SEMESTER 01

ASSIGNMENT 01

NB: THIS ASSIGNMENT CONTAINS ONE MANDATORY QUESTION

Submit this assignment only if you are registered for Semester 1 in 2024. This assignment should
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Check that you have uploaded the correct file containing your specific assignment.
The plagiarism form, available on the last page of this tutorial letter, should accompany this
assignment.
The due date for this assignment will be made available to you on the myUnisa landing page
for this module.

WRITING SKILLS IN WORKPLACE CORRESPONDENCE

Please read the following guidelines before attempting to answer this assignment:

The purpose of this question is to assess your ability to record minutes of a meeting accurately and
objectively, using formal language. This requires you to do the necessary preparatory reading so
that you can answer the question adequately.

Work through Unit 2 in the Study Guide and Learning Unit 2 in the workbook before attempting to
answer this question

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QUESTION 1: MINUTES OF A MEETING

BACKGROUND
Mr Dube is the chairperson of the Student Support Committee at Malusi University. The Student
Support Office together with the Student Representative Council (SRC) members have decided to
engage the student body as well as do community work with local schools affected by drug abuse.
Mr Dube called a meeting with the Student Support Officials and members of the SRC to discuss
drug abuse issues at the university and how they could reach out to help students from neighbouring
schools who experience drug abuse problems.

INSTRUCTIONS

Below is a transcript (exact words written down) of what was said under item agenda of this meeting
presented in the form of a dialogue. As the secretary for the Student Support Office at Malusi
university, it is your duty to take minutes during meetings. Malusi University is overwhelmed by drug
abuse problems which affect student performance and enhances high dropout rate. At this point, the
meeting is discussing Agenda Item 3.5: Drug abuse issues and student support. This means that
the complete format for minutes is not required. Remember that in taking minutes, we carefully
select and summarise information, and make changes to style and grammar. Note that you should
not record what each person said in turn. You should use the linear format of minutes (in sentences
and paragraphs). Your answer should not exceed ONE page in length.

TRANSCRIPT

Mr Dube (Chair): Colleagues and dear students, drug addiction is rife here at out university and
our communities. Most of our students perform bad or even drop out from the
university due to this addiction. Our neighbouring schools are also experiencing
gangsterism, poor performance and even high rates of student drop out, and
that is directly or indirectly emanating from drug abuse. As an institution, we
have a duty to intervene and assist students as much as we can. We are also
expected to stretch a helping hand to our neighbouring schools and assist
wherever we can. Our agenda item now colleagues is therefore 3.5: Drug
abuse issues and student support. But before we go any further with these
issues, the committee has invited Ms Botha, an owner of a drug rehabilitation
centre closed by, to just give us an idea about the impact of drug abuse and how
the centre assists. Let us allow Ms Botha to share information with us.

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Ms Botha: Thanks very much, Chair. I am a former drug addict who has opened my home
and heart to poor people battling with substance abuse locally. I have turned my
three-bedroom house into a rehabilitation centre for addicts who want to start
afresh but cannot afford to pay for their recovery. Botha Recovery Centre hosts
patients aged between 13 to 68 years for free. We help people who are heavy
alcoholics or addicts of crack cocaine, “whoonga” or “dagga” and “nyaope.” Most
of the patients are unemployed, some live on the streets doing drugs before
getting help from the centre, and many have confessed to stealing from their
families and house breaking to feed their addiction. The centre provides a free
14 or 21-day stay for addicts but in extreme cases treatment can be prolonged.
They are helped by volunteers who are recovering addicts. The centre has
doctors and social workers who work without charge.

Mr Dube: Thank you so much Ms Botha for sharing with us the contribution of your centre
in assisting our community. Very few people can avail their premises for free
especially in assisting patients with possibilities of stealing from them.

Ms Oriel: Chair! As the SRC, we also have friends from the university who are addicts or
recovered addicts who shared their stories with us. For instance, one friend said
that she was introduced to “whoonga” by a friend last year and that she would
do things such as stealing from her mother and grandmother to get money to
buy the drug. The other one was chased from home to live in the streets because
of her addition. She tried to quit but that did not last. She was referred to the
Botha Recovery centre by her cousin and she never looked back. Chair, there
are many students who are struggling with this addiction and the question is, how
can we assist as the university and the student body?

Mr Dube: In our discussion as the Student Support Office, we thought that it would be
advisable for now to work with and support the already established rehabilitation
centre and therefore engage with the SRC on the following: awareness
campaigns at the university and neighbouring schools about Botha Recovery
Centre, volunteering at the centre and duties to perform, and fundraising for the
centre.

Ms Moot: Colleagues and students, as the Student Support Department, we have agreed
that we need to come up with ways to make our students aware that there is a

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centre closed by to assist them. One way of doing that is to hold seminars on
drug abuse where recovered addicts can share their experiences with the
students. The Department of Social Work can also be invited to such seminars
to share information about how they intervene and assist affected students and
their families. Colleagues from the Health Science Department can also share
information with the student body about how drug addiction destroys them
physically and mentally. All we are saying is, as the university, we are prepared
to engage with all the relevant departments to assist as much as we possibly
can.

Ms Cele: As the SRC, we suggest that we hold at least one such seminar per term. We
will include the seminars in our annual itinerary for all the students to be aware
of. We will remind the student body about each seminar in our mass meetings
and encourage them to attend. As a way of increasing student awareness, we
will also encourage former students and even those who are still registered with
the university and recovered from addiction to participate in the seminars and
share their stories.

Mr May: Well, in support of suggestions made by Ms Cele, we as the SRC are prepared
to engage with SRC members at our neighbouring high schools to share ideas
about this terrible drug addiction. We will urge university drug addict survivors to
address high school students, share their experiences with them, and
encourage those with a problem to voluntarily go to the centre for help. We will
also ask school principals to allow us to address parents and make them aware
of the centre and the support we are offering to the affected students.

Ms Kubai: We are even prepared to volunteer at the centre as students during long
weekends and holidays to assist with patient admissions, cleaning, cooking,
laundry, and even helping in the vegetable garden to grow vegetables to feed
the patients.

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Mr Dube: Colleagues and dear students, it looks like we are all in agreement that we will
utilize Botha Recovery Centre to assist and support university and high school
students with drug addiction problems. I am more excited about how our
students really want to be hands on with awareness programmes and
assistance at the centre. However, you are all aware that the centre is not big
enough to accommodate more patients. So, we need to think about fundraising
activities which could assist in building a bigger facility which can continue to
provide this vital service to our community. I therefore suggest that we all go
and think about how we can raise funds to support the centre and share our
ideas in our next meeting. I think we have exhausted this issue. Are there any
objections to this initiative?

All: No!
Mr Dube: Thank you very much colleagues and students. I am looking forward to a
fruitful meeting scheduled for next month.

TOTAL:100 MARK

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