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16 February 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Unique PhD Journeys
Prof Liezel Lues and her two doctoral students on graduation day. On the left is Dr Modeni Sibande, who is looking forward to ensuring that Public Administration and Management remains relevant to contemporary evolving issues in society. On the right is Dr Maréve Biljohn, who as a student has always shown commitment to do her best in every aspect of her PhD journey.

In nature, one often comes across cool and surreal phenomena. Experiencing rare happenings in the academia is an altogether different encounter. One that Prof Liezel Lues, Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), explains as winning the lottery.

Two of Prof Lues’ doctoral students – representing two different institutions – graduated in 2018. Four years later, on the exact same date, 1 March 2022, Drs Maréve Biljohn and Modeni Sibanda will take up their new positions, respectively as Head of the Department of Public Administration and Management at the UFS and Head of the Department of Public Administration at the University of Fort Hare.

 

Social innovation and service delivery

Dr Biljohn, currently Senior Lecturer in the department, did her thesis on the topic: Social innovation and service delivery by local government: a comparative perspective. With work experience in local government, Dr Biljohn had a good idea of the problems that underpin poor service delivery in this sphere of government.

Public participation in integrated development planning: a case study of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, was the title of Dr Sibanda’s thesis. The study revealed how individuals and communities navigate forms of power and raise the critical consciousness of municipal residents, communities, and public officials.

According to Dr Sibanda, his study was motivated by the need to explore how public participation power dynamics influence Integrated Development Planning outcomes.

He believes by doing so, the complexity of how individuals and communities navigate forms of power in public participation platforms and spaces would be unravelled. Unravelling such public participation power dynamics, he says, would raise critical consciousness and address and challenge visible, hidden, and invisible forms of power on these public platforms and spaces. “Often public participation platforms and spaces neglect and ignore the capacity of such spaces to manage the pervasive, complex power dynamics among stakeholders in municipal strategic development planning processes. This focus to my PhD therefore sought to fill that knowledge gap,” adds Dr Sibanda.

Prof Lues says the value link to their research is buoyed in the South African Local Government. “They have both established a niche area that addresses the challenges South African municipalities face,” she adds.

“There is no doubt that they are suitable for the position of head of department at this point.”

Achieving a coveted status in their careers

On experiencing this unique journey, Prof Lues says: “Of all the relations, a relation between a promoter and a student is the most inspiring and admirable one. Any promoter takes the utmost pride when his/her taught students achieve coveted status in their respective careers. To me, it feels like winning the lottery – twice.”

News Archive

South Africa praised for dealing with its history
2012-07-12

“I listened to an incredible conversation on how South Africans can talk about the past. We failed to do that in the US. We cannot move on because we failed to name the ghosts in our past. I am honouring what South Africa is doing.”

These are the words of a staff delegate from a university in the USA in a case study at the Global Leadership Summit led by Prof. André Keet, Director of the International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Students and academics from universities in the USA, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan are attending a Global Leadership Summit with the theme “Transcending Boundaries in Global Change Leadership” at the UFS.

In the case study, symbols on the Bloemfontein Campus such as the MT Steyn Statue, Justitia symbol of justice at the building of the Faculty of Law, the artwork Van hier tot daar, and the Women’s Memorial were presented to the audience and the question was asked if they had to be removed or if they had to remain.

Students overwhelmingly felt that symbols of the past had to remain. Here are some of the comments:

  • “Without our past we would not be here today. Without the past, we would not know why we are here or where we are going.”
  • “It is important for students that it remains on campus, as a reminder that history must not repeat itself.”
  • “There is room for new symbols. We must look back but must also look at the future.”
  • “We must resolve the problems of the past and move on.”
  • “We must remember that we cannot go back there again. We must not take away part of other people’s history.”
  • “Symbols must be contextualised.”
  •  “Don’t look in the rear mirror, but through the windscreen where you are going. The windscreen is far bigger.”

One student said the statute of MT Steyn filled him with anger.

Prof. Keet said the act of running away from the ghosts of the past was a way to keep those ghosts alive. The past cannot be dealt with, only visited. The ghosts connect people with the past and allow the past to be present in the now.
 

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