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A decision regarding the possible covering of the MT Steyn statue in front of the Main Building on the Bloemfontein Campus has not been taken yet.
The opportunity for stakeholders to submit oral and written submissions on whether they agree or disagree with the covering of the MT Steyn statue in front of the Main Building on the Bloemfontein Campus until the formal review process on the position of the statue has been concluded, ended on Wednesday 11 April 2018, with 71 written and three oral submissions received by the special task team.
The submissions will be included in a submission to the Free State Provincial Heritage Resources Authority (FSHRA) in order to obtain a permit for the possible covering of the statue. An independent analysis of the submissions is currently underway.
The special task team would like to thank those who submitted oral and written submissions. The university community will be updated on the outcome of the decision by the FDHRA regarding the possible covering of the statue, as well as the results of the independent analysis.
Related articles:
Call for submissions for covering of the MT Steyn statue: Deadline extended to 11 April 2018 (Published on 9 April 2018)
Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393
Africa still yearns for democracy says academic
2009-05-26
Leading academic Prof Achille Mbembe (pictured), says that in spite of substantial changes the African continent is still yearning for democracy.
Prof Mbembe was delivering a lecture commemorating Africa Day at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.
He said many Africans feel that democracy and the law, including the paramount law – the constitution itself - have betrayed them.
“Many have a feeling that they have not yet lived fully or fulfilled their lives, that they might not or might never fulfill their lives.”
Prof Mbembe, who originates from Cameroon and has been living in South Africa for nine years , said that what struck him about this country in this democratic era was that many people are still yearning for a return to the past.
He said many black South Africans know that the advent of democracy has not provided them with the kind of life they hoped for.
“If anything, democracy has rendered life even more complex than before,” he said.
“South Africa is still a nation where too many black people possess almost nothing.
“Real freedom means freedom from race,” he said. “The kind of freedom that South Africa is likely to enjoy because this nation will have built a society, a culture and a civilization in which the colour of one’s skin will be superfluous in the overall calculus of dignity, opportunity, rights and obligations,” Prof Mbembe said.
“This freedom will originate, purely and simply, from our being human.”
Prof Mbembe is currently a Research Professor in History and Politics at the University of the Witwatersrand in the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. He has written extensively on African history and politics.
Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za
26 May 2009