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Prof Mamello Sekhoacha new chairperson of National Health Research Ethics Council

08 February 2021 | Story André Damons | Photo Charl Devenish

Read more — Prof Mamello Sekhoacha, Associate Professor from the Department of Pharmacology in the Faculty of Health Sciences, was appointed by Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Health, as the new chairperson of the National Health Research Ethics Council of South Africa (NHREC).

A researcher in the field of drug discovery and development at the University of the Free State (UFS) has been appointed by Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Health, as the new chairperson of the National Health Research Ethics Council of South Africa (NHREC).

Prof Mamello Sekhoacha, Associate Professor from the Department of Pharmacology in the Faculty of Health Sciences, was appointed as a member of the NHREC council in 2013, and later became the chairperson of the NHREC’s Norms and Standards Committee responsible for developing and revising guidelines for health research. Prof Sekhoacha was appointed deputy chairperson of the council in 2018 and has played an integral part in setting ethical standards for conducting health research in the country.

Responsibilities of the NHREC

The NHREC is the national statutory body responsible for the governance and advancement of health research ethics in South Africa. Some of the responsibilities of the council are to set ethical norms and standards for health research by developing and revising the guidelines pertaining to health research; to promote and monitor compliance with existing regulations by health research ethics committees; and to build capacity in research ethics committees through robust registration and audit processes.

These responsibilities of the NHREC rest on the need to ensure ethical integrity in research involving human participants and animal subjects, and that research is based on sound scientific and ethical principles.

“It is an honour for me to serve on the NHREC for the third term. The NHREC has achieved remarkable outputs over the past three years, and I believe, given the current composition of the council members, this momentum will not be lost. One of the goals of the NHREC is to further broaden the scope of the ethics in health research guidelines from ‘biomedical research’ to ‘health-related research’ to ensure that adequate guidance is provided for those in health-related disciplines, as a response to the changing environment of research involving humans and the broader meaning of health research.”

“We need more comprehensive guidelines with nuanced commentaries to indicate how the ethical principles that emanated from biomedical research involving humans, could be effectively implemented in other disciplines of health-related research,” says Prof Sekhoacha.

Global paradigm shift in role and integration of ethics in health research

Having been a council member since 2013, Prof Sekhoacha, whose training spans from pre-clinical laboratory experimentation, the use of animals in research, clinical trials, and working with indigenous communities, says there is a global paradigm shift in the role and integration of ethics in health research in almost all aspects of research, with an increased emphasis on the scientific and social value of research: the prospect of generating the knowledge in a manner that protects and promotes people's health. Considerations of the NHREC go beyond developing ethical guidelines or ensuring the efficient functioning of the ethics committees, to raising awareness among research institutions and researchers to continually promote ethically sound research conduct.

The subject of ethics in health research is pivotal and reflective of the values of both the institution and the country at large.

UFS uses Prof Sekhoacha’s expertise on ethics

Prof Sekhoacha is also a co-opted advisory member in the Senate Research Ethics Committee of the UFS and facilitates workshops and seminars on research ethics offered by the Postgraduate School.

Prof Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research and Internationalisation, says it is a great honour for the UFS that Prof Sekhoacha has been elected chair of the NHREC. “The NHREC governs the research ethics processes in South Africa, and it is strategically important for the UFS to now have one of our own academics play such a nationally important role. We have been using Prof Sekhoacha’s expertise on issues of ethics and we are looking forward to working with her to continue to better our own ethics processes.”

News Archive

Council votes on appointment of senior staff

2004-11-18

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) today voted on the filling of three senior vacancies, including one post at Dean level and two at the level of Vice-Dean.

The Council voted as follows:


Dr Natie Luyt will be offered the post of Dean: Student Affairs	Prof Engela Pretorius will be offered the post of Vice-Dean: Faculty of Humanities	Dr Choice Makhetha will be offered the post of Vice-Dean: Student Affairs

“There are special challenges for the UFS in the short and medium term regarding transformation of our residences, and a certain combination of management qualities and skills is desirable. As a result of the diversity of the UFS’s student community it is therefore important to us to follow a team approach to deal with the challenges. With the combination of Drs Luyt and Makhetha, I believe we will be able to manage student affairs effectively and skillfully,” says Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

“It is wonderful that we are able to celebrate the outcome of this process that has brought forward such excellent candidates who reflect our country’s diversity. It shows that we can achieve the goals of quality and diversity at the same time,” says Prof Fourie.

Prof Pretorius obtained all her qualifications (BA, BA (Hons) (cum laude), MA (cum laude) and D Phil) from the UFS, except for the Certificate in Gender Policy Management (cum laude) which she obtained in 2000 from WITS. She joined the Department of Sociology at UFS in 1980 and has headed the Department since 2001. She acted as Vice-Dean: Faculty of Humanities since July 2004. She has some thirty publications to her credit, published both nationally and internationally and has delivered 20 national and international papers. She is a member of the South African Sociological Association and is a member of the Council of the association and of the Editorial Board of Society in Transition, the society’s journal. She is also a member of the South African Academy for Science and Art and the Federation of African Women Educationalists in South Africa (FAWESA). Project involvement includes the Australian Women’s Executive Development Programme and the project Executive Development of Senior Women in South African Higher Education Institutions. She is also an NRF panelist.

Dr Luyt obtained his qualifications (BA, BA (Hons) (cum laude), MA (cum laude) and D Phil) at the UFS and started his career at the same institution in 1980 as lecturer in Political Science. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1983 and appointed as Director: Student Affairs in 1997. He has been acting as Dean: Student Affairs since 2003. Dr Luyt completed several work-related training courses, among others a course in ethnic and multiculturality at the Swiss Institute for Federalism and a course in conflict management at the South Tyrolean Economic and Social Institute.

Dr Makheta also obtained all her qualifications (BA, BA (Hons), MA in Political Science and Ph D in Political Science) at the UFS and started working as a student assistant in Political Science at the same institution in 1999. She was promoted to junior assistant in 2000, coordinator and facilitator of Political Science in 2001, assistant/acting Director: Student Affairs in 2001 and acting Director: Student Affairs in 2003. Dr Makhetha is currently a Senior Political Analyst at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The UFS Council also approved the promotion of nine professors to the rank of senior professor. They are Proff Louise Cilliers (Department English and Classical Languages), Dap Louw (Department of Psychology), Philip Nel (Department Afro-Asiatic Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice), Dirk van den Berg (Department of History of Art and Visual Culture Studies) Dingie van Rensburg (Director: Centre for Health Systems Research and Develoment), Andries Raath (Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law), James du Preez (Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology), Johan Grobbelaar (Department of Plant Sciences) and Louis Scott (Department of Plant Sciences).

This is the first group ever of senior professors at the UFS. The post level was created to provide better career and earnings opportunities for high quality academics and to increase the attractiveness of an academic career to young people.

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

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