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22 February 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Politcal Sciene read more
From left; Prof Virgil Hawkins, Prof Jakkie Cilliers from the Institute for Security Studies, Prof Hussein Solomon, Prof Heidi Hudson, Prof Francis Petersen, and Prof Theo Neethling, head of the Department Political Studies and Governance.
If you attended the two-day workshop hosted by our Department of Political Sciences and Governance, you would understand how the South African higher education and political landscapes will be defined and transformed during this important election year.

Hosted for the ninth year in collaboration with the Osaka School for International Public Policy and the Southern African Center for Collaboration on Peace and Security Studies, the workshop brought together the cream of international and national political and security studies experts in the country. Prof Virgil Hawkins from the Osaka School for International Public Policy was the honorary guest.

Theme resonates with current issues
 
“The theme of the workshop ‘South Africa and Africa: Between Promise and Peril’ is fascinating. Between those is a sense of the in-betweens, the intermediate. This is basically where we found ourselves,” said Prof Heidi Hudson during her opening remarks at the worshop.  

Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, spoke about the future of South African universities. “#RhodesMustFall and the subsequent #FeesMustFall movements were a crossroads which determined the path of higher education,” Prof Petersen said. This intervention reshaped higher education. Coupled with that was the announcement of subsidised free higher education for the poor and working class.

Service delivery and national elections

Dr Sethulego Matebesi from the UFS reflected on service-delivery protests. “Looking at key trends of service delivery, I have identified eight key trends since the eruption of service delivery protests in 2004.” Some of these trends include; the frequency of protests, geographic distribution, violent nature, the government’s response to these protests and new emerging trends of schools being held as a bargaining power.

“In each election year there seems to be a high prevalence of service-delivery protests,” he said.

Roland Henwood from the University of Pretoria spoke about the importance of the upcoming May elections and whether they will change anything for the country. “We have to be realistic about the expectations that surround the elections,” he said. There will not be any significant changes. “It is projected that the ANC will again win with a 50% majority. The results of the local elections of 2016 should not be referenced as different issues were at play then,” he said.

The workshop took place on 11 and 12 February 2019 on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus. 

News Archive

New generation must take South Africa into the Promised Land
2012-07-23

 

Prof. Somadoda Fikeni talks about Reconciliation and Social Justice on Nelson Mandela Day.
Photo: Johan Roux
18 July 2012
 

Former President Nelson Mandela was part of the Moses generation that took people out of bondage. What the country now needs is the Joshua generation that will take it into the promise land.

This is according to political analyst and public commentator, Prof. Somadoda Fikeni. He was speaking to staff and students participating in the Global Leadership Summit, which took place on the Bloemfontein Campus from 8-20 July 2012. Prof. Fikeni took part in a panel discussion on Justice and Reconciliation. He and other panellists observed that there were still many challenges facing reconciliation in South Africa.

Referring to controversial statements made by Helen Zille, Julius Malema and Pieter Mulder, Prof. Fikeni said public discourse had become toxic and that the country was faced by a leadership crisis.

Ms Yasmin Sooka, a former Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights South Africa, asked if reconciliation had not come at the expense of redress. She said that to date there had been no restitution.

Ms Lihlumelo Toyana, a post-graduate student at the university, was also part of the panel. She told the audience that 18 years into democracy, there are still people waiting for justice. Toyana said young people hoped to see change and wondered if South Africans would ever sit down and have dialogue about the past. “We need closure; we need to take the country forward.”

The other panelists were lawyer, politician and former Human Rights Commissioner Prof. Leon Wessels; a professor from the University of Cape Town’s Law Faculty, Prof. Jaco Barnard-Naude; and psychologist, Prof. Alain Tschudin.
 

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