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LLB graduate Lizandré Mulder excels in law and athletics

21 April 2022 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Supplied

Moving from Jansenville – a town outside Uitenhage – to Bloemfontein for her LLB studies, things got off to a shaky start for Lizandré Mulder. New in a ‘big town’, the ‘country girl’ felt out of her element and not used to big-city life. Thanks to her lecturers, the journey to a legal qualification at the University of the Free State (UFS) ended with an average final-year mark of 80% for the Law graduate.

Back in Jansenville, Lizandré’s neighbour nicknamed her ‘klein prokureurtjie (little lawyer)’ as she was growing up, because she had a ‘habit of arguing’, which motivated her to choose law as a career. She says, “arguing with facts earlier, has turned into a passion”. “The competitive side of me always wants to win; I guess that makes me the perfect candidate for a future advocate,” she says.

Managing undergraduate studies, Lizandré – who is also an accomplished athlete – says all she did was study and train. “The only thing I struggled with was my sleeping schedule, as I was constantly tired from hard training, and I studied till the morning hours while I had to wake up again early for morning training.”

The track, field, and cross-country runner has received numerous national medals for the sport and will unfortunately miss the invitation to the annual Excellence Awards in the Faculty of Law, as she will be competing in this year’s South African Athletics Championships in Cape Town on 22 April 2022.

Graduating with the LLB degree, Lizandré plans to finish her master’s degree with a possible topic on the legality of human gene editing in South Africa for the purposes of disease treatment or the prevention thereof.

Lizandré does not believe in having a role model, but to “always try to better myself in every aspect of life. I always believed that true inspiration and motivation come from within”.

After completing her master’s degree, Lizandré will decide on her future career path. She says: “I am still deciding whether I want to remain in Bloemfontein or relocate to Potchefstroom, as the latter has a law firm specialising in medical negligence, a field I would like to specialise in. Besides this, the two cities also boast the best athletics coaches in DB Prinsloo, Head of KovsieSport, and Jean Verster in Potchefstroom has mentored South African award-winning runner, Caster Semenya.

“Somewhere in the future, I definitely also plan on doing my doctoral degree in Law,” says Lizandré.

News Archive

Prof Prakash Naidoo appointed as Vice-Rector: Operations

2017-09-13

Prof Prakash Naidoo has been appointed
as Vice-Rector: Operations
Photo: Stephen Collet

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the appointment of Prof Prakash Naidoo as Vice-Rector: Operations, during its quarterly meeting held on the South Campus in Bloemfontein on 8 September 2017.

Prof Naidoo is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Resources and Planning at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT). He has also been the Executive Dean: Faculty of Management Sciences at VUT. Prior to this, he was a lecturer in the Department of Accounting at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), and Vice-Dean and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Commerce at DUT.
“Prof Naidoo is a seasoned senior manager and an excellent appointment in this vital position. He understands the higher-education sector, and the Council is satisfied by the quality and extent of experience which he will bring to the position,” said Mr Willem Louw, Chairperson of the UFS Council.

He holds a PhD in Management Accounting, MComm in Management Accounting, Honours in Accounting, Honours in Economics, BComm (Acc), and a University Diploma in Education.

Prof Naidoo is a registered professional accountant with the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA), an associate of the Chartered Institute of Business Management (CIBM), and an Internationally Certified Fraud Examiner (ACFE). He was also an international associate of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
He served as member and chairperson on various boards and forums, including the Investment Committee of the National Tertiary Retirement Fund (NTRF); Audit Committee of the National Institute on Higher Education in Mpumalanga (NIHE); Audit Committee of the Higher Education Purchasing Consortium (PURCO), and other task teams in higher education. He also served as a former director of ACFE (SA Chapter), where he received a commendation for his work in fighting fraud and corruption in the country. He has written and published numerous papers, supervised research, presented papers at conferences, and published one book.
Prof Naidoo is currently the Campus Principal of the university’s Qwaqwa Campus. He will start in the new position as from 1 January 2018, following the subsequent retirement of Prof Nicky Morgan, current Vice-Rector: Operations at the end of December 2017.

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