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UFS Reflection Series webinar: The quality of our democracies under COVID-19

04 August 2020 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath

Apart from its devastating impact on people’s lives and livelihoods, the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the nature and quality of our democracies – democracy read in its widest sense here as collective and individual self-determination. Formal, institutional democracy has beencurtailed through the imposition of states of emergency or disaster and the logistical difficulties associated with social distancing. Extra-institutional democratic work, such as protest and social-movement activity, has suffered from prohibitions imposed by law and through state suppression related to ‘lockdown’. The nature (and perhaps democratic quality) of public conversation has changed – for better or worse – from increasing reliance on ‘science’ and ‘scientists’ to justify public choices. The crisis has brought to the fore already existing characteristics of our democracies, such as the prevalence and power of special-interest bargaining, the extreme inequality of our societies, and chauvinist nationalisms that force us to ask whether we have ever had democracy at all. What will be the long-term effects of these impacts of the crisis on our democracies? What will democracy look like post-COVID? What does the crisis teach us about what our democracies have always been?

Join us for a discussion of these and other democracy-related issues in these troubled times by a panel of four hailing from Colombia, India, South Africa, and the USA.

Date: Thursday, 13 August

Time: 14:00-16:00 (South African Standard Time – GMT +2)

Please RSVP to Mamello Serasengwe at serasengwemsm@ufs.ac.za no later than 12 August 2020 upon which you will receive a Skype for Business meeting invite and link to access the webinar

Panel

Prof Natalia Angel Cabo (University of Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia)

Dr Quaraysha Ismail-Sooliman (University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa)

Dr Usha Ramanathan Independent Law Researcher (Delhi, India)

Prof Katie Young (Boston College, Boston, USA)

Moderator

Prof Danie Brand (Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa)

News Archive

HEDSA discusses better services for students with disabilities

2010-09-30

At the gala dinner were, from the left: Anlia Pretorius, Chairperson of HEDSA and Head of the Disability Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand; Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training; Ms Hetsie Veitch, Head of the Unit for Students with Disabilities at the UFS; and Prof. Niel Viljoen, Vice-Rector: Operations at the UFS.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

The first ever General Meeting of the Higher Education Disability Services Association (HEDSA) was held on the Main Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein this week. HEDSA is a newly constituted body that represents the Disability Units from the various universities across the country.

The UFS is a member of HEDSA, which aims to work together to promote equal opportunities for students with disabilities in terms of access, participation and success in Higher Education.

The General Meeting forms part of the launching symposium with the theme: New Beginnings and New Directions. The symposium, attended by 15 higher education institutions in South Africa, served as a platform to explore innovative approaches to assist in improving services for students with disabilities.

Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training, was one of the speakers at the gala dinner of this prestigious event. He said that there is still a lot of work to do to overcome discrimination against students as well as staff members with disabilities at higher education institutions. Minister Nzimande quoted from the Soudien report, a government-commissioned report that brought to light discrimination – especially racism and sexism – still endemic at South African universities. “Victims, in this instance referring to students and staff with disabilities, are denied the opportunity – either through a lack of access to opportunities or due to outright discrimination – to realise their full potential. In the process, the country is robbed of valuable but untapped human resources. Higher education institutions cause incalculable damage to South African society by failing to deal boldly with these issues. Where institutions have indeed taken action, the benefits to individuals, to the different social groups in the country, as well as to the institutions themselves, have been major.”

He stated that he believed that HEDSA as well as the symposium could play a vital role that would assist in this process.

Ms Hetsie Veitch, Head of the Unit for Students with Disabilities at the UFS, was elected as treasurer of this body for the following two years. Johnny Mokoka will represent the UFS in HEDSA’s National Student Organisation for Students with Disabilities that was established during the symposium this week.

Media Release
Issued by: Leonie Bolleurs
Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2707
Sel: 0836455853
Email: bolleursl@ufs.ac.za
30 September 2010

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