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20 July 2018 Photo iStock
Speaking about the politics of land reform at UFS Thought-Leader Series on 26 July 2018
The road to land reform is paved with politics which are to be analysed by South African political parties at the fourth panel discussion in the UFS Thought-Leader Series on 26 July 2018.

Representatives of South African political parties are expected to descend upon the University of the Free State (UFS) to field conversations and shed light on the politics of land reform. As part of the UFS inaugural Thought-Leader Series, the fourth panel discussion is due to take place at the Bloemfontein Campus on 26 July 2018.

Standpoints by the African National Congress (ANC), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Democratic Alliance (DA), Freedom Front Plus (FF+), and the Congress of the People (COPE) are expected to be shared by the panellists. Lynette Francis, presenter and producer of the daily news and actuality talk show Praat Saam on Radio Sonder Grense (RSG) and anchor of Fokus on SABC 2, will facilitate the discussions.

Representing the DA will be Annette Steyn, who serves as the party’s shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Wouter Wessels, a member of the National Assembly and former office-bearer in the Free State Provincial Legislature, will share the FF+ stance on land reform. Also among the representatives will be Jeremy Cronin, Deputy Minister of Public Works in the ANC, former Deputy General Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), and former lecturer at the University of Cape Town as well as Mosiuoa Lekota, President and Leader of the Congress of the People (COPE).

Intersections between land and governance
At the dawn of the democratic dispensation in 1994, the ANC developed a programme for land reform to settle the disparity resulting from the Land Act of 1913. Earlier this year, the ANC and the EFF made a joint call for land expropriation without compensation in Parliament. Since then, the land reform question has been on the forefront of national discourse.

An ad hoc Constitutional Review Committee, comprising different political parties, was subsequently established to carry out the duty of amending Section 25 and other clauses to make it possible for the state to expropriate land in the public interest without compensation. The committee was tasked with collecting recommendations on the issue from ordinary South Africans, policy-makers, civil society organisations, and academics, while adhering to a 30 August 2018 deadline.

In light of these current affairs, the university officially launched its inaugural Thought-Leader Series focusing on land reform on 12 July 2018, where three panels of industry role players and scholars from across the country exchanged views on human rights, organised agriculture, and food security within the land context.

The programme will commence as follows:

Date: Thursday 26 July 2018
Time: 09:30
Venue: Odeion Theatre, Bloemfontein Campus

For a recording of the 12 July 2018 inaugural UFS Thought-Leader Series, visit the UFS Livestream YouTube channel.

Related article:
Robust reform rhetoric shared at the inaugural UFS Thought-Leader Series (July 2018)

News Archive

Spring graduation ceremony
2006-09-15

A three-year old boy from Welkom, Kearabetswe Mokoena, stole the show at the spring graduation ceremony of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein. He was dressed in an exact replica of the academic outfit worn by his father, Mr Ketseletso Mokoena, who obtained his LLB degree from the UFS. The outfit was made by Kearabetswe’s mother Mrs Ennie Mokoena. From the left are Mr Mokoena, his son Kearabetswe, and Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.
Photo:  Lacea Loader

 

Prof Mos Thulare (acting Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Technology) obtained his LL.B. degree during the spring graduation ceremony of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.  On the photo, he is congratulated by Prof Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS).
Photo:  Stephen Collett

 

Altogether five master's degrees in Physics were awarded during the University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony in Bloemfontein.  It is the biggest group of master's degrees in the history of the UFS Department of Physics awarded during a graduation ceremony.  From the left are:  Richard Harris, Puleng Ramoshebi, Prof Hendrik Swart (Head of the UFS Department of Physics), Lisa Coetsee and Etienne Wurth.  One of the students, Gerhard Olivier, was absent when the photo was taken.
Photo: Lacea Loader
 

Altogether 29 doctorates were awarded during the University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony in Bloemfontein.  Some of the doctorandi are from the left:  Drs Nicholas Mtshali (Chemistry),  Candice Jansen van Rensburg (Zoology), Ina Claassens (Physics),  Martin Ntwaeaborwa (Physics) and Vicki Tolmay (Plant Breeding).
Photo:  Lacea Loader
 

A great number of students from Africa were among the 29 students who received their doctorates during the University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony in Bloemfontein.  From the left are:   Drs Amaha Kassahun (Grassland Science) and Tolessa Debele (Soil Science), both are from Ethiopia.
 

A number of doctorates were awarded to students across the world during the University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony held in Bloemfontein.  From the left are:  Drs Eli Kohn (from  Israel who received a doctorate in Near Eastern Studies), Prof Philip Nel (UFS Department of Afro-asiatic.  Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice), Prof Annette Wilkinson (Centre for Higher Education Studies and Development at the UFS) and Dr Padmanabhan Nair (from India who received a doctorate in Higher Education Studies).  Prof Nel was Dr Kohn's co-promoter and Prof Wilkinson was Dr Nair's promoter.
Photo:  Stephen Collett

 

 

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