Mr and Miss NMMU coming up

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University is something of a microcosm of South Africa – a mini version of our Rainbow nation (which reminds me, it’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s birthday today – he’s the man who coined the phrase of South Africa being a Rainbow nation. Happy birthday Arch!)

We have staff and students of all colours (almost 60% of our students are black, 14% are coloured, 2% are Indian and 24% are white); we have a wonderful mix of cultures, including the 8% of students who come from outside our borders; we run the university like a mini town with our own rules, clinics, sports facilities, shops and traffic officers and have a sizeable budget to ensure that everything runs effectively).

In fact, we like to brag that the diversity of our Rainbow campuses (we have six of them, five in Port Elizabeth and one in George) is one of our strengths.

Why then is the annual pageant in search of Mr and Miss NMMU not reflective of this mix?

The competition is happening with much fanfare on Saturday 11 October in our Indoor Sports Centre but is lacking in white entrants (well, that’s if the promotional poster is anything to go by).

• Is it because white students perceive the contest to be for black and coloured students only?
• Is it because white students do not take such contests seriously?
• Is it because it is poorly marketed?
• Is it because of the timing of the competition, less than a month before final examinations? 

I don’t know the answer but am sad that this aspect of university life does not adequately reflect the real picture of the mix of our students.

Even the rugby – once the traditional domain for white students – has attracted large numbers of students from other race groups.

But there again, the support for soccer at NMMU is mainly by black students.

I suppose this is all part of our transforming university. Change is rarely embraced overnight but given the right marketing, the right institutional culture and the right leadership, we’ll soon be able to celebrate the transformation of “Rainbowness” to all areas of university life.

We’ve much to celebrate already …

And let’s not take anything away from the time, effort and talent in this year’s Mr and Miss NMMU contest. You might want to check it all out in the pre-judging video http://ow.ly/CmEEc

All the best for a great show on Saturday hosted by actress and TV presenter Boitumelo Thulo. Tickets at R30 include entry to the after-party.

One of Saturday night's hopefuls. 

Mr and Miss NMMU 2013 Lunathi Bongco and Pache Oranje