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06 April 2021 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah
Ntebohiseng Sekhele is the Associate Guest Editor of the recent Special Issue of the African Journal of Range & Forage Science.

The Director of the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), Dr Ralph Clark, and researcher, Ntebohiseng Sekhele, recently became part of a guest editorial team for the African Journal of Range & Forage Science. The Special Issue titled, ‘Montane rangelands in a changing world’, was published on 3 March 2021.

“I feel privileged to have been part of the team that assembled this special issue. The experience was daunting at first, as I had never been part of an editorial team before. However, with the support of the guest editors and the journal’s administrator, I was able to overcome the imposter-syndrome feeling and allowed myself to learn and enjoy the ride. My ‘aha’ moments were the critical comments from the reviewers on each paper. It was amazing to witness how this feedback would enhance the quality of an article,” said Ntebohiseng Sekhele, Geography lecturer on the Qwaqwa Campus.

Journal focus

This issue focused on the applied management of montane rangelands for production in Southern Africa and the broader world. Submissions could include original research, reviews, and meta-analyses. This has culminated in contributions that centred on the impact of policy on pastoral practices by montane communities, fire management regimes, cumulative effects of poor governance on rangeland degradation, and sustainable grazing systems – including in ecological infrastructure such as montane wetlands and communal rangeland. 

“The process took almost a year, as the first call for abstracts was made in December 2019 and final revisions of accepted papers were concluded in November 2020. There were 32 submissions with only 12 articles and one book review of Prof Rodney Moffett’s book, A Scientific Bibliography of the Drakensberg, Maloti and Adjacent Lowlands. Of the 12 contributions, nine focus on the Maloti-Drakensberg, with papers on Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Free State,” she revealed. 

Submitted papers

“All papers advocate for the sustainable management of sensitive montane systems, which ties well with my own research that makes a contribution to the limited scholarship of natural resource-related conflicts between montane communities and their adjacent protected areas, as well as climate change impacts on natural resources,” said Sekhele, a PhD candidate through the ARU’s US-SA University Staff Development Programme (USDP). The special issue allowed for a closer link between the US and SA USDP through the involvement of Dr Kryan Kunkel – Ntebohiseng’s US co-supervisor – as one of the guest editors. 

News Archive

Medical screening tests can help detect health risks at an early stage
2013-09-09

09 September 2013

It is once again time for the annual medical screening tests done by the Centre for Health and Wellness, which helps staff at the University of the Free State to watch their health.

All staff members are invited to participate and to find out how healthy they really are.

Dr Anette Prins, Deputy Director of the Centre for Health and Wellness, says their aim this year is to get every staff member to go for a checkup.

“For this reason, the tests will be done on different days and in different buildings. In this way, we take the test to the staff and they don’t have to come to a particular point as was done in the past.”
According to Discovery Health’s Healthy Company Index for 2013, in which the UFS also participated, about half of South African employees suffer from four or more health risk factors (blood pressure, obesity). The worst is that almost 70% of employees in this group believe that they are both fit and healthy. Fifty-three percent of those employees do not go for the essential preventative health checkups.

However, this picture may change as a result of the annual medical screening tests for staff of the UFS, because risk factors such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and high blood sugar levels can be detected at an early stage.

The tests take about 30 minutes per person and include a physical test, as well as an electronic questionnaire. The entire process is very confidential.

This year there are also prizes up for grabs, such as a Nexa Polaris 7.0 tablet and travel bags, during each session.

TIME

Monday
9 September

Tuesday
10 September

Wednesday
11 September

Thursday
12 September

Friday
13 September

09:00 – 12:00 Winkie Direko Building, K139 Agriculture Building, Lecture Hall B and C Physical Resources Hall

Stef Coetzee Building,Committee Room

Agriculture Building, K8
12:00 – 15:30 Flippie Groenewoud Building, Lapa
  • Flippie Groenewoud Building K110
  • 12:00 - 14:00 Main Building K16
George du Toit Building, Large Committee Room (3rd floor)

Francois Retief Building, Reception area

Sasol Library, K 433

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