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29 May 2018 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Charl Devenish
Africa Day Memorial Lecture explores future of statues
From the left are: Dr Stephanie Cawood, Acting Director of the CGAS; Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities; Prof Prakash Naidoo, Vice-Rector: Operations; and Dr Rahul Rao.
Read Lectures here

Drawing from different international perspectives on the topic of historical statues, the importance of debate surrounding the future of these symbols resounded at the 10th Annual Africa Day Memorial Lecture. 

The lecture was hosted on 23 May 2018 by the newly renamed Centre for Gender and Africa Studies and was presented by Dr Rahul Rao from the SOAS University of London, where he is a senior lecturer in Politics. 

“I am very excited about my trip to South Africa and to be here among you. This is my first trip to South Africa, and it is very exciting and also a little bit emotional for me, particularly because I got my first passport in 1984 when I was six years old, and it said – valid for travel to all countries except the Republic of South Africa. You know why that was the case.”

“I salute all of you for the transformation that has been affected in this country, and I think Africa Day is the perfect occasion to celebrate the transformation.”  

Student activism through #MustFall movements
“I first heard in March 2015 that students from the University of Cape Town have begun demonstrating to take down the statue of Cecil John Rhodes and have it removed from their campus, and a bit later, students from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom followed suit. At first, I felt some guilt having been a Rhodes Scholar from 2001 to 2004, because you must embody the values of Cecil John Rhodes,” Dr Rao said.

“I have watched from afar the events that have taken place here, for example, the #RhodesMustFall Movement, and the reverberation of these events in other places; I mean, the way these events travel,” he said.

Students in Cape Town, Oxford, and Bloemfontein are doing something concrete and collective to dismantle the legacy of colonialism and Apartheid. “I feel connected to these events, even if I am far away.”

International perspective on historical statues
In both SA and the UK, the call for iconography decolonisation was accompanied and soon overtaken by different accounts. It also gives a broader and different perspective on how statues can be used to achieve racial or social dominance. 

One of the many examples he used, was the ambush against Confederate Statues in the American South. These statues are symbols of upholding a white supremacist ideology in the South. The Confederate States of America was the predecessor to the current United States of America.

He also spoke about the temporalities of statues, the decolonisation and recolonisation, as well as the aesthetics of statues, among other things. “Statues don't need permission to thrust itself upon us. They demand attention,” Dr Rao said. This is because statues are placed in the centre of public spaces but are also vulnerable and exposed. 

He left the audience with some questions on what to do with statues that are taken down, and who to erect new statues for.

News Archive

Four modernised controlled environment cabinets inaugurated
2006-07-27

Photographed in a controlled environment cabinet were at the back from the left:  Mr Adriaan Hugo (head of the UFS Electronics and Mechanisation Division), Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS) and Prof Koos Terblans (lecturer at the UFS Department of Physics).  In front is Mr Koos Uys (engineering consultant from Experto Designa who helped with the cooling systems of the cabinets).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

Different look for research in controlled circumstances at the UFS  

Research in controlled circumstances at the University of the Free State (UFS) turned a new page today with the inauguration of four modernised controlled environment cabinets of the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences.

“The controlled environment cabinets, which are situated next to the glass houses on the eastern side of the Agriculture Building on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein, were installed in the early 1980’s.  The cabinets, used for research purposes in controlled circumstances by the UFS for many years, became dysfunctional and needed to be repaired and put into use again,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS.

“The cabinets are used by the agronomics, horticulture and soil science divisions of the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences to control factors such as the temperature, the intensity and quality of light, synthesis and humidity.  This is done 24 hours a day, with hourly intervals,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

The cabinets are ideally suited to determine the joint and separate effects of these factors on the growth of plants.  The adaptability of plants to climate can also be investigated under controlled circumstances.  All of this leads to a better understanding of the growth and development process of plants, more specifically that of agricultural crops. 

“The effect of these environmental factors on the effectiveness of insect killers such as fungus killers, insecticide and weed killers can also be investigated and can help to explain the damage that is sometimes experienced, or even prevent the damage if the research is timeously,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

A new cabinet can cost between R2-3 million, depending on the degree of sophistication.  “Although controlled environment cabinets have been used for agricultural research for a long time, it has become costly to maintain them     and even more impossible to purchase new ones,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

According to Prof Van Schalkwyk the cabinets were re-built by die UFS Electronics and Mechanisation Division.  Some of the mechanisms were also replaced and computerised.   

“The re-building and mechanisation of the cabinets were funded by the faculty and because the work was done by our own staff, an amount of about R1 million was saved.  The maintenance costs will now be lower as the cabinets are specifically tailor made for our research needs,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

Where all monitoring was done manually in the past, the cabinets can now be controlled with a computer.  This programme was designed by Prof Koos Terblans from the UFS Department of Physics. 

According to Prof Van Schalkwyk the modernisation of the cabinets is part of the faculty’s larger strategy to get its instruments and apparatus up to world standards.  “With this project we have proved that we can find a solution for a problem ourselves and that there are ways to get old apparatus functional again,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
26 July 2006

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