Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Dr Mpumelelo Ncube driven by the need to succeed and inspire

10 January 2022 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Supplied

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

Stem cell research and human cloning: legal and ethical focal points

2004-07-29

(Summary of the inaugural lecture of Prof Hennie Oosthuizen, from the Department of Criminal and Medical Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of the Free State.)

In the light of stem cell research, research on embryo’s and human cloning it will be fatal for legal advisors and researchers in South Africa to ignore the benefits that new bio-medical development, through research, contain for this country.

Legal advisors across the world have various views on stem cell research and human cloning. In the USA there is no legislation that regulates stem cell research but a number of States adopted legislation that approves stem cell research. The British Parlement gave permission for research on embryonic stem cells, but determined that it must be monitored closely and the European Union is of the opinion that it will open a door for race purification and commercial exploitation of human beings.

In South Africa the Bill on National Health makes provision for therapeutical and non therapeutical research. It also makes provision for therapeutical embryonical stem cell research on fetuses, which is not older than 14 days, as well as for therapeutical cloning under certain circumstances subject to the approval of the Minister. The Bill prohibits reproductive cloning.

Research on human embrio’s is a very controversial issue, here and in the rest of the world.

Researchers believe that the use of stem cell therapy could help to side-step the rejection of newly transplanted organs and tissue and if a bank for stem cell could be built, the shortage of organs for transplants would become something of the past. Stem cells could also be used for healing of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and spinal injuries.

Sources from which stem cells are obtained could also lead to further ethical issues. Stem cells are harvested from mature human cells and embryonic stem cells. Another source to be utilised is to take egg cells from the ovaries of aborted fetuses. This will be morally unacceptable for those against abortions. Linking a financial incentive to that could become more of a controversial issue because the woman’s decision to abort could be influenced. The ideal would be to rather use human fetus tissue from spontaneous abortions or extra-uterine pregnancies than induced abortions.

The potential to obtain stem cells from the blood of the umbilical cord, bone-marrow and fetus tissue and for these cells to arrange themselves is known for quite some time. Blood from the umbilical cord contains many stem cells, which is the origin of the body’s immune and blood system. It is beneficial to bank the blood of a newborn baby’s umbilical cord. Through stem cell transplants the baby or another family member’s life could be saved from future illnesses such as anemia, leukemia and metabolic storing disabilities as well as certain generic immuno disabilities.

The possibility to withdraw stem cells from human embrio’s and to grow them is more useable because it has more treatment possibilities.

With the birth of Dolly the sheep, communities strongly expressed their concern about the possibility that a new cloning technique such as the replacement of the core of a cell will be used in human reproduction. Embryonic splitting and core replacement are two well known techniques that are associated with the cloning process.

I differentiate between reproductive cloning – to create a cloned human embryo with the aim to bring about a pregnancy of a child that is identical to another individual – and therapeutically cloning – to create a cloned human embryo for research purposes and for healing human illnesses.

Worldwide people are debating whether to proceed with therapeutical cloning. There are people for and against it. The biggest ethical objection against therapeutical cloning is the termination of the development of a potential human being.

Children born from cloning will differ from each other. Factors such as the uterus environment and the environment in which the child is growing up will play a role. Cloning create unique children that will grow up to be unique individuals, just like me and you that will develop into a person, just like you and me. If we understand this scientific fact, most arguments against human cloning will disappear.

Infertility can be treated through in vitro conception. This process does not work for everyone. For some cloning is a revolutionary treatment method because it is the only method that does not require patients to produce sperm and egg cells. The same arguments that were used against in vitro conception in the past are now being used against cloning. It is years later and in vitro cloning is generally applied and accepted by society. I am of the opinion that the same will happen with regard to human cloning.

There is an argument that cloning must be prohibited because it is unsafe. Distorted ideas in this regard were proven wrong. Are these distorted ideas justified to question the safety of cloning and the cloning process you may ask. The answer, according to me, is a definite no. Human cloning does have many advantages. That includes assistance with infertility, prevention of Down Syndrome and recovery from leukemia.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept