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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

Knific Duo from US lecture and perform at OSM
2017-05-12

Description: ' 000 Knific Duo Tags: Knific Duo

Profs Tom Knific and Renata Artman Knific from the Western
Michigan University School of Music are visiting the Odeion
School of Music at the University of the Free State.
Photo: Supplied

The renowned Knific Duo will not only perform at the University of the Free State (UFS) soon, but will also share their expertise at the Odeion School of Music (OSM). The duo, consisting of Profs Tom Knific and Renata Artman Knific, from the prestigious Western Michigan University School of Music, are presenting a masterclass series hosted by the OSM Concert Agency. The series takes place from 10-14 May 2017 and the concert on 16 May 2017.

Concert features local pianists

The first half of the concert on 16 May 2017 will present a programme leaning towards the classical genre. Apart from three works composed by Prof Knific, it will also include two movements from the Violin Sonata by the Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa. 
In the second half Prof Knific will collaborate with two local pianists, the legendary jazz pianist, composer and music educator, Noel Stockton, and the talented Andile Qongqo, and for a carefully curated jazz programme mainly from the oeuvre of Prof Knific. Random Dreams, a work composed by Stockton will also be included.

Well-known around the world

Prof Knific (double bass) is a Professor at the Department of Jazz at the Western Michigan University School of Music. He has been principal bassist of orchestras from the US to Europe and performed as a soloist and in chamber music festivals around the world. He also is a former president of the International Society of Bassists.

Prof Artman Knific (violin) is a professor of violin at the same institution. Her international career began in London at 21 when she joined the English Chamber Orchestra. Tours of Europe, North and South America and Asia followed where she collaborated with artists such as Herman Bauman and Isaac Stern. She has worked with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim and Christoph Eschenbach, and recorded records for EMI, Decca, and CBS labels.
 
Date: 16 May 2017
Time: 19:30
Place: Odeion (Bloemfontein Campus)

Musicians interested in masterclasses can contact Ninette Pretorius at  pretoriusn@ufs.ac.za

 

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