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24 January 2019 | Story Zama Feni | Photo Barend Nagel
Prof Matlabisa
Prof Motlalepula Matlabisa of the Department of Pharmacology.
Two South African government departments have granted the University of the Free State’s Department of Pharmacology a combined amount of R15 million for the establishment of four tea farms in the disadvantaged communities in the North West and Eastern Cape Communities.

The head of the project Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa at the Department of Pharmacology said that that Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has granted an amount of R10 million for the community research in the respective provinces.

This grant is a top up to the R5 million they received from the Department of Science and Technology for the “community implementation on indigenous health infusions or teas as commonly known.”

The DEA will in the near future sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the university.


Tea project set to empower communities


“The project is to implement and build structures in the four communities we work with in the North West and Eastern Cape,” he said.

The identified areas for the project are in the Eastern Cape towns of Alice and Idutywa as well another two North West communities in Zeerust.

Prof Matsabisa indicated that the project will be a manifestation of “how science can contribute to economic growth, poverty alleviation and job creation.” 

“It was very interesting to have discovered that some French and German companies have already displayed interest in the projects,” he said.

He stated that a project of this nature is a good initiative by the UFS and it will also show that the university’s research activities are national. “We have been researching and developing indigenous teas which have now attracted interest locally and internationally by huge companies such as Nestle, Tiger Brands, Moringa World etc,” he said. 


Taking it slowly


At the initial stages of the tea farming project, Prof Matsabisa said they would start in small portions of utilising five hectares in each of the four projects and as the project gains momentum, they would expand.

Prof Matlabisa said that an environmental impact assessment has already been conducted and they were waiting for the DEA to give them a go ahead for the land preparations.



News Archive

UFS management praise dean for achievement
2004-08-17

 

 

Prof Letticia Moja was praised by Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), and other members of management today for winning the education category of this year’s Shoprite Checkers/SABC2 Woman of the Year Award.

“We are extremely proud of Prof Moja with this prestigious achievement. It is also a feather in the cap for the UFS that our leaders are being recognised on a national level,” said Prof Fourie.

Prof Moja was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the end of last year, becoming the first woman to be appointed in this position at any medical faculty in the country.

“Prof Moja was nominated by her colleagues at the faculty. It is heart-warming to me that she made such an impact in the faculty in the short period since she was appointed as dean to be nominated for this prestigious award,” said Prof Fourie.

“On the nomination form, her colleagues wrote: ‘Prof Moja is not only a remarkable woman, but also a person with gifted qualities of leadership, dedication and compassion. She is blessed with the ability to listen to others, is an extremely reliable person and a competent leader’ – this makes her, in my view, a true winner”, said Prof Fourie.

Prof Moja was recently chosen as vice-president of the Health Professions Council and also serves on the Medical and Dental Board. Her involvement in these councils and committees enables her to represent women in general, as well as previous minority groups.

Prof Moja headed the Gynaecologic Oncology Unit at the Ga-Rankuwa Hospital in Pretoria from 1997 to February 2002, where after she was appointed as Vice-Dean at the UFS’s Faculty of Health Sciences and at the end of 2003 she was appointed in her current position. During her career, she has attended four international and eight local congresses, presented eight oral papers and four posters, was an author to one publication, co-authored four publications, was a guest editor to one publication and supervised three postgraduate publications.

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

 

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