On Friday, 5 September, staff, students and alumni of the North-West University (NWU) joined forces across all three campuses to walk proudly and boldly in support of students in need.

The spirit of generosity and compassion was evident among those who took part in the NWU Purple Walk, a remarkable initiative that celebrated NWU Giving Week. From Monday, 1 September, to Saturday, 6 September, the NWU dedicated the week to fostering unity and kindness, and to nurturing students’ dreams and creating a pathway for them to inspire others.

The Optentia research unit, in collaboration with the People and Culture department at the North-West University (NWU), recently honoured a group of exceptional academic mentors and mentees who completed the university’s flagship development programmes: Being a Successful Academic Mentor and Being a Successful Academic Mentee.

Between February 2024 and June 2025, several cohorts of the programmes were hosted, collectively training 75 academic mentors and 77 mentees across the NWU’s faculties and campuses.

• Dr Casper Lötter: “Tenderpreneurs only care for their profits and have no regard for the crises in public safety that they have unleashed.”

• “It is imperative that all South Africans resist the revival of this American monster known as the Prison-Industrial-Complex on South African soil.”

• “In this struggle against crime, Groenewald deserves our full support.”

On a bright and sunny Saturday morning, 30 August 2025, the grounds of the Samuel Broadbent House in Potchefstroom became the starting point of a remarkable journey. The TRACTOR Awareness Rally (Together Rallying Across Communities To Overcome Remembrance-loss) began its 1 900-kilometre trip with an emotional departure.

The North-West University (NWU) recently hosted an exclusive alumni reunion at the prestigious Seven Villa Hotel & Spa in Sandton, Johannesburg – a gathering that transcended the traditional notion of reunions to become a powerful think tank on the future of finance, trade and logistics.

Organised by the NWU Alumni Relations Office in partnership with the schools of Accounting and Economic Sciences, the event convened distinguished alumni, top-tier industry executives and academic leaders for an evening of strategic dialogue, insight and high-impact networking.

Man the gates, the tourists are coming! Popular European destinations such as Barcelona, Paris and Venice are being laid to siege by an unrelenting influx of tourists, prompting residents to take to the streets in protest, sometimes disruptively so. It is a tourism meltdown, and an untenable situation for those living in the very cities tourists flock to.

Budget airlines, cheap transport and low-cost accommodation have fueled this migration headache, and many of the discontented would scoff at the idea of us South Africans celebrating Tourism Month in September.

South Africa’s femicide rate is five times higher than the global average, and one in three women has experienced gender-based violence (GBV) in her lifetime. Increasingly, this violence is no longer confined to physical spaces. It has migrated to digital platforms such as social media, messaging apps and online forums, where abuse is amplified, often anonymously, and even across country borders.

A timely new academic publication has joined South Africa’s shelves of legal scholarship. Commercial Law and Related Issues: A Review of Contemporary Legal Issues and Regulatory Development in South Africa and Selected Jurisdictions, published by Juta, was officially launched during a recent legal research conference at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU).

South Africa is preparing the most sweeping reconfiguration of local government since 1996. Velenkosini Hlabisa, the minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs (CoGTA), has unveiled a plan to reduce dysfunction, shore up finances and restore public trust in the country’s 257 municipalities. At least 35 of these are now deemed dysfunctional, crippled by empty coffers and chronic failures in basic service delivery.