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17 September 2021 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Supplied
Mr David Noko, newly appointed Chairperson of the UFS Council.

During its third scheduled meeting for the year that took place virtually on 17 September 2021, the Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) appointed Mr David Noko as Chairperson for a term of four years, as from 1 October 2021.

Mr Noko, who was Deputy Chairperson of the Council, will take over the Chairpersonship from Dr Willem Louw, whose term will come to an end on 30 September 2021.
 
“On behalf of the Council, I congratulate Mr Noko and wish him all the best during his term of leading the Council of the UFS. With the skills and competence available in the Council, complemented by Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, and his team, he has access to a formidable group of individuals to support him in the execution of this very important role,” said Dr Louw during the meeting. 
 
“I am humbled and honoured for the opportunity and thank the Council for their confidence and trust in me. Since serving on the Council, I have become an ambassador of the University of the Free State, talking to many stakeholders about the institution and how much it should be supported. I am here to serve and look forward to doing so in a professional and dignified manner, together with everyone on the Council and with the leadership of the university,” said Mr Noko.
 
Mr Noko is well-known and respected internationally as a business leader. He has a National Higher Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Technikon Witwatersrand (now the University of Johannesburg), a Management Development Programme (MDP) Certificate from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Company Directorships from the Graduate Institute of Management and Technology. He also completed a master’s degree in Business Administration at the Heriot-Watt University and a Senior Executive Programme at the London Business School.
 
Before retiring from the corporate world in 2019, Mr Noko was the Executive Vice-President of AngloGold Ashanti, where he was responsible for the company’s global Sustainable Development and Government Relations portfolios. His career began at the General Electric Company (GEC) before moving to South African Breweries in 1987, and then to Pepsi-Cola International in 1994, where he gained extensive international exposure and global experience.
 
In 1999, Mr Noko was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Chefs (Pty) Ltd in South Africa, before joining De Beers in 2002. In 2006, he was appointed Managing Director and CEO of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited (DBCM), and in 2010 he founded his own company, CelaCorp (Pty) Ltd. He also founded ESG Advisory (Pty) Ltd, a company providing advisory services to corporates relating to environment, social and governance matters, mostly focusing on mining companies.
 
He is a member of the Institute of Directors SA and served on the boards of Royal Bafokeng Platinum Limited, Harmony Gold (Deputy Chairman), AstraPak Ltd, and PlatiStone Holdings (Chairman). He is currently a board director of African Rainbow Minerals Ltd, Tongaat Hulett Ltd, and Aveng Moolmans (Pty) Ltd.

The Council also thanked Dr Louw for his service and for the impeccable leadership he displayed during the time he served.

News Archive

New security measures for Rag fundraising
2012-01-25

The University of the Free State will no longer allow first-year students to sell Ritsems or to shake their cans for change at traffic robots in Bloemfontein in an effort to raise funds for Rag Community Service.

This decision follows after an evaluation has been done in 2011 and 2012 concerning the safety risk for students during this type of sales at road crossings.
 
The new security measures have specifically been implemented for this type of sales since last year.
 
The measures included, among others, that students should be obliged to wear brightly coloured safety jackets during sales, continuous supervision of first-year students by senior students to ensure that students keep to the rules of the road, and limiting the sales hours at robots.
 
Through notices in the media, an appeal was made on motorists to keep a lookout for students raising money for Rag Community Service. The measures were implemented and the effects thereof for students’ safety during sales at robots monitored since last year. This follows after a student, Ms Hanje Pistorius, was hit by a reckless driver in 2010 and she subsequently lost her leg as a result of the accident. 
 
Although, from all appearances, the new measures are a positive contribution to protect students even more, the UFS decided to abolish the sales and fund-raising actions at traffic robots. As reckless drivers would not necessarily take notice of the extra measures, the risk to students at robots stay unchanged. 
 
"The UFS sets the safety of its students as first priority and considers it in the best interest of students to not expose first-years to the risk during our Rag programme,” says Mr Rudi Buys, Dean: Student Affairs at the UFS.
 
Night fund-raising and the selling of Ritsem in the city’s suburbs will, however, continue. 
 
Although the UFS do not expect the new measures to be detrimental to fund-raising efforts, Rag Community Service currently considers new supporting proposals for the raising of funds for community projects in order to address any possible reduction in funds. 
 
Mr Buys also has an agreement with Ms Pistorius to assist Rag Community Services in the planning of new projects.
 
The Night fund-raising in suburbs will take place on Tuesday 24 January and Thursday 26 January and the UFS calls on residents to assist students and help them in the important task at hand.
 
Three Rag processions will take place on Saturday 28 January 2012. At 10:00 two Rag procession will be leave for Heidedal and Mangaung, where the Kovsie Rag Community Service will hand out food parcels.
 
The main Rag Procession will leave the UFS at 18:00 and will move towards the Old Greys sports ground for the Rag concert with Die Heuwels Fantasties and DJ Black Coffee.

Media Release
25 January 2012
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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