club on the 29th of September 2023. The opening and welcome address was given by the university’s Registrar, Prof Bettine Van Vuuren and Samkelo Radebe was Programme Director. “UJ is great because of our staff, their commitment, and our students. The institution is also great because of our alumni,” said Prof. Van Vuuren. She said excelling in sports and excelling in academia is not mutually exclusive. This is because there are very few people who are as disciplined as people who are good at sports. This discipline works
through to your academic career as well. While the Vice Chancellor (VC) was not available to attend, in attendance were Bongi Msomi and Khotso Mokwena. Programme Director Samkelo Radebe kicked off the event by chanting his clan names in light of Heritage Month coming to an end, which was followed by ululations. As a UJ alumni himself, he said in his time at the institution, it was just them as students with no alumni to communicate with nor learn from. Sharing his vision for the SPorts Affinity Group, President of UJ Executive Committee of Convocation, Leslie Mpunzi said it was important for the event to be used to network. He congratulated the Sporting division on this important milestone. “To us as Convocation, establishing a Sports Affinity group is important because they are a critical pillar of support in the activities of convocation,” he said. Director of Development and Fundraising Initiatives, Daphney Nemakhavhani said the institution
is all about impact and excellence and this excellence needs to be sustained in order for the future generation to benefit from it. “The university invests internally and we need to sustain this in order for the future generation to benefit from it. Give back your time and skills to the alma mater,” she said. The Keynote Speaker & Convener of the UJ Sports Affinity Group was the First Vice-President of SASCOC, Lwandile Simelane. She said she’s glad this affinity has started. “As students of the university (as I began my journey here), we were encouraged to be holistically developed human beings. It is for that reason that we are in positions now as alumni of this institution to be able to handle different challenges in life. The affinity needs to grow beyond the corridors of the institution. We need to ensure that we give back to our institution by being present,” said Simelane. The question and answer session was facilitated by Samkelo Radebe with the vote of thanks given by Senior Director of UJ Sport & House Warden: Afslaan, Nomsa Mahlangu.
UJ Alumni Sports Affinity Group Launch: Building Connections with current athletes and alumni
(Left to right): Registrar - Prof Bettine Van Vuuren, Convener of the UJ Sports Affinity Group & First Vice-President of SASCOC - Ms Lwandile Simelane, Director: Development & Fundraising - Ms Daphney Nemakhavhani, UJ Alumni - Mr Samkelo Radebe
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