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25 October 2022 | Story Kekeletso Takang and Samkelo Fetile | Photo Supplied
Talking about gender diversity in institutions of higher learning during the UFS Pride lecture were, from the left: Bokang Fako, Tshifhiwa Ramabulana, Advocate Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane, and Siyanda Magayana.
South Africa is notably one of the most progressive countries on the African continent when it comes to advancing sexual rights. However, despite the constitutional provisions in place, gender identity remains a source of discrimination for many. 

The Free State Centre for Human Rights at the University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with the UFS Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Office and intersectional feminist student body The Collective, held a Pride Month Lecture on 17 October 2022 at the Albert Wessels Auditorium on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus to commemorate the very first Pride parade in Africa, which occurred on 13 October 1990. The Collective is a student organisation founded in 2019, the purpose of which is to foster a community for marginalised students. 

The lecture was facilitated by Bokang Fako, Founder and Chairperson of The Collective and Student Assistant at the Free State Centre for Human Rights, and included guest speaker Advocate Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane (they/them) of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at the University of the Witwatersrand and panellists Tshifhiwa Ramabulana (he/him) and Siyanda Magayana (she/her). Ramabulana is a queer writer pursuing an LLB degree at the UFS, and Magayana is a Senior Officer at the Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Office on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus. 

Where it all began

The first Pride parade in South Africa took place on 13 October 1990 and was led by Simon Nkoli, an anti-apartheid activist who was also one of the country’s most prominent LGBTQIA+ activists. The march was organised by the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW), an organisation that raised awareness and established a community of support for black queer people during the apartheid era. October has since been recognised as South African Pride Month and has been celebrated every year. 

“Pride is not a party, it is essentially us protesting that the world doesn’t want us to exist in our fullness,” Advocate Mokgoroane said. They reiterated this by highlighting the need for the development of a sense of co-conspiratorship. Mokgoroane referred to Mathoko’s House, a place of refuge and a haven for many. “Mathoko, based in KwaThema, Ekurhuleni, offered counselling and emotional support to those who took shelter at the house, this is the co-conspiratorship needed in this climate. In the digital and social media era we find ourselves in, where are the likes of Mathoko? Are we only relying on hashtags?” 

Gender diversity in institutions of higher learning 

“For many gender-diverse people, the concept of binary gender – having to choose to express yourself as male or female – is constraining,” Magayana said. She further explained that for gender-diverse people, their identity is about presenting something more outwardly authentic to the world, whether they believe themselves to be differently gendered, or have no gender at all. 

Magayana said some cultures do not recognise gender diversity beyond masculine and feminine. “In residences you find that certain students from different cultures would refuse to associate themselves with LGBTQIA+ students because, according to their culture, it is unacceptable.” She added that this is an issue that must be dealt with, because it is unacceptable that residences are fixated on a binary culture. “The programs at residences are not accommodative – what if I do not identify as male or female? Where do I go?” 

A safer time

Ramabulana explained that there have been many incidents of tangible and intangible discrimination, including hate crimes where gay, lesbian, or transgender people are at huge risk of violence and death. However, he added, LGBTQIA+ people are a lot safer today than in the past. “Although there are myopic, monolithic views of who we are, we are indeed living in a safer time. So, with that said, I will not go deep into my experiences of violence, but I want to encapsulate what the activism and efforts were aimed at, and that is queer joy.” He explained that queer joy is the queer community being able to be free and peacefully celebrate their existence and expanded on how safe he feels in public spaces, and how the law now caters for the different diversity of identities that have always been present among human beings. 

Ramabulana said the UFS is seen as one of the most representative universities in South Africa. “The UFS has made great strides in inclusion, from unisex residences to encouraging conversations around pertinent issues surrounding gender equality,” he said.

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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