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Is South Africa falling apart – where to from here?

12 August 2021 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath

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.

Fourth webinar presented on 24 August 2021
What South Africa will look like after the recent unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, is yet unknown. As the country is attempting to normalise while tallying the human, political, and economic cost of the riots – what we know for sure is that the events of the past few weeks have dispelled the impression of South Africa as exceptional, with a triumphant future. Moreover, the inconsistent response from government during and after the unrest laid bare the divisions within the ruling party. As South Africans are reeling from the aftermath of the looting, a lacklustre response from leaders with unreliable, conflicting messages has brought little comfort to those most in need.

What happens now? What will it take for South Africans to advance a cohesive vision to provide a sustainable future for the next generation?

Date: Tuesday, 24 August 2021
Topic: Is South Africa falling apart – where to from here?
Time: 12:30-14:00
RSVP: Alicia Pienaar, pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za by 20 August 2021

Facilitator:

Prof Francis Petersen
Rector and Vice-Chancellor, UFS

Panellists:

• Prof Bonang Mohale
UFS Chancellor
Professor of Practice
Johannesburg Business School, and
Chairman Bidvest Group Limited

• Nikiwe Bikitsha
Board Member: Nelson Mandela Foundation
CEO and co-founder: Amargi Media

• Qaanitah Hunter
Political Editor: News24

• Prof Anthony Turton
Affiliated Professor
UFS Centre for Environmental Management

Bios of speakers:

Prof Bonang Mohale

A Professor of Practice at the Johannesburg Business School’s College of Business and Economics, and Chairman of the Bidvest Group Limited, Prof Mohale is a published author and respected business leader who has held chairmanships and directorships at some of South Africa’s top companies. He currently serves on the boards of Swiss Re Africa Limited, Rand Merchant Bank Limited (RMB), the Automobile Association of South Africa, and SBV. Prof Mohale was the former Chief Executive Officer of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA). In 2001, he received the President’s Award for his servanthood in South African industry, and in 2019 the Free Market Foundation’s Luminary Award. Prior to joining BLSA, Prof Mohale was the Chairman of Shell Downstream South Africa (Pty) Limited, and Vice-President of Shell Upstream.

Ms Nikiwe Bikitsha

Nikiwe Bikitsha is a former journalist who has been at the forefront of major national and international developments in a news and current affairs broadcasting career spanning twenty years. Nikiwe is a Fulbright Hubert H Humphrey Fellow – the Humphrey programme is a mid-career Fulbright exchange fellowship awarded to people who have demonstrated leadership. Nikiwe holds an MA in Journalism and Media Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand, and an MSc degree in African Studies from the University of Oxford. She serves as trustee on the board of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, is a member of the Deloitte Global Advisory Council and an independent non-executive director of Deloitte Africa. Despite leaving journalism, Nikiwe remains a keen observer of society.

Ms Qaanitah Hunter

Qaanitah Hunter is an award-winning political journalist and author. She is the political editor of News24 and author of Balance of Power: Ramaphosa and the future of South Africa. Qaanitah has won a number of awards for her work, including the Nat Nakasa award for brave and courageous journalism in 2019. She is currently a master’s student at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has reported fearlessly on state capture, the Zuma years, and the political transition thereafter. Her constant probing and investigations have played a pivotal role in holding truth to power. Her writing on South African politics and investigations has featured prominently on many national media platforms, often setting the agenda in the country. Qaanitah is well-versed in issues of governance and her well-rounded and balanced political reporting has contributed to her astute analysis of news and current affairs. She has fought strongly against censorship and intimidation among journalists and has been a strong advocator for the freedom of the press. Qaanitah believes that the prospect of any democracy to persevere is pinned on how free the media is and its ability to hold those in power accountable.

Prof Anthony Turton

Prof Anthony Turton is an Affiliated Professor in the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State (UFS). He specialises in strategic planning, transboundary water resource management, policy and institutional issues, conflict resolution (mitigation), political risk assessment for large infrastructural projects, and research programme design. He is also the Director of Nanodyn Systems Pty Ltd. Prof Turton’s focus is on resources, more specifically the need to overcome water and energy constraints to our future economic growth and prosperity, both as a country and the entire SADC region. As an environmentally aware person, he believes that we are reaching the limits to our current developmental approaches and will be forced to make changes in the near future, whether we like it or not. By understanding and anticipating this, Prof Turton assists organisations in staying ahead of the game by isolating fundamental drivers at work and by identifying emerging opportunities.

News Archive

Mushrooms, from gourmet food for humans to fodder for animals

2016-12-19

From the UFS Department of Microbial Biochemical and
Food Biotechnology are, from left: Prof Bennie Viljoen,
researcher, MSc student Christie van der Berg,
and PhD student Christopher Rothman
Photo: Anja Aucamp

Mushrooms have so many medicinal applications that humans have a substance in hand to promote long healthy lives. And it is not only humans who benefit from these macrofungi growing mostly in dark spaces.

“The substrate applied for growing the mushrooms can be used as animal fodder. Keeping all the medicinal values intact, these are transferred to feed goats as a supplement to their daily diet,” said Prof Bennie Viljoen, researcher in the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the UFS.

Curiosity and a humble start
“The entire mushroom project started two years ago as a sideline of curiosity to grow edible gourmet mushrooms for my own consumption. I was also intrigued by a friend who ate these mushrooms in their dried form to support his immune system, claiming he never gets sick. The sideline quickly changed when we discovered the interesting world of mushrooms and postgraduate students became involved.

“Since these humble beginnings we have rapidly expanded with the financial help of the Technology Transfer Office to a small enterprise with zero waste,” said Prof Viljoen. The research group also has many collaborators in the industry with full support from a nutraceutical company, an animal feed company and a mushroom growers’ association.

Prof Viljoen and his team’s mushroom research has various aspects.

Growing the tastiest edible mushrooms possible
“We are growing gourmet mushrooms on agricultural waste under controlled environmental conditions to achieve the tastiest edible mushrooms possible. This group of mushrooms is comprised of the King, Pink, Golden, Grey, Blue and Brown Oysters. Other than the research results we have obtained, this part is mainly governed by the postgraduate students running it as a business with the intention to share in the profit from excess mushrooms because they lack research bursaries. The mushrooms are sold to restaurants and food markets at weekends,” said Prof Viljoen.

Photo: Anja Aucamp

Natural alternative for the treatment of various ailments
“The second entity of research encompasses the growth and application of medicinal mushrooms. Throughout history, mushrooms have been used as a natural alternative for the treatment of various ailments. Nowadays, macrofungi are known to be a source of bioactive compounds of medicinal value. These include prevention or alleviation of heart disease, inhibition of platelet aggregation, reduction of blood glucose levels, reduction of blood cholesterol and the prevention or alleviation of infections caused by bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic pathogens. All of these properties can be enjoyed by capsulation of liquid concentrates or dried powdered mushrooms, as we recently confirmed by trial efforts which are defined as mushroom nutriceuticals,” he said.

Their research focuses on six different medicinal genera, each with specific medicinal attributes:
1.   Maitake: the most dominant property exhibited by this specific mushroom is the reduction of blood pressure as well as cholesterol. Other medicinal properties include anticancer, antidiabetic and immunomodulating while it may also improve the health of HIV patients.
2.   The Turkey Tail mushroom is known for its activity against various tumours and viruses as well as its antioxidant properties.
3.   Shiitake mushrooms have antioxidant properties and are capable of lowering blood serum cholesterol (BSC). The mushroom produces a water-soluble polysaccharide, lentinan, considered to be responsible for anticancer, antimicrobial and antitumour properties.
4.   The Grey Oyster mushroom has medicinal properties such as anticholesterol, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumour and immunomodulatory properties.
5.   Recently there has been an increased interest in the Lion’s Mane mushroom which contains nerve growth factors (NGF) and may be applied as a possible treatment of Alzheimer’s disease as this compound seems to have the ability to re-grow and rebuild myelin by stimulating neurons.
6.   Reishi mushrooms are considered to be the mushrooms with the most medicinal properties due to their enhancing health effects such as treatment of cancer, as well as increasing longevity, resistance and recovery from diseases.

Description: Mushroom research photo 3 Tags: Mushroom research photo 3

Valuable entity for the agricultural sector
Another research focus is the bio-mushroom application phenome, to break down trees growing as encroaching plants. This research is potentially very valuable for the agricultural sector in the areas where Acacia is an encroaching problem. With this process, waste products are upgraded to a usable state. “It is therefore, possible to convert woody biomass with a low digestibility and limited availability of nutrients into high-quality animal fodder. By carefully selecting the right combination of fungus species to ferment agro-wastes, a whole host of advantages could become inherently part of the substrate. Mushrooms could become a biotechnological tool used to ‘inject’ the substrate that will be fed to animals with nutrition and/or medicine as the need and situation dictates,” said Prof Viljoen.

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