NMMU funny man in the running for SA Comics Awards

 Guest Blogger Khanyisa Melwa

Accolades amassed by NMMU students and staff are never in short supply. It is not everyday however, that we can say that one of our own IT students stands a chance of winning awards at the South African Comics Choice Awards.

Our very own, Lukhanyiso Matshoba’s people-centred style of comedy has earned him nominations at the 5^th Annual South African Savanna Comics Choice Awards.

Lukhanyiso has been nominated in the following categories: Best friend of Comedy and the Audience Choice, for which he will need the public’s votes in order to win.

The budding comedian recently returned from Johannesburg where he was battling it out with stand-up comics from around the country, for the coveted Best Newcomer nomination which will be announced in early July.

Lukhanyiso "DirtyBumzz" Mathshoba on the carpet in Joburg recently.

This young man, who is currently completing his IT Diploma at NMMU, started stand-up comedy in 2013.

“It was when I was in the Drama Society that I discovered I had a knack for making people laugh,” he says.

He says he chose the stage name “DirtyBumzz” because he wanted to destigmatise the name.

"Dirty bums" is a term that is often used when one is referring to disadvantaged or marginalized people. My aim is to give those people hope and to motivate them. To make them believe that they are capable of doing so much.” says the budding comedian.

His material consists of stories about his township upbringing; and he compares this with life in surburbia, in a bid to ultimately unite people through laughter.

Lukhanyiso doing his thing on stage.

“Winning these awards would be great. No one from the Eastern Cape has ever won a Comics Choice Award. So it’s not only me who will be winning, but PE and the Eastern Cape too,” says Lukhanyiso.

For Lukhanyiso to win in the aforementioned categories, members of the public will need to vote and stand a chance to win a VIP experience to the awards. The winner will receive two double tickets to the awards show on the 15^th of August 2015, dinner at Montecasino to the value of R500, a chance to sashay down the yellow carpet with celebs, comedians and media as well as access to the after party.

SMS 3975 to 45757 to vote.

SMS’s cost R1.50 | Limited to 20 votes per mobile number | RSA Only

Let's get behind our funny man, and bring those accolades home!

#NMMUWalk - Putting the ‘social’ back into ‘social media’

By guest blogger: Khanyisa Melwa

The advent of social media has completely changed the way we interact and engage with one another. Filters and hashtags have become somewhat of a lingua franca. As millennials, we are often referred to as hyper-taskers and our teenagers are now screenagers. We live in the information age, an age where one chooses to be ignorant as information is readily available with a click of a button.

With this in mind, it was quite refreshing to be a part of an event that puts the ‘social’ back into social media. I’m talking about the first #NMMUWalk that was hosted by Cityofpe together with the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) on Tuesday evening.

The #NMMUWalk is essentially an Instawalk (Instagram Walk) which is about getting the community together to take pictures of our beautiful city/campuses and share them on Instagram. It’s an opportunity for people to get to meet the people behind the Instagram accounts and interact with them on a human level. “It’s about growing the community, that’s our emphasis” says Joshua Terry, one third of Cityofpe. The community in this case, was the NMMU community.

The walk began at Madibaz Café, with some quick treats, because you know – food. Whilst enjoying the delicacies, I couldn’t help but feel like an amateur (which I am) when I heard these guys and girls talk about their lenses and cool cameras. Canon 550D’s, ISO’s and Insta-lenses were the order of the day. Did you guys even know Insta-lenses existed? I didn’t. Apparently some company in Cape Town manufactures these, a pretty nifty gadget for you iPhone users.

Our Instawalkers at the kraal.

We then missioned down to the kraal to begin our expedition, in search for the coolest shots of our beautiful campus. Bar the odd selfie here and there, our Instawalkers achieved this with aplomb, as a plethora of beautiful pictures of the campus can be seen under the hashtag - #NMMUWalk on Instagram.

River Leask doing a 'RiverJump'

What was even more interesting was how 25 completely different students, with everyone studying different courses and from different backgrounds could come together for a new experience and enjoy it so much. We all came to take pictures of a beautiful campus and share these on Instagram but the bi-product of this was that friends and connections were made and for some, followers were gained.

Barriers were transcended at the #NMMUWalk; people you would normally speak to over an app using a smartphone were now standing right next to you taking the very pictures that would leave you awestruck on Instagram. Not only that, but societal barriers were also dismantled, this was evidenced by the diversity of the students present. This goes to show how social media – which is famous for rendering active-users as anti-social can now be used as a socializing agent, which can only bode well for social cohesion in our beautiful country.

It’s really cool to know that we go to a university that encourages creativity, diversity and a vibrant student life. Kudos to the lads from Cityofpe for hosting this event with NMMU, I hope this was the first of many.

Photo: Stuart William Black aka Crazyninja88 on Instagram

Our art students ... what were they thinking?

What are they thinking ... check out the art in K Block's studios

I find art fascinating. I might not know too much about it, but I find the result – the completed pieces of artwork – hugely interesting. I find some art beautiful, some blatantly ugly. Other pieces still, deathly dull.

But I am always intrigued.

What were they thinking?

I asked myself this question all over again – as I do every year – when I visited the Fine Art Graduate Exhibition in K block, North Campus, by our final year art students.

What were they thinking when they conceived their paintings, drawing, ceramics, glasswork and sculptures?

Both sculptures by Phiwokwakhe Tshona

What drove them to throw a myriad of three-dimensional shapes together to form giant kites? What caused a student to choose to merge man with frog, fox and elephant? What triggered an onslaught against diet cooldrink and media messaging; what pushed a student to delve in new techniques; what evoked the collection of thumb print …

Yes, it’s the thinking behind the art that intrigues me.

But let’s see what you think of the work by:

Robyn Munnick, Chelsea Bell, Kent Cairncross, Erica Fu, Gabriel Chaponda, Suzette Crafford, Sipho Makhanda, Namhla Mbalane, Neil de Lange, Sarah King, Justin Lucas, Pieter-Jan Kilian, Maqhawe Mkwanazi, Kyle Hamann, Nadia van der Merwe, Thabiso Patsi, Anja Roestorf, Ilse Volver, Dané Strydom, Phiwokwakhe Tshona, Sukesh Moodaley, Nadine Moolman, Midian Thackwray, Karen Yew-Sioung and Mandy Ndesi.

Their work can viewed until 4pm on 27 November.

The Fine Art work of the BTech students can also be viewed at the Athenaeum, Corner of Belmont Terrace and Military Road, Central, from 9am to 4pm daily, also until 27 November.

Three works by Dané Strydom

Glass works of famous faces

Digital print on enhanced matte by Sipho Makanda

Anja Roestorf' produced several skilful morphed drawings 

Midian Thackwray's wonderful mobiles and wall hangings are a show stopper  

Ceramic work titled the Puppet Master by Pieter-Jan Kilian 

A spider takes centrestage among the sculptures

Seeking a sense of self?  

Making art out of our identities?

A painting of a tumour

Archbishop Desmond Tutu by one of the Class of 2014