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30 July 2020 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Henning Neethling, the newly appointed CFO of Sky News Australia.
After a number of finance jobs in both big and small companies, UFS alumnus Henning Neethling was ready for a new challenge when the opportunity to join one of Australia’s most influential companies came knocking on his door. 

Neethling, who completed his bachelor’s and honours degrees in Accounting at the UFS between 2000 and 2004, together with a Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA), was strongly attracted to the position at Sky News Australia when he was presented the opportunity.  

“The Department of Economic and Management Sciences, especially the amazing lecturers I had during my time there, as well as my fellow students, played a pivotal role in my education and prepared me for this job. As a kid you take things for granted, but the more my career progresses, the more I realise how much effort, investment, and influence these lecturers had on me as a student.”

Neethling also believes that the university inadvertently provides its graduates with an insight into real life; what it would be like to take responsibility for your career, drive your own results through hard work and determination, and to really get tested on how much you wanted something.

Strong relationships

Working at Sky News Australia, especially in the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO), requires some distinguishing qualities. Neethling feels it is important to always build strong relationships at all levels – not only with staff reporting to you, but also with peers, stakeholders, related parties, suppliers, superiors, etc. 

“For me, relationships lay the foundation for getting things done – more often than not – better and faster due to the collaboration that flows from it,” he says. 

And the UFS also contributed to this skill. Neethling says he learned a great deal during his time at the university, “not only in the classroom, but also on the rugby field playing for Shimlas”. 

“It combined to make me a more rounded person. It is essential, specifically when you are in a leadership position, to have been part of a team and to really understand that dynamic. In the workplace, it is very clear that the more rounded individuals are often people who played team sports or were part of a team. This is where you learn that your actions impact others around you and that you should be ready to be held accountable for it.”

Another quality required of him as CFO is to have a flexible mindset. “Being able to adapt to an ever-changing landscape is key. The only constant is change, and no truer words can be spoken about the media landscape in this day and age. So, to survive – but more importantly – to thrive, you need to adjust to the circumstances and do it swiftly,” he says.

Dealing with COVID-19

If there ever was a time to adjust to circumstances, we can all agree that it is now, with the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. He says to date, it has been one of the biggest challenges he had to deal with.

“In my first month in this role as CFO of Sky News, COVID-19 really took off on a global scale. It was a combination of numerous reforecast submissions, business interruptions, revaluation of risks, improvement of processes, and uncertainty. But it all came back to strong relationships with the team, the business, and all other stakeholders getting you through something like this.” 

He believes the UFS is on the right track with its mental-health awareness campaigns. “I think the most important lesson an institution such as the university can teach its students and graduates in dealing with the challenges brought by COVID-19, is how we treat people with mental-health issues and also how we manage ourselves when it comes to that.”

And how do one take care of yourself if you are in an ever-changing, fast-paced job as CFO? By starting the day with that first cup of coffee. “I cannot function without that coffee, trust me.” And by making time for loved ones – his six-month-old baby, Maia, and his wife, Madi.

News Archive

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC
2005-08-03


 

The UFS Central SRC

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC of the University of the Free State, Mr Tello Motloung on Wednesday 3 August 2003

The Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke,
The Vice-chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie
The Vice-Rector Student Affairs of the UFS, Dr Ezekiel Moraka
The Presidents of the main campus SRC and the Vista campus SRC
Colleagues in the Central SRC, campus SRCs, students and fellow South Africans

Please receive my heartfelt revolutionary greetings

Vice-chancellor and rector what I bring here with me assisted by facts, is just the work of my imagination. Like a love letter addressed to a sweetheart miles away, even though you do not know how she feels, what she wants to hear, and do not even know what she looks like.

I value speech as just an honest intimation, that’s why I got into a habit of establishing a dialogue with people, looking at each other’s face, and persuading one another of what we are saying.

Vice-chancellor, today marks an important milestone in the history of the existence of the UFS. Today reflects the confidence and trust that students of the UFS have placed in us. They are confident that the Central SRC has both the will and the capacity to take our university forward as we confront the challenge of transformation.

Students are confident that they are correct to trust the Central SRC as the principal agent of change in our university that is genuinely committed to the objective of building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic university. We need to frankly ask ourselves, as CSRC members, whether are we up to all these challenges?

All Central SRC members have to understand this fully, internalize it, and ensure that everything we do, does not betray the confidence and trust of students, or disappoint their expectations. I say this knowing that all Central SRC members have committed themselves to serve the students of the UFS, black and white, and no one among us (CSRC) needs any special lectures about this central commitment.

The UFS should be an omnibus, welcoming everybody on board. But we should be a bus with a clear direction. We will certainly lose our way if we, as an institution, don’t have a clear road map spelling out where we are heading to.

There should be clear guidelines on the role of students in the transformation process. Students should also be viewed as role players in transformation along with the University management, and not just opposing forces. There is no right time, other than this one, to move away from the politics of opposition to politics of transformation.

However, we need the support of management to do so. The University should value the role and contribution of student leaders, hear our legitimate claims and consider them as part of political and policy decision making.
     
Vice-chancellor and Rector, it remains our task to ensure that the UFS is transformed into an institution that is seen to be playing a vigilant role in developing students academically, intellectually, socially, culturally, politically and otherwise. The process of transformation is not ending tonight, it is just beginning tonight.

Judge Hancke, Prof Fourie, Dr Moraka, fellow students and fellow South Africans, I lead students at this university with a sense of pride and duty, and I know very well that I lead men and women, students who are all determined that we reach our destination safely and on time.

A navy divided within its ranks will be destroyed and vanquished by the enemy, but the navy united in purpose and action, loyalty and commitment will not sink but sail on to victory.

It is befitting to mention that every drop of my blood is telling me that the UFS is my home. I firstly became a student here, I became the SRC treasurer in my first year here, I became the deputy president here, and I became the first president of the Central SRC of the UFS.

Therefore you should never doubt my commitment towards the transformation of this university. To paraphrase what was said by students at another institution, “If there is no UFS in heaven, then I am not going.”

Let me conclude by thanking my ancestors for teaching me that even if I wined and dined with kings and queens, I am not a king myself, so I should not turn my back on people who made me what I am today.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the Almighty God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving me time and power to lead this university.

It will be theoretically irresponsible if I ended my speech without indicating that “Only a Kovsie knows the feeling”.

I thank you.

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