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Dr Mpumelelo Ncube driven by the need to succeed and inspire

10 January 2022 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Supplied

Dr Mpumelelo Ncube is a dynamic an academic with a clear vision of growth for the Department of Social work and its students.

A drive to be an advocate for social justice is what drove Dr Mpumelelo Ncube, the new head of the Department of Social Work, to pursue a degree and career in Social Work. “I needed to be an advocate for social justice and empowerment of the vulnerable individuals and communities,” said Dr Ncube, who took over from Prof Sandra Ferreira earlier this year.

Dr Ncube’s academic and professional repertoire is exceptional and his deep-rooted passion for social work is definitely a bonus for the UFS Department of Social Work. He has a PhD in Social Work from the University of Johannesburg, a master’s degree in Social Development, and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Witwatersrand.

Driven by the need to succeed in whatever task he sets for himself, Dr Ncube says that he strives to make the lives of those in his path better – “The positive change should, however, begin with me so that others could easily believe in my efforts.”

Opportunity to raise a new generation

He joined academia in 2013 after working as a psychosocial services manager in the NGO sector. “My move to the UFS was in line with my career progression and the need to contribute meaningfully at a strategic level of social work education and practice,” Dr Ncube says.

The opportunity to work in academia has in fact provided him with an excellent opportunity. “I have the opportunity to raise a new generation of social work professionals that would be passionate, ethical and professional in their practice. In that way, my impact as an educator can be felt in all corners where my students are,” Dr Ncube says.

An academic of note

As a senior lecturer, he also notes the tidal changes currently sweeping through academia. He says, “In the age of the fourth industrial revolution, the Social Work academic programme should be able to identify and embrace various developments that would provide the flexibility to attract postgraduate students in different places without the need for relocation. This relates to the delivery of the programme. However, apart from adapting to these changes, the Social Work programme should also foster a cultural innovation with students and enable them to embrace the technological advancements in their social work practice.”

“I have the opportunity to raise a new generation of social work professionals that would be passionate, ethical and professional in their practice.” – Dr Mpumelelo Ncube.

Apart from being an advocate for social justice and a lecturer he also sees his position as HOD as a being a catalyst to enable others within the department to publishing more research. “Research is a key performance area for any academic, hence the mantra, ‘publish or perish’,” he says. However, he also cautions that trick of publishing research lies in “self-discipline, self-motivation and finding a research niche”.

Social work is his passion

Social work is Dr Ncube’s passion but he also says that it is a profession, which is “seriously underutilised especially in under developing nations”. The socio-economic conditions in these countries largely drive the underutilisation. “These are nations largely plagued by poverty, unemployment, political illiteracy challenges with policy development and implementation, and moral degeneration among many challenges,” he says. In addition, it is therefore, as Dr Ncube mentions, that “the relevance of the social work profession shall be ever-present”.

News Archive

Multi-disciplinary research approach at UFS

2005-10-25

UFS follows multi-disciplinary research approach with opening of new centre

“A new way of doing business in necessary in the research and teaching of agriculture and natural sciences in South Africa. We must move away from departmentalised research infrastructures and a multi-disciplinary approach to research involving several disciplines must be adapted,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Prof van Schalkwyk delivered the keynote address during the launch of the Centre for Plant Health Management (CePHMa) at the Main Campus in Bloemfontein today (21 October 2005). CePHMa is an initiative of the UFS Department of Plant Sciences.

According to Prof van Schalkwyk a tertiary institution must practice multi-disciplinary research to be a world-class research institution. “It is difficult for researchers to admit that they do not know a lot about each other’s area of speciality. It is therefore necessary for researchers to make a paradigm shift and to focus on inter-disciplinary co-operation. To do this, we must encourage them to work together and to find a common language to communicate ideas en establish symbiotic relationships,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.

“We tend to think that research is better and faster if it is specialised. This is not true. The new generation of scientists are young and they are trained to form a concept of the total system and not to focus on a specific area of speciality. At the UFS we encourage this approach to research. This was one of the main reasons for the establishment of CePHMa,” said Prof Van Schalkwyk.
CePHMa is the only centre of its kind in Africa and is established to extend the expertise in plant health management in South Africa and in Africa, to train experts in plant health and to conduct multi-disciplinary research about the health of agricultural crops.

“CePHMa is a virtual centre comprising of ten disciplines applicable to crop production and crop protection,” said Prof Wijnand Swart, Chairperson of CePHMa during the opening ceremony.

“The UFS is the leading institution in Africa in terms of news crop development and manages three research programmes that concentrate on new crops, i.e. the New Crop Pathology Programme, the New Crop Development Programme and the Insects on New Crops Programme. Other applied research programmes that are unique to the UFS are genetic resistance to rust diseases of small grain crops and sustainable integrated disease management of field crops,” said Prof Swart.

“Because the expected growth in population will be 80% in 2020 in sub-Saharan Africa, the future demands of food produce in Africa will be influenced. Therefore research will in future be focused on ways to improve food security by employing agricultural systems that are economically viable and environmentally sound,” said Prof Swart.

“Thorough knowledge of the concept of holistic plant health management is crucial to meet the challenge and it is therefore imperative that innovative crop protection and crop production strategies, with particular emphasis on plant health, be adopted. This is why the Department of Plant Sciences initiated the establishment of CePHMA,” he said.

According to Prof Swart there is a shortage of expertise in plant health management. “The UFS has shown the potential to address the demand of the sub-continent of Africa regarding expertise training and CePHMa is the leader in southern Africa to provide in this need,” he said.

The appropriateness and quality of training in plant health management is reflected in the fact that students from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon, Angola, Mozambique and Lesotho have already been trained or are in the process of being trained in at the UFS.

Scientists from CePHMa have forged partnerships with numerous national and international institutions including the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), various community trusts, seed, pesticide and agricultural chemical companies, in addition to overseas universities.

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 October 2005

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