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28 June 2022
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Story Nonsindiso Qwabe
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Photo ALBERT VAN BILJON
In conversation: Prof Petersen and Leanne Manas.
An outward-looking, globally competitive university that ranks among the top-tier universities in South Africa and on the continent, driven by a strong human-centred, diverse social-justice approach. This is at the heart of the vision
Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, shared with multi-award-winning
news anchor
Leanne Manas during a sit-down conversation on Friday 22 July 2022.
Prof Petersen reflected on the great strides and difficulties faced during his first term, as well as navigating the UFS through the COVID-19 pandemic to position the institution in a strategic and focused manner as a university of choice on the continent
and in other parts of the globe.
Prof Prakash Naidoo, Vice-Rector: Operations, introduced Leanne Manas
Prof Francis Petersen
Leanne Manas and Prof Petersen In conversation
Leanne Manas
Leanne Manas meeting our staff members.
Leanne Manas meeting our staff members.
Leanne Manas meeting our staff members.
Prof Petersen with some of our staff members
From the left; Prof Prakash Naidoo, Leanne Manas, Prof Francis Petersen and Temba Hlasho, Executive Director: Student Affairs
Leanne Manas meeting our staff members.
From the left; Prof Prakash Naidoo, Prof Francis Petersen and Quinton Koetaan, Senior Director; HRA
Leanne Manas meeting our staff members.
Valour inspires book on community protests
2016-10-18

The cover of Dr Sethulego Matebesi’s
book, Civil strife against local governance:
Dynamics of community protests in
contemporary South Africa, that will be
released on 1 November 2016.
Photo: Supplied
Two significant political events: the murder of an unarmed protester, and school children forced out of school sparked the idea to write a book on community protests.
The book, Civil strife against local governance: Dynamics of community protests in contemporary South Africa, by Dr Sethulego Matebesi, gives an academic account of service delivery protests in South Africa.
Research address protests in different communities
“The focus of my book is on community protests directed against municipalities in both predominantly black and white communities,” Dr Matebesi, senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Free State, said. The funding for the book was received from the National Research Foundation and the Erasmus Mundus EU-Saturn Scholarship.
Informs literature on service delivery protests
The struggle against municipalities reaches across geographic and demographic boundaries, but the violent turn of protests in black communities in contrast to white communities has become somewhat of a hegemonic account by scholars. “The book connects the critical issue of community protests with the equally precarious issue of political trust in local government,” Dr Matebesi said. Case studies in the book are indicative of significant shifts in community protest – thus making it timely. Dr Matebesi said: “The book informs the growing literature on community protests and also fills an empirical void by including protesters in residents’ associations.”
“The book is a personal milestone and
the single greatest return on the
sacrifices made over the past 4 years.”
Personal milestone worth the sacrifice
Research was conducted between 2012 and 2015, whereby two case study sites were selected in four provinces to account the different tactics used. “The book is a personal milestone and the single greatest return on the sacrifices made over the past four years,” Dr Matebesi said.