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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

State of our campuses: UFS closes campuses until Friday 28 October 2016 to readjust academic programme
2016-10-13

The senior leadership of the University of the Free State (UFS) has carefully analysed all the risks facing the university in the current national crisis in higher education, which includes the possibility of losing the academic year. The university management has been engaged in back-to-back meetings with the student leadership, South African Police Service (SAPS), and other stakeholders over the past two days in an attempt to ensure the safety of all parties, and normalise the academic functioning of the UFS.  Unfortunately, we have been unable to arrive at an agreement about the resumption of the academic year regardless of the timing of the government response to students’ demands. This is further complicated by the fact that the university has received notice of intention of an  interdict to reopen with immediate effect.

Taking all of this into account, the senior leadership of the UFS has decided as follows:

  1. The UFS will not be shutting down for the remainder of 2016. The Bloemfontein and South Campuses will, however, be shutting down from Thursday 13 October 2016 until Friday 28 October 2016. These two weeks will be used for crucial and complex arrangements to be put in place to readjust the academic calendar and ensure that all students can complete their studies.
  2. The academic arrangements are focused on organising alternative modes of delivery of our programmes to support student learning. Academics will be working on readjusting their course materials for this purpose.
  3. The Bloemfontein Campus and the South Campuses will be closed for undergraduate and honours students. Administrative and academic staff will be working, as well as master's and doctoral students.
  4. Students in residence will have to vacate their rooms by 12:00 on Saturday 15 October 2016. Students who need help in this regard must please contact +27 51 401 2001 or send an email to hotline@ufs.ac.za.
  5. Arrangements will be made to accommodate international, master's, and doctoral students.
  6. The specific information about academic programmes will be communicated to students by their respective faculties as it becomes available.

The senior leadership wants to restate its commitment to free education as well as its willingness to stand together with students and other public universities to impress on government the urgency to decide on a time frame for the roll-out of free higher education for the poor and missing middle. During these two weeks the UFS will meet with the leadership of Universities South Africa to coordinate collective action in this regard.

 Consistent with this commitment the UFS leadership will roll out a series of activities to inform and educate students and the general public on different models and experiences of providing free higher education. 

 The UFS is deeply concerned about the possible securitisation of our campus as a way of solving this crisis.

 The UFS condemns in the strongest terms violence as a methodology to achieve ends in the context of a democratic state.We are, as always, committed to providing quality education and a conducive environment for learning.

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