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22 May 2020 | Story Nitha Ramnath

A Virtual celebration of Africa Month

On 25 May 2020, Africa will celebrate the 57th anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity. A central tenet of the organisation, which was the predecessor of the African Union, is African solidarity. Member states undertook to coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the people of Africa. The University of the Free State (UFS) has a long tradition of commemorating Africa Day and the ideas underpinning it. Every year, diverse events aimed at advancing African unity and solidarity take place during Africa Month – traditionally, the highlight is the Africa Day Memorial Lecture hosted by the University's Centre for Gender and Africa Studies. 

This year, celebrating African unity through significant events involving the physical presence of a large number of people, will likely be impossible. COVID-19 is ravaging the world and Africa may become one of the world regions worst affected by the consequences of the virus. Social distancing may be difficult to achieve in a continent with densely populated urban centres that often feature large informal settlements. Besides, the economies of African nations are not as robust as those of other world regions. The challenge that Africa is facing, appears to be one that can only be mastered by its people acting in solidarity and unity. The continent has already developed an Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19 Outbreak to combat the virus, and an Africa Taskforce for Coronavirus has been established. The ideas of African togetherness and the underpinning philosophy of Ubuntu may be critical for strengthening African solidarity at a time when it may be more relevant than ever.

The commemoration of Africa Day takes a different theme each year. This year, the UFS 2020 Africa Month celebrations will take a virtual format, with the theme of ‘Africa together forever’ underpinned by the COVID-19 global pandemic. The theme is particularly significant considering the context of the African continent; and only through the demonstration of solidarity and unity can Africa overcome the challenges of the global pandemic.

The University will host a variety of cultural and intellectual contributions on the dedicated UFS virtual Africa Month website. On Africa Day (25 May 2020), a virtual Africa Day function, which will be posted on the website, will conclude the Africa Month commemorations.

The diverse contributions to the 2020 virtual Africa Month activities will highlight the University’s commitment towards creating a diverse, challenging intellectual environment. The UFS strives as a research-led university, to provide an environment in which new ideas are incubated and debated; contributing towards its transformation process and African unity. 

News Archive

SRC elections of our Bloemfontein Campus
2011-07-26

The Student Council elections of our university at the Bloemfontein Campus will take place on 29 and 30 August 2011. These official election dates were announced by Mr Rudi Buys, Dean: Student Affairs, on 25 July 2011.

Nominations open on Wednesday, 27 July 2011 and the elections, which are constituted according to the SRC Constitution, shall be handled by the Independent Electoral Agency, which shall be instituted by the SRC Constitution with this in view.
 
“The elections introduce a new era in student leadership and governance, because student representation will now constituted in such a way that affords the majority of students the opportunity to vote directly for their representatives. Senior leadership structures are extended in the new Constitution, in order to allow more students to hold senior positions,” states Mr Buys.
 
The SRC elections follow on the approval of a new Constitution that was accepted by our Council on 3 June 2011.
 
The Constitution was drafted over a period of eight months by the Broad Student Transformation Forum (BSTF), consisting of students, in order to design a new dispensation in student structures. The BSTF, which decided on new models of student representation in collaboration with independent facilitators, consists of more than 70 student organisations and residences. The changes to the Constitution were decided on and accepted by the BSTF, after recommendations from four student study groups, which investigated student leadership and governance in depth, at national as well as international level, were taken into account. The study groups visited nine (9) other SA universities, as well as investigated student representation at internationally renowned universities like Cornell, Yale and Stanford in the United States of America.
 
Ms Modieyi Motholo, Chairperson of the Interim Student Committee, says that she is very proud of what the students have achieved with the new Constitution. “I wish to accord recognition to all the students who lead the process for all their hard work. Constitutional revision is a strenuous process and it is nothing short of a miracle that the students could not only reconstruct the Constitution, but also have it accepted in less than a year.”
 
The important changes include, amongst others:

  • Candidates no longer stand on behalf of parties in the elections, but as independent candidates for 10 predetermined portfolios for which students can vote directly;
  • Students also directly vote for a President and a Vice-President;
  • Nine (9) SRC members serve ex-officio as SRC members by virtue of being chairpersons of nine additional student councils established by the Constitution. Amongst others, the councils include a postgraduate student council, an international student council, a student media council and a student academic affairs council;
  • More stringent eligibility requirements are set for candidates, namely that students who wish to run in the elections has to, amongst others, sustain an academic average of more than 60%, and hold proven student leadership experience (which could be verified by the Independent Electoral Agency).

 
“With the SRC elections, students have the opportunity to firmly entrench the changes in student governance on which they have decided on by  themselves firmly, as a sustainable model for democracy at our Bloemfontein Campus. It speaks volumes that the number of leadership positions for which candidates can make themselves available, in essence has been increased by the number of additional student sub-councils from 21 to 67, because it brings about much more direct representation for different students across the campus,” says Mr Buys.
 
“I firmly believe that the upcoming student council elections will be a success,” says Motholo. “I wish the students, who are prepared to sacrifice a year of their lives in service of the student community as a member of the SRC, all of the best.”
 
The Qwaqwa Campus’ election schedule shall be announced within the next week, as well as the date of the institution of the Central Student Council (CSC).

Media Release
26 July 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za
 
 

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