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14 April 2021 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath
Thought-leader series: corruption
2021 UFS Thought-Leader Webinar Series 

PRESENTS

a webinar on 

CORRUPTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE ENDEMIC PANDEMIC

As a public higher-education institution in South Africa with a responsibility to contribute to public discourse, the University of the Free State (UFS) will be presenting the webinar as part of the Free State Literature Festival’s online initiative, VrySpraak-digitaal. The aim of the webinar series is to discuss issues facing South Africa by engaging experts at the university and in South Africa. Some of the topics for 2021 include, among others, reimagining universities for student success; corruption; local elections, the state of business – particularly in the Free State. 

In 2020, the webinar series saw the successful participation of leading experts engaging on COVID-19 and the crisis facing the country socially, economically, and politically. This year, in lieu of the Free State Arts Festival, the UFS will present the webinar virtually over a period of five months. 

Second webinar presented on 4 May 2021

The second webinar for 2021 forms part of the UFS Thought-Leader Series, which is in its fourth year running. The scourge of corruption in South Africa has become endemic at all levels of the state and has rapidly accelerated the nation’s descent from a position of credibility that it once occupied during the era of Nelson Mandela. The economy is damaged; many state-owned enterprises are rendered dysfunctional, while self-enrichment by some political party cadres continues unabated at the peril of stark poverty and deepening inequality of the broader population. 
Are there grounds for optimism for South Africans who have been deeply wounded by the state of the nation? 

Date: Tuesday 4 May 2021
Topic:  Corruption in South Africa: the endemic pandemic 
Time: 12:30-14:00
RSVP: Alicia Pienaar, pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za by 2 May 2021 

Facilitator:

Rector and Vice-Chancellor, UFS

Panellists:

Director, Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa
Campaigning as Accountability Now 


Former Judge at the High Court, Cape Town

Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions, National Prosecuting Authority

Dean: Faculty of Law, University of the Free State

Bios of speakers:

Adv Paul Hoffman
Advocate Paul Hoffman SC, a native of Johannesburg and a Wits graduate, practised law at the sidebar from 1975 to 1980 and at the Cape bar from 1980 to 2006. He took silk in 1995 and acted on the Cape bench at the invitation of three successive judge presidents. After retiring from the bar, he was founding director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, and in 2009 co-founder of Accountability Now – both NGOs that promote constitutionalism. He is best known for his work on the irregularities in the arms deals, the unconstitutionality of the Hawks, and the bread cartel case in which a general class action was developed by the courts. He is the author of many articles and one book, Confronting the Corrupt, published by Tafelberg.

Judge Dennis Davis
Judge Dennis Davis is a retired judge in South Africa’s high court. He was educated at the Herzlia School and the Universities of Cape Town and Cambridge; and served as judge of the High Court, Cape Town (since 1998) and Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court (since February 2000). He is honorary professor at the Universities of Cape Town, the Western Cape, Wits, and is an extraordinary professor in the University of the Free State Centre for Human Rights. He is also Chair of the Davis Tax Committee and was one of the drafters of the Competition Act 1998 and the Companies Act 2008. He authored 11 books and held visiting professorial posts at the universities of Toronto, Melbourne, Harvard, Florida Brown, Georgetown and New York University. 


Adv Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba
Advocate Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba currently serves as the Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions responsible for the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) within the National Prosecuting Authority. She is the national co-ordinator of the anti-corruption strategic objective in the NPA (coordinating priorities for the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit, Investigating Directorate, and Asset Forfeiture Unit within the NPA). Adv Rabaji was admitted as an attorney in 1990, and later as an advocate of the High Court in 1996. She was previously Special Director of the AFU during its formative years, after which she joined the corporate sector in the area of governance and risk, followed by the bar, and practising as an advocate before re-joining the AFU in 2020.

Prof John Mubangizi
Prof John Mubangizi is Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State. He has been full professor for more than 16 years. From 2005 to 2007, he served as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). After that, he served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Law and Management Studies at UKZN for 10 years. Rated as an established researcher by the National Research Foundation, Prof Mubangizi is widely published, with more than 70 publications to his name – most in SAPSE-accredited peer-reviewed journals – as well as a book titled The Protection of Human Rights in South Africa: A Legal and Practical Guide, which is used by scholars, practitioners, and students of human rights law in South Africa. He has also presented more than 40 academic papers at international conferences.  Prof Mubangizi is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and has served as member and adviser to the ASSAf Council. He was also Chairperson of the Higher Education Quality Committee of South Africa and member of the Council on Higher Education. He also serves on various committees and in different ad hoc positions at institutional, national, and international levels.

News Archive

UFS Communication and Brand Management receives two prestigious international awards
2015-07-07

Lelanie de Wet, Lacea Loader and Leonie Bolleurs

The Department of Communication and Brand Management at the University of the Free State (UFS) received two of the six Gold Quill Awards – that were awarded to South African companies and institutions - at the International Association of Business Communicator’s (IABC) Excellence Gala ceremony in San Francisco, US on 15 June 2015.

The awards ceremony formed part of the 2015 IABC World Conference, which took place from 14-17 June 2015. The department received a Gold Quill Excellence Award for its social media campaign, UFS #FaceOfFacebook and a Gold Quill Merit Award for the B Safe Take Action campaign.

From the 15 countries that entered, a total of 120 Gold Quill Excellence awards and 189 Gold Quill Merit awards were awarded. Other South African award winners included Barclays Africa Group Limited, Mediclinic and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).

This is the second year in a row that the UFS has been recognised by the IABC for its communication projects. In 2014, the department was awarded the Jake Wittmer Research Award for a Stakeholder Perception Audit conducted in February 2014. The audit was considered – by the IABC - as one of the best breakthrough strategies used by a university to measure the perceptions of its stakeholders.This made the UFS the first tertiary institution in Africa to receive the research award. The stakeholder perception audit also received an Africa Gold Quill in 2014.

"Being recognised by a global association such as the IABC for the second time, is a great honour and I am very proud of what my colleagues have achieved by entering the two campaigns. Winning the awards is a true indication of what can be done when a team of expert communicators is committed towards engaging their target audiences with campaigns that speak of quality and innovation. The fact that the UFS is one of only two tertiary education institutions in the country to receive these prestigious awards, makes it even more special," said Lacea Loader, Director: Communication and Brand Management at the UFS.

IABC World and Africa conferences 2015 

The IABC is a global membership association with a network of 12 000 members in more than 80 countries, representing many of the Global Fortune 500 companies. It serves professionals in the field of business communication, bringing together the profession’s collective disciplines.

With the theme: Changing landscape: Informing the future, the 2015 world conference was attended by over 1 200 delegates from across the world. Delegates were offered an opportunity for learning, discovering, and connecting. Loader also made a presentation entitled ‘Award-winning measurement endorses sound reputation management strategy’ at the world conference.

The department will also be receiving two Africa Gold Quill Awards from the Africa chapter of the IABC for the same campaigns on 30 July 2015 in Johannesburg.

UFS #FaceOfFacebook Campaign

The university received a Gold Quill Excellence Award for its social media campaign, UFS #FaceOfFacebook. This initiative originated in the university’s commitment to its Human Project, which sets the standard for good behaviour and care.

Lelanie de Wet, Manager: Social Media and Website Content and project leader of UFS #FaceOfFacebook, said the project was born from the need to communicate with students. Thus a virtual friend, #FaceOfFacebook, was created. “Yearly auditions are being held to choose the new face representing the UFS on Facebook. Short video clips of the #FaceOfFacebook – whether it is attending events or communicating important messages - are posted on the UFS Facebook page. The successful candidate holds the title #FaceOfFacebook for 12 months.

“When I look at a campaign such as #FaceOfFacebook, from the time it took its first tentative steps in 2013, and see how it inspired staff and students alike, my heart swells with pride. Often you can see the impact you have made only in retrospect. The ripples you send into the world will inevitably create waves,” she said.

B Safe Take Action Campaign

The B Safe Take Action campaign of the university received a Gold Quill Merit award from the IABC.

The campaign was activated in September 2013. “It targeted on- and off-campus students and staff, aiming to create social ownership of personal safety, and to raise awareness of the safety measures put in place by the university,” said Leonie Bolleurs, Manager: Internal Communication and project manager of the campaign.

The campaign looked at a number of safety aspects, focusing not only on crime but also on being safe from road accidents and stress/burnout.

It is the second time this year that the BSafe campaign has been recognised for its innovative strategy. Earlier this year it received a PRISM Award (Gold) from the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA). The annual PRISM Awards are about recognising and celebrating great public relations campaigns.

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