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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

UFS takes further steps to address load shedding
2015-02-24

The South African economy is experiencing its worst electricity crisis since 2008, with state power firm Eskom implementing load shedding as it struggles to meet growing demand for power.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has been planning and implementing projects to reduce the impact of load shedding since 2008. This was done primarily to ensure that the academic programme does not suffer as a result of the increasing cuts in power supply, which continued this year.

The university’s main concern is the supply of emergency power to lecture halls and laboratories.

Up to date, 35 generators are serving 55 buildings on the three campuses of the UFS. This includes 26 generators on the Bloemfontein Campus, eight on the Qwaqwa Campus in the Eastern Free State and one generator on the South Campus in Bloemfontein. The generators are serviced regularly and kept in a working condition.

Since 2010, the university has also ensured that all new academic buildings being built were equipped with emergency power.

On the South Campus in Bloemfontein the new lecture hall building and the Computer Laboratory are equipped with emergency power, while the installation of emergency power generators in other buildings is underway. Most of the buildings on the Qwaqwa Campus in the Eastern Free State are provided with emergency power.

“To expand on the work that have already been done, the main objective in the installation of more generators on the Bloemfontein Campus will be to ensure that lecture halls with emergency power are available on the centrally booked timetables and that more of the critical laboratories are equipped with emergency power,” said Mr Nico Janse van Rensburg, Senior Director: University Estates.

“There are still some critical buildings and venues on the Bloemfontein Campus that must be equipped with emergency power. However, this is a costly process and will have to be phased in over a period of time. The further implementation of emergency power is dependent on delivery times of equipment. The university is also looking into alternative power supply solutions, such as solar power,” he said.

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