Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
04 September 2018
Photo Thabo Kessah
Industrial Psychology Head of Department and lecturer, Thinus Delport; final-year BAdmin student, Nandi Radebe; and Jacobus Nel during the SABPP event on the Qwaqwa Campus.
The South African Board for People Practices (SABPP) recently visited the University of the Free State’s Qwaqwa Campus to welcome new members to its Student Chapter. Over 100 Industrial Psychology students were issued with certificates of registration and membership.
Talking during the ceremony, the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Jacobus Nel, congratulated all the students and the newly-elected executive committee on campus.
“You have taken the right step in advancing yourselves in the profession you are studying for, and we are pleased to see that you recognise that your future is in your own hands. Your future is not in the hands of the university, nor is it in the hands of the SABPP,” he said.
The SABPP was represented by the Chief Operations Officer, Xolani Mawande, who advised the new members and students in general to keep doing their best, even when conditions do not permit.
“The Human Resources profession wants individuals who do not just give up because there are challenges. Challenges will always be there, especially in a workplace. Being a member will expose you to other HR professionals as well as give you the opportunity to network with other students,” he added.
Mawande also announced that the new Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Qwaqwa Campus SABPP Student Chapter would be attending a national convention in Johannesburg that was scheduled for 30-31 August 2018.
Zama-geza Goba, a final-year BAdmin student, was elected as the Chairperson while Musawenkosi Mazibuko, a BA Industrial Psychology student, was elected as her deputy.
Suspension of the South African Doping Control Laboratory (SADoCoL) by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
2016-05-04
The senior leadership of the UFS and the management of the South African Doping Control Laboratory (SADoCoL) take note of the decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to suspend the laboratory’s accreditation to perform doping control analysis on biological samples of athletes and sportsmen and -women until 30 September 2016. During this time of suspension, all sport-related samples will be sent for analysis to the WADA accredited laboratory in Qatar until the accreditation of SADoCoL is re-established. Analysis according to WADA accreditation will therefore not be interrupted during the period of the suspension of the accreditation of SADoCoL.
The announcement by WADA on 3 May 2016 follows a voluntary decision by SADoCoL in March 2016 to temporarily close the laboratory for some of its routine analytical duties for six months, as from 1 April 2016. The decision was taken in consultation with the senior leadership of the UFS and other role players, especially the Department of Sport and Recreation of South Africa (SRSA) and the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS). SADoCoL is a specialised service laboratory of the University of the Free State (UFS) and has been in existence for more than thirty years.
Due to the ever-increasing demands on the number, variety and analytical sensitivity of compounds to be analysed according to the Prohibited List of WADA, technical and infrastructure adaptations need to be implemented in the laboratory continuously to keep up with the demands. Over the last year, SADoCoL has drastically increased its capacity in both personnel and infrastructure, to a point where these changes can be implemented for optimal performance of the laboratory. This has to be done while normal routine analysis continues, and it became clear that at present, implementation cannot be successfully accomplished together with the workload from normal routine analyses.
The time of suspension will be utilised to implement and test these new systems in order to achieve the standard presently required by WADA, as well as to perform development and improvements. This development will be performed in close collaboration with other role players in the anti-doping movement in South Africa, such as SAIDS and SRSA. Scientific development aid will also be acquired from other doping control laboratories worldwide in order to assure that the high analytical quality is maintained and expanded to meet the fast growing challenges in this field. The progress of the process will be closely monitored, and the upgraded methodologies will then, after rigorous testing, be implemented to ensure that the required analytical quality is maintained so as to obtain re-accreditation by WADA at the conclusion of the suspension period.
Issued by: Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27(0)51 401 2584 or +27 (0) 83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 (0) 51 444 6393