UCT “bringing SAXxy back”
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 00:00
- Written by Jodi Edmund
At 4.30am on Thursday, February 9th, hundreds of UCT first-year students marched the streets of Cape Town.
The mission: to sell 50 000 SAX Appeal magazines to UCT’s surrounding communities by 10am the same morning.
The event happens annually near the end of UCT’s orientation week to raise money for UCT’s Student Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (SHAWCO). The event usually raises over R600 000. First- years are transported to different areas around Cape Town, where they must sell as many SAX Appeal magazines to passers-by as possible.
SAX Appeal is co-ordinated by Remember and Give (RAG), UCT’s student-run fund-raising organisation and development agency. RAG chairperson Jesse Twum-Boafo, said that “SAX Appeal is our largest project. It makes more than 50% of the income that we make for SHAWCO.”
The areas where the students are dropped include communities close to the university, as well as surrounding areas, from Camps Bay to Milnerton. According to Max Price, UCT’s Vice-Chancellor, SAX Appeal gives the first-years “a unique experience of street life in the mother city.”
The freshers are encouraged to dress up according to a chosen theme. This year they came dressed to the theme “Bringing SAXxy back.” The SAX Appeal Facebook page encouraged them to rewind to the bright colours of the ‘70s and ‘80s and to “get inspired by Eric Prydz’s music video, ‘Call On Me’. ”
While most of the girls were kitted-out in lacy tights, low-cut tops, short skirts and underwear over their clothing, the boys showed a lot of leg and torso – many of them just in their boxers or luminous leggings. A past UCT student, Mike Browne, stated, “[I] was very impressed with the energy and vibes at 6.30am.”
Last year two sellers were hit by cars in two different areas while standing at intersections; there were no such incidents this year.
A first-year girl selling magazines in Camps Bay was given R100 by a driver who did not accept a copy of the magazine. Another first-year girl in the Claremont area was asked by a passer-by if she was “a real prostitute.”
Vickey Floyd, the Project Manager of the SAX Appeal this year, said that they had expected roughly 1 500 sellers, but their preliminary numbers show that they had well over 2 000 sellers participating on the day. She also stated that, after a few hitches with the buses were resolved in the early morning, the day was able to carry on smoothly.