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05 February 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Moeketsi Mokgotsi
KovsieAct Eco Cars Read More
Kovsies weld their way to a sustainable environment

The 2019 group of first-year students can look forward to a fun and adventure-filled first two weeks (28 January–9 February) of varsity life, as a number of projects and activities await them.

Kovsie ACT’s main theme for 2019 revolves around building ‘awareness’. This includes a tree-and-traffic-signs project which entails old T-shirts/material being sewn/crocheted together to make different patterns to be fitted around the trees on campus in order to create a beautiful piece of art portraying a message of ‘awareness’.

A canvas painting will also form part of the events, as first-years – with the help of their seniors – will be required to put together a painting that addresses environmental, crime, gender-based, and other societal issues that will later be placed on the wall at the Thakaneng Bridge.

On the morning of 9 February 2019, seniors will tackle the community-engagement leg of the Kovsie ACT line-up, working in their respective teams to decorate an eco-vehicle from waste materials. Each team has their own Pit stop – decorated in F1 style. This eco-vehicle race will take place on Saturday morning from 09:00 – 12:00 in Academia road (in front of Emily Hobhouse Residence).  In addition, art sculptures will be built to form part of the Eco-vehicle race. These art pieces - if approved – will after the Eco-vehicle challenge be assigned a spot on campus where it can spread the message of awareness and be appreciated by fellow students.

The abovementioned projects are expected to withstand adverse weather conditions and last for a minimum of six months.

To close off the Kovsie ACT activities, students and the public can see forward to exciting performances during the Kovsie ACT music festival on the evening of 9 February. This will include musical sensations such as the likes of Sho Madjozi, Bittereinder, Busiswa, and many more.

Tickets for the festival are available at the UFS Bloemfontein Campus Rag Farm and the Food Zone store. For more information on Kovsie ACT, visit https://www.ufs.ac.za/rag or contact Esmé Wessels at WesselsE@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

"Participation without insight leads to pronouncements without prospects"
2004-08-30

Taking the poor off the streets and encouraging their participation in the planning process is not always empowering them but it might be robbing them of their power, said Prof Das Steyn, of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Speaking on public participation in the planning process during his inaugural lecture, Prof Steyn said this meant that people in the streets sometimes have more power than people in the system.

“Public participation is an overgeneralization that is often defined as providing citizens with opportunities to take part in governmental decisions and planning processes. But there must be a balance between power and responsibility,” he said.

According to Prof. Steyn, public participation in town planning plays a vital role and can be both deliberation and participation.

After 1994 there was a widespread insistence on democracy, and legislation passed since then was based on the belief that the community must be involved in the planning process.

He said the experience of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the UFS was that in some cases people showed lack of interest in public participation.

He believed that the aim of public participation is to improve the effectiveness of planning and that public participation democratises project planning.

“Public participation can help us know how the public feels about certain issues. It has the potential of resolving a conflict, but this is not guaranteed,” Prof Steyn said.

 

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