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ISSUE 7 Research . Rethink . Relearn EKHAYA
18
22 8
OUR COVER
4 EDITORIAL
Rodwin Malinga, 21, and Erik Prinz, 22, are fourth-year students at
Homegrown research crosses borders Wits completing Bachelor of Arts in Digital Art degrees, majoring in
Game Design. Malinga and Prinz created this cover of Curios.ty, the
5 Featured researchers Ekhaya issue, using Minecraft, a "sandbox" game. This refers to a
video game system with defined rules that the players can interact
6 Places we once called home with but with which they have complete freedom. There are no goals
that are necessary to progress in the game and players are free
8 Homes of the future to create, modify or destroy their environment. Malinga describes
himself as an artist proficient in a plethora of different media forms
12 An eye on assistive tech at home – “I enjoy creating art out of anything and everything I can find ...
games such as Minecraft are an excellent way of letting players get
14 Home in the Arts involved in the creation of art,” he says. Prinz is passionate about
playing and making games and creating memorable work. He says,
16 Owner or Roamer? “I’ve always created games and narrative experiences for my friends
17 Feel at home at the office ... I’d construct some of these experiences with Minecraft. Thus I
have quite a bit of experience with the game.”
18 This land is my land
22 Address: Unknown
26 Home truths and storied streets
28 Coming home to South Africa
30 At home in your skin
32 How African homes impact health
RODWIN MALINGA ERIK PRINZ
2
CONTENTS
34 PROFILE
Kirsten Doermann
decolonises houses
36 Backyard not backward
38 Kalahari communes
40 Q&A
Ecobricks
42 Home is where the heart is
44 Migrant moms keep the
home fires burning
45 You and Big Brother,
@Home online
46 COLUMN
The mouth of a shark
48 COLUMN
Pushing privacy buttons
50 HISTORY
The first homes at Wits 12
38
3
EDITORIAL
HOMEGROWN
RESEARCH
CROSSES BORDERS
For some people, Ekhaya (home) may evoke feelings of belonging and security,
representing a physical space inhabited by people with whom they identify. To
others, the word may induce quite the opposite reaction – Ekhaya may be a
physical or psychological space that people reject. Issue 7 of Curios.ty, themed
Ekhaya, features research across Wits that explores the concept of home.
I
grew up in Katlehong in the East Rand. My home for my is my intellectual home, but the confines of time and space
formative years, I will always identify it as a place where matter less as I engage remotely with peers across borders in
I belong. At the same time, I still have vivid memories of real time.
violence that my hometown was subjected to in the ‘80s Issue 7 of Curios.ty includes stories about homes of the
and early ‘90s and the memorials of those buried in the fight future, assistive tech in the home, what our prehistoric homes
for freedom. Sadly, although there has been some progress in can teach us, and even what we can learn from birds who build
uplifting this community, not much has changed in my home, multigenerational treehouse nests. Discover how housing
25 years after democracy. quality has changed in sub-Saharan Africa, and how housing
As South Africans went to the polls this month, some is being decolonised in Yeoville with the transformation of
politicians continue to use divisive issues relating to land and Edwardian-era bungalows into African urban compounds.
migration to score political points. This issue of Curios.ty Explore how we share spaces via backyarding and with the
features research-based stories on land ownership and homeless, and have your questions on ecobricks answered.
reclamation, migration, and xenophobia, amongst others. How is Ekhaya represented in the arts and how does it feel to
As an internal migrant from south-eastern to northern not feel at home in your own skin?
Johannesburg, I relate to the story on internal migration. Ekhaya is as subjective as it is tangible. I invite you to
At the same time, I must admit that I feel just as at home journey with us through this issue. Share your views via
in a physics laboratory at Wits – as I do in Russia, the US, or wits.news@wits.ac.za.
at CERN in Geneva where I undertake my research. While the
concept of home may ground me physically to a particular Professor Zeblon Vilakazi
space and time, the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and
is changing the world as we know it. The world of physics Postgraduate Affairs
Curios.ty is a print and digital magazine that Shirona Patel Buhle Zuma
aims to make the research at Wits University Head: Communications Senior Communications Officer
accessible to multiple publics. It tells the
stories of pioneering research at Wits through Dr Robin Drennan LAYOUT AND DESIGN
Director: Research Development Nadette Voogd
the voices of talented researchers, academics,
and students. First published in 2017, Reshma Lakha-Singh COVER
Curios.ty is published three times per year. Public Relations and Events Manager and Curios.ty Design by Rodwin Malinga and Erik Printz, Wits fourth-
Project Manager year Digital Arts students majoring in Game Design.
Each issue is thematic and explores research
across faculties and disciplines at the Refilwe Mabula PRODUCED BY
University that relate to that theme. This issue Communications Officer Wits Communications and the Wits Research Office
is themed Ekhaya (home). The word ‘home’ Deborah Minors Fifth Floor, Solomon Mahlangu House, Jorissen
evokes responses spanning the physical Senior Communications Officer and Curios.ty Street, Braamfontein Campus East
space you inhabit, where you feel you belong, Sub-Editor
where you’re from and what you identify TEL: +27(0)11 7171025
Schalk Mouton EMAIL: curiosity@wits.ac.za
with, including the physical/psychological Senior Communications Officer and Curios.ty Editor WEB: www.wits.ac.za/curiosity
space you may return to – or reject. This issue
features research-based stories about the Lauren Mulligan All material in this publication is copyright and all rights
Multimedia Communications Officer and Curios.ty are reserved. Reproduction of any part of the publication
places humans first called home, through to Creative Director is permitted only with the express written permission of
homes of the future, in the arts, in politics, the Head of Communications of the University of the
property, and being at home in one’s own Erna Van Wyk Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The views expressed in this
Senior Multimedia Communications Officer and publication are not necessarily the views of the University
skin, or homeless. ‘Home’ is as subjective as it Curios.ty Digital Director or its management or governance structures. ©2018
is tangible and Ekhaya explores it all.
4
FEATURED
RESEARCHERS
A number of Wits experts are
featured in this edition of Curios.ty.
View the profiles of all the researchers
and contributors at:
www.wits.ac.za/curiosity
KOLA AKINSOMI rapidly diversifying and expanding
communities. Through examinations
Dr Kola Akinsomi is an Associate starting in South Africa and extending
Professor in the School of Construction across Africa and elsewhere, it will
Economics and Management
identify and explain emerging forms of
at Wits. He holds a PhD in Real
political subjectivity, political authority,
Estate Finance from the National
and governance regimes in spaces
University of Singapore. His research
characterised by continued mobility.
interests include real estate portfolio
management, real estate capital
markets, real estate investment trusts, DUDUZILE NDLOVU
and emerging real estate markets and Dr Duduzile Ndlovu is a postdoctoral KOLA AKINSOMI GERALD CHUNGU
housing economics. He is the recipient research fellow in the African Centre
of the Young Researcher Rating Award for Migration and Society. She is
by the National Research Foundation interested in how people make
of South Africa, awarded to researchers meaning of precarity – such as
under 40 based on their research migrants’ making their lives under
impact and potential. constant threat of xenophobic violence
in Johannesburg. Her PhD focused
GERALD CHUNGU on Zimbabwean migrants’ use of art
to navigate precarious lives, speak
Dr Gerald Chungu is an architect and
about and memorialise past state-
urban designer lecturing in the School BARRY DWOLATZKY LOREN LANDAU
of Architecture and Planning at Wits perpetrated violence in Zimbabwe
University. He holds a PhD in Urbanism and xenophobia in South Africa. She
from the University of Venice in Italy, a is exploring art-based research as a
Master’s in Engineering (Urban Design) strategy to access indigenous ways of
from Tongji University in Shanghai, knowing and developing indigenous
China and a Bachelor of Architecture research methodologies.
degree from Copperbelt University
in Zambia. In addition to academia, FREDEROS OKUMU
his experience includes practicing Dr Fredros Okumu is an Associate
architecture in Zambia and China. He is Professor in the Wits School of Public
currently involved in teaching Advanced Health and Director of Science at the
Architectural Design and Sustainable Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania.
and Energy Efficient Cities courses. He holds a PhD in Infectious Tropical DUDUZILE NDLOVU FREDEROS OKUMU
Diseases from the London School
BARRY DWOLATZKY of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
Barry Dwolatzky is an Emeritus a Master’s in Applied Parasitology
Professor in the Wits School of (University of Nairobi, Kenya) and a
Electrical and Information Engineering Master’s in Geo-information Science,
and Director of the Joburg Centre for Earth Observation and Environmental
Software Engineering (JCSE), which he Modelling (Lund University, Sweden).
established in May 2005. He founded He is currently pursuing a Master’s of
the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Business Administration in International
Precinct, a Wits University tech hub in Health Management at the Swiss
Braamfontein, which was launched in Tropical and Public Health Institute.
MARGOT RUBIN JO VEAREY
2016. His research interests include
software engineering and digital MARGOT RUBIN
transformation within the context of
Dr Margot Rubin is a Senior Researcher
the 4th Industrial Revolution. In 2013,
he was named IT Personality of the
in the African Research Chair in JO VEAREY
Spatial Analysis and City Planning Jo Vearey is an Associate Professor and
Year by the Institute of IT Professionals
at Wits. Her research since 2002 Director of the African Centre for Migration
of South Africa.
has focused on policy, housing and & Society at Wits. Driven by a social
urban development issues. Her justice agenda, her research supports the
LOREN LANDAU PhD in Urban Planning and Politics development of improved responses to
Loren Landau is Professor and South interrogated the role of the legal migration and health. With an Investigator
African Research Chair on Mobility system in urban governance. She is Award from the Wellcome Trust, Vearey
and the Politics of Difference at currently engaged in work around initiated the Migration and Health Project
Wits and former director of the mega housing projects and issues of Southern Africa in 2016. She is involved in
African Centre for Migration and gender and the city and has an interest multiple international partnerships and is
Society. His current research explores in inner city regeneration, inclusionary Vice-Chair of the global Migration, Health,
comparative perspectives on how housing policy and transit-oriented and Development Research Initiative. She
mobility is reshaping the politics of development. holds a PhD in Public Health from Wits.
5
Archaeologists and anthropologists peer into
original homes of the past to see what made us
who we are today.
SHAUN SMILLIE MAGNUS HAALAND
PLACES WE
ONCE CALLED
HOME
T
here was a time when the laughter of Stone Age children into what our earliest homes looked like. These glimpses give
filled the Sibudu Cave. About 64 000 years ago, a child archaeologists not only a better understanding of how our ancestors
was part of a hunter-gatherer family that took temporary lived, but also how we evolved into the species we are today.
shelter in this cave, which lies close to the KwaZulu-Natal
town of KwaDukuza. NO FIXED ABODE
When this child died, it didn’t leave its bones in the cave for From the deep past, scientists are uncovering the stuff that
discovery by archaeologists of the future – the only thing left makes us human – from forward planning, to the very beginnings
behind was a milk tooth. In modern times, the mythological ‘tooth of art. One of these discoveries is that our ancestors were not
fairy’ whisks away children’s teeth, but we don’t know what the homebodies. We were wanderers who kept our stays short.
rituals were back then. At Blombos Cave in the southern Cape, Wits Professor
Wits archaeologist Professor Lyn Wadley is thankful that this Christopher Henshilwood and his team have been sifting through
tooth – and those of other children – ended up on the cave floor, the leftovers of these brief visits that go back over 100 000 years.
because they reveal just how much humans have changed since “We think that Blombos, at some stages, was occupied for just
we gave up our hunter-gatherer ways. one night. We are seeing what looks like a ghost of a visit. You find
a few shellfish, a tiny little fire and almost nothing else. And then
TEETH-BRICKS FOR TOOTH FAIRIES there is nothing after that,” says Henshilwood.
“The interesting thing about the teeth is that we know this is a
home-base, because there were children there, and that is quite THE WORLD’S FIRST HASHTAG
nice,” says Wadley. “But the [research] papers also suggest that Some of the discoveries at Blombos have advanced our insight
the teeth were perhaps a little bit larger than the teeth of children into early human cognitive development.
today. So maybe the people were a little more robust.” These Last year, Henshilwood and his team revealed a silcrete (hardened
children perhaps had access to better diets than we have today. mineral crust) flake to the world that had six crosshatched lines on
“A lot of people have pointed out that moving to the diet that it – much like a hashtag. A human, using an ochre crayon, 73 000
farming people had was not necessarily improving the health of years ago, had drawn these lines.
people. There are higher carbohydrates compared to protein, and It took two years of scientific testing to come to the conclusion
with it comes poorer tooth quality and poorer bone quality,” says that this is the earliest example of a drawing, says Henshilwood.
Wadley. “Part of the reason why hunter-gatherers had a better diet Even this long ago, at Blombos Cave and Klipdrift Shelter,
was not because of what they were eating, but the fact that groups another of the sites excavated by Henshilwood’s team, you can
were smaller and this meant that people had better access to see that people bring to the site what they need to carry out
quality plant foods.” a particular task. “These people are capable of planning, they
Cave sites like Sibudu are providing scientists with a peek have templates or recipes in their heads, for what they need
6
Klipdrift Cave and Klipdrift Shelter, located in the De Hoop Nature
Reserve, southern Cape, South Africa, have elicited findings from
roughly 65 000 years ago to 59 400 years ago, including a homi-
nin molar, floral remains, and more than 95 pieces of eggshell
engraved with diverse, abstract patterns.
old people. So if you break down the demographics, you might
only end up with 10 able-bodied male hunters,” says Wadley. “If
“One of these discoveries is you want to manage a dangerous animal hunt, you are going to
that our ancestors were not have to bring in the women too, even if they are just beaters.”
What archaeologists are rarely seeing is evidence of other
homebodies. We were wanderers homes away from the caves and rock shelters. These rudimentary
shelters would have been where our ancestors slept for a couple
who kept our stays short” of nights before moving on.
HOME SECURITY
Wits anthropologist Professor Robert Thornton says that three
in the cave,” says Henshilwood. “This is one of the markers of basic needs would have driven early humans into utilising and
behavioural modernity.” making shelters. “Our earliest habitats were primarily designed to
When that artist made that drawing on that piece of silcrete, he keep our food safe, secondarily to keep the goggas [insects] and
or she would have been one of only about 10 000 humans living other stuff away, and finally for climate control. But before that, it
in the whole of Africa. was important to keep your view open,” he says.
There are other artefacts left at these temporary homes that “People imagined that early man lived in caves, or they had to
point to our ancestors being highly intelligent problem-solvers. have four walls around them, but that is one of the worst things
At Border Cave on the Swaziland border, Wadley and Dr Lucinda you can do, because you cannot see the rest of your environment.
Backwell found traces of poison on a thin wooden stick that dates You want to be in the open, you want to see 360 degrees,
back at least 20 000 years. The poison is thought to have been particularly when there are big cats around.”
used on arrows. But it is in the caves where the treasures lie. It is here that the
artefacts are best preserved, and where they accumulate in layers
HOMEMAKERS AND HUNTER-GATHERERS of earth that sometimes stretch back hundreds of thousands of
Wadley believes that snares were also used by the people who years.
periodically made Sibudu their home. But it is the presence of At Blombos, Henshilwood hopes he might one day find the
buffalo bones in the cave that points to team work, which would rest of that silcrete flake that would reveal more of that earliest
have probably included women. drawing.
“If you look at your typical hunter-gatherer group – let us say But there are more artefacts to be found in places we once
there are 60 people – more than half of those are going to be called home that will give us insight into a time when humans first
children who wouldn't take part in the hunt. Then you have some began to act and think like we do. C
7
HOMES OF THE FUTURE At home here in Africa, the population is exploding just as housing is shrinking and tech is advancing. Our homes in the future may be hyper-connected pods that transform our habitat, communities and politics as well as the way we live. SHAUN SMILLIE 8
O
n trash collection day, a waste-picker parks her MORE PEOPLE, SMALLER SPACES
self-drive trolley and gathers recyclable garbage. The Africa we will inhabit in future is going to be far different
Inside the nearby house, electricity supplied by the from today. This continent will experience a dramatic population
micro grid fires up a dishwasher, while overhead a explosion, expected to double by 2050. Of that, 60% of Africans
drone competes for airspace amongst the hadedas – Joburg’s will call cities their home.
ubiquitous, vocal bird – as it scans the ‘hood for security threats. Johannesburg by 2040, according to a report released by the
This could be a typical higher income Joburg suburb in the Johannesburg Roads Agency, is predicted to increase to between
future, when lumbering state service providers like Eskom have six and eight million people – over double its size today.
bitten the dust and local power producers, waste collectors, and This rapid urbanisation is likely to leave its mark on the homes
water suppliers have replaced them. of our descendants. This will also be a world where large sections
It is also a world where that phrase the ‘Internet of Things’ of the population, like today, will most likely be living in informal
has become a reality, thanks to lightning fast cyber connectivity settlements.
embedded in physical devices, everyday appliances, and perhaps
even in human beings.
The Utopian Village, designed in 2018 by first-year students in
Professor Barry Dwolatzky of the Joburg Centre for Software the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits, was inspired by a
Engineering at Wits believes this is a future that Joburgers might decolonised design curriculum that contextualises the Global South
experience in decades to come. and informs teaching design through an African lens. The Utopian
Village responds to local South African culture, context, human
migration, new emerging social organisation, and the demands of
global environmental change and sustainability. These are the
dwellings of the future. Lecturers: Mike Dawson; Ariane Janse Van
Rensburg; Sechaba Maape; Kshama Rajagopalan; and Anita Szentesi.
9
In this age of densification, homes are likely to be downsized
and even shared.
“This rapid urbanisation
“If you look at it, we are a young country and if you look at the
trends of young people, they change jobs quite frequently, they
is likely to leave its mark
often live far from where they work, and it is expensive to travel,”
says Dr Gerald Chungu of the Wits School of Architecture and
on the homes of our
Planning. “This means that they are going to be more willing to
live in smaller spaces or to share spaces. This is already a common
descendants. This will also
trend and from reading this we can see the direction towards
smaller housing.” be a world where large
Transporting these workers to their jobs – even in the future,
believes Chungu – could be that bane of the present day transport sections of the population,
system: the mini bus taxi. Though, by then, they might be better
policed. like today, will most likely
ADVANCING INCLUSIVITY be living in informal
In this future, it might still be state policy to provide housing
for the poor. This policy might borrow on what is already being settlements.”
worked on now.
“Instead of the idea of delivering tiny RDP [Reconstruction and
Development Programme] houses, we have seen a shift in housing The home of the future is also likely to supplement its own power
policy in the last two decades towards settlement upgrading,” through super-efficient solar panels on roofs, and even in walls.
explains Professor Anne Fitchett, Acting Dean of the Faculty of It is likely that not just the wealthy will take advantage of tech.
Engineering and the Built Environment at Wits. Fitchett says that experiments involving solar paint are underway.
“It is speaking of a more inclusive approach. It is not just about This paint will absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity.
putting a roof over someone's head but creating a broader living Recycled waste could also find another use in the future.
environment, with access to jobs, access to schools and hospitals.” “At the moment there is also a lot of work going into the
development of different types of concrete. There is one where
TECH PAD ADDRESS they are using recycled polystyrene as an additive into cement,
Finding enough space for its residents will be a challenge for the which makes it a very good insulator,” says Fitchett.
future Joburg, but technology is likely to be the saviour. But this move to decentralise might even have an influence on
“In terms of smart cities, the use of digital technology to help the politics of these communities. This has already happened in
to manage everything that happens in the city will become the US.
widespread and very profoundly different. And I am sure that the
construction of dwellings will be built around the capabilities of MICRO DEMOCRACIES IN OUR ‘HOODS
these digital technologies,” says Dwolatzky, who caught a glimpse “Once you break things down into small parcels you start to think
of future housing possibilities when he visited the Massachusetts in a more decentralised way, rather than at a national level,” says
Institute of Technology (MIT) media laboratory in the US. Dwolatzky. “In the US, local communities are becoming more and
“There is a South African architect there who is working on a more the centre of local democracy and people are losing interest
project where he is designing a pod-like house. It is a very efficient in national politics, because local gives them everything they
use of space, with very embedded technology. It is almost like you need. And it is encouraged by micro grids, water recycling and
live in a pod, but you don't feel like you are living in a pod. So I producing things locally.”
have seen one future, but whether it is going to be our future, I Already just over the horizon is new communication technology
don't know.” set to change the way we live.
What is likely to influence this future are the differing needs This is 5th Generation cellular mobile communications, which
of the Global North and Global South, believe Dwolatzky and will be faster than anything we have today, and should be
Chungu. While Africa is set to experience a population explosion, implemented in the next few years.
Europe is going through the initial stages of a population collapse. “There is a pro and a con,” says Dwolatzky “The pro is that you
“In Africa, the biggest challenge might be the use of energy, can draw much more data and make better decisions about things
where houses are designed to better use energy, dealing with like the use of energy in the home. The disadvantage is that it
things like waste and recycling. If we are not careful, cities will opens the way for a lot more surveillance.”
become choked in waste,” says Dwolatzky. Besides ultra-fast cyber connectivity, other technologies have
already made their appearance and are set to leave their mark on
DECENTRALISED MICRO TECH SERVICES the future. One of these is 3D printing.
The state might not provide these services in future, as it does “These new modes of manufacturing lead to the possibility of
today. mass producing stuff that could be tailor-made for every single
“We are going to move away from the big grids on to the person’s needs,” says Dwolatzky.
smaller micro grids – the current thinking is that you build a huge Although the future may be a scary place, technology in our
power station, which then powers millions of consumers,” he homes and on our streets will most likely save the day. And yes,
explains. your bot will be there to hold your hand. C
In future, however, these are services that could be provided
at a micro-level, for example, a couple of houses linked to a solar Minecraft design by Rodwin Malinga and Erik Prinz, Wits
energy source or a recycler dealing with a street’s rubbish. fourth-year Game Design students.
1011
AN EYE ON ASSISTIVE
TECH AT HOME
Eye-gaze devices as assistive tech have the potential to empower people
with disabilities by improving their independence at home.
W
DEBORAH MINORS LAUREN MULLIGAN
its biomedical engineer Adam Pantanowitz devices, which allow for the control of the environment by
discovered he had a neuromuscular detecting where gaze is focussed. In a similar project, Wits
condition as a teenager. Since then, the students Kimoon Kim and Chelsey Chewins worked with
Lecturer in the School of Electrical and Pantanowitz to create an eye-tracking system to interface more
Information Engineering has researched the naturally with a computer. This project enables you to control
potential of technology to empower people with disabilities. In your computer using a mouse that you control with your eyes.
particular, he has explored the untapped potential of the brain “BrainConnect works through light stimulus of the visual
through brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). cortex. Similar eye-gaze devices already serve as assistive tech
to empower motor-impaired people or paraplegics,” he says.
THE BRAIN AS A NETWORK DEVICE
In February 2019, in an experiment believed to be a world first, FRUGAL INNOVATION IN AFRICA
Pantanowitz and colleagues incorporated the human brain as He cites futurists who predict greater human-tech integration
a computer network. Dubbed ‘BrainConnect’, the proof-of- by 2030. The Fourth Industrial Revolution [4IR] is a feature of
concept innovation is under review for publication in the journal 21st Century society – human beings are now deeply connected
Communications in Information Systems. to tech through smart phones and other close-contact devices.
The researchers connected two computers through the human
Research in South Africa and Africa, similar to this engineering
brain and successfully transmitted words like ‘hello’ and ‘apple’,
innovation at Wits University, has the potential to advance 4IR.
passively, without the user being aware that a message is present.
“Africa’s challenges need unique solutions. The brain research
“We don’t know of anywhere else where the brain has been
is being conducted under what’s known as a ‘frugal innovation’,
used to connect two disconnected computers so this presents an
where low-cost equipment and innovative approaches keep
interesting theoretical system with a human literally being ‘in the
costs down,” says Pantanowitz.
loop’,” says Pantanowitz, co-author of the paper with Wits alumni
ROBOTIC HANDS AND BRAINTERNET
Rushil Daya and Michael Dukes.
MORSE CODE VIA LIGHT SIGNALS Another of his similarly frugal innovations was a basic robotic
hand, the prototype of which cost just R1 800 in South Africa,
BrainConnect links light, signal transmission, the visual cortex
compared to a budget of close to a million Euros for a similarly
of the human brain, and two computers. It works by attaching
functioning device in Europe. Pantanowitz and Wits students
a device to a person’s head, which links the two computers.
Graham Peyton and Rudolf Hoehler created a device with similar
The person passively stares at a flashing light whilst a word,
for example, ‘apple’, is encoded in the light signal. The intentions to the European model, using the same technology of
flashing light stimulates the visual cortex in the brain and an gazing at light to turn the device off and on.
electroencephalogram [EEG – a measurement that detects Pantanowitz previously also pioneered 'Brainternet', where
electrical activity in the brain] wirelessly transmits information to he connected the human brain to the internet in real time and
a second computer, which decodes the signals to appear on the streamed brainwaves onto the internet. He says that for people
second computer. “You can think of it like Morse code via light with epilepsy, for example, Brainternet could potentially predict
signals,” says Pantanowitz. BrainConnect can decipher up to the next seizure. “If they get into a particularly bad space, they
17 symbols at a rate of four seconds per symbol. The more could alert their friends and family without them being able to
relaxed the person is, the greater the possibility of invoking a do so physically.”
response through this ‘steady state visually evoked potential’. Pantanowitz says, “There is potential for us in Africa to
advance brain-computer interfaces and other assistive
VISIONARY ASSISTIVE TECH technologies, which could empower people with disabilities to
Although BrainConnect is fledgling research, Pantanowitz says control their environments with greater ease, and their homes
this brain-computer interface may have applications in eye-gaze are one context in which this can be life-changing.” C
12Wits biomedical engineer Adam Pantanowitz believes tech like
Brainternet can empower people with disabilities.
13HOME IN THE ARTS
home: /həʊm/ noun
1. The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.
Arts: the theory and physical expression of creativity found in human societies.
UFRIEDA HO
Home – when you’re thousands of kilometres away from it – is maybe what you
carry in memories. It’s also what you might choose to forget.
F
or Dr Duduzile Ndlovu of the African Centre for are not always clearly recognisable, to avoid a backlash from the
Migration and Society (ACMS) at Wits, the way memory, government. There is no narrative to make sense of the event
identity and a sense of belonging keep changing – or to justify the experience as necessary in people’s lives. This
especially for migrants – makes art one of the most means the narrative of Gukurahundi is open to being reframed in
powerful ways to make meaning of dislocations, different contexts,” she says.
disorientations and journeys. It is also a way to process versions of For many Zimbabweans living in South Africa, being away from
truths and to find power in personal creative expression. home has opened up a space of freedom to speak out. And art
She argues that art, like indigenous wisdom, is a part of has given them the tools to frame and reframe their stories for
knowledge production that has depth and reveals clues to lived different contexts and different audiences.
experience, even if it may remain outside of academic convention. “The idea of home is therefore a complex one. It is not
She believes art deserves increased academic inquiry to avoid necessarily the place of safety we think it should be,” she says.
becoming a blind spot that prevents transformation in academia. Distance from home allows people to “constantly re-story their
Zimbabwe-born Ndlovu has lived in South Africa for 13 years. lives”, creating versions of themselves to fit different spaces at
Through her research and poetry, she has explored the use of different times.
poetry, story, music and performance art in how she and other “With art, we don’t need to be after absolute truths. We’re
Zimbabweans living in Johannesburg remember the Gukurahundi. about asking questions about versions of the truth. Questions like
This was a series of massacres of Ndebele civilians by the Zimbabwe ‘whose voice gets heard?’, how official versions of the truth don’t
National Army between 1983 and 1987. Conservative estimates put turn out to stand up over time,” she says. “There is also a sense
the number of people killed in that period at around 20 000. of hope in art; it creates a space that allows people to be, to be
social, and even to take enjoyment in expressing and sharing.”
HOSTAGE TO HOSTILITY AT HOME These days, Ndlovu finds herself singing songs from her
“In Zimbabwe, Gukurahundi remains silenced from the public childhood to her children, who are growing up as South Africans.
domain, although people continue to speak (about it) in ways that These songs connect her to Zimbabwe, she says. The words are
14reminders of what’s been passed to her, a kind of birthright in
lyrics, but they are reminders, too, that for her there is no “going
“Distance from home allows
back”.
It doesn’t leave her in an in-between space, though. Ndlovu people to “constantly re-story
stresses that it’s not a case of being split or not feeling at home in
either place. Rather, that she’s still wholly and fully herself, existing their lives”, creating versions
in two different contexts.
Meghna Singh, a Research Associate at the ACMS and PhD
candidate at the University of Cape Town, relates to the contexts
of themselves to fit different
that Ndlovu speaks of as liminal spaces. They’re the “no man’s
lands” that Singh explores in her artistic video productions and
spaces at different times. ”
installations.
Since Singh moved to South Africa from India in 2013, her
works have included a short film called Arrested Motion. For nine and how they are abandoned when capitalism moves onto the
months, she followed a group of Indian seafarers stuck in Cape next thing. It’s part of creating connection and empathy,” she says.
Town as the supply ship they were working on was detained en Singh brings this visual methodology to her current research
route to Dubai from Nigeria. and art project called Container, in collaboration with her
“These men literally didn’t know when they would be allowed filmmaker partner, Simon Woods. The virtual reality and
to set sail again and they were caught up in a world of complex installation art piece has received National Geographic Explorer
channelling of capital between shipping corporations,” she says. funding and is expected be completed in October when world
anti-slavery month is commemorated.
PRISON HOMES Container makes visible the history of the slave trade and
Singh used the technique of observation film with no dialogue, focuses on the São José Paquete Africa, a Portuguese slave ship
and soundscapes, to create an immersive experience for her that sank with 212 slaves on board en route to Brazil from Lisbon
audience. Her art showed the passage of time and its effects in 1794, near today’s Clifton beach.
on the bodies confined to a place that became both home and
prison. FORCED REMOVALS
She did something similar in Rusted Diamond when, on and off The project hooks back to the present day, showing how more
for three years, she spent time with a group of Ghanaian men who than 200 years later, people are still reduced to commodities,
were left to pump water daily from a rusted wreck they lived in, often forced from their homes to become modern-day slaves.
which was once a deep-sea diamond mining vessel in Namibia. They often moved in metal shipping containers across oceans,
She also turned this film into an installation that included stuck here for weeks with the memory of home as a place of safety
flooding three rooms at The Castle in Cape Town and asking and sanctuary – or just the known – disrupted forever.
people to enter, mostly on their own, to temporarily be immersed These are the contexts and lived experiences from which Singh
in these other worlds of precariousness. and Ndlovu want people never to turn away. C
“I am hoping that I am creating experiences for my audience to
Top left: Rusting Diamond by Meghna Singh
think about how people on the fringes are caught up in capitalism,
Below: Screen shots from Arrested Motion by Meghna Singh
15Sales Rentals
OWNER OR ROAMER?
Is buying a house still the solid investment once
thought or is it time to turn nomadic?
J
BRENDAN PEACOCK
ust when South African property prices looked like they first-time buyers is now 37, which means most of these buyers will
would rebound from the effects of the global economic have paid off a property just before retirement age. They have
crisis in 2008, a protracted period of slow domestic built capital and they can decide what to do with it – which is very
economic growth set in, slowing down house price often to downsize and have some of the capital returned to them
inflation. at the point of sale.”
According to property analytics company, Lightstone, year-on- The alternative is renting long-term. “If you don’t invest,
year house price inflation hit a high of 6.5% in 2014, the highest whatever excess you have after the rental cost each month needs
in the last decade, and has since slipped back to its lowest level to be put into retirement savings, but we know that most people
in the last decade at 3.3%. This means that anyone who owns tend not to be so diligent about saving. It is still wise to invest in
property is seeing the value of that property contracting in real property because that capital value will come back to us.”
terms, as inflation averages over 5%. Akinsomi says there are few investments that are as low-risk as
The forecast for 2019 is more of the same: subdued growth. property. “Property makes a good inflation hedge over the long
However, coming off a low base, we may see a positive term. The current trough is actually the perfect time to buy – it is a
turnaround in the second half of the year. buyer’s market right now.”
The main impacts on house price inflation are made by consumer
price inflation; income levels not keeping track of the rising costs GIG ECONOMY OPPORTUNITIES
of living; and interest rates. The result of slower economic growth A potential problem that may arise in the lower-value end is a shift
has been an expansion of the number of South Africans moving towards the gig economy, which means fewer young people have
into the lower end of the property sector, as first-time buyers, while long-term employment that lends itself to being seen as a good
homeowners in higher-value segments opt to downscale. credit risk for lenders. The solution, says Akinsomi, will probably
While this has held up prices in the more affordable segments of involve both the private and public sectors.
the residential property market, low economic growth will slowly “The government can intervene to partner with developers,
see those segments losing steam too. either by supplying state-owned land for development, or by
applying tax incentives to make the lower tier of property values
LONG-VIEW INVESTMENTS more accessible. Such inducements could stimulate demand, as
If residential property seems like a poor investment alongside could innovation from banks in developing mortgage-backed
other asset classes, Dr Kola Akinsomi, Associate Professor of Real securities to bring to market as investable assets for the public.”
Estate Finance and Investments in the Wits School of Construction Prisca Simbanegavi, a Lecturer in CEM, says there are risks
Economics and Management (CEM), says the investment case for for property buyers – in the form of utility costs and municipal
property should not be measured by short-term returns. inefficiencies – that can raise the levels of mortgage defaults, as
“Compared with 2008, when the prime interest rate for those these can put pressure on affordability, but she doesn’t expect
getting mortgages from banks was 16%, the cost of borrowing is to see house prices going down for long. Residential markets are
now 6% lower. Yes, property price growth in real terms is negative usually resilient to short-term changes in demand.
right now, but property is relatively illiquid with high transaction “Supply will remain under pressure. It’s always better to buy
costs, so it’s not a short-term asset. Buyers need to look at it as a than to rent when rentals exceed mortgage repayments. While
saving mechanism,” Akinsomi says. freedom of movement comes as a benefit of renting in the short
“If you buy property today and pay down the principal amount term, the benefits of ownership outweigh those of renting. You’d
over the term of a typical 20-year mortgage term, at the end rather have paid more into your bond than to deal with escalating
of that term, the property belongs to you. The average age of rental costs.” C
16FEEL AT
HOME AT
THE OFFICE
MIRAH LANGER LAUREN MULLIGAN
If home is your castle, can the office be your palace?
W
hile ‘office, sweet “Extroverts tend to function better in workplace integrates access to other services
office’ might not have noisy environments whereas introverts for their employees, for example, when an
quite the same ring tend to concentrate much better in quiet office complex also offers a gym, dry cleaner,
to it as ‘home, sweet environments.” or even has an adjacent shopping centre.
home’, the need to Initiatives that further encourage workers
ensure wellbeing at work is nevertheless WORK MOVES AND ‘COFFICES’ to feel some kind of personal connection to
critical. ‘Agile working spaces’ are one way to cater their office space, such as decorating a desk,
In fact, Professor Andrew Thatcher, an to more varied needs: “People, during a have also shown positive results.
organisational and industrial psychologist at work day, are not always doing the same “The minimalism trend in the early 2000s
Wits explains that the focus now, more than task; instead, they move between tasks. to limit clutter and have clear desks was
ever, is on ensuring that workplaces are not At times they need to collaborate, at other an unmitigated disaster … In most office
just productive – but also actually good for times they need privacy; they might also environments, some personalisation allows
one’s health. need some downtime just to get a coffee.” people to connect to their work. When they
In particular, innovation around office With activity-based workspaces, connect to their work, they are more likely
design is at the core of ensuring workplaces companies create diverse office areas and to be more productive and feel better about
can serve as a healthy ‘home away from people move between them as needed. being there.”
home’. Thatcher has conducted research on Policies that allow people certain days
While the kind of work you do and your the benefits of these spaces in some well- when they can work from home rather than
relationship with your boss are crucial factors, known South African companies. He found at the office actually have contradictory
the three most critical factors in constructing that initially employees were very resistant results. Research showed that in order to
favourable work conditions are fresh airflow, to the change – becoming territorial over cope with the disruptions of the home
noise levels, and the quality of light. spaces. However, once they move beyond environment, workers push themselves
“The most important factor to [sustain] this reaction, the advantages are striking: harder and for longer hours.
mental health from a built environment “People end up moving around a lot more, “Organisations love that – but it is not
perspective is actually fresh air,” says which is good for their health … They also necessarily healthy and good for a person. It
Thatcher. are able to choose where [in the office may lead to issues of burnout.”
“Generally, a good and healthy spaces] they can be most productive.” One of the key challenges about modern
environment is one where you have The rise of mobile office spaces and work life is how it tends to leak into the
adequate lighting for the type of work that the use of sites like coffee shops as instant home space so significantly. “There are real
you are doing … Natural light is generally offices, can also be useful as it allows people psychological dangers when you think it is
the best for most tasks.” to move around until they find the most okay to answer a work call at dinner … You
Daylight ensures you remain connected appropriate space for them. are extending your disembodied self into
to the outside world – rather than become another realm.”
immersed in a workplace bubble. “If you are HOLISTIC OFFICE HEALTH As such, Thatcher supports initiatives
working entirely with artificial light, it creates Another innovation in workplace health like those in France where it is illegal for
a psychological disconnect.” is the shift towards establishing so-called companies to force employees to respond
In terms of noise levels, suitability is green buildings or well-building institutes. to work messages or emails after working
determined according to the type of tasks. These are workspaces designed to ensure hours.
However, research has also shown a link productivity as well as promote holistic “It is great – it is turning around to an
between personality types and productive wellbeing. organisation and saying that you do not own
noise levels. Great success has been shown when a this person’s life.” C
17THIS LAND
IS MY LAND
The national general elections in 2019 served as a platform for land
redress to be discussed, promised and instilled in the collective
consciousness of South Africans. But was this the silver bullet to address
the gross inequality in a country so many call home?
SHANTHINI NAIDOO LAUREN MULLIGAN
T
here is a side route into the Sandton CBD that can be anyone who lives on millionaires’ row will be swapping places
used to avoid the arterial chaos in Joburg traffic. It is with their staff (although, constitutionally, it could happen) but,
a hilly but quiet avenue, interrupted only by birdsong even if it did, what would it mean in a globalising world that
and three traffic circles. The homes on either side of encourages mobility to the extent that some humans are planning
the road are anomalous, even by this city’s standards on moving to Mars?
of wealth. Sprawling mansions with ornate double gates that
open remotely like filigree wings. Large European SUVs appear A ROOF OVER OUR PSYCHE
from long driveways to join the commute. Clinical psychiatrist and Wits alumnus, Dr Jonathan Moch says
Interestingly, there are just a few people visible along this when thinking about land, it is important to understand why
road. Dog-walking, grass-manicuring, rose-tending people who ownership is so important to human beings: “It goes back to our
might have travelled in to the area for their work. It must be quite deepest evolutionary drive, the need for security. It is a basic
unnerving to service properties like these in the time that the core psychological requirement (according to Abraham Maslow’s
“land issue” in South Africa emerged – 22 years (two centuries for hierarchy of needs). It explains the formation of armed tribes,
some) since the imbalance in land ownership began. fortified villages, border controls, refugee crises, and building
walls to stop the Mexicans from getting into the USA. And even
THE LAY OF THE LAND at the home level, high walls, electric fencing, armed responses,
The national general elections in 2019 were a platform for land entrenched property rights, all speak to this need.”
discussions. Academics and experts say it may not mean that Moch says that land ownership, historically, is a major and
18contentious issue – one that is likely to continue indefinitely. “Not power, says Moch. “Economically, land ownership is an essential
only in South Africa, but every habitable place on the planet from financial collateral that can secure a loan for a business, providing
the beginning of recorded history, has battled with land, literally. essential capital – and a vital psychological wealth effect. Owners
Apartheid has many forms, especially around land division. Race, of land such as farms have enormous power over indigent workers
of course, in South Africa, but also religious affiliation (referring who live on that land, which goes back to the Dukes of Old
to the conflict in Northern Ireland), economic status (such as England. This is why there is enormous tension, especially on rural
gated communities), class and creed (which exists in India). Thus, farms in SA. Now, amazingly, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos et al want
land ownership is a great divider. The Bible is dotted with many people to inhabit Mars. This land story never ends. In fact, never a
examples of land issues ending in fatal wars, such as the one that dull moment when it comes to the human obsession for land use,
continues to this day in the Middle East.” the protection and possession of it.”
For South Africans though, the issue is closer to home – so to
speak – because of our recent past when people were not allowed RETHINKING RENTALS FOR REDRESS
to buy land, and those who were, had to move too far from any Dr Margot Rubin, Senior Researcher in the Wits School of
location deemed decent, because the Group Areas Act of 1950 Architecture and Planning, says there are as many reasons for
divided people geographically by their race. This, while others people wanting to own land.
built their mansions on the road previously mentioned. Who “The legacy of people not being able to own land has had a
wouldn’t feel piqued once it is put into context? huge impact on the psyche of the nation. People were simply
Obviously, land ownership also comes down to money and disallowed from owning land. It was a key way in which the
19apartheid state constructed and created secondary citizens. This particularly for people where the need for mobility to find work is was a discussion in 1992 [when apartheid was abolished in SA], a priority.” so there is very little doubt that the redress of property ownership However, this type of reasoning may not be enough for needs to happen.” South Africans, says Loren Landau, Professor and South African Rubin says the method and the reasoning behind land Research Chair on Migration and the Politics of Difference at the redistribution is imperative, although if it isn’t done correctly, it African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits. He says that is unlikely to be the solution for our economic disparities. She the emotional reasoning for land will need to be addressed: says ownership as well as secure tenure of land, such as rental “Some kind of substantive land redistribution may be essential agreements, which provide access to the city and its opportunities, to satisfying people’s legitimate demands for justice.” Yet, he are the starting block to economic freedom. too believes that property ownership may be not the only way to Rubin says that a more balanced view on what property means ensure greater economic inclusion and upward mobility for the as a vehicle for growth should be taken. “It is a question of access. poor majority. What provides the best access to opportunities in cities? More “I don’t believe there is an innate human desire to own land than access to land, as a country we need to ensure that everyone or property. For thousands of years, people have experimented has a chance at economic growth, and this could mean ownership, with multiple models of land use and ownership. Some include or good quality accommodation under secure tenure [rental no ownership, some collective ownership or management, some agreement] in a backyard where someone is not being exploited, privatised, commodified land. My sense is that two things are at that enables them to earn a living in an urban environment.” work now – both highly symbolic and rooted in particular South “At the same time, we need to ensure that we change our African histories.” property owner profile, so people who have it are able to Landau says the symbolism in the land redistribution issue is collateralise it, to do other things with that money and have social that it has “become a sign of transformation quite apart from mobility. It is about enabling people in a way that is beneficial for any material or social benefit it might provide. Also, we live in them to achieve their best potential as a human being,” she says. a commodified, capitalist system where many people associate “We need to reconsider the question of rental and see it as private land ownership with status. Access to land use is an important feasible housing option, which allows for mobility, something we all need, but in different ways. While greater equity 20
in access to land and other resources is central to economic and it needs to be addressed for reasons of both social justice and
social transformation in South Africa, simply offering people land political stability,” he says.
is unlikely to achieve anyone’s long-term objectives.” This is where Worryingly, even this first step does not seem to have been
politics comes in to play. taken by South Africans whose emotions run high once the debate
begins. Southall wrote recently “there is disagreement about
A POLITICAL PHILOSOPY OF LAND ways, means, and the urgency of land reform”.
The redistribution of land issue took centre stage in the 2019 “The land debate is here, and it is not going to be wished away
elections by playing on the nation’s economic woes, emotions quietly. Even if you go through a careful modulated practice of
and sentimental needs for redress – suddenly urgent 25 years into land reform, not the rhetoric we are getting now, this will continue
democracy. “It’s time”, says Roger Southall, Emeritus Professor of past our lifetimes. There will be voices saying it is not happening
Sociology at Wits. “This is such a wound of the past, I don’t think fast enough, and then there is the issue of compensation.”
we will easily overcome it.” One of the reasons, Southall said, is that it is not as simple as
Southall wrote recently that while society should be wary about transforming the civil service, for instance, where you can measure
electioneering, the issue of land ownership is also not only about demographic representivity. “With land, you can’t simply look at
getting votes. “Politicians say things, whether or not it is entirely proportions, because different land has different value.” It speaks
wise to say them, to get votes. Yet the land debate is about much to the example of the leafy suburban mansions and the poor
more than party politicking. In many ways, it goes to the heart of workforce. “What about commercial agriculture, food production
South Africa’s post-colonial politics. It speaks to fundamental racial and security? You have to be as much a philosopher as a land
chasms. This points to the very real danger that the different terms specialist.”
on which the land issue is debated simply don’t address each Ultimately, says Southall, the land debate must progress, fairly
other.” and rationally: “The address of the land issue requires a meeting
As a country debating land redistribution, those who are of minds … humility and willingness to listen to competing
opposed to the idea must first be aware of the “grossly perspectives should be at a premium.” And for each person to
disproportionate amount of land owned by whites which has understand that home and country are as much a part of us as we
arisen out of the injustices of the colonial past, and agree that are of it. C
HOW COULD SOUTH AFRICA DEAL
WITH THE LAND DEBATE?
Wits Professor of Sociology Roger Southall says a precarious
balance of three approaches should be considered. “One is
not more important than the other, but one might have greater
political impact than the other.”
• The instrumental approach, which argues its case upon
both ideological and constitutional grounds. There is the
argument that the ANC’s move to land appropriation without
compensation represents a fundamental undermining of
property rights, to the extent that it might even threaten the
ownership rights of ordinary house-owners in urban areas. This
might derail President Cyril Ramaphosa’s highly touted goal
of attracting $100b in investment over the next five years.
While the Constitution already allows for the expropriation of
property by the state for public interest purposes, for instance
on farmland, appropriation without compensation would mean
farmers would disengage on their properties, which is a major
threat to both jobs and economic growth.
• The functionalist approach, which shows a desperate hunger
for land among impoverished black poor people. “This needs
to be addressed on the grounds of need and political stability.
Economically, the argument is that, while the role of commercial
agriculture as the principal producer of the nation’s food supply
and of significant exports needs to be recognised, there are
many areas where farming could be successfully undertaken
by black farmers, given the right support.” Southall says this
has been proven by history, and could redress how white
commercial agriculture “was systematically advantaged by
the state under white rule, and how prosperous black peasant
communities, whose competitiveness constituted a threat to
white farmers, were dispossessed.”
•T
he symbolic approach “appeals to the heart as much as to the
head,” says Southall. “It harps on the point that land belongs
to Africans. It was stolen by the colonialists and should be
given back. The symbolic approach is overwhelmingly about
Gallo Images
African dignity. As such, it often involves notions of reparations.
It tends to brush aside all the difficult policy issues about how
land transfer should be managed, let alone the injustices which
may be heaped upon white landowners who had nothing to
do with the original theft of African land.”
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