Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
23 June 2022 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Ivor Price and Nelleke de Jager
Ivor Price (left) and Nelleke de Jager during the discussion session in the Senate Hall of the Centenary Building.

  Click to view documentLees: Groot name praat oor stand van media- en uitgewerswese in SA

Ivor Price, seasoned journalist and media man, and Nèlleke de Jager, fiction publisher at Human & Rousseau, are two of the big names serving on the advisory panel of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French. On 27 May 2022, Price and De Jager presented a discussion on the state of the media and publishing industry in the country. 


Students and lecturers from the department who attended the discussion had the privilege of witnessing the expertise and experience of the advisory panel first hand. The other two members of the advisory panel are Mariska van der Merwe, a teacher at the Meisieskool Oranje, and Wyno Simes, Curator of the National Afrikaans Literature Museum and Research Centre (NALN) in Bloemfontein. The University of the Free State (UFS) has introduced the concept of practice panels in its faculties and academic departments to provide practice-based expertise to students as well as advice to lecturers.

Two prestige bursaries were also presented to two postgraduate students. Lynthia Julius, author of the award-winning book Uit die Kroes, is the first recipient of the JC Steyn Prize, and Corné Richter received the Marius Jooste Prize from the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns. 

Important role of the media threatened 

Price – who worked as a journalist at Die Burger and made a name for himself in media and television circles, and who is also the owner of the online news publication Food for Mzanzi – said “a democracy is nothing without the media”.  He referred to some of the biggest news events in recent times where the media has played an important role in exposing crime and corruption in the highest circles of executive government. 

Examples of this are the Gupta/state capture scandal, the Zuma corruption, as well as the asbestos fraud by Ace Magashule and the Free State government. “This says something about a country where people steal money to implement idleness,” Price said. 

He also warned that things were not ‘going well’ with the media in SA and that the media – also internationally – are in danger. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the media will be with us for a long time. “The circulation figures of daily newspapers fell by about 40% of the total sales.” Sunday papers can, to some extent, keep their heads above water thanks to government advertisements.  Price also believes that niche markets are the future.

Publishing industry changing in SA 

In turn, Nelleke de Jager talked about the challenges that publishers must overcome today. “Educational publishers are publishing the largest number of outputs in SA,” she said. She also mentioned that retail publishers such as Penguin Random House and Pan Macmillan are changing the landscape for the better. “The South African publishing industry is changing, not waning,” said De Jager. 

From the left Lynthia Julius; Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of Faculty of the Humanities and Corné Richter.
(Photo: Rulanzen Martin) 

Book lovers will remember with great nostalgia that Leserskring/Leisure Books was the leader in terms of book sales a decade ago. “The closure of Leisure Books damaged the outputs and turnover of NB Publishers,” said De Jager.  

De Jager also told students about the skills that are needed to survive in the industry. “It is important to master a variety of skills, such as writing and reading skills, project management, and editorial know-how.” She also jokingly said that anyone interested in the publishing industry should first work as a waiter, since it teaches one to be humble.

News Archive

Meet our Council: Kgotso Schoeman - I’m not afraid of challenges
2016-04-21

Description: Kgotso Schoeman  Tags: Kgotso Schoeman

Mr Kgotso Schoeman
Photo: Stephen Collett

It’s not often that someone is asked a favour by the MEC of Education. However, when it does happen, it is a sign that he has full confidence in you and your abilities. This is exactly what happened to Mr Kgotso Schoeman, one of the Council members of the University of the Free State (UFS).

Mr Schoeman, who was approached by the MEC of Education in the Free State, Mr Tate Makgoe, to serve on the UFS Council, has been involved with the Kagiso Trust for the past 20 years, and now serves as the CEO of Kagiso Capital. The Kagiso Trust was established in May 1985 by anti-apartheid activists, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr Beyers Naudé, and Prof Jakes Gerwel, in order to channel funds for the promotion of the struggle against apartheid, and for the upliftment and empowerment of communities. Today, education plays a leading role in the activities of the trust.

Mr Schoeman is now serving his second term on the UFS Council.  At the start of his term, he expressed a particular interest in learning more about the inner workings of universities, and the UFS in particular.  He believes the past two years, have been very informative in this regard.

"I have been very impressed with the academic performance of the UFS, and I have learned a lot about university governance and management during this time.  I do think, however, that there is a lot of room for improvement with regard to transformation at the UFS, especially at academic staff level," he says.

One of the issues that he has become aware of over the past two years, and which concerns him greatly, is the relationship between higher education institutions and the Department of Higher Education and Training.  It relates to another matter of concern: how higher education should be funded in South Africa.

"These are issues I raise at every Council meeting, because I feel these points are important not only for the future of the UFS, but for all higher education institutions in the country," he says.

When it comes to hobbies, Mr Schoeman loves reading. However, it is not fiction that interests him, but rather books on leadership and the changes experienced by today’s society. “In one of the educational programmes we offer, there are opportunities for people to discuss complicated topics, such as transformation. I find it fascinating to see how people can change their point of view in the course of these discussions.”

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