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05 October 2020 | Story Nitha Ramnath | Photo Supplied
Haneke van Zyl and Mojalefa Mosala.
This year, two finalists from the University of the Free State School of Accountancy have made the top-35 South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) competition. Mojalefa Mosala and Haneke van Zyl were both selected from a number of entries after a rigorous selection process by SAICA.  

 “The selection of the 35 finalists has taken longer than expected due to the amount of entries received, and the calibre of our entrants – we had a difficult task to select the finalists,” commented SAICA. 

Mojalefa ‘Jeff’ Mosala is a Chartered Accountancy lecturer in the School of Accountancy. He received the Innovative Teaching and Learning Award for his ground-breaking and value-adding work on community engagement presented at the South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum (SAHECEF) in 2019. 

He is chairperson of the SAICA Bloemfontein District Forum and is involved in SAICA’s mathematics camps. Mosala also participates in the governance structures of several non-profit organisations. This includes serving at national level as an investment and audit committee member for the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA). He also serves as director of finance in the Free State Cricket Union (FSCU), an affiliate of Cricket South Africa, and as board member and chairperson of the finance committee.

Mosala believes in the value of servanthood. “I understand the responsibility that comes with my abilities; I pursue relevance in the modern age as a young CA(SA) by continually seeking to add value. That is how I approach my teaching, mentoring, and leadership responsibilities,” he says.

Haneke van Zyl is the Programme Director: General Accountancy and Research within the School of Accountancy. She joined the school in 2015, after which she obtained her master’s degree and was later promoted to Programme Director. A lecturer and PhD candidate focusing on student accounting language comprehension, Van Zyl plays an active role in a SAICA academic-funded literacy project in collaboration with the School of Accountancy. 

Van Zyl has secured two professional programme accreditations to expand opportunities for current students. Through her willingness to learn and hunger to develop, she ensures that her voice is heard. She is a mother of two and lives by the saying, ‘good leaders do not tell you what to do, they show you how it is done.’ 



News Archive

Researchers focus on parrots, poultry and phage therapy
2014-10-10

Photo: en.wikipedia

Veterinary biotechnology focuses on microbial and molecular biological approaches to veterinary illnesses. The group working on veterinary biotechnology research at the University of the Free State (UFS) consists of two academic staff members, Prof Rob Bragg and Dr Charlotte Boucher, two post-doctoral fellows, Drs Chris Theron and Arina Hitzeroth, five PhD and three honours students.

The group has three research focus areas.

Dr Boucher says, “Our main focus area is infectious coryza in poultry, caused by the bacterium Avibacterium paragalliarum. The aim is the control of the disease, mainly through improvement of vaccines, understanding the immune response and improved biosecurity. A key objective is improving methods for serotyping; studying of selected surface antigens and investigating the influence recently discovered bacteriophages might have on virulence. We have co-operative projects with research groups in China, India and Israel.

“The second focus area is an expression system co-developed with the National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), France. The flagship project is the expression of the coat protein gene of the beak and feather disease virus, a disease affecting parrots, currently threatening the endangered Cape parrot. This system has led to the development of serological tests, currently under patenting. The application of this system has been extended to human-related diseases, with two interdisciplinary projects underway, co-working with Profs Muriel Meiring and Felicity Burt. Prof Meiring is working on diseases causing bleeding disorders, such as blood-clotting impairment, while Prof Burt is working on viral infections causing haemorrhagic (bleeding) disorders.

“We are also researching disease control in a post-antibiotic era, investigating the potential of phage-therapy by targeting and destroying pathogenic islands within a host, with reduced side-effects on the host itself.

“We have smaller projects, including an interdisciplinary project with Zoology, looking at the protein profile of amphibian (frog) secretions with the focus on antimicrobial activity, as these secretions assist with protecting amphibian skin against infections.”  


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