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31 July 2020 | Story Lacea Loader
Moderator and Panellists

As a public higher-education institution in South Africa with a responsibility to contribute to public discourse, the University of the Free State (UFS) will be presenting the 3rd UFS Thought-Leader Series in collaboration with Vrye Weekblad as part of the Vrystaat Literature Festival’s online initiative, VrySpraak-digitaal.

This year, higher-education institutions globally are placed in the challenging context of COVID-19. Aware and grounded in the reality that the world will not return to the normality of pre-COVID-19, our responsibility as scholars still remains to contribute to public discourse and to offer innovative solutions that will impact the lives of people nationally and globally in order to help them understand and adapt to a new world order.

Against this background and context, this year’s debates focus on ‘Post-COVID-19, Post-Crisis’, with Health and Modelling, Politics, Economy, and Predictions for 2021 as the sub-themes. Placed in a COVID-19 context, and in lieu of the Vrystaat Arts Festival, the series will be presented virtually in the form of one webinar per month during the period August 2020 to November 2020.

Date: 13 August 2020
Topic: Health and Modelling
Time: 11:30-13:00
RSVP: Alicia Pienaar, pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za

Facilitator:

Max du Preez
Editor: Vrye Weekblad
Biography

Introduction and welcome:

Prof Francis Petersen
Rector and Vice-Chancellor, UFS

Panellists:

Prof Salim Abdool Karim
Director: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)
Chair: South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19
Biography

Prof Glenda Gray
President and CEO: South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)
Biography

Prof Felicity Burt
NRF-DST South African Research Chair in vector-borne and zoonotic pathogens research
Biography

 

 

News Archive

Kovsie TV Launched
2015-05-06

Victor Ngubeni, Grace Thoabala, Nangamso Dlatu, Aisha Poswa, Lesego Maakamedi, Nothando Hlope, Aldene vd Merwe and Lawrence Siyoko

“We have to change our university before we can change our country.”

 

There is a revolution at hand, and students are requesting new and exciting platforms on which they can voice themselves. Kovsie TV aims to do just that for Kovsie students. 

 

As a student initiative, the steam behind it is SRC Student Development and Environmental Affairs, Victor Ngubeni. He says that it is only right that it be by the students themselves. The launch saw many from the campus community gathered out of curiosity and excitement for the new venture. The evening started out as quite a classy frenzy, which had attendees clearly prepared for the level of broadcasting that the launch would showcase.

 

The initial idea is to increase the number of platforms where students can receive information. The Student Media portfolio, which oversees the functioning of student media platforms, aims to make Kovsie TV as autonomous as possible. As an introductory initiative, it will aid in the sharing and telling of students’ stories.

 

It is important to mention the preparation process that was endured by the many hopefuls who auditioned, hoping to make it as one of the Kovsie TV presenters. For more than three weeks, the panel of judges sieved through the contestants until they had just six rough diamonds. Then, for the first time, the audience met the faces that they would become familiar with from this point.

 

As Ngubeni stressed during his speech, Kovsie TV would not serve as propaganda machine for the SRC, as many might have asked about the relationship that could be expected between the two. The architects of Kovsie TV hope that, as a student initiative, it will inspire a new era in student activism.

 

When asked about the concept behind this new platform, Ngubeni informed us that, “the concept is to have a twenty-minute campus TV show highlighting what goes on around campus so that students know, and so that we can get them participating in campus life activities.”

 

This is a student initiative whose future will depend solely on the students themselves.

 

Presenters:

Nangamso Dlathu – Studio presenter

Grace Thoabala – Studio presenter

Lesego Maakamedi – Social events

Nothando Hlophe – Current affairs

Aldine van der Merwe – Culture events and Vox-Pop

Mbulelo Siyoko – Culture and Vox-Pop

Aisha Phoswa ? Sports

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