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21 July 2021
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Story Rulanzen Martin
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Photo Charl Devenish
Even after her premiership, Helen Zille has remained a powerful force within the South African political landscape. Here she is pictured during a workshop hosted by the Department of Political Science and Governance in February 2020.
Zille will be talking to
Prof Hussein Solomon in the Department of Political Studies and Governance at the University of the Free State.
You can join this interesting discussion on:
Date: 29 July 2021
About the author:
Helen Zille is a South African journalist, activist, and politician who served as the national leader (2007-2015) of the Democratic Alliance (DA), the official opposition party in South Africa. She was also Premier of the Western Cape from 2009 until 2019. Zille’s autobiography, Not without a Fight, was published in 2016.
Renowned Sign Language expert heads UFS department
2009-11-27
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| Mr Philemon Akach |
The Department of Afro-asiatic Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice in the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State recently appointed Mr Philemon Akach as its new chairperson.
Mr Akach, hitherto a senior lecturer in the department, succeeds Prof Annelie Lotriet who left the university earlier this year after having been elected to serve in the national parliament by the Democratic Alliance.
“To head the entire department has never crossed my mind because I think I am discipline oriented,” he said.
He said the confidence that his colleagues have in him gives him the impetus to succeed. “It gives me the opportunity to rethink my position within the department and the university at large,” he said.
However, his Sign Language students will be glad to know that he will not be lost to them as the result of this new responsibility.
“I cannot neglect Sign Language,” he stressed. “I have to teach because the academic side of Sign Language has to be maintained within the university, as well as nationally and internationally. I just have to divide my time between the administration of Sign Language and the teaching and research application in my discipline (Sign Language).”
To ease the load that comes with his new responsibility and the added pressure of being the only Sign Language lecturer, he said they have contracted former students to teach some courses in Sign Language.
“We have to keep in place the disciplines that keep this department’s name going,” he said.
A major challenge facing his department, according to Mr Akach, is getting more students enrolled in the disciplines offered by the department.
“To get students we need to convince them that we are the best, and that is not just a challenge for me but for the department and the lecturers in the department teaching those disciplines.”
He said he will strive for excellence in the department as part of the overall vision of the university.
“We need to get research output while not neglecting the teaching part. It is research that brings in new knowledge and it is through research that scholars expose themselves to the outside world, and by doing that they actually put the name of this university on the international map,” he said.
Mr Akach will serve in this position for the next three years.
Media release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za
26 November 2009