LIMPOPO IeaderIeaderDISPATCHES FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPODISPATCHES FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO

LIMPOPONUMBER 8WINTER 2006

GET YOUR TEETH INTO THESEStories of state-of-the-art dentistry training, researchand community outreach

THE GREAT COLUMN OF LIFEWhat the University of Limpopo is doing to protect thediversity and health of our biological environment

GET YOUR TEETH INTO THESEStories of state-of-the-art dentistry training, researchand community outreach

THE GREAT COLUMN OF LIFEWhat the University of Limpopo is doing to protect thediversity and health of our biological environment

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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LETTERS TO THE EDITORADDRESS YOUR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, L I M P O P O L E A D E R , PO Box 2756, Pinegowrie 2123, South Africa,Fax: (011) 782- 0335. E-mail: dgrwrite@iafrica.com

Preference will be given to short letters. Aim for a maximum of 100 to 150 words, otherwise expect your epistleto be edited. Please give contact details when writing to us. No pseudonyms or anonymous letters will be published.

DENTISTRY AND THE MERGERIT IS WITH INTEREST THAT I HAVE READ YOUR ARTICLES ON THE MERGER PROCESS. I must congratulate you ona quality publication. The articles are informative and give employees of both former institutions a clear picture ofwhat is happening. There is however one exception. It seems that the only real interest is shown in establishing aMedical school. No mention is made anywhere of a School of Dentistry. It is mentioned that the Dr George Mukharihospital will be downgraded to a secondary hospital. Again no mention is made of the Medunsa Oral HealthCentre. This facility is a dental training hospital. What will happen with this facility? I also find it strange that noindividual with a dental academic background has been co-opted to assist with the merger process. A dental training facility needs highly specialised planning in terms of both a facility as well as the curriculum. Is this an indication that the current Dental Faculty will simply cease to exist? If this is not the case, what would be the timeframe for relocation of the current Dental Faculty to a Dental School at Polokwane? When will the first dental students be accommodated at Polokwane?P J P r i n s l o o Medunsa Oral Health Centre

Senior University management has provided the following answers. The Faculty of Dentistry at Medunsa has nowbecome the School of Dentistry in the new Faculty of Health Sciences located within the University of Limpopo, andas such will be relocated to Polokwane over the next five to ten years. The first intake of dental students inPolokwane will depend on the state of readiness of the facilities to be established there in the time frame alreadymentioned. The dental training facilities on the Medunsa campus will continue to be used as part of the nationaldentistry service, but it is not yet known under which institutional auspices the service will be offered.

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tTHIS ISSUE MARKS THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE LAUNCH OFL I M P O P O L E A D E R IN 2004. Since that time the magazine hasgrown in stature – and to a circulation of 15 000 – and we can mentionthree indicators of its success. The first is that L i m p o p o L e a d e r isnow regularly distributed to every South African consulate and embassyin the world. The second is that it is on sale to the general publicthrough several commercial outlets in Polokwane. These outlets,Fascination Books (who take nothing for themselves) and PNA, both in the Savannah Mall in Polokwane, are assisting the University and at the same time their clients to learn more about their province and the role played in provincial and regional affairs by Limpopo’s premiertertiary education institution. The third indicator of L i m p o p oL e a d e r ’ s success is the steadily increasing advertising space that is being sold. There can be no doubt that the depth and variety of coverage to be got from the magazine is encouraging advertisers to useL i m p o p o L e a d e r .

Take the current issue. It provides a window onto the vitally importantworld of our ecological support systems and the value of high levels ofbiodiversity in these systems. This is essential reading not only for peopleinterested in the life sciences, but also for those who seek for connectionsbetween science and tourism and the socio-economic development ofordinary people. The current issue also examines the training of dentistsin a developing-world context. What should a school of dentistry aim forin these circumstances? How, practically, are dentists trained? What iscommunity dentistry? And read as well about some surprising oralpathology research.

We’re still looking for subscribers for Limpopo province’s most informative magazine. And for back issues of this invaluable resourcecontact Clare-Rose on (011) 782-0333 or consult the University websiteon www.ul.ac.za The entire sequence of L i m p o p o L e a d e rmagazines since August 2004 is also available on www.developmentconnection.co.za

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THE SPRING EDITION OF L I M P O P O L E A D E R , DUE OUT INEARLY SEPTEMBER, WILL LOOK AT TWO ISSUES OF PRIMARY CONCERN TO PEOPLE LIVING IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY ANDCOMING TO GRIPS WITH THE IDEA AND POTENTIAL OF DEMOCRACY. The first is the efficiency – or otherwise – of local government, the arena in which interaction between the people andthe state is at its most intimate. The second deals with the productionand the impact of food. Natural as well as commercially producedfoods will be dealt with, and the nutritional impacts examined.

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c o v e r p i c t u r e :PROFESSOR NEELS DU PREEZ IN HIS ‘PHANTOM HEAD’ LABORATORY.See story on page 24

p a g e 4 : THE GREAT COLUMN OF LIFE: What is Limpopo’s premier university doing about the living environment?

p a g e 7 :ON-CAMPUS DESIGNS FOR A CELEBRATION OF BIODIVERSITY:Details of a new infrastructural development of major importance totourism and education in Limpopo

p a g e 1 0 :GETTING DOWN TO SOME OF THE DETAIL: LARKS, FROGS ANDEUPHORBIAS: Stories dealing with aspects of our priceless biodiversity

p a g e 1 4 :THE MAKAPAN VALLEY: A WORLD HERITAGE SITE WITH SIGNIFICANT LOCAL POTENTIAL – Read about a university’sinvolvement

p a g e 1 7 :Profile: Professor Pieter Mulder: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN ANERA OF RAPID DEVELOPMENT

p a g e 1 8 :LOOKING FOR BUGS WITH AN APPETITE FOR SLUDGE: A glimpseinto the fascinating and important world of biotechnology

p a g e 2 0 :TRAINING BLACK ACCOUNTANTS TO RECTIFY AN OLD IMBALANCE: Here’s the lowdown on the dynamic new Thuthukaproject that will revolutionise financial management in Limpopo

p a g e 2 2 :CONTEXTUALISING A DENTAL SCHOOL WITHIN THE AFRICANREGION: Start here to read about dentistry on the Medunsa campusof the University of Limpopo

p a g e 2 4 :INSIDE THE LABORATORY OF THE PHANTOM HEADS: This iswhere the training of modern dentists begins

p a g e 2 6 :ELEPHANT TUSKS AND HUMAN TEETH – ONE AND THE SAME:Startling research into our most revealing attributes

p a g e 2 8 :THERE’S MORE TO DENTISTRY THAN YANKING OUT TEETH:Getting to grips with community dentistry and the problems confronted in the rural areas

p a g e 3 0 :PUTTING MONEY WHERE THE MOUTH IS IN GREATEST NEED: Theoral conditions in orphanages housing HIV-positive children andAIDS orphans are plainly horrifying, but where is the funding to rectify the situation

p a g e 3 2 :Profile. Mandla Seopela: PEOPLE’S INSTITUTIONS INSTEAD OFIVORY TOWERS

IN THIS ISSUE

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tTHERE’S SOMETHING WONDERFUL ABOUT THEHEADQUARTERS OF THE SCHOOL OF MOLECULARAND LIFE SCIENCES ON THE TURFLOOP CAMPUSOF THE UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO. The actualentrance is unremarkable, but once you’ve passedinside you’re in an atrium four storeys high that isfilled with evidence of all sorts of creatures great andsmall. For a start, there’s a skeleton of a full-size elephant that you have to walk around to get to thelift. Other skeletons are suspended in the lofty atriumspace – an ostrich and a hippopotamus, for example– that seem to fly above one, harbingers of the greatcolumn of life on planet Earth. If you take the stairs,the walls are filled with exhibits relating to researchprojects – and there’s a remarkable collection of butterflies and moths, some with wingspans of over 20 centimetres.

Director of the School, Professor Rolf Becker, says:‘We’re one of the biggest providers of black skills intothe biotechnology arena in the country. And our lifescience courses – botany, zoology, physiology, environmental health – are increasingly popular, notonly because they provide a solid scientific foundationfor further study, but also because of the rapidly growing job markets for people trained in these fields.Very often our postgraduate students don’t finish theircourses because they get gobbled up by employers.We’re training good scientists here, good generalists.The market is too diverse to produce specialists too early.’

Becker said that he had done his doctoral studiesin biochemistry at Turfloop in the early 1990s, and heused often to stand at the windows of the laboratorieslooking out over the dense peri-urban settlements thathad grown up around the University. ‘Numerous villages without even electricity out there, I used tothink, and me inside doing all this hi-tech research intocell biology. The question that always came to mymind was: how to bridge the gap? Now it’s beginningto happen.’

‘There have been five great extinctions in the

history of the Earth. After each one, it took tens

of millions of years for biodiversity to return to its

original level. As organisms begin to exploit empty

ecological niches and diversify, an intricate web of

interdependencies evolves. The removal of pieces

from this great puzzle has serious ramifications for

us since we are inextricably a part of the biosphere:

human self-reliance is an illusion. Biologists have

recently pointed out that we ourselves are

orchestrating the sixth extinction – and we’re

likely to be among the victims.’

– Professor Les Minter, University of Limpopo.

Professor Rolf Becker

The University and the living environmentTHE GREAT COLUMN OF LIFE

The merged University of Limpopo, with its firm focuson African challenges, is an inspiration to Becker –and it’s an inspiration that runs through the veins ofthe entire School. ‘What’s happening at MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology in America) and Oxford University is important to us here. Thechallenge is to make use of cutting-edge technology in our African setting.’

Becker divides the activities in the School into threemain streams: the first is biodiversity, which incorpor-ates the basic life sciences; the second is biotechnology,which draws on the specialised fields of biochemistryand microbiology; the third is environmental health,which focuses on the influence of industry on the environment in Limpopo province. Hundreds of studentsare studying for a basic BSc degree with a wide variety of majors. Postgraduate degrees to doctoratelevel are available in all the basic disciplines. Thestaff is involved in many research fields. In fact, theSchool of Molecular and Life Sciences enjoys arespected place in South African higher education.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that the Unesco chair ofbiotechnology is located within the School. On thebiodiversity side of things, substantial funding from thenational Department of Environmental Affairs andTourism will see the establishment of an on-campusbiodiversity centre and botanical gardens. The advantages in this ambitious development for students,researchers, surrounding schools, and indeed touristsand the general public, are obvious. The School isalso involved with the protection of the WorldHeritage Site proclaimed last year in the nearbyMakapan Valley. And all manner of specialist researchprojects are ensuring the protection of such aspects ofthe great column of life as euphorbias, a rare speciesof lark and frogs galore. You can read about thesefascinating realities in the pages that follow.

Last word from Professor Becker, who took over asDirector of the School of Molecular and Life Sciencesin 2002: ‘A real momentum has been built up in thisSchool. Once we’re through the merger process, themomentum will be huge. We’re proud of our resourceshere; and we’re ready to play our part in tackling thechallenges of Africa.’

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The University and the living environmentTHE GREAT COLUMN OF LIFE

of a botanical garden on a campus that is set in themiddle of one of South Africa’s most varied naturalenvironments. He showed his ideas to Vlok, andtogether they added more detail, including the construction of a two-storey centre to house the university herbarium as well as exhibition and conferencing facilities, and submitted a proposal toDEAT.

‘They came back almost immediately to say thatR20-million would be made available for the project,’said Vlok. ‘We could hardly believe it.’

Vlok and Potgieter then approached the University.Senior management turned out to be equally

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The University and the living environmentON-CAMPUS DESIGNS FOR A CELEBRATION OF BIODIVERSITY

tTHE IDEA’S BEEN AROUND FOR A LONG TIME.Now the dreams are coming to fruition. Thanks to sterling support from the provincial environmental andtourism officials – and funding from the nationalDepartment of Environmental Affairs and Tourism(DEAT) – the Turfloop campus of the University ofLimpopo is to get its own biodiversity centre andbotanical gardens.

The people currently behind this ambitious projectare zoologist Dr Wynand Vlok and Martin Potgieter, a botanist – and both are on the staff of the School ofMolecular and Life Sciences. In 2003, Potgieter wrotea two-page proposal dealing with the establishment

Dr Wynand Vlok on site

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enthusiastic. They gave land, on the eastern perimeterof the campus; they guaranteed general services suchas water, electricity and general cleaning; they promised a security fence and guards; and they’veallocated two permanent posts, one for a horticulturalist,the other for an education officer.

‘Architect’s plans for the biodiversity centre havebeen drawn up and approved,’ Vlok said, ‘and we’reexpecting the special 500 metres of access road fromthe N71 (the main route from Polokwane to Tzaneenand the Kruger National Park beyond) and the basicconstruction of the building to be completed by earlynext year (2007). This is all part of phase one of thisexciting project.’

The north-facing end of the biodiversity centre will be all glass, bringing maximum light into the herbarium and an envisaged ‘hands on’ water exhibiton the ground floor. This will show the rise of rivers inthe mountains and their final discharge into the sea,and all the uses and abuses to which rivers are subjectdue to human activity. Also on the ground floor will betwo lecture venues, space for temporary exhibitions,as well as offices and toilet facilities. Included inphase one will be a comprehensive up-grade of theUniversity’s ‘animal centre’. This extensive facility comprises cages and ponds where animals such assnakes, raptors and water birds will be kept forresearch and display.

A bonus for biodiversity fans is that the section ofcampus allocated for the biodiversity centre andbotanical gardens is adjacent to the provinciallyadministered Turfloop Game Reserve, including a

The University and the living environmentON-CAMPUS DESIGNS FOR A CELEBRATION OF BIODIVERSITY

stretch of water known as the Turfloop Dam. All told,the area incorporated in these facilities is in the regionof 270 hectares of sloping natural bush, an importanttourist and educational facility immeasurably strengthened by the presence on its doorstep of apowerful tertiary education institution.

‘We’re currently negotiating with Polokwane Rotary– a really generous and committed organisation – fora bus and driver to ferry local schoolchildren to andfrom the biodiversity centre,’ Vlok said.

Already Vlok and Potgieter are planning phase twoof the project. This will involve a second building tohouse additional conferencing facilities and theUniversity’s existing science centre. They also want to put up bungalows to accommodate conference dele-gates and visiting researchers – and, of course, tourists.’

An important addition to the cluster of facilitiesenvisaged will be a cluster of traditional villages (overseen by the School of Social Sciences) representing the four major indigenous cultures that have traditionally met and mingled in greaterPolokwane: Pedi, North Sotho, Shangaan and Venda.Obviously, an entrance fee into the complex of facilities will be charged.

Potgieter and Vlok explained: ‘We cannot promisethat the biodiversity centre will be financially self-sufficient, perhaps not even in the long term, but weare seriously committed to moving in that direction.The idea is to involve both students and the local communities surrounding the campus. Students canbring their expertise in financial management, administration and local economic development to

Martin Potgieter

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bear on the running of the biodiversity centre. They’llalso operate as guides. And the local community willoperate the crafts shop as a small business, and willbe encouraged in a variety of ways to tap into thepassing tourist trade.

‘We see the centre as a magnet, attracting touristson their way to the National Kruger Park; attractinglocal and regional schoolchildren; attracting biodiversity students and researchers from far andwide; providing a venue for the centralisation ofherbarium stocks that relate to the northern parts ofthe country; and attracting conferences by offeringwell-equipped facilities in a startlingly beautiful ruralsetting.’

A final comment from Vlok and Potgieter provides awindow onto one of the major potentials of such acentre and its intimate relationship with a major university.

‘The biodiversity centre,’ they say, ‘could serve asa public face for the research and services potential ofthe University of Limpopo. It will certainly put on showa great deal of the on-campus expertise available,and the centre will inevitably become involved as anagency to match this expertise with potential clients infee-for-service relationships. In other words, it couldprovide a real boost to the University’s ongoingattempts to find real sources of third-stream income.’

An architect’s sketch of the biodiversity centre and botanical gardens

The University and the living environmentGETTING DOWN TO SOME OF THEDETAIL: LARKS, FROGS ANDEUPHORBIAS

itrying to establish why these fortunes are in decline.They set the scene by explaining that there are twoisolated populations of the lark: one (the western population) in the North West Province as it bordersonto Botswana; the other (the eastern population)around Polokwane. In the early 1990s, the compre-hensive Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP)had indicated that the western population comprisedapproximately 10 000 pairs, while the eastern population was considerably smaller.

But the shocks came when Engelbrecht andDippenaar began specifically to research the two populations in the early 2000s. ‘Misidentification ofbirds during the SABAP could have given us a falsesense of security,’ they wrote after they performedanother survey of this population’s distribution. Notonly had the range of the short-clawed larks been dramatically reduced, so had their actual numbers,perhaps due to misidentification, but also possibly dueto changing land use coupled with the prolongeddrought of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Evenmore dramatic was the situation in the eastern population. After an exhaustive two-year study,Engelbrecht established that its range decreased by60% and that only about 150 birds remain in thespecies’ traditional stronghold, the 3 200-hectarePolokwane Nature Reserve. Outside the reserve thebirds are few and far between.

It has been suggested that the eastern populationmay be a distinct species from the more numerouswestern population. This could be the result of inadequate identification techniques in the past, or itcould be the beginning of an evolutionary process

It must be the greatest truism of our modern age thatwe are as dependent on the health of our ecologicalcontext as any other living organism within that context. The temptation to see ourselves as above thenatural world, governed by other laws, has causedhuge damage to our natural environment – and to ourselves. Endangered species have become our business for precisely that reason. And there’s a newawareness that biodiversity – in other words the coexistence of great numbers of genera and species –is an essential ingredient to our future survival. Thebigger portion of the teaching and research activitiesin the School of Molecular and Life Sciences at theUniversity of Limpopo is devoted to biodiversity. It’sfascinating to see the directions that the different disciplines embark upon and yet how many of thesedirections run parallel and then converge as individualstrands of the fundamental concern for biodiversity. So let’s turn our attention to some of the individualstrands.

SAVING THE SHORT-CLAWED LARK

Take to begin with the matter of the short-clawed lark(Cer th i lauda chuana ). This is a rare bird whosenumbers have been in drastic decline in the last fewyears. It occupies a prominent position in thePolokwane coat of arms – rightly so, since it used tobe so characteristic of the Polokwane Plateau FalseGrassland in which the capital of Limpopo is set. Butno longer is this modest little bird all that characteristic.

Two young Turfloop academics – Professor DerekEngelbrecht and Professor Susan Dippenaar – havebeen studying the fortunes of the short-clawed lark and

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underscored by differences in the western and easternhabitats. This is where Dippenaar comes more fullyinto the research picture. She’ll do laboratory researchthat will compare the DNA of the western and easternpopulations, not only with each other, but also withprevious studies done on other species suspected ofsplitting into, or simply being, two or more speciesgroupings.

‘We are beginning to suspect that the two populations are different,’ Dippenaar and Engelbrechtsaid. ‘If DNA analysis supports our conviction, thenthe situation for the eastern population is quite desperate. Serious conservation efforts will then berequired to save it.’

Engelbrecht and Dippenaar are developing a ‘conservation management plan’ that would includemore intense research on the ecosystem required tosustain and grow the present dangerously dwindlingpopulation, as well as regular monitoring of the eastern population itself.

‘There can be little doubt that human activity – bothurban and agricultural – has changed the environmentto such an extent that the short-clawed lark is nowonly common in the Polokwane Nature Reserve where all its habitat requirements are met and human disturbance is limited. ‘We’re beginning to suspectthat their vegetation needs are quite diverse, withmales and females displaying different diet preferences, which may explain their patchy distribution.’

Asked whether it would really matter if the easternpopulation of the short-clawed lark became extinct,both scientists answered vigorously. Diversity was crucial to the health of ecosystems, they said, because

diversity meant a stable and healthy balance. As anexample of this, they made reference to ‘the rate ofprey delivery’ of small birds that could reach a rate offour insects or more an hour. Multiply that by wholepopulations, and factor in insect preferences amongbird species and genders, and it’s easy to see how theextinction of a single species could upset fragile ecological balances.

‘People talk about saving black rhinos or elephants,’ Engelbrecht remarked. ‘But what needs tobe clearly understood is that it is biodiversity amongthe plants and insects and small animals, includingbirds, that lays the foundations for the existence of thelarger mammals.’

FOCUS ON FROGS

‘In the overall scheme of things, frogs might seempretty insignificant. Yet they’ve been around for 250-million years and today, as in millennia past, theyplay an important ecological role. For example, it hasbeen estimated that a population of 1 000 small northAmerican cricket frogs consume 4,8-million arthropods(mostly insects) each year!

‘Many environments contain a greater biomass ofamphibians than of birds and mammals. This isbecause a lot of the energy taken in by warm-bloodedanimals is lost as heat, whereas cold-blooded creatures, such as frogs, are better at conserving energy and convert more of it to muscle and fat. Thusfrogs form a significant part of many food chains.

‘If frogs were suddenly to be taken out of the equation, food chains would be severely disrupted,affecting large numbers of other animals. There are

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Photograph: Professor Derek Engelbrecht Photograph: Professor Les Minter

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The University and the living environmentGETTING DOWN TO SOME OF THE DETAIL: LARKS,FROGS AND EUPHORBIAS

accepted with the understanding that he could continue his frog research. Its been a happy relationship. Minter is now acting head of theDepartment of Medical Sciences as well as being widelyrecognised as an authority on southern African frogs.

‘My research focuses on their vocalisations,’ heexplains. ‘The calls of frogs are species specific – inother words each species has a unique call.’ This hasled to the discovery of two new Brev iceps species inKwaZulu Natal, B. sopranus and B. baggins i .

In 1995 Minter and Phil Bishop (Wits) initiated theFrog Atlas Project that set out to map the distributionsof all our frog species, countrywide, and took nineyears to complete. Near the end of the project theSmithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.approached the editors with an offer to publish theatlas as part of their Biodiversity series. The At lasand Red Da ta Book o f t he F rogs o f Sou thAf r i ca , Leso tho and Swazi land was published in2004, with Minter as senior editor.

What’s next? All sorts of things, relating to frogs.Take as an example his film experience.

Several times Minter has served as consultant onBBC and Discovery Channel documentaries on frogs.Now he’s working with that most famous of naturedocumentary filmmakers, David Attenborough. ‘I’mcertainly looking forward to meeting him. I’ll get mychance later this year when I’ll be breeding and rearing Brev iceps in my garden to perform in frontof the camera.’

EUPHORBIAS FOR AFRICA

Even in this age of super specialisation, it’s well worthremembering the contributions to science that can bemade by the committed amateur. Leslie Charles Leachis a case in point – and now his unique contribution tobotany has passed into the hands of the University ofLimpopo in the form of Africa’s largest and most comprehensive collection of euphorbia species.

The collection comprises 43 dried specimens, ofwhich six are type specimens and three are red-datalisted. In addition, there are 920 specimens preserved

worrying signs that this is indeed happening. In manyparts of the world, even in pristine habitats, frog populations are declining dramatically and somespecies have become extinct. Some of the threats tofrogs, such as habitat loss and pollution are quiteobvious and dramatic, but others, such as globalwarming, don’t attract our attention until it is too late.An annual average temperature rise of just a fewdegrees interferes with the immune system of somefrog species, making them more vulnerable to disease.’

This is Professor Les Minter talking. He teachesanatomy in the Faculty of Health Sciences on theTurfloop campus, but his doctorate (awarded in 1999)was on frogs of the genus Brev iceps , popularlycalled rain frogs because they spend most of their timeburied in the soil, only coming to the surface when it rains.

Over the past ten years, new frog species havebeen discovered at the rate of about one per year,and the complete list presently stands at 117.

Minter’s doctoral research dealt with the reproduct-ive biology of Brev iceps . These frogs are entirely terrestrial: they don’t lay their eggs in water like mostother frogs, but deposit them in an underground nest.The eggs are large and contain enough yolk to see the ‘tadpole’ stage through to metamorphosis. During mating the male glues himself to the female’s back, sothat they don’t become separated while they are burrowing down into the soil. After fertilising the eggs,the male detaches from the female through the naturalexfoliation of the skin. The male then returns to the surface in search of new conquests while the femaleremains near the nest until development is complete,some five to six weeks later.

Minter was born in Zambia and grew up at PortEdward on the KwaZulu Natal south coast, an environment that early imbued him with an interest innature. He completed a BSc degree at the Universityof the Witwatersrand, majoring in zoology and geology and then took a job teaching biology atPolokwane’s Capricorn High School. It was during thisperiod that he started his Brev iceps research.

In 1982, out of the blue, Turfloop offered him a lecturer’s position in Human Anatomy, which he

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in spirits in bottles, and a whole greenhouse filled with81 living plants. More than a hundred Euphorbiaspecies were ultimately collected and described byLeach, not a few of them for the first time.

‘This is a major acquisition for us,’ said MartinPotgieter, a botany lecturer on the Turfloop campus ofthe University of Limpopo, ‘and we’ve been workingon cataloguing the collection. There’s some wonderfulstuff here.’

Apart from the actual specimens, there are three filing cabinets filled with written material and a vastcollection of photographs, slides, microscope slides,drawings and sketches and numerous maps. There arealso comprehensive seed and pollen collections. Thereare even some rolls of old 9mm movie film, butnobody’s sure what’s on them.

Leach was born in England in 1909 and emigratedto Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1938. Hisinterest in succulents began in 1950 when he purchaseda 10-acre plot outside Salisbury (Harare) and hebegan to make a garden. He went on extensive expeditions throughout southern Africa to see as manyeuphorbias as possible at their type localities.Between 1972 and 1981, he worked as honorarybotanist at Zimbabwe’s National Herbarium. He laterworked at the Botanical Research Institute in Pretoria.Leach published widely on his speciality. In 1990, hewas the first recipient in Africa of the Golden CactusAward of the International Organisation for Succulent

Plant Study (based in Zurich, Switzerland). Hereceived numerous other awards and honours duringhis long life. He died in 1996.

Leach began to publish on euphorbias in the early1960s and his last publication was dated 1995.Between those dates he published over 100 articlesand some books on his speciality.

‘There’s been quite a tussle around where his collection should go,’ Potgieter said. ‘But finally, it wasdecided that it should be Turfloop, primarily becausethere are just so many euphorbia varieties growing inthe wild here. Just glance at the granite hills right hereon campus to find verification for that.’

A single glance in that direction will encompassfine specimens of bushveld candelabra euphorbiatrees (Euphorb ia cooper i ) and common tree euphorbias or ‘nabome’ in Afrikaans (Euphorb iaingens ) growing among the lower vegetation covering the rocky campus landmarks.

‘Our herbarium here, which was started only in1983, is quite small,’ Potgieter explains. ‘But we havesome interesting things. We have a lichen collectionassembled by Turfloop’s Professor Dirk Wessels. He’sone of the world’s foremost lichenologists. And nowwe’ve got Leach’s euphorbias. These two niche collections will definitely put our herbarium on theinternational research map.’

Professor Susan Dippenaar and Professor Derek Engelbrecht Martin Potgieter

Professor Les Minter

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The University and the living environmentTHE MAKAPAN VALLEY: A WORLDHERITAGE SITE WITH SIGNIFICANTLOCAL POTENCIAL

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THE TWO GUIDES ACCOM-PANYING THE PARTY OF LIFE SCIENTISTS TRUDGINGTHROUGH THE BUSH WORE T-SHIRTS THAT BORE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:MAKAPAN VALLEY: WORLDHERITAGE SITE: 3,5-MILLIONYEARS OF HUMAN OCCUPA-TION. The guides were attachedto SAHRA (South African HeritageResources Agency) and the scientists were from the Universityof Limpopo.

The Makapan Valley site liesnot many kilometres east ofMakopane, and less than 90 kilometres from the Turfloop campus of the University. In theearly decades of the 20th centurythe fossilised remains of earlyhomonids were discovered at the lime works that had beenestablished in the vicinity of thefamous Makapan caves. Suchillustrious academics from theUniversity of the Witwatersrandas Raymond Dart and PhilipTobias became involved in thepalaeontological research that followed. Based on this work, theclaim for the Makapan Valley –that early homonids had livedthere up to 3,5-million years ago– was given a solid scientific

basis. So solid indeed, that theproclamation of World HeritageSite status, which happened inJuly 2005, was inevitable.

‘It’s reckoned to be the oldest site of continuous human habitation in the world,’ one ofthe scientists on the field trip said.‘To be involved is a significantasset for the University.’

And Professor Rolf Becker,director of the University’s Schoolof Molecular and Life Sciences,added: ‘We’re definitely committedto working with SAHRA and theInterim Management Committeeand the local community. In fact,this is our first exploratory visit;and thereafter we’ll begin todevelop our plan of action.’

The University of theWitwatersrand will continue tocontrol the palaeontological sideof the site, while the University of Limpopo has accepted responsibility for the biodiversityside. They’ll be undertaking abaseline zoological study toestablish exactly what animals(including insects and birds) areliving on the 2 200-hectare site;and they’ll be doing the samewith the botanical side, takingthousands of samples of the tiniestplants to the largest trees for

classification and storage in theherbarium on the Turfloop campus.

The scientists walked on thepathways and duckboards traversing the entrances to thehuge caves that characterise thesite. Thanks to a grant from theLotteries Board, the site is beingprepared for tourists. A restaurantand interpretation centre is beingbuilt, as are stalls where local residents can sell their wares.There’ll also be an indigenousnursery. And the pathways nowtake visitors to the most significant– and obvious – aspects of the site.

Like the lime works, where for several decades mining operations took place and wherethe first fossil finds took place.Even today, small fossils can beseen on the surface of the highoverhanging rock faces. At thebottom of the hill, neat rows ofrocks have been stored behind ahigh fence, each stone containingevidence of fossilised bone fragments for future Wits studentsto examine.

At the Cave of Hearths, exca-vations conducted more than 50years ago show at least 150 000years of stone-age development.And further along via a sturdyboardwalk, the entrance to

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a large cave (Makapansgat)brings memories of the mid-19thcentury when Vootrekkers trappedan entire tribe of indigenous people in the caves, and wheremost of them had starved todeath. From the boardwalk, theentire Makapan Valley is visible,from the cliffs at the top end, tothe steep sides of the actual valleybelow, lavishly vegetated with a host of different tree andeuphorbia species.

‘This is going to be a veryvaluable field site for our students,’ Becker remarked. ‘Andwe’ll be able to get involved inshort training courses for SAHRAguides drawn from the community.In fact, co-operation with SAHRAand the community will form animportant part of our plan ofaction.’

One of the guides in theirinformative T-shirts turned out tobe Donald Lithole, a SAHRA cultural officer; while the other,Ernest Mkhari, had been selectedfor special training from the localMakapan community.

Lithole said: ‘There are about250 people living on the site. Wehave to make them believe thatthe World Heritage Site status willbring them some benefits. That’swhy we have chosen guides fromthe local community. But we aresincerely hoping that the involve-ment of the University of Limpopowill bring many more advantages.’

He mentioned the possibility ofscientific assistance in small-scalefarming, the appearance for thefirst time of mobile health clinicsand specialist services like optometry. Then there’s the possibility of assistance with smallbusiness management and microfinancing. Finally, Lithole believedthat a social impact study and further studies in local oral historywould be valuable contributionsto the World Heritage Site.

Becker nodded enthusiasticallyto all these suggestions. ‘There’sno doubt that the involvement ofthe University is full of potential.’

Academics accompanyingBecker on the field trip were:zoology Professor Antoinette

Jooste; Professor Les Minter, ananatomist and frog specialist;Professor Poul Grobler, wildlifegeneticist; Dr Susan Dippenaar, a zoologist with special interestsin birds and spiders; MalanPretorius, a wildlife managementspecialist; Alma Moller, an electronmicroscopist and entomologist, and SonnetteKrynauw, the botanist in chargeof the herbarium at Turfloop.Asked if she thought she wouldfind around 8 000 species atMakapan, Krynauw answered:‘There’ll probably be more thanthat.’

‘There’s a lot of knowledgerepresented here,’ Becker commented, ‘and we feel we canmake a real contribution to thesite.’

There can be no doubt that thisis true; and it is apt that theUniversity of Limpopo should beactively involved in one of themost valuable natural and historical sites in LimpopoProvince, in South Africa, andindeed in the world.

The University and the living environmentTHE MAKAPAN VALLEY: A WORLD HERITAGE SITE WITHSIGNIFICANT LOCAL POTENCIAL

Profile: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN ANERA OF RAPID DEVELOPMENT

dDURING THE MAJOR ACADEMIC RESTRUCTURING UNDERTAKEN IN 2000 BY THETHEN UNIVERSITY OF THE NORTH (NOW LIMPOPO), BOTANY MERGED WITHZOOLOGY INTO THE BIODIVERSITY PROGRAMME, AND BIOCHEMISTRY MERGEDWITH MICROBIOLOGY EXPANDING INTO THE BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRAMME.This left the fifth life science department – physiology and environmental health – outon a limb. It was the smallest department in the new School of Molecular and LifeSciences, both in terms of student numbers and staff complement and it lacked afocused postgraduate training programme. It was a second choice for students whohad been unable to gain access to medical training at Medunsa.

But no longer is this the case.‘Student numbers have exploded,’ says Professor Pieter Mulder. ‘From being the

smallest department in the School, we’re now far and away the largest. Physically,we’re running out of space. And no one comes here while they wait for a space onthe Medunsa campus. Now it’s job-specific training that they come for.’

Mulder heads up the Physiology and Environmental Health programme, and it washe and his staff who were largely responsible for its dramatic growth.

‘We jumped onto the Internet to see what other non-medical universities were doingwith this specialty. Potchefstroom was one such institution, and there the focus wasexclusively on training people to be occupational hygienists. But their courses weresolely in Afrikaans. We saw our niche and redesigned our course to fill it.’

The result was a brand new course that provided students with a basic BSc degree,but with special attention being given to occupational and environmental heath.Practical job-related issues like formal computer literacy training, report writing andpresentation skills were also buit into the programme of environmental law, with particular emphasis on mining and ventilation legislation. Instead of sending studentsout to other parts of the campus for these add-ons, Mulder sent his lecturers for specialcourses that would equip them to add value within the Physiology and EnvironmentalHealth programme.

‘It’s worked very well indeed,’ Mulder comments, ‘and we’re presently servicingwell over a hundred highly qualified final-year students each year. In 2005, wereceived 30 applications from students wishing to do postgraduate studies, but due tostaffing constraints we have to limit our intake to around ten.’

Mulder was born and grew up in what is now called the Free State province. Hisparents were both teachers, and his father was principal of the primary school thataccommodated the children of the multi-national workers building the then VerwoerdDam on the Orange River. Mulder attended the then Rand Afrikaans University wherehe studied science, finally achieving a doctorate in the field of population genetics.He took over the Physiology and Environmental Health programme in 2001.

‘While we were redesigning our courses,’ he explained, ‘we had a close look attheir value in terms of the government’s strategic economic planning. Mining and manufacturing loomed large. And we realised we were ideally positioned to go alongwith the mining and industrial boom that was foreseen in Limpopo Province.’

Mulder’s far-sightedness has paid dividends. ‘The major mining companies aregrabbing everything we can produce,’ he says. ‘Our postgraduate students are beinglured away before they finish their studies. It’s certainly gratifying to know that we aremaking an impact on the socio-economic development of our province – and indeedthe whole country – while at the same time training experts capable of keeping pollution and all the other negative environmental effects of development at bay.’Professor Pieter Mulder

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He alluded to the choice facing those concernedwith large-scale sewage disposal: there was the traditional chemical treatment option, or there was the microbial option. Communal septic tanks for households in scattered rural areas: that was animportant biotechnological arena. As was the treatment of solid waste. The traditional response hadbeen to create rubbish dumps where the waste waseventually buried. But the materials being dumpedweren’t as easily degradable as previously, and theresult was frequently an unwholesome and toxic blacksludge oozing from the base of the dumps. Biotech-nology is generating solutions to this problem as well.

‘The challenge is to find the right microbe for thejob,’ asserts Songca. ‘There’s such a large repertoireof them, it’s just a matter of time before we find everything we need for lasting environmental remediation.’

Regarding the merger between the Medunsa andTurfloop campuses of the new University of Limpopo,Songca compared the biotechnology courses on offerat these venues. ‘I see no duplication. In fact, ourcourse (which includes a research and developmentcomponent at honours level) will greatly strengthen themerged department.’ He said his understanding wasthat the two departments would merge in the next two or three years to form an exceptionally strong department. ‘This is the future,’ he added.

Songca was born in the Eastern Cape and did his first science degrees at the University of Transkei (now the Walter Sisulu University). He then tookadvantage in 1989 of a British Council Fellowship to do a Masters in organic chemistry at the Universityof London. He ultimately obtained his doctorate at the same university, thanks to a Unesco fellowship.

‘Interestingly,’ Songca says with a smile, ‘while Iwas studying there, my college, the Queen MaryCollege, merged with Westfield. So I’ve been througha merger that involved not only academic

pPROFESSOR SANDILE SONGCA WAS VERY KEEN TO TALK ABOUT THE SPECIAL BIOTECHNOLOGYDEGREE ON OFFER AT THE MEDUNSA CAMPUS OFTHE UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO – AND HE ENDED UPTALKING ABOUT THE SLUDGE THAT OOZES FROMTHE BOTTOM OF RUBBISH DUMPS.

The degree is designed for appropriately qualifiedschool-leavers, and provides them with an excellentfoundation in the many different disciplines that occurin biotechnology, including chemistry, physics, statistics and biology. On top of these basics are builtthe molecular aspects of biotechnology, with specialcourses in genetic, protein and metabolic engineering.Students will also receive instruction in the commercial, legal and engineering aspects of biotechnology, thus providing students with a holisticand integrated view of the industry. A prerequisite forobtaining the qualification on the Medunsa campus isthe research requirement built into the final (fourth)year. This research can be conducted either on-campusor within the biotechnology industry itself. This meansthat this particular BSc is immediately equivalent to an honours degree, and will equip participants forcareers in a wide range of biotechnological researchand development fields.

Professor Songca is head of the Department ofChemistry and Biochemistry at Medunsa campus, and there’s no question which research and development field interests him most. ‘Environmentalremediation,’ he says immediately. ‘It’s a massive field with equally massive opportunities. The Universityof Limpopo is perfectly placed to lead the field in thegeneration of new solutions for export into Africa.’

Songca speaks enthusiastically about the power ofbiotechnology to cope with the complex problems ofwaste management, particularly as they are manifesting in developing environments.‘Biotechnological solutions are increasingly becoming the intervention of choice,’ he says.

The big world of tiny microbesLOOKING FOR BUGS WITH ANAPPETITE FOR SLUDGE

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rationalisation but physical relocation as well. Theresult was definitely an improvement in efficiency and quality.’

Songca returned to South Africa in 1994. ‘I hadreceived two highly attractive job offers,’ he recalls.‘But the pending elections were a big incentive. There was such a feeling of euphoria as we flewhome.’ After a brief spell at the University of Transkei,Songca went to the University of Cape Town, workingin the liver research unit at Groote Schuur and developing a porphyrin-based cancer cure. Then, after a spell at the University of Zululand, he arrivedat Medunsa in May 2004 where he heads up theDepartment of Chemistry and Biotechnology.

He speaks again of his special interest in environ-mental remediation. ‘Many epidemiological problemsin Africa have their roots in poor waste managementstrategies. Biotechnology is going to make massiveinroads here. And in the field of water purification,particularly in deep rural areas, the potential is equally enormous. In fact, we’re already working onthis. It’s all part of the same package of environmentalremediation.’

But his final comment is about the merger. ‘It represents an exciting opportunity. In the world of bigbusiness, this sort of reconfiguration is market-basedand often ruthless. We are going through a similarprocess, but we’re lucky. We have an opportunity toreconfigure ourselves. In the biotechnology field, thiswill provide us with a state-of-the-art scientific platformto make a real impact on some of the fundamentalenvironmental problems occurring all over the developing world.’

Professor Sandile Songca

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Accounting and auditingTRAINING BLACK ACCOUNTANTS TORECTIFY AN OLD IMBALANCE

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Professor Nikolaas van Schalkwyk

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS (CAs) ARE SOMETIMESDIFFICULT TO FIND IN SOUTH AFRICA. To put it asplainly as possible: there’s a significant shortage ofthem. Even more difficult to find, of course, are blackchartered accountants. The reasons for the racialimbalance are fairly obvious. Apartheid kept manydoors securely closed against aspirants of colour; andthe high cost of accounting training in the old dayswould have deterred many who might otherwise haveslipped through the door marked CAs.

All this is changing now – thanks originally to thecollapse of apartheid, and more recently to a specialproject launched by the South African Institute ofChartered Accountants (SAICA) and funded by thenational Department of Labour (through the accountingand financial management SETA).

The project is called Thuthuka, a Zulu verb thatmeans ‘to develop’. It’s specifically designed toencourage many more promising black school-leaversto enter the accounting profession. To achieve this,Thuthuka first of all homes in on likely candidates athigh school level – and on likely schools – offeringassistance for the improvement of performance in theessential base subjects: English, mathematics andaccounting itself. The assistance comes in the form ofin-service courses for teachers and additional tuitionfor learners selected to the project. The next stage ofthe project is at tertiary education level – and here theUniversity of Limpopo is heavily involved.

Listen to Professor Nicolaas van Schalkwyk who isthe course co-ordinator in accounting and auditing onthe Turfloop campus.

‘The traditional route into the profession,’ heexplains, ‘was to take a BCom degree in accountingat a university, and then to tackle the postgraduateCertificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) whilearticled to a firm of practicing chartered accountants.Now all this is rolled into one four-year course, which

is based on excellent BCom Accounting material plusa first year of foundation subjects such as businessmathematics and business English.’

The Thuthuka project has linked the University ofJohannesburg (previously the Rand AfrikaansUniversity) to Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape and to theUniversity of Limpopo. ‘We participated in the projectfor the first time in 2004 when the top 100 studentsapplying for BCom Accounting were given the optionto take the extra year in Thuthuka. By 2005, ourintake rose to 150 students, and we hope to hold itthere. This means that at any given time we’ll have600 students participating in the project,’ VanSchalkwyk says.

But there are some anomalies to be ironed out. The original intention was to provide full universitybursaries only to those students who had been associated with Thuthuka during their school careers.But there are many more talented students than arerepresented by this group alone, and negotiations areunder way to extend the full-bursary deal (includingfree prescribed books provided by corporate business)to anyone who makes the grade.

But won’t the Thuthuka project lead to an eventualover-supply of chartered accountants in South Africa?

‘Not likely,’ replies Van Schalkwyk. ‘There really isa huge shortage everywhere in South Africa. This isnot only because it’s been difficult to enter the profession, but also because of our exceptionally highstandards. This has meant that its been easy for SouthAfrican CAs to find work in other parts of the world.’

And they rarely come back. This same principleapplies to students who, as in the past, left LimpopoProvince for their articles and postgraduate study. The Thuthuka project will help to staunch this brain-drain, thus strengthening the relationship between the University of Limpopo and the rapid rate of development in the province.

Under the Thuthuka project, visiting lecturers provide for six of the courses the students must undertake: economics, business management, commercial law, business mathematics, business English,and analytical techniques; while the Turfloop lecturingteam concentrates on the core accounting subjects.

Van Schalkwyk speaks with enthusiasm about thededication of the Turfloop students. ‘One of the visitinglecturers had trouble with the data projector,’ herelates, ‘and this entailed a twenty-minute delay. Now elsewhere you wouldn’t have been able to hearyourself think. But our students waited quietly for theproblem to be solved. Their attitude is very positive.Last year, during the student bursary strikes, theThuthuka students actually protected one of their lecturers, surrounding her as she walked to her car.Most of our students are from the rural areas. They’revery bright – they’re the cream – and they’re hungryto learn.’

The results confirm this vote of confidence. At theend of 2004, the first year of the Thuthuka project atTurfloop, the pass rate was 96%. At the end of 2005,it had risen to 97%. ‘They will be equal to any classin the country,’ Van Schalkwyk insists; and he addsthat the commitment of his lecturers is equally high.

‘They’re evaluated on the results of every test andexam. And they’re focused on the results of their students. An example of this is that they’ve asked formore tests, even though this means more work forthem. They say that the students tend to relax aftertests, so to maintain the learning momentum more tests should be added.’

All this augurs well for the future of accountancyand financial management in South Africa. The rawmaterial abounds, and now a way has been found toharness and develop it. Three cheers for SAICA andthe Department of Labour and Thuthuka!

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Dentistry on the Medunsa campusCONTEXTUALISING A DENTALSCHOOL WITHIN THE AFRICANREGION

tTHE ERSTWHILE FACULTY OF DENTISTRY (TO BEREFERRED TO AS SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY) PRIDESITSELF FOR HAVING TRAINED THE HIGHEST NUMBEROF AFRICAN DENTISTS IN SOUTH AFRICA. Most ofour graduates stay in the country, although there are afew working in various parts of the United Kingdomby virtue of recognition of our BDS degree by theGeneral Dental Council (GDC) in the United Kingdom.Even though recently there was a proclamation by the GDC that foreign graduates have to write their examination, this has not discouraged some of ourgraduates. My personal opinion is that internationalexposure is healthy for our students in order to benchmark their training with other dental schools inthe world.

Within the South African context, our BDS programme has full five-year accreditation (until 2009)with the Health Professions Council of South Africa(HPCSA). Our postgraduate (MDent) specialist trainingprogrammes in the six specialities also enjoy fullaccreditation with the HPCSA.

It is important to acknowledge that in November2005 we celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary. Ourcontribution to academic dentistry was acknowledgedby having the November issue of the Sou th A f r i canDen ta l Jou rna l dedicated to this school. Members of staff contributed scientific and other articles.

Despite these achievements, there are several challenges that lie ahead.

It is often said that mission statements can serve asexplicit expressions of institutional purpose. Our newmission statement must be in alignment to that of the

University of Limpopo, and must serve as a source offocus and energy in all our academic deliberation. Itis also important that this new mission statement mustbe embraced by all stakeholders.

As a School we should make a commitment to the production of graduates who are sensitive to theirsocial environment. The outstanding features of such graduates should be that they are competentpractitioners, critical thinkers, effective communicators,and able to apply evidence-based modalities of treatment to oral and dental diseases.

Accordingly, the teaching strategies employed inthe school have to be more relevant, integrated andefficient; and allow more student responsibility inorder to encourage self-directed learning that is activerather than passive, and that continues throughout thelife of the student and dental practitioners.

These are critical challenges for higher educationlinked to current pedagogical methods. As a result ofthe above-mentioned principles the reform agenda fordental education in our School should embrace the following key issues.• a competency-based education programme;• decompression of the curriculum by eliminating

outdated and peripherally relevant material;• increasing educational collaboration between

dentistry and other health professions, particularlymedicine, featuring more curricular emphasis onthe interaction of dental and medical problems,and increasing student exposure to the pathophysi-ology of systemic disease;

• redirecting the curriculum toward a stronger

by Professor Tshepo Gugushe

biological base in order to be in line with evidence-based dentistry;

• redirecting basic science course work towardsunderstanding disease pathophysiology

• exposing students to patients as early as possible in the curriculum;

• revitalising the science underlying clinical decision-making via evidence-based approaches;

• increasing the use of community-based clinics asclinical training sites for students;

• including a clinical experience in the final year ofthe curriculum, which replicates the comprehensivecare environment of the general dental practitioner(integrated clinical dentistry);

• utilising technology to enrich student learning,including informatics and operatory simulations;

• rededicating dental school clinics to serving theoral health of the public rather than primarily viewing patients as disposable and inter-changeable educational material for students;

• exploring teledentistry and distance education;• emphasising a community-oriented philosophy;• contextualising the School within Africa;• establishing international linkages with other similar

schools;• becoming a national resource for government and

non-governmental agencies;• increasing the number of African postgraduate

students;• encouraging and sustaining academic excellence;• and developing a commitment to vertical and

horizontal integration of the curriculum.

Contemporary challenges in oral health development,particularly in developing countries such as SouthAfrica, require radical responses to address the riddles at the interface of technology and society. Ifpeople are to be the centre-piece of development, thedental health service structures must reflect this realityand play a supporting and facilitatory function.

A massive attitudinal change has to occur all theway down the hierarchy of service providers; and dental schools in Africa must inculcate these changesin their graduates. Within the context of academicdentistry, the whole range of biomedical and clinicalsciences on the one hand and of social, economic andbehavioural sciences on the other must engage ininterdisciplinary studies to redefine their roles and connectivity to serve the fundamental goal of people-centred development. Transdisciplinarity must beencouraged to generate new knowledge.

Finally, I believe that oral health systems researchshould constitute a very important domain in ourresearch agenda. Such research will assist in identifying mechanisms for improving oral health care delivery, quality of care, patient and systemsmanagement, and policy development and monitoring. In this way we will be seen to be promoting evidence-based decision-making and contributing to research that informs policy that is relevant to our region.

Professor Tshepo Gugushe

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Dentistry on the Medunsa campusINSIDE THE LABORATORY OF THEPHANTOM HEADS

hHAVE YOU EVER WONDERED, AS YOU SETTLEBACK FOR AN ENCOUNTER WITH YOUR DENTIST, HOW THESE TAKEN-FOR-GRANTEDPROFESSIONALS ARE TRAINED? Who taughtthem, for example, to be so dexterous while viewing your teeth ‘backwards’ in those tiny mirrors they use? And what about all those materials they spray on and paint on and fill thecavities with? How do they know what to use andhow long to ‘cure’ (or harden) it with that little lightthat goes ‘ping’ at regular intervals? Read on forsome answers.

One of the departments of the Faculty ofDentistry – that’s the Department of OperativeDentistry – provides a fair overview of what dental students must master before they shine theirlights into our mouths. Of course, they need to doanatomy and physiology for the whole body beforeconcentrating on such subjects as Oral Biology,Oral Microbiology and Oral Pathology. These aredealt with either in Medunsa’s adjacent Faculty ofMedicine, or in the Dental Faculty itself, via suchdepartments as Stomatological Studies and OralPathology.

Operative Dentistry (sometimes called Conservative or Restorative Dentistry) teaches students what to do with all the science and theory once they get to the operating end of theirbusiness.

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Professor Neels du Preez, head of the Department ofOperative Dentistry, explains that the first discipline toconsider is preventive dentistry. It incorporates oralhygiene and periodontics (gums), teeth scaling andcleaning, the use of fissure sealants and fluoride treatment to protect the teeth, as well as general examination procedures.

Thereafter, students move into the realm of Restorative Dentistry and Restorative Materials. Noprizes for guessing that this, in popular parlance,means drilling and filling. ‘Specifically, we treatlesions (cavities), staining and tooth fractures,’ says Du Preez. ‘We treat these things directly, in other wordsin the mouth. There are also indirect techniques thatwould include the use of dentures, crowns andbridges, and so on. But in this department our focus is to teach the direct methods of tooth restoration. Yes, drilling and filling.’

Then there’s a further discipline to which studentsare exposed: endodontics. ‘In this discipline,’ DuPreez explains, ‘we deal with lesions that have goneright through into the pulp of the tooth.’ (The pulp isthat soft tissue canal at the heart of the tooth that contains the tooth nerves and blood supply.) ‘The technique of root canal treatments is dealt with here,as are those decisions around saving or removing thetooth. If the latter is necessary, either the dentist himselfwill do this or he will refer the patient to a specialist.’

Du Preez, who had gained a doctorate in organicchemistry before he did dentistry, explained that theteaching in his department overlapped with another atthis point, namely the Department of Maxillo Facialand Oral Surgery which specialised in the applicationof local anaesthetics, tooth extraction and other minorsurgery, as well as the handling of emergencies in thedentist’s surgery, such as a patient fainting in the chair.

But in the Department of Operative Dentistry thereis one other discipline that must be mentioned.‘Paediatric Dentistry includes a whole science aroundhow to handle the child,’ Du Preez explains. Aftergaining the co-operation of the child the treatment ofprimary teeth, either restoring or removing begins. In the latter case, special account must be taken to maintain space for the later emergence of the permanentteeth by putting in space maintainers if necessary.’

The Faculty of Dentistry deals with approximately300 students in any normal working week. The curriculum was changed a few years ago to satisfySAQA requirements, but 56 old-curriculum studentsare still in the pipeline at fifth- and -sixth year level.Then there are just over 40 students doing the dentaltherapist and oral hygienist courses. The remaining

students are doing new-curriculum dentistry. It’s a five-year course, with the fifth year employing a holistic integrated approach that exposes the studentto comprehensive patient cases.’

To facilitate this, the Dentistry Faculty has two floorsdevoted to the kind of facilities needed for the practical training of student dentists. On each floorthere are reception areas and waiting rooms, and 85 fully equipped treatment cubicles where, under thesupervision of properly qualified staff, students seeactual patients from the surrounding areas, offeringeverything from diagnosis to appropriate treatment.

But in the hurly-burly of teaching, research is notforgotten. A key area is in the field of restorativematerials (fillings), some of which are composite resinsthat resembles the colour of a tooth. A postgraduatestudent is currently examining the curing or hardeningprocess when exposed to light, with special emphasisplaced on the danger to the tissue in the tooth pulp ofprolonged exposure to heat. Another research arearelates to the bonding properties of the filling resins tothe actual tooth: which bonding mediums are the mostefficient?

A third research area, and one of Du Preez’s fieldsof interest, is in the effectiveness of the different techniques used to locate lesions (cavities) when theyare still small and often hidden beneath the surface ofthe tooth. The three main techniques are X-rays, visualexamination, and the use of those nasty little metalprobes (called explorers by dentists).

‘The department regularly produces published articles,’ Du Preez explains, ‘and some of our staffhave received awards for research excellence.’

Finally, in the basement, Du Preez unlocks the doorof what he calls ‘the phantom head laboratory’. Onthe walls are pictures and diagrams of teeth. Thebenches are equipped with the basic tools of dentistry.And from under the bench at each station (there are60) it is possible to swing a phantom head with a rubbery lower face. The head emerges at precisely theright height to simulate a reclining patient. Jaws canbe inserted into the aperture of the mouth. And a lecturer at the front of the class is photographed as he works on his own phantom head, the image beingrelayed to monitors at each work-station.

‘This is where it all starts,’ says Du Preez. ‘Evenfrom the first year, students have sessions in here.They learn how to position their stools in relation tothe head. They learn how to use their mirrors, theirexplorers, their drilling apparatus. They become proficient on the phantom heads long before they goupstairs to the actual patients...’

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iAnd it is when talk turns toresearch that the full force ofthese qualities are experienced.

He tells of reading a paper onsome aspect of oral pathology atan international conference.During question time, a particularlyarrogant American had askedwhy he didn’t work in the USA,why in Africa. What had Africato offer oral pathology? In his irritation, Raubenheimer hadreplied that he would return thefollowing year with a researchproject that could not be done inAmerica. On the aircraft, returning home, he thought: whathave I done, challenging themight of the American researchcapability?

‘Anyway, I spoke to a friend ofmine at the Kruger National Parkand I ended up doing somethingon the salivary glands of elephants.I presented at the next internationalconference, held that year inToronto, and then I asked thearrogant American if he couldhave done such research on hiscontinent. He conceded defeat.’

But the point of the story, forRaubenheimer, was that itexplained the beginning of hislong research relationship withelephants, and particularly withtheir tusks. The end result was aPhD on elephant ivory to go withhis DSc degree in oral pathology.

‘There’s more to hard tissuethan meets the eye,’ he says as

well as a forensic service to thepolice and legal fraternity. Heexplains how specimens cominginto his pathology laboratory areembedded in wax, mounted in amicrotone and thinly sliced forobservation under a microscope.An array of marker dyes is usedto help with the eventual diagnosis.

‘This is the procedure for softtissue specimens,’ he says. ‘When it comes to bone or teeth,of course, wax won’t work, so our lab has developed other techniques. Basically, hard tissuespecimens are mounted in anacrylic resin and then sliced forthe microscope. This is excitingwork,’ he adds.

Both dental and medical students pass throughRaubenheimer’s Department ofOral Pathology. On the medicalside, students come for variousmodules in their forensic medicineand anatomical pathology courses. And all dental studentsare exposed to the intricacies oforal pathology and forensic odontology. ‘I give seven lecturesevery Monday, and I also do fourpostgraduate sessions everyweek. Yes, we’re seriously understaffed, but since ‘the merger’ has come into our livesit’s virtually impossible to recruitnew people.’

These difficulties do little to dampen Raubenheimer’s commitment and enthusiasm.

Dentistry on the Medunsa campusELEPHANT TUSKS AND HUMAN TEETH – ONE AND THE SAMEIN ONE CORNER OFPROFESSOR ERICRAUBENHEIMER’S OFFICESTANDS A LARGE ELEPHANTTUSK, AND ON SEVERAL WALLSARE PHOTOGRAPHS OF MAJESTIC ELEPHANTS.Raubenheimer himself is tall andlean and he talks quickly. He’shead of the Department of OralPathology. He’s telling of hisinvolvement in head and neckpathology, bone pathology, metabolic bone diseases and dermato-pathology – and one isleft wondering about the elephants.

His pride in Medunsa’s Facultyof Dentistry is never far from thesurface. He came to Medunsa in1982 and as he says was ‘throwninto the deep end’ as acting headof Medical Pathology. But he haddone a dental degree and an oralpathology Masters at PretoriaUniversity, so his eventual move tothe Faculty of Dentistry wasinevitable. Now he shows a letterfrom the British General DentalCouncil after representatives fromthis august body had in 1997inspected dental training facilitiesthroughout the country.

‘You can see from this letterand report,’ he says emphatically,‘that we’re probably the best dentistry faculty in South Africa.’

Raubenheimer points out thathis department provides a pathology service to many hospitals in Limpopo Province, as

he begins to outline the nature ofhis ivory research.

Simply put, Raubenheimerbegan to adapt highly specialisedlaser-beam technology to determine the various trace elements, measured innanograms, found in elephantivory. By comparing ivory samples from other parts ofAfrica, as well as his growing collection of southern Africanspecimens, he was able to linkthe trace elements in the ivory tovegetation and water type whichof course link back into the geological and climatic conditionsof the various habitats.

He holds up a slice of the tuskof a Siberian mammoth that hadbeen carbon dated at 27 000years old. ‘By using my techniques,’ he explains, ‘we candetermine what these animals

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ingested, and from there we canbegin to build a picture of thebotany and geology of their hometerritory. The implications for biologists – and for archaeology– are obvious.’

But there’s more toRaubenheimer’s ivory research.By relating tusk growth to time –at a rate of approximately 1mmevery three months – and thencombining this with the trace elements uncovered by the laser-beam technology, it becomespossible to chart an elephant’sgeographical movements – itsmigratory patterns – through theinformation contained in its tusks.

‘And what applies to elephanttusks, applies equally to humanteeth,’ Raubenheimer concludes.‘The make-up of our teeth is geographic specific. Unlike ourskeletons, which are

remetabolised every three years,out teeth are permanent – andthey’re full of information aboutourselves. The implications of allthis for dentistry and oral pathology are enormous. Let mesay again that this is extremelyexciting work.’

Now in his middle 50s,Germiston-born Raubenheimerremarks that the oral pathologydiscipline does not equip peoplefor a lavish lifestyle. The discipline can only be carried onat a tertiary hospital with a state-determined salary to match.Nevertheless, he shows no signsof tiring or disillusionment.Instead, he begins to talk to meabout his collection of oral pathology slides, at 16 000, themost complete collection inAfrica.

Professor Eric Raubenheimer

wWHILE WE DROVE OUT TO THE COMMUNITY DENTISTRY CLINIC IN WINTERVELD, DR ABDULLAKHAN SPOKE ABOUT HIS RULING PASSION. ‘Wewant to change people’s minds about their oralhealth,’ he said; ‘we want to bring dentistry out of theivory towers and into the community; we want ourexperiences there to inform primary health policy inSouth Africa; we want to serve ordinary people – allthis is what community dentistry is about.’

Khan, who is acting head of the Department ofCommunity Dentistry at Medunsa, said that theWinterveld clinic dated back to 1997. ‘At first we

were given a room in the PHC clinic operated thereby a non-governmental organisation called the Sistersof Mercy. Since the unmet needs of the communitywere enormous, the dean negotiated a piece ofground from the Sisters of Mercy to build a largerfacility to expand the scope of care. The ColgateFoundation sponsored the new building, with variousdental companies providing the dental equipment. Weopened the facility in 2002 and the centre is nowused for community-based teaching and as a researchsite for students studying at Medunsa’s Faculty ofDentistry.’

Dentistry on the Medunsa campusTHERE’S MORE TO DENTISTRYTHAN YANKING OUT TEETH

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Dr Abdulla Khan

Regan Lesolang

Winterveld Dental Clinic

The clinic was crowded by the time we arrived atthe start of the working day. No wonder, since thedental clinic provides a free service to a population ofclose to 750 000 in Winterveld and surroundingareas. The clinic is equipped with four dental chairs inseparate surgeries, one of which is fitted with an X-raymachine. A full service is offered in the fields of promotive, preventive and curative dentistry.

‘Before we began here,’ explained Khan, ‘we carried out an assessment to assess the oral health status of the community in general. We went into thecommunity through the main clinic, through schoolsand other selected sites. The results were depressing.The prevalence of dental caries and periodontal disease was high, far in excess of World HealthOrganisation (WHO) recommended standards.’

Khan introduced the manager of Winterveld DentalClinic, Regan Lesolang, a youngish man, according to Khan, with high levels of commitment to his job. He trained at Medunsa as a dental therapist, and then took an advanced diploma in community dentistrybefore tackling a Masters degree in Public Health, a qualification he received from Medunsa’s NationalSchool of Public Health in 2004.

Lesolang said: ‘What the needs assessment showedwas that rural people knew little about prevention, andeven less about the various treatments available.When toothache became unbearable, they went tovarious state hospitals with dental facilities to have thetooth extracted.’

Both Khan and Lesolang spoke about the immensetask of promoting oral health by providing informationon preventive oral health procedures – simple procedures like avoiding too many sugar-sweetenedfoodstuffs and regular brushing of teeth – and ofexplaining the advantages in the restorative treatmentof cavities before the damage is so great that thetooth is lost. ‘This information is still lacking in manyparts of our rural communities,’ commented Khan.

Service provision at Winterveld Dental Clinic isundertaken by final-year dental students from Medunsacampus under supervision. The students are alsorequired to complete an assignment on their experiences in the community based on the five cardinal principles of PHC: • community participation (there’s a clinic

committee with strong community representation)• focus on prevention (Khan’s department is using

child-to-child techniques to enhance awareness of dental health)

• appropriate technology (the clinic runs a mobileservice that uses a treatment that can be carried

out anywhere without elaborate equipment usingonly hand instruments)

• equitable distribution of services, and a multi-sectoral approach.

Khan said that the clinic also provided a usefulresearch platform, normally used by postgraduate students studying for the advanced diploma in community dentistry, and on several occasions by students from other universities. An example of thekind of research being done was the current work that is attempting to establish the main reasons for extractions (rather than restorative procedures) beingselected by people in Winterveld.

Then he said: ‘But we must never try to isolate dental health from health in general, and indeed fromall the socio-economic issues which confront rural people. Sometimes I feel: what’s the use of giving outtoothbrushes and toothpaste to children who mighthave inadequate food and no clean water.’

This holistic sense burns brightly in Khan’s view ofthings. He speaks candidly of experiences in his ownlife that served to broaden his perception of developing world poverty and his response to it.

‘I was born in Durban in 1944,’ he said. ‘Aftermatriculating I had nowhere to go. I was the son of a wealthy trading family – I was protected and spoilt –so I went off to India, to Bombay (now Mumbai), tobecome a dentist. I graduated in 1972. By that time I was married, but the South African authoritiesrefused my wife an entry permit. I did a locum inSwaziland which resulted in a government contract offour years, after which I succeeded in returning hometo South Africa with my family. But I returned a muchwiser man. India and Swaziland had opened my eyes.’

Thanks to a British Council grant, Khan completeda Masters in dental public health from the University of London. On his return he continued to serve theKwaZulu Department of Health, being finally promotedto the position of chief dentist. In 1998 he acceptedan offer to move to Medunsa’s Faculty of Dentistrywhere he specialised in community dentistry.

From a position of some privilege and considerablepotential in Durban to a position of service in theharsher realities of Winterveld – that has been Khan’spersonal journey. The wisdom he has accumulated isfreely available to his department and to colleagues ofthe faculty and students alike. ‘My experiences havetaught me to respect everyone and to be willing toserve everyone,’ he said. ‘That’s why I find communitydentistry so fulfilling.’

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Dentistry on the Medunsa campusPUTTING MONEY WHERE THEMOUTH IS IN GREATEST NEED

hcaregivers and children is one to sixteen. Individualattention is often impossible. The bottle becomes asubstitute for many things – they sleep with the bottleand the milk seeps out – but it’s terrible for the teeth.Milk feeds the bacteria in the mouth. The bacteria inturn create acid. There’s a well-known condition thatdentists call ‘nursing bottle caries’. There’s an epidemic of this condition in the orphanages. It attacksfirst the upper front teeth, then the lower, and then thedecay extends backwards into the mouth.’

But it’s the linkages between HIV/AIDS and oraldisease that most exercises the minds of Blignaut andher departmental team. The Department of Stomato-logical Studies teaches dentistry students the basic sciences of oral biology and oral microbiology.Blignaut remarks that students must have a thoroughknowledge of the normal to understand what can gowrong. She likens the mouth to a mini ecosystem filledwith ecological niches (such as the tongue or the saliva) where in healthy cases a microbial balance is maintained.

‘But this balance is easily disturbed,’ she says. ‘It’sdisturbed by diet; and it’s disturbed by neglect. By thetime the average rural adult seeks dental attention it’susually far too late. You have to begin at an earlyage. Now this whole problem of ignorance and neglect has been made infinitely worse by HIV. Themicrobial balance in the ecosystem of the mouth isdestroyed as the immune system falters. The salivaryglands fail to operate properly; and even the retroviralmedication upsets the microbial balance. The result, inhumanitarian terms, is excruciating pain to accompanythe decline towards death. It’s appalling to think aboutit afflicting so many children.’

Even more appalling is that the funding that haskept the HIV/AIDS clinic and orphanage outreachgoing has in all likelihood dried up. Dental companiesdonate the materials used, and even some of theequipment. In Blignaut’s office stands a portable

HERE’S A SOBERING THOUGHT. For many thousandsof South African children, the long delayed rollout ofanti-retroviral drugs to counteract mother-to-child HIVtransmission is doing little more than prolonging theagony.

Listen to Professor Elaine Blignaut, head of theDepartment of Stomatological Studies in Medunsa’sFaculty of Dentistry. ‘It’s heartbreaking to see their littlemouths,’ she says; ‘they’re in agony. Many of themare so neglected. It’s a waste of retroviral medicationunless their mouths are okay. They can’t eat. When wefix their mouths, they gain weight, and the medicationbegins to do its work. Otherwise, the medication doeslittle more than prolong the excruciating pain in theirmouths while they waste away.’

The Stomatological Studies Department’s surveil-lance of HIV/AIDS sufferers began in 1991 when theSouth African epidemic was in its infancy. Dental clinics for HIV-positive patients were established at thePretoria Academic Hospital, at another hospital nearAtteridgeville, and of course at Medunsa’s own teaching hospital, the Dr George Mukhari Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa.

‘To begin with,’ explains Blignaut, ‘we looked ateveryone, irrespective of whether they had dentalproblems or not. We found that 75 per cent of AIDSpatients have oral problems, even though many ofthem say they are experiencing no problems. Oralproblems seem to be the first to manifest as theimmune system begins to fail.’

This initial outreach activity has been greatlyincreased in recent years. A dental therapist attachedto Stomatological Studies is currently servicing about40 orphanages around Gauteng, seeing not only HIV-positive children but also the growing army of AIDSorphans whose parents have died in the epidemic.

‘These theoretically healthy children have their ownparticular problems,’ Blignaut says. ‘Many of them arepitifully neglected. The average ratio between

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dentistry facility the size of a suitcase that is driven bya small electrically-operated compressor. But for thenew 2006/7 financial year, there will be no one touse it. Funding proposals for a mere R200 000 to the Gauteng Department of Health have elicited noresponse.

Blignaut says: ‘Not even the fact that the patientswe see are a critical link in our ongoing research intoCandida (commonly known as thrush), the most frequently encountered oral pathogen in HIV/AIDSpatients of all ages, could secure financial support.They’ve funded the outreach work for two years, andnow we have funding for only one more month. It’s a

tragedy, and it will definitely detrimentally affect thechildren.’

Eight postgraduate students and several seniorundergraduates, including one Lesiba Rashokeng,have been working on this research. ‘We’re uniquelyplaced to do surveillance on the Candida yeasts andtheir reactions to the range of anti-fungal agents available for treatment. I salute my staff and studentsfor the sacrifices they have made and the dedicationthey have shown. The whole world will benefit fromthis research. It seems nonsensical that at this pointour direct links with so many thousands of patients will be impaired.’

Above is Lesiba Rashokeng, a final-year dentistry student,whose work on Candida a lb icans , and particularly on a subtype unique to South Africa, has won the Middleton Shaw Undergraduate Dental Research Competition.Rashokeng is the first Medunsa student to win this prestigious competition; and he’ll be representing SouthAfrica at the general session of the International Associationfor Dental Research to be held in Brisbane (Australia) at theend of June.Professor Elaine Blignaut

Photograph: Tumelo Moila

Profile: PEOPLE’S INSTITUTIONS INSTEADOF IVORY TOWERS

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Mandla Seopela, a postgraduate studenton the Turfloop campus of the Universityof Limpopo, has been elected the nationalpresident of the South African Student’Congress (Sasco). This happened inDecember last year. In addition, he’s beenthe national president of the South AfricanUniversities Students’ RepresentativeCouncil since 2004.

Seopela was born in Limpopoprovince’s Sekhukhuneland. After matriculating from a school in Pretoria, he enrolled for a law degree in 1998 atthe then University of the North. Afterbreaking his studies for a year ‘for financial reasons’, he returned to his studies – and his deepening involvementin student politics. He now expects to complete a Masters degree in managementand development law later this year.

‘MY INTEREST IN STUDENT POLITICS BEGAN WHEN I WASSTILL AT SCHOOL,’ SEOPELA SAYS. ‘But once I had started atuniversity I became even more active. In 1999, I was elected as the political education and training officer for the Turfloopbranch of the ANC Youth League. In 2000, I was elected secretary of that branch. By 2002, I was the branch chairpersonof Sasco at Turfloop, a position I held for two terms; and a yearlater I found myself elected as president of Turfloop’s StudentsRepresentative Council, a post I also held for two terms.’

Two main issues sustained Seopela’s interest in organised student power. The first had been the conditions under whichblack students were existing while still at school and then in hisearly years at university. Such things as teacher/pupil ratios andavailability of textbooks, particularly in a deep rural area suchas Sekhukhuneland, had dominated his school days. ‘These andother issues compelled us to be active as we began to demandimproved conditions and services.’ At university, particularly inthe late 1990s and early 2000s when the University of theNorth was floundering and finally placed under the control ofan administrator, there was plenty to occupy the mind of a budding student leader. ‘I must say the situation has improvedduring my stay at Turfloop,’ he added

The second and more important issue had been the growingrealisation that students had a major role to play in ensuringthat the post-1994 national mandate for higher education wasbeing carried out.

‘So a main part of our on-campus agenda was insisting onthe creation of ‘people’s institutions’ rather than the ivory towers that South African universities tended previously to be.And the surest way that this can be achieved is by insisting that universities much more actively serve the needs of the communities in which the institution is situated.’

Seopela makes reference to the new epithet now beingattached to the name of the University of Limpopo, to become ‘a premier African university’. He also says that there are nowmany universities claiming the same distinction.

‘But how do we define this label? Can universities fairlyclaim such a label when they continue to follow a western university model with a western university ethic? Yes, we atTurfloop are fully behind the merger with Medunsa. But we needto ensure that the merger doesn’t simply mean a process ofname-changing and the shuffling around of departments andstaff. It is very important that the merger serves the new university focus – that of making a genuine difference to people’slives in the communities surrounding the university. And this mustbe achieved through outreach, relevant research, and humanresource creation in areas that are needed in the national economy,’ Seopela says.

UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPOTelephone: (015) 268 9111

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