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Communitas features wide-range of articles

02 February 2021 | Story Dr Willemien Marais | Photo Supplied

The current issue of Communitas, academic journal of the Department of Communication Science in the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS), features scholarly articles ranging from indigenous knowledge systems for science and health communication to online discourses about male rape and the use of social media to increase social capital.

Communitas is a nationally accredited, open-access academic journal publishing scientific articles in the context of community communication, information impact and related disciplines, including corporate and marketing communication, development and health communication, media studies, and journalism.

These articles address real-world challenges in the field of communication, as well as the impact of communication and information in developing societies, including Southern African communities. While the articles range in focus from global participation to area-specific issues in remote rural areas, they all highlight areas or aspects that form part of or contribute to the rich tapestry of the Southern African communication landscape, thus contributing to African knowledge creation.

Interdisciplinary experts write on real-world issues

In the latest issue of Communitas, Dr Anton Binneman and Dr Corne Davis write about the use of indigenous knowledge systems for science communication in the context of the Square Kilometre Array radio astronomy project, while Lesego Radebe et al. investigate how traditional folk media can be used to convey diabetes mellitus messages at public health-care services.

In an article by Dr Tsitsi Mkomde and Dr Estelle de Beer, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) can benefit from their analysis of the communicative decision-making processes used by corporates to make decisions about funding NGOs and other donor recipients. In another NGO-related article, Prof Retha de la Harpe presents a conceptual model for NGOs and volunteer-based organisations to use data generated by an online platform to understand the invisible user.

For marketers and brand communicators, Dr Abyshey Nhedzi provides valuable insight into improving brand-linkage effectiveness for consumers from an African perspective, while Vuyelwa Constance Mashwa et al. focus on the consumer’s perspective in their article on the use of fictional spokes-characters in brand advertisements and communication.

The increased focus on pro-environmental reputations by consumer brands and how this is reflected in South African print media, provides marketing-communication practitioners with guidelines to distinguish between types of green advertising, as identified by Prof Angelique van Niekerk and Dr Marthinus Conradie. Dr Patrick Mupambwa and Prof Norman Chiliya look at factors that influence the adoption of an e-marketing orientation among Zimbabwean churches.

Heterosexual responses to lesbian and gay-themed advertisements are the focus of an article by Nkosiville Welcome Madigana et al., while Dr Karabo Sitto and Prof Elizabeth Lubinga analyse online discourses on gendered myths, risks, and the social amplification of male rape.

With an increasing number of digital natives joining social media and the growing popularity of influencer culture, Dr Stenford Matenda et al. are looking at young people’s use of social media to increase social capital. An article by Dr Mvuzo Ponono investigates the implications of current debates on fake news for South Africa and how we understand these insights in the context of histories of conflict and high inequality. Dr Ponono is a lecturer in Communication Science at the UFS.

*Communitas uses a continuous publication (CP) model and authors are invited to submit manuscripts online or email the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Willemien Marais, at maraisw@ufs.ac.za for assistance. The journal is one of the accredited journals of the University of the Free State. Visit the Kovsie Journals webpage for more information.

News Archive

UFS to investigate implementation of quality-monitoring system for SA food industry

2006-02-07

Some of the guests who attended the workshop were from the left Prof James du Preez (Chairperson: Department of Biotechnology at the UFS); Prof Lodewyk Kock (Head: South African Fryer Oil Initiative (SAFOI) at the UFS)); Mrs Ina Wilken (Chairperson: South African National Consumer Union (SANCU)); Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS) and Mr Joe Hanekom (Managing Director of Agri Inspec).
Photo: Stephen Collet

UFS to investigate implementation of quality-monitoring system for SA food industry

The University of the Free State (UFS) will be investigating the implementation of a quality-monitoring service for the South African food industry.

This was decided during a workshop to discuss the external quality monitoring in the edible oil industry of South Africa, which was recently held at the UFS.

Major role players in the fast-food sector like Nando's, Spur, Captain
Dorego's, King Pie Holdings, Black Steer Holdings, etc and various oil
distributors like Felda Bridge Africa, Refill Oils, PSS Oils and Ilanga Oils attended
the workshop. Also present was Mrs Ina Wilken, Chairperson of the South African National Consumer Union (SANCU) and key-note speaker of this workshop. She represented the consumer.

These role players all pledged their support to the implementation of this quality- monitoring system for the whole food industry.

The decision to implement this system follows the various malpractices reported in the press and on TV concerning food adulteration (eg the recent Sudan Red Scare), misrepresentation (eg olive oil scandal exposed in 2001) and the misuse of edible frying oils by the fast-food sector.

“One of the basic rights of consumers is the right to safe food. Consumers must be protected against foods and food production processes which are hazardous to their health. Sufficient guarantee of the safety of all food products and food production processes should be implemented. It does not help to have adequate food standards and legislation and there is no manpower to do the necessary investigation or monitoring,” said Mrs Wilken.

The South African Fryer Oil Initiative (SAFOI), under the auspices of the UFS Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, currently monitors edible oils in the food industry and makes a seal of quality available to food distributors.

“Last week’s decision to implement the quality-monitoring system implies that we will now be involving also other departments in the UFS Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences who are involved in various aspects of the food chain in an endeavor to implement this quality monitoring system,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS and one of the main speakers at the workshop.

Prof van Schalkwyk said that the main aim of such a system will be to improve the competitiveness of the South African food industry. “It is clear that the role players attending the workshop are serious about consumer service and that they agree that fraudulent practice should be monitored and corrected as far as possible. Although some of the food outlets have the capacity to monitor the quality of their food, it may not seem to the consumer that this is an objective process. The proposed external monitoring system would counteract this perception amongst consumers,” said Prof van Schalkwyk.

The workshop was also attended by representatives from SAFOI and Agri Inspec, a forensic investigation company collaborating with inter-state and government structures to combat fraud and international trade irregularities.

Agri Inspec has been working closely with SAFOI for a number of years to test the content of edible oils and fats. “Extensive monitoring and control actions have been executed in the edible oil industry during the past four years to ensure that the content and labeling of oil products are correct. Four years ago almost 90% of the samples taken indicated that the content differed from what is indicated on the label. This has changed and the test results currently show that 90% of the products tested are in order. However, to maintain this quality standard, it is necessary that quality monitoring and educational campaigns are continuously performed,” said Mr Joe Hanekom, Managing Director of Agri Inspec.

“The seal of quality presented by SAFOI should also be extended to include all the smaller oil containers used by households,” Mrs Wilken said.

The SAFOI seal of quality is currently displayed mainly on some oil brands packed in bigger 20 liter containers, which include sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil etc which are used by restaurants and fast food outlets. “Any oil type is eligible to display the seal when meeting certain standards of authenticity. In order to display the seal, the distributor must send a sample of each oil batch they receive from the manufacturer to SAFOI for testing for authenticity, ie that the container’s content matches the oil type described on the label. This is again double checked by Agri Inspec, which also draws samples countrywide from these certified brands from the end-user (restaurant or fast food outlets). If in breach, the seal must be removed from the faulty containers,” said Prof Lodewyk Kock, Head of SAFOI.

“It should however be taken into account that oils without a seal of quality from the UFS can still be of high quality and authentic. Other external laboratories equipped to perform effective authenticity tests may also be used in this respect,” said Prof Kock.

“It is also important to realise that any oil type of quality such as sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil etc can be used with great success in well controlled frying processes,” he said.

Further discussions will also be held with the Department of Health, the SA National Consumer Union and Agri Inspec to determine priority areas and to develop the most effective low-cost monitoring system.

More information on the UFS oil seal of quality and oil use can be obtained at www.uovs.ac.za/myoilguide

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
6 February 2006

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