“Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” Desmond Tutu.

Community engagement is about people meeting people and sharing knowledge. It is done to touch lives, strengthen human connections, and remind us that learning has its deepest meaning when it serves others. Helping others is not just an act; it is a gift of compassion and a quiet way to leave the world better than we found it.

One of South Africa’s most experienced news broadcasters, Tim Modise, returns to the place where his career started, Mahikeng, to deliver a public lecture on how the media have shaped cultural identify in democratic South Africa.

The lecture on 6 October is a collaboration between the Journalism Sub-programme of the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Indigenous Language Media in Africa (ILMA) research niche area and the Tim Modise Foundation.

By Gofaone Motsamai

With fewer than half the people requiring treatment for mental health getting it, traditional healers could be the answer to South Africa’s pressing mental health challenges.

This is one the findings of Goratileona Mashishi’s master’s study on the perceptions of Mahikeng community members on the role of the Mahikeng Provincial Hospital in dealing with mental health.

He recently completed a Master of Social Sciences degree in sociology at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Mahikeng Campus.

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.”

Joubert Schoeman has achieved a lifelong dream by signing his official Springbok Sevens contract. He went from being a player for the North-West University (NWU) Eagles to becoming a national rugby star.

Schoeman, a BCom Honours student in Management Accounting, was a key player in the Springbok Sevens "A" side that won the prestigious Rugby Africa Sevens Cup in Mauritius, where he showcased his exceptional sporting prowess on the pitch.

From Ghana to South Africa, similarities in health, education and social policy programmes have raised questions about how public concerns over foreign nationals shape solidarity across the continent.

Is the decay of municipal infrastructure in South Africa the result of poor monitoring and evaluation, poor planning, or deeper systemic issues? This was the central question posed by Dr Robert Nkuna during his guest lecture on Friday, 15 August 2025, at the School of Government Studies at the North-West University (NWU).

Dr Nkuna, who has served as director-general of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation since July 2020, urged participants to reflect beyond surface-level explanations.

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.

“So amazing how this world was made, I wonder if God is a woman. The gift of life astounds me to this day. Give it up for the woman, oh, that woman. With a smile and a style, she’ll protect you like a child, that’s a woman.”

These powerful lyrics from Shaggy’s Strength of a Woman perfectly captured the spirit of the Faculty of Humanities at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Potchefstroom Campus’ Women’s Month celebration, which was wrapped in gratitude and admiration.