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28 November 2022 | Story Gerda-Marié van Rooyen | Photo Supplied
Antjie Krog
Prof Antjie Krog, author, UFS aumna, and Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape, discussed the complexities of narratives when it comes to reporting sexual abuse during an International Hybrid Conference hosted by the University of the Free State (UFS) and the War Museum.
During an International Hybrid Conference hosted by the University of the Free State (UFS) and the War Museum, representatives from various universities gathered in Bloemfontein to discuss the complexities of reporting sexual abuse. The conference, themed ‘The Unsung Heroines and Youth of South Africa – Violent Histories and Experiences of South African Women and Children during Wars, Conflicts and Pandemics’ – a collaboration between the UFS Centre for Gender and Africa Studies and the War Museum – gave voice to the urgent need to rewrite the current narrative relating to gender-based violence (GBV). 

Prof Antjie Krog, renowned author and a UFS alumna, delivered a keynote address on Thursday 24 November 2022. She linked the past, referring to the South African War, with the present rate of GBV – with South Africa having the highest rate of abuse against women and children in the world. Prof Krog was the first speaker and deliver an address titled Survival, Complicity and Race: (Im)possibilities of Narrating and Interpreting Rape in Havenga Affidavits.

Prof Krog referred to 24 affidavits relating to rape and sexual assault in the Kroonstad-Heilbron-Lindley-triangle in the Free State during the South African War (1899-1902). These affidavits formed part of the previously embargoed Havenga collection. 

Based on these documents, it is evident that fellow citizens – regardless of ethnicity – joined forces with the enemy. Boys were indoctrinated to believe that they would become men once they torched houses and scorned women. British officials allegedly told these boys: “Do with the women whatever you want.” 

Shaming and silence

Phrasing in the affidavits often differed because of incoherent vocabulary, Prof Krog said. Women would, for example, state: “not achieved his goal” or “applied all attempts”, masking the true events of sexual assault. Talking about abuse in front of male officials, and sometimes even in front of their husbands, as they had to sign their wives' statements to authenticate it, complicated things. 


“People today still struggle to talk about rape without it influencing their integrity.” She referred to the brief moments of decision-making before an assault that haunts victims forever, making them believe they had a choice and thus making them feel responsible for rape and preventing them from reporting sexual abuse. Furthermore, the possibility of abused females disgracing their husbands and families (as rape was not seen as an act against a woman’s body, but against the honour of her husband or father) and, as in the case of the South Africa War, the need for reconciliation outweighed justice, and acts of GBV were silenced. 

Other academics on GBV

Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities at the UFS, delivered her keynote address on Friday 25 November 2022. Prof Hudson, a specialist in feminist security studies, spoke on the theme of Disciplinary and other stories: From women’s peace movements to the Women, Peace, and Security ecosystem. 

On the same day, Dr Marietjie Oelofse, Senior Lecturer in the UFS Department of History, also referred to victims’ voices being muted during her presentation titled Silent and Silenced: Factors prohibiting women from having a choice after experiencing Human Rights Violations. 

Dr Mpho Maripane-Manaka, a Lecturer at Unisa, was the last speaker at the conference, sharing her research on The amnesia on the commemoration of black African woman in the South African war.

The conference came to an end with a visit to the art exhibition Unsung Heroes at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum on Friday, and a tour of Bloemfontein on Saturday 26 November 2022.

News Archive

MBA Programme - Question And Answer Sheet - 27 May 2004
2004-05-27

1. WHAT MUST THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE (UFS) DO TO GET FULL ACCREDITATION FOR THE MBA PROGRAMMES?

According to the Council on Higher Education’s (CHE) evaluation, the three MBA programmes of the UFS clearly and significantly contribute to students’ knowledge and skills, are relevant for the workplace, are appropriately resourced and have an appropriate internal and external programme environment. These programmes are the MBA General, the MBA in Health Care Management and the MBA in Entrepreneurship.

What the Council on Higher Education did find, was a few technical and administrative issues that need to be addressed.

This is why the three MBA programmes of the UFS received conditional accreditation – which in itself is a major achievement for the UFS’s School of Management, which was only four years old at the time of the evaluation.

The following breakdown gives one a sense of the mostly administrative nature of the conditions that have to be met before full accreditation is granted by the CHE:

a. A formal forum of stakeholders: The UFS is required to establish a more structured, inclusive process of review of its MBA programmes. This is an administrative formality already in process.

b. A work allocation model: According to the CHE this is required to regulate the workload of the teaching staff, particularly as student numbers grow, rather than via standard management processes as currently done.

c. Contractual agreements with part-time staff: The UFS is required to enter into formal agreements with part-time and contractual staff as all agreements are currently done on an informal and claim-basis. This is an administrative formality already in process.

d. A formal curriculum committee: According to the CHE, the School of Management had realised the need for a structure – other than the current Faculty Board - where all MBA lecturers can deliberate on the MBA programmes, and serve as a channel for faculty input, consultation and decision-making.

e. A system of external moderators: This need was already identified by the UFS and the system is to be implemented as early as July 2004.

f. A compulsory research component: The UFS is required to introduce a research component which will include the development of research skills for the business environment. The UFS management identified this need and has approved such a component - it is to take effect from January 2005. This is an insufficient element lacking in virtually all MBA programmes in South Africa.

g. Support programmes for learners having problems with numeracy: The UFS identified this as a need for academic support among some learners and has already developed such a programme which will be implemented from January 2005.

The majority of these conditions have been satisfied already and few remaining steps will take effect soon. It is for this reason that the UFS is confident that its three MBA programmes will soon receive full accreditation.

2. WHAT ACCREDITATION DOES THE UFS HAVE FOR ITS MBA PROGRAMME?

The UFS’s School of Management received conditional accreditation for its three MBA programmes.

Two levels of accreditation are awarded to tertiary institutions for their MBA programmes, namely full accreditation and conditional accreditation. When a programme does not comply with the minimum requirements regarding a small number of criteria, conditional accreditation is given. This can be rectified during the short or medium term.

3. IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE ACADEMIC CORE OF THE UFS’s MBA PROGRAMMES?

No. The UFS is proud of its three MBA programmes’ reputation in the market and the positive feedback it receives from graduandi and their employers.

The MBA programmes of the UFS meet most of the minimum requirements of the evaluation process.

In particular, the key element of ‘teaching and learning’, which relates to the curriculum and content of the MBA programmes, is beyond question. In other words, the core of what is being taught in our MBA programmes is sound.

4. IS THE UFS’s MBA A WORTHWHILE QUALIFICATION?

Yes. Earlier this year, the School of Management – young as it is - was rated by employers as the best smaller business school in South Africa. This was based on a survey conducted by the Professional Management Review and reported in the Sunday Times Business Times, of 25 January 2004.

The UFS is committed to maintaining these high standards of quality, not only through compliance with the requirements of the CHE, but also through implementing its own quality assurance measures.

Another way in which we benchmark the quality of our MBA programmes is through the partnerships we have formed with institutions such as the DePaul University in Chicago and Kansas State University, both in the US, as well as the Robert Schuman University in France.

For this reason the UFS appreciates and supports the work of the CHE and welcomes its specific findings regarding the three MBA programmes.

It is understandable that the MBA review has caused some nervousness – not least among current MBA students throughout the country.

However, one principle that the UFS management is committed to is this: preparing all our students for a world of challenge and change. Without any doubt the MBA programme of the UFS is a solid preparation.

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