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14 December 2022 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Supplied
Prof Serges Kamga
Prof Serges Kamga, newly appointed Dean: Faculty of Law.

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the appointment of Prof Serges Kamga as Dean of the Faculty of Law for a five-year term during its quarterly meeting on 25 November 2022. 

Prof Kamga is a full Professor of Law currently working at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs (TMS) at the University of South Africa (UNISA).

“Prof Kamga’s excellent research reputation nationally and internationally, his extensive networks and partnerships will contribute to further raising the profile of the Faculty of Law nationally, on the continent and globally.  As an established NRF-rated researcher, he will also be able to enhance the research output of the faculty,” says Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor. 

“Prof Kamga will lead and manage the Faculty of Law in support of the UFS’ Vision 130 and the ultimate intent for the coming years to be a research-led, student-centred, and regionally engaged university that contributes to development and social justice through the production of globally competitive graduates and knowledge, and that impactfully supports societal development,” says Prof Petersen.  

Prof Kamga is co-director of the Cross-Cultural Human Rights Centre at the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. At times, he has acted as head of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute currently Thabo Mbeki School at UNISA and has had engagements at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Young African Leaders Initiative, and as managing consultant at African Legal Sources at the University of Pretoria. In 2021, he received the prestigious Ali Mazrui Award for Scholarship and Research Excellence from the University of Texas at Austin in the USA.

He holds an LLD degree in Human Rights Law from the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. Prof Kamga has also worked as a researcher at the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC). As a researcher, he has published in accredited journals and presented papers at various national and international conferences. 

“Prof Kamga’s experience in these positions, as well as his extensive knowledge and understanding of the South African and global law fraternity, places him in good standing to lead the faculty to become a formidable and impactful force nationally, on the continent, and abroad. He will also lead the faculty to exploit opportunities and deal with the challenges that the rapidly changing higher-education environment has to deal with,” says Prof Petersen.

Prof Kamga will assume duty on 1 February 2023.

News Archive

nGAP lecturers welcomed by the UFS academic community
2016-06-30

Description: nGAP lecturers group photo Tags: nGAP lecturers group photo

University of the Free State’s newly-appointed nGAP
lecturers. From the left, Neo Mathinya,
Phumudzo Tharaga, and Kelebogile Boleu.

The University of the Free State (UFS) was allocated six positions as part of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP). Four candidates have filled positions in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of the Humanities and the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences – with two positions still vacant.

According to Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, nGAP is part of the Staffing South Africa's Universities Framework, which focuses on the expansion of the size and compilation of academic staff at South African universities, especially with regard to transformation. The focus of the programme is the appointment of black and coloured candidates as well as women.

The Department of Soil, Crop, and Climate Sciences in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences welcomed two nGAP lecturers, Phumudzo Tharaga and Neo Mathinya. The Faculty was allocated four positions. Two positions are filled, while two positions in the Department of Animal and Wildlife Sciences are almost ready to be filled with exceptional candidates.

Agrometeorologist with his feet on the ground
Phumudzo Tharaga holds an MSc from the UFS, and is currently pursuing a PhD. Tharaga’s research focuses on quantifying the water use efficiency of sweet cherry orchards under different climate conditions in the Eastern Free State. Tharaga will offer his students a wealth of practical experience, which he began accumulating while working at ABSA as an agro-meteorologist, before moving on to become a senior scientist at the South African Weather Service. In 2015, Tharaga became a research technologist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and then returned to the UFS as an nGAP candidate at the beginning of 2016.  

Description: Beynon Abrahams, nGap lecturer  Tags: Beynon Abrahams, nGap lecturer

Beynon Abrahams, nGap lecturer
at the Faculty of Heath Sciences
Department of Basic medicine

Motivated scholar turned academic
Neo Mathinya, who hails from Taung in the North West, has made the UFS her home. She received both her undergraduate and honours degrees from the university. Apart from joining the department as a lecturer under the nGAP initiative, she is currently studying for her MSc in Soil Physics. She will continue with this research when she comes to her PhD. Mathinya’s research focuses on soil salinity - the process of increasing salt content - which affects the ability of plants to take up water, a process, known as osmotic stress. She will investigate the effects of irrigation water salinity on the grain yield and quality of malt barley.

Researcher with a passion for crime prevention
Kelebogile Boleu joined the Department of Criminology in the Faculty of Humanities, with a fresh take on diversion and crime prevention. Boleu holds a BA Criminology (Hons) and is now pursuing her Master’s degree. She worked for NICRO a non-profit organisation specialising in social crime prevention and offender reintegration, with programmes that prevent young and first-time offenders from re-offending, thus reducing crime. Boleu said that her practical experience makes her lectures to third-year criminology students exciting. Boleu’s research focuses on analysing the value of pre-sentencing reports in assisting adjudicators to make well-balanced judgments in cases.   

Research with a winning plan for fight against breast cancer
Beynon Abrahams joined the Department of Basic Medical Sciences in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Abrahams holds a BSc, BSc (Hons), and MSc in Medical Biosciences from the University of the Western Cape. Abrahams’ Master’s research focused on breast cancer, research on which he is building in his PhD. This doctoral research involves the exploration of P-glycoprotein, a protein expressed on cancer cell and responsible for multi-drug resistance in cancer treatment. The aim of this research is to develop a therapeutic drug treatment strategy that will improve breast cancer patient survival outcomes. Abrahams’s greater vision is to look at conventional cancer therapeutic regimens, to find ways in which they can be improved.

The nGAP initiative offers these young lecturers an opportunity for growth and development as academics, while providing them with opportunities they would have not have been exposed to otherwise.

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