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30 May 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Africa Memorial lecture
From left; Dr Stephanie Cawood, Director of CGAS; Prof Francis Nyamnjoh; Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, and Dr Engela van Staden, Vice-Rector: Academic
Ubuntu is a word we all know and, to some extent, relate to. Prof Francis Nyamnjoh aimed to delve and explore this African philosophy when he presented the 2019 Africa Day Memorial Lecture with the topic Ubuntuism and Africa: Actualised, Misappropriated, Endangered and Reappraised. 

The memorial lecture is hosted annually by the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) at the University of the Free State (UFS) to coincide with Africa Month celebrations. Prof Nyamnjoh holds a PhD from the University of Leicester in the UK. He is currently a professor of social anthropology at the University of Cape Town and has been a scholar in sociology, anthropology and communication science at universities in Cameroon and Botswana. The lecture took place on 22 May 2019 in the Equitas Auditorium on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.

“When I saw the topic I thought this was very contemporary. We at the university decided to include the Ubuntu principle in our learning and teaching strategy,” said Dr Engela van Staden, Vice-Rector: Academic. 

Ubuntu as a binding factor for interconnectedness 

We live a world in which we cannot stand alone as the principle of Ubuntu tells us that we are who we are because of our interconnectedness with other people. “It is important to recognise that you stand on others to be tall,” said Prof Nyamnjoh. 

“We are the product of ongoing conversations on interconnectedness."

“I have argued that, in the spirit of Ubuntu, Africans, their identities and mobilities are part and parcel of the experience of being human in a world on the move. And their contributions are needed in today’s world more than ever. 

“I have broached the context of globalisation and histories of unequal encounters that have shaped relations in Africa and beyond under global capitalism."

“Even as it is increasingly seriously tested by opportunism, Ubuntuism, sometimes a reality and sometimes an ideal, brings hope and redemption, and offers a feasible framework for participatory and inclusive emancipatory social change,” said Prof Nyamnjoh. 


News Archive

Wayde sets 200m SA record, and is world’s fastest in 2017
2017-06-13

 

Description: Wayde sets 200m SA record, banner Tags: Wayde sets 200m SA record, banner

Wayde van Niekerk is in great form leading up to the World Championships
in London in August. Photo: SASPA

 

He was the first South African to break the 20-second barrier in the 200m, but for the past two years Wayde van Niekerk had to be satisfied that fellow countryman Anaso Jobodwana was quicker. Now the Kovsie athlete isn’t only the national record holder again – he also is the fastest man on the planet in the 200m in 2017.

After Van Niekerk ran a 19.90, the world’s fastest this year, when he won the South African title in Potchefstroom in April, the American Christian Coleman (19.85) improved on that.

Personal best and 0.06 seconds quicker than Anaso
However, Van Niekerk ran a 19.84 in the 200m at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston, Jamaica, on 11 June 2017. This was 0.06 seconds quicker than his personal best, and 0.03 seconds better than Jobodwana’s national record of 19.87 at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. Van Niekerk was the first South African to run under 20 seconds in the 200m when he did so two years ago in 19.97 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Same pace a second time in a week
It was also the second time in a week that the 400m world record-holder ran an 19.84 in the 200m. This after he did it on a temporary built track at the Boost Boston Games on 4 June 2017. The race was run on a straight street course and was therefore not officially recognised as a record.

“This is definitely a positive step forward,” Van Niekerk said, according to www.iaaf.org. “I felt that I was in pretty good shape last week in Boston, I wanted to repeat that here (in Kingston).”

He seems to be in good shape leading up to his attempt to run a double, his favourite 400m and the 200m, at the World Championships in London, England, in August.


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