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03 July 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs
KovsiesCare - Clean Up Read More
Tsietsi Ngobese, through the Wesolve4x Cleaning My Planet Campaign, motivated citizens to collectively fill over 23 000 refuse bags to date.

The mission: To collectively fill 20 million refuse bags every Saturday with the help of 20 million people who are cleaning their own communities and our planet for an hour. The message: My planet, my responsibility.

The mission and message that the Wesolve4x Cleaning My Planet Campaign wants to convey, is based on a simple premise: Get community members to donate one hour of their time to cleaning duties every Saturday for the next 20 years until 2039. At the same time provide a continuous educational programme about waste management to the general public and to schools in order to empower them to take responsibility.

Address trash blindness


Tsietsi Ngobese, Chief Executive Officer of this initiative and BSc Actuarial Science graduate, says he understands the transformative power of education and the role it plays in transforming diverse communities. Through outreach programmes in our community and schools, we are slowly eliminating generational trash blindness. We also tackle some of the social determinants of health by encouraging healthy living conditions within our communities through good waste management and recycling. 

It is important for Tsietsi to add value to society. He believes that the Wesolve4x Generation will transform the world for the better through education and empowering all citizens.

The campaign – officially endorsed by Miss Earth South Africa, Catherine Constantinides – was launched on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus as well as the Abram Hlope Primary School in Katlehong on 4 May 2019.

“We want to promote the benefits of a clean and healthy environment for future generations,” said Tsietsi. 

Since their inception, the group has collectively filled over 23 000 refuse bags with the help of active citizens. 

Challenge accepted

When former lecturer, Jan Blomerus, once challenged his Actuarial students to protect the environment in order to decrease the mortality rate (from natural disasters because of the effect of climate change), Tsietsi accepted the challenge. “By inspiring excellence and transforming lives, the UFS plays an important role; I started to believe that I can address societal challenges in the communities I am an integral part of,” he said.

When Tsietsi saw trash piling up everywhere and children playing at illegal dumping sites, he became concerned about the health risk to society. He believes the dumping area is contaminating the air and water around the dumping site. 

“I had to be part of the solution to start cleaning up, and most importantly, educating myself and others to continuously take responsibility for our own waste and change our thinking about littering. This is a generational issue and needs a generational approach to unlearn all habits of littering,” Tsietsi pointed out. 

As part of his vision, Tsietsi plans to reduce the waste taken to landfill sites and to increase that which is taken directly from households to recycling plants. He also wants to encourage people to find creative ways of converting what has previously been wasted into something useful. “This action can encourage individuals to generate an income from waste,” he said.

Take action

Tsietsi invites all members of the Mangaung community to get involved in the project. This is your opportunity to make a difference on Mandela Day. You can;
provide sponsorship for educational content on effective waste management, economic opportunities, and health issues to the general public and to schools;
provide refuse bags, plastic gloves or hand-washing soap (used by community members in every clean-up session);
join in a collective effort to clean your community by meeting at designated schools or any designated community assembly point on a Saturday (contact 011 307 2005 or info@wesolve4x.com for more information).


News Archive

New student leaders for UFS
2013-08-29

 

Rudi Buys, Dean of Student Affairs (centre), with newly elected president of the Bloemfontein Campus SRC, Phiwe Mathe (left) and Matlogelwa Moema, president of the Qwaqwa Campus SRC.
Photo: Sonia Small
29 August 2013

  Photo Gallery
2013/14 Student Representative Councils: YouTube video

Phiwe Mathe and Matlogelwa Moema, both third year students, have been elected as presidents of the 2013/14 Student Representative Councils (SRC) of the University of the Free State’s Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses respectively. They now also serve as the presidency of the Central SRC and will take up their seats as voting members of the UFS council in September 2013. Thirty-eight candidates contested the 19 elective seats of the campus SRCs, for which 83 nominations were received.

Rudi Buys, Dean of Student Affairs, announced the completion of the elections at the two campuses as successful.Buys deemed the elections highly significant, considering it is the third year of peaceful elections since students adopted changes in student governance in 2011. These changes included, among others, the introduction of independent candidacy for elective portfolios and organisational candidacy in SRC sub-councils that hold ex-officio seats on the campus SRC. Changes also included the establishment of student representative seats in faculty forums and the adoption of reviewed SRC constitutions, Buys said.

The SRC elections at the Qwaqwa Campus were completed on 23 August 2013, while the elections at the Bloemfontein Campus took place on 26 and 27 August 2013. Elections at the Qwaqwa Campus showed a voter turnout of 44% and at the Bloemfontein Campus a turnout of 31.5%, which is among the highest in the country.

Both campuses reached the required quorums and the campus elections bodies, the IEA (Bloemfontein Campus) and IEC (Qwaqwa Campus), declared the elections free and fair and announced the results as a true reflection of the will of the student bodies at the campuses.

This year also saw the piloting of a central SRC elections oversight committee (CEC) to strengthen independent oversight of all elections. The CEC monitors the elections as free, fair and democratic and consists of senior academics and former student leaders of the Student Elders Council. Prof Loot Pretorius, inaugural chair of the CEC, announced the CECs confirmation of the SRC elections across campuses as free, fair and democratic.

Celebrations marked a mass meeting on the Bloemfontein Campus where the new student leaders were announced on Thursday 29 August 2013. There were cheers and singing as Quintin Koetaan, Head of the Bloemfontein IEA, on behalf of the two elections bodies, read the names of the newly-elected student leaders of both campuses. Delivering his victory speech, Phiwe thanked competitors for running a good debate, saying it was not about characters or personalities, but rather the ideas that would best serve a Kovsie. “Students will remain central and the ‘R’ is back in SRC,” he told the resounding crowd. Matlogelwa reiterated this message and said, "the SRC is for students and will serve all students equally."

Following on the heels of the SRC elections, voting for residence committees will take place next week with 618 candidates contesting 231 available positions. The elections of association executive committees will also take place in September.

The new SRC members of the Bloemfontein Campus are:

President: Phiwe Mathe
Vice-President: Tshepo Moloi
Secretary: Masiteng Paul Matlanyane
Treasurer: Willem du Plooy
Arts andCulture:Hlonipa Matshamba
Accessibility and Student Support:Anastasia Sehlabo
First Generation Students: Nthabiseng Malete
Legal and Constitutional Affairs: Mosa Leteane
Media, Marketing and Liaison: Callie Hendricks
Sport: Laurika Hugo
Student Development and Environmental Affairs: Bataung Qhotsokoane
Transformation: Christopher Rawson
Assosiations Council and Ex officio:Ntakuseni Razwiedani
Academics Affairs Council and Ex officio: TBC
Residence Council and Ex officio: Andricia Hinckermann
Commuter Council and Ex officio:Clarise Haasbroek
Postgraduate Council and Ex officio: Oluwatoba Fadeyi
International Council and Ex officio: Brian Hlongwane
Student Media Council and Ex officio: Keabetswe Magano
RAG Fundraising Council and Ex officio: Jaco Faul
Rag Service Council and Ex officio: Suzanne Maree


The new SRC members of the Qwaqwa Campu are:

President: MP Moema
Deputy-President: NT Mndebele
Secretary General: JC Mosiea
Treasurer General: NT Zuma
Politics and Transformation: IT Dube
Media and Publicity: ZF Madlala
Student Development and Environmental Affairs:SS Mtetwa
Off-Campus Students: TSJ Sithole
Arts and Culture: S Mabele
Academic Affairs: NE Litabo
Sport Affairs: TSG Mohlakoana
Religious Affairs:TW Mofokeng
Residence and Catering Affairs: A Ndabankulu
RAG Community Service and Dialogue: S Yende

Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication

Telephone: +27(0)51 401 2584
Cellphone: +27 (0) 83 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za

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