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Journey of a lifetime: Marike Stander joins research expedition to Marion Island

05 August 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

The Prince Edward Islands are the most southerly part of South Africa’s official territory and consist of Marion Island and Prince Edward Island. On Marion Island, about 270 km² in size and situated in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean, 1 920 km from the South African shore, activities are restricted to research and conservation management.

This is where Marike Stander, Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of the Free State (UFS), was granted the opportunity to assist a research group led by Prof Werner Nel (University of Fort Hare) and Prof David Hedding (Unisa) – based on her knowledge and experience in tracer sampling.

Back home, Stander is working to complete her doctoral research, investigating the often-overlooked major issue of soil erosion. She believes the management of soil erosion, a global issue, is key. According to her, it impacts the storage of carbon and nutrients, and therefore the production of food, but it can also act as a pollutant in water sources.

Fieldwork and data collection

She was approached by the Sub-Antarctic Landscape-Climate Interactions (SANAP-LCI) Research Group, a project funded by the South African National Antarctic Programme-NRF. One of their research objectives is to explore the viability of using geochemical tracers in the substrate on Marion Island, the focus of Stander’s doctoral research.

With the support of the UFS Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and the Department of Geography, she was released to accompany the research group for the first time in her life on their annual relief expedition with the SA Agulhas II from Cape Town to Marion Island, where she assisted with fieldwork and data collection. During this three-week field campaign, Stander collected sediment samples for the tracer project, as well as rock and peat samples.

With the SANAP-LCI group collaborating with research labs in the United Kingdom and France, she was able to bring her expertise to the table, while at the same time learning about other geochronological techniques and field methods.

She was also excited about the exposure to the work of a myriad of researchers in various fields from around the world. Stander says in a time when the importance of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary work is being emphasised, it was invaluable to meet and learn from various distinguished scientists. “It changes your perspective and allows your mind to not only think outside the box, but also to think about all the interconnected boxes and how they affect each other.”

She believes being exposed to various sampling strategies from different scientists also broaden one’s skill set and experience. “Using your capabilities and skills in a different setting builds depth to your skill set and expands your horizon.”

Volcanoes and albatrosses

Very few people get the opportunity to visit Marion Island. Thus, just the chance to visit and experience life on the island is described by many as one of their most memorable events. Always fascinated by volcanic features, Stander was completely captivated by this relatively young volcanic island. “There are so many interesting features, such as the pahoehoe and a’a lava flows, as well as the numerous scoria cones,” describes Stander, who cannot believe that she managed to cover the vast distances in gumboots, the only footwear that are effective to cross anything – from razor-sharp rocks to deep waterlogged mires.

She was also overwhelmed by the flora and fauna on the island. “It is so very different from what we are used to and from what I’ve experienced before. Seeing these animals in a relatively untouched remote location really captivated me,” she says.

“More specifically, I fell in love with the albatrosses. These remarkable seabirds cover vast distances over the ocean looking for food. They are unfortunately threatened by the invasive mice on Marion Island.” Stander invites people to help organisations such as Mouse-Free Marion to take on the difficult task of eradicating these mice. Find them at www.mousefreemarion.org.

On a lighter note, Stander also learnt a thing or two that was totally new to her. For instance, that there are radio telescopes installed on the radio-quiet Marion Island, searching for the universe’s first stars. And that male elephant seals that drive out all other male competitors during mating season are called ‘beachmasters’. She learned that these ‘beachmaster’ bulls have a harem of female elephant seals and can weight up to three tons.

• She wishes to thank Prof Werner Nel, Prof David Hedding, and Dr Liezel Rudolph (UFS) from the SANAP-LCI project for affording her the opportunity to join the expedition. She also thanks the SANAP-NRF and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment for making the expedition possible.

News Archive

UFS law experts publish unique translation

2006-06-21

Attending the launch of the publication were from the left: Prof Boelie Wessels (senior lecturer at the UFS Faculty of Law), Prof Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS), Prof Johan Henning (Dean: UFS Faculty of Law) and Adv Jaco de Bruin (senior lecturer at the UFS Faculty of Law). Prof Wessels translated the treatise from corrupted medieval lawyer Latin into English, Prof Henning is the leading author and initiator of the publication and Adv de Bruin assisted with the proofreading and editing. Photo: Stephen Collett

UFS law experts publish unique translation of neglected source of partnership law

The Centre for Business Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) has translated a unique long neglected Roman-Dutch source of the law of partnership law from Latin into English. This source dates back to 1666.

The book, called Tractatus de Societate (A Treatise on the Law of Partnership), by Felicius and Boxelius is published as Volume 40 in the research series Mededelings van die Sentrum vir Ondernemingsreg/Transactions of the Centre for Business Law. It is the first translation of this Roman-Dutch source into English and comprises of a comprehensive discussion of the South African common law of partnerships.

“Apart from various brief provisions dealing on a peace meal and an ad hoc basis with diverse matters such as insolvency, there is no comprehensive Partnership Act in South Africa. The law of partnership in South Africa consists of South African common-law, which is mainly derived from Roman-Dutch law,” said Prof Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the UFS. Prof Henning is also the leading author and initiator of this comprehensive publication.

“Countries such as America, England, Ireland and The Netherlands have drafted or are in the process of establishing new modern partnership laws in line with new international guidelines, practices and commercial usages,” said Prof Henning.

“However, in South Africa the most recent policy document released by the Department of Trade and Industry explicitly excludes partnership law from its present company law reform programme and clearly regards this as an issue for another day,” said Prof Henning.

“Unless there is a political will to allocate the necessary resources to a comprehensive partnership law revision program, it is a practical reality that South Africa will not have a modern Partnership Act in the foreseeable future,” said Prof Henning.

According to Prof Henning South African courts have been using the Roman-Dutch partnership law sources as authority. “The English Partnership Act of 1890 is not binding and the English text books should therefore be approached with caution,” said Prof Henning.

“A treatise on the law of partnership that has been regarded by South African courts as an important common law authority is that of a Frenchman by the name of Pothier. This treatise was translated into English and was regarded as an authority of significance in The Netherlands towards the end of the eighteenth century,” said Prof Henning.

“Pothier’s opinions are however not valid throughout in the Roman-Dutch partnership law as it did not apply to the Dutch province of The Netherlands and it sometimes also rely on local French customs for authority,” said Prof Henning.

For this reason the Centre for Business Law at the UFS decided to focus its attention again on the significance of the comprehensive treatise of Felicius and Boxelius on the Roman-Dutch partnership law. Felicius was an Italian lawyer and Boxelius a Dutch lawyer.

This long neglected source of partnership law was published in 1666 in Gorkum in The Netherlands. "A significant amount of Roman-Dutch sources of authoritive writers trusted this treatise and referred to it,” said Prof Henning.

The translation of the treatise from corrupted medieval lawyer Latin into English was done by Prof Boelie Wessels, a very well-known expert on Roman Law and senior lecturer at the UFS Faculty of Law. Prof Wessels, who has 15 degrees, spent almost ten years translating the treatise. The proofreading and editing of the translation was done by Prof Henning and Adv Jaco de Bruin, a senior lecturer at the UFS Faculty of Law.

“We want the South African courts to use Volume 40 in the research series Mededelings van die Sentrum vir Ondernemingsreg/Transactions of the Centre for Business Law as the primary source of reference when cases where Roman-Dutch Law partnership law principles are involved, are ruled on,” said Prof Henning.

The first part of the publication comprises of selected perspectives on the historical significance of the work as well as a translation of selected passages. “The intention is to follow this up expeditiously with the publication of a very limited edition of a complete translation of the work,” said Prof Henning.

A total of 400 copies of the publication will be distributed to all courts, the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
21 June 2006

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