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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

Accreditation status of the UFS School of Medicine
2016-06-14

This communication is a factual correction of the misinformation and accompanying hysteria that appeared in a local newspaper this past week on the accreditation status of programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences’ School of Medicine. Here are the facts:
 
1. The flagship programme of the School of Medicine, the MB ChB, was fully accredited by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) through the year 2020. This is the maximum accreditation status that any programme can achieve, and the UFS leadership is extremely pleased with this outcome, as it expresses confidence in the work done by our academics in the School of Medicine. Not only was the basic medical training for new doctors fully accredited, the HPSCA approved an increase in the number of trainee doctors from 140 to 160, and also approved additional training sites in Trompsburg and Kimberley.
 
2. The honours programmes of the School of Medicine received full accreditation as well.
 
3. All the master’s degree programmes in the School of Medicine also received accreditation. The UFS is especially pleased with the significant improvements in the Department of Cardiology, which now has a full complement of staff under the leadership of the highly regarded cardiologist, Prof Makoali Makotoko.
 
4. Four master’s programmes received provisional accreditation, which means that (a) these programmes continue to be taught and (b) outstanding issues, such as inadequate staffing, must be fixed. It does not mean that these programmes will be or are likely to be discontinued.
 
5. It is a fact that staff retire or resign in all schools and departments of any university. It is also true that these departures offer opportunities to bring new academic and professional staff into the UFS. In fact, for the first time virtually every department in the School of Medicine now has a full-time Head of Department and 46 new staff were appointed since January 2015.
 
6. The main employer of academic staff in the School of Medicine is the provincial Department of Health (DoH), and the UFS works very closely and persistently with the Free State DoH to ensure that vacant posts are filled.
 
7. The attacks on the integrity of the outgoing Head of the School of Medicine were malicious. Prof Alan St Clair Gibson did not resign ‘overnight’; his departure has nothing to do with the accreditation status of the School – in fact, he can be proud of this achievement; and he effectively takes up a promotion post in New Zealand as academic Dean at the University of Waikato. Prof St Clair Gibson will be remembered for his leadership in transformation, especially regarding staff and student equity in the School of Medicine, and for securing our programme accreditation. For this, the university is deeply grateful.

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27(0)51 401 2584 | +27(0)83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27(0)51 444 6393

 

 



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