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UFS says no to gender-based violence

09 September 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Charl Devenish

Silent march — Students and staff marched in solidarity with other South African universities against gender-based violence.

“Now is a time for us as men to say from the bottom of our hearts that indeed we are ashamed. Not only are we ashamed, we will speak and act against any form of violence. The very same people you see here are the very same people we need to protect, and if we do not protect them then we are rotten fruits,” said Katleho Lechoo, President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) at a silent march against gender-based violence held on the Bloemfontein Campus.

On Friday 6 September 2019, the University of the Free State (UFS) executive management and the SRC suspended all academic activities on its three campuses as a gesture of solidarity with the national movement opposing the rape, murder, and abuse of women across the country. A prayer service was also held on the Qwaqwa Campus. The UFS community came out in numbers to mourn victims and stand in support with survivors and those affected by gender-based violence

Remembering Uyinene, Jesse, and many others
Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, said the recent rape and murder of 19-year-old Media and Film Studies student at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Uyinene Mrwetyana, and the murder of University of Western Cape (UWC) student, Jesse Hess, are painful reminders of the pervasive nature of misogyny and patriarchal violence that impedes the freedom of women in South Africa. “The UFS stands in solidarity with UCT and UWC and all other SA universities that are currently steeped in this national crisis,” he said.

Prof Petersen then called on the Department of Higher Education, civil society, the business sector, and all other roleplayers to actively contribute to efforts to eradicate gender violence. “As a university, we call specifically on the city of Bloemfontein, the mayor, members of local government, the South Africa Police Service and all inhabitants to assist us in making our city safe.”

Reading from the statement of commitment declaring the position of the UFS, Prof Petersen said: “In light of the ongoing violence against women and the recent surge of femicide in SA, the UFS commits itself to challenge, fight, and eradicate all forms of gender-based violence on its campuses and in our country.”

Cry our beloved country
At the end of the proceedings, Prof Puleng LenkaBula called for change, following emotive addresses by student leaders. “The poem and the speeches that have been made are demonstrative of the woundedness of our hearts, of our souls, of our bodies, and the fact that women’s bodies have been made a battleground. Therefore as a university it is important that we recommit ourselves to ensuring that our legs and our thighs do not define us but who we are as human beings is respected,” said the Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement.

“Enough is enough!”

Related:

University of the Free State's position on Gender-Based violence

News Archive

UFS to honour past and present Cabinet ministers

2010-04-19

The University of the Free State (UFS) is going to confer honorary doctoral degrees on former Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Dr Ben Ngubane, and the current Minister of Finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan, during the university’s autumn graduation ceremony next month.

They will receive their honorary doctorates on 18 and 19 May respectively.

“It is an honour for the UFS to confer these honorary doctorates on people like these who have made, and continue to make outstanding contributions towards the wellbeing of this beautiful country. Being associated with people of this stature signifies the direction that the UFS is taking in our quest to be a great university, one of the best in the world,” said Prof. Jonathan Jansen, the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

Dr Ngubane will be honoured for his immense contribution towards positioning South Africa as a major and an influential player in the development of arts, culture, science and technology internationally.

He was the first Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in the new, democratic South Africa appointed by the former President, Nelson Mandela, in 1994. He was re-appointed to lead this ministry again by former President Thabo Mbeki in 1999.

As Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from 1996 to 1999, Dr Ngubane is credited for his role in bringing about peace and reducing the political violence that ravaged the province at that time.

In 2004 he was appointed as Ambassador to Japan where he initiated, among other projects, the South Africa-Japan University Forum (SAJU).
He has been honoured for outstanding contributions to higher education and community development and holds Honorary Doctorates from the universities of Natal, Zululand, the Medical University of South Africa (Medunsa) and the Tshwane University of Technology.

He is currently the Chairperson of the SABC Board.

Minister Gordhan, on the other hand, formed an integral part of the constitutional transition of South Africa between 1991 and 1994. He chaired the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) Management Committee – the midwife and negotiating forum for a free South Africa. He was also co-chair of the Transitional Executive Council, which was a governance structure tasked with ensuring South Africa’s transition process prior to the historic 1994 elections.

In 1994, with the dawn of a new democracy in South Africa, Mr Gordhan became a Member of Parliament and was elected as Chairperson of the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee, which oversaw the implementation of the new constitutional order. At the same time he played a leading role in drafting the present constitution of the democratic South Africa. He also led the process of formulating a new policy framework for local government transformation.

Mr Gordhan was appointed as Deputy Commissioner at the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in March 1998 after being deployed from Parliament as part of the government’s drive to transform the public service. The following year he was appointed as Commissioner for SARS with the important task, amongst others, to transform South Africa’s Customs and Revenue administration – a strategic governmental institution.

He has represented South Africa in many international undertakings, including several peacekeeping missions, as Chairperson of the Customs Workshop for the Second Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safe-Guarding Integrity (2001), and is often called upon to make presentations at tax seminars and customs conferences.

In 2000 he was appointed Chairperson of the Council of World Customs Organisation (WCO), based in Brussels, a position to which he was re-elected twice, thus serving from 2000 to 2006.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
19 April 2010

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