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21 October 2021 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa

The University of the Free State (UFS) is currently developing a COVID-19 Regulations and Required Vaccination Policy that all students will have to adhere to in 2022. This policy is being developed to ensure a safe environment for all staff and students upon their return in 2022. 

The university is taking these measures to minimise the risk of exposing staff and students to infection and to enable a safe return to all three UFS campuses next year. However, the university will implement the policy in such a way that it will adequately accommodate individuals who are choosing not to get vaccinated for legitimate reasons.

In order to encourage our students to make the responsible choice by keeping themselves and others safe, the UFS Division of Student Affairs (DSA) is launching a COVID-19 Vaccination Drive that will take place from Monday, 25 October to Wednesday, 27 October 2021.

The programme is as follows:


Monday, 25 October 2021
When: 11:00-14:00
Where: outside Gate 5, UFS Bloemfontein Campus
What: Live performances by students, KovsieFM, KovsieTV, Vox Pops, free UFS branded T-shirts, and giveaways

Wednesday, 27 October 2021
When: 11:00-14:00
Where: Thakaneng Bridge
What: Live performances by local artists and students, KovsieFM, KovsieTV, Vox Pops, free UFS branded T-shirts, and giveaways

COVID-19 Vaccination panel discussion

The Vaccination Drive will conclude on Wednesday, 27 October 2021 with an online panel discussion titled: COVID Vaccination. Informed Youth. Informed Decisions. 
The discussion will start at 16:00 on MS Teams, and students are welcome to join us and ask for advice or clarification about the vaccine from our panel members. The link will be provided soon.

Facilitator: 
Dr Musa Mthombeni, Local TV personality

Panel members include:
Tshepo Moloi, Alumni and Economist representation business sector
Dr Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe, Youngest female PhD holder, lecturer and UFS Alumni
Jerry Thoka, ISRC President
Vusumzi Gqalane, SRC Policy and Transformation on the UFS Vaccination Policy
Asive Dlanjwa, South African Union of Students (SAUS) spokesperson
Victor Sekekete, Free State Cheetahs Rugby Player
Shaxe Khumalo, Entertainment Industry


For more information on the vaccination drive, contact Rethabile Motseki, motsekir@ufs.ac.za or Michelle Nothling at NothlingM@ufs.ac.za 

News Archive

“You cannot find Ubuntu in a culture of dominance” – Dr Mamphela Ramphele during second Leah Tutu Gender Symposium
2015-02-28

 

From the left are: Samantha van Schalkwyk, Zanele Mbeki, Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Dr Mamphela Ramphele.
Photo: Johan Roux

 

Video message from Mrs Leah Tutu

Session 1: Keynote address by Dr Mamphela Ramphele
Ndiyindoda! Yes, you are a man 

Session 2: Professor Robert Morrell from the University of Cape Town
South African Gender Studies: Setting the context

Session 3: How can we engage young men to act against violence against women?
Panel discussion by Lisa Vetten (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research), Despina Learmonth (Psychology Department, University of Cape Town) and Wessel van den Berg (Sonke Gender Justice) 

Session 4: Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Self-defence as a strategy for women’s resistance: Reflections on the work of Susan Brison
 

Engaging men to act against gender-based violence in the Southern African context.

This was the theme of the second International Leah Tutu Symposium, hosted by the Gender Initiative of Trauma, Forgiveness and Reconciliation Studies of the University of the Free State (UFS) on Tuesday 24 February 2015.

What does it mean to be man? How can men become active in the fight against gender-based violence? And when does one say: enough is enough? Questions like these set the tone as highly-respected individuals such as Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Prof Rob Morrell, Lisa Vetten and Andy Kawa took to the stage in the Odeion on the Bloemfontein Campus.

Leah Tutu
Unfortunately, Mrs Leah Tutu could not attend this year’s event, but she still managed to send sparks of wit and insight into the auditorium. In her video message, Mrs Tutu referred to the fact that our country has “consigned discriminatory legislation to the rubbish bin of the past”, but we continue to inhabit a divided society.

“We have a constitution and bill of rights that should have sounded the death knell for patriarchy. But women are unsafe across the land,” Mrs Tutu said. “Our freedom cost too much to be left out in the rain,” she urged.

Ndiyindoda! Yes, you are a man
In Dr Ramphele’s keynote address, “Ndiyindoda! Yes, you are a man”, she scrutinised the dominant masculinity model that has supported an alpha-male mentality for millennia. A mentality that celebrates dominance, power and control – where the winner takes it all. How then, can we expect our young boys to embrace the value system of a human rights culture?

“Gender equality is at the heart of our constitutional democratic values. Yet, our society continues to privilege and celebrate the alpha male as a masculinity model,” Dr Ramphele said. This dissonance can only produce conflict and violence.

We encourage our young men to be gentle, communicative, caring people who show their emotions. And when they do, what do we as women do? Do we encourage them?

“Or do we join those who call them wimps, moffies, sissies? How do we respond when they are ridiculed?” Dr Ramphele asked. Are we, as mothers, fathers and grandparents willing to socialise our children to acknowledge a diversity of masculinities as equally valid in our society?

The new man and the new woman of the 21st century need to be liberated from the conflict-ridden dominant masculinity model. They need to be able to shape their identity in line with a value system of human rights as enshrined in our constitution.

Perhaps Dr Ramphele’s message could be summed up by one sentence: You cannot find Ubuntu in a culture of dominance.

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