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UFSAfricaWeek - Focus on Dr Tariro Kamuti
Dr Tariro Kamuti, postdoctoral fellow in Africa Studies.
“Africa is a continent endowed with vast natural resources and the ways through which these resources are governed for the development of the continent and the upliftment of its people are critical.” These are the words of Dr Tariro Kamuti a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of the Free State. 

Believer of advancing Africa and African scholarship
Dr Kamuti said it was important to celebrate Africa Week because “as a continent, we have come a long way through so much sacrifice to be where we are today”. 

He said Africans needed to celebrate their achievements attained so far by remembering where they had come from while embracing change and focusing on the future with hope. 

“Pausing to reflect on the issues facing the continent in order to chart the way forward through celebrating African Week is a good thing to do,” he said.

Dr Kamuti supports the notion of growing African scholarship on the continent to “to turn the tide and reflect on what really transpires”. 
“It is incumbent upon us to own and tell the African story,” he said.

Personal experience attributed to interest in Africa Studies
Dr Kamuti’s experiences and roots as a child of peasant farmers shaped his world view and drove his passion towards a career in Africa Studies as a scholar and researcher.

“My research work seeks to offer a fresh perspective on the policy processes surrounding the governance of the private wildlife ranching sector in South Africa,” he said. “It is an interesting research angle when considering the role of wildlife ranching in shaping the agricultural and environmental policies and land-use patterns in a situation where the land question itself is highly contested from various perspectives.

“Issues relating to wildlife ranching can be used as a lens to analyse challenges facing democratic South Africa,” Dr Kamuti said.

News Archive

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative
2006-05-10

At the conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue were from the left Dr Aldo Stroebel (senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate), Dr Edith Vries (acting Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Development Trust) and Prof Frans Swanepoel (Director: UFS Research Development Directorate).

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative

Two staff members of the University of the Free State (UFS) have been appointed as members of the advisory board of the national programme for the creation of small enterprises and jobs in the second economy.  This programme forms part of government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGI-SA).

Prof Frans Swanepoel, Director of the UFS Research Development Directorate and Dr Aldo Stroebel, senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate, are working with a team of experts from the UFS on a draft implementation strategy for the national programme.  Both Prof Swanepoel and Dr Stroebel are also associated to the UFS Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
 
“The strategy is being developed in collaboration with institutions like the Independent Development Trust, the Department of Agriculture, the National Development Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry,” says Prof  Swanepoel.  

The other team members of the UFS are Prof Basie Wessels, Director of the  Mangaung-University Community Partnership Programme (MUCPP) and Mr  Benedict Mokoena, project manager at the MUCPP.

Dr Stroebel was also member of the organising committee of a conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue that was recently presented in Johannesburg.  The conference was attended by more than 400 delegates from government departments, higher-education institutions and civil society, including Dr Kobus Laubscher, member of the UFS Council.

The conference was facilitated by Ms Vuyo Mahlati, previously from the WK Kellogg Foundation’s Africa programme and opened by Ms Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs.   

“The colloquium formed the basis of an induction workshop during which a group of 150 individuals (50 teams of three) from all nine provinces, identified to initiate the implementation of the national programme, was trained and orientated towards an induction manual in collaboration with Hand-in-Hand, an Indian counterpart,” says Prof Swanepoel.

Dr Stroebel and Mr Benedict Mokoena formed part of the team to conceptualise and finalise this training manual.  The induction training includes a case study of a successful community self-help partnership model, namely the MUCPP at the UFS. Prof Wessels and Mr Mokoena are both playing a leading role in the further development of subsequent training initiatives throughout South Africa, in partnership with the relevant provincial departments.

“The involvement of the UFS in the programme is a compliment to us.  It reflects the value government sees in the use of academics and experts in the management of the ASGI-SA initiative.  It is also an indication of one of the aims of the UFS to play a role in South Africa and Africa and in the transformation and change that is taking place in our country,” says Prof Swanepoel.  

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

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