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A look into the Future of South Africa

27 September 2022 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath

2022 UFS Thought-Leader Series

PRESENTS

a panel discussion titled

A look into the Future of South Africa

Join online at livestream.ufs.ac.za

The University of the Free State is pleased to present the UFS Thought-Leader panel discussion titled, A look into the future of South Africa, which is part of the 2022 Thought-Leader Series. As a public higher-education institution in South Africa with a responsibility to contribute to public discourse, the University of the Free State (UFS) will be presenting the panel discussion in collaboration with the Free State Literature Festival and News24. This event will bring together expert thought leaders such as Moeletsi Mbeki, Pieter du Toit, and Dr Mareve Biljohn to share insights on the social, political, economic, and business landscape of South Africa and what it means for our future. The panel discussion will be facilitated by Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

Panel discussion presented on 6 October 2022

South Africa is at a precipice – unemployment is at an all-time high, almost half the population receives income from the state every month, there is an absence of policy systems with no leadership in the country at all levels, and complete distrust exists between government and communities. The current national administration has no interest in creating an environment for entrepreneurship and growth. The expectation of investment to grow the economy is far-fetched. An increase in privatisation is taking place and gaining moment in areas such as security and provision of electricity, among others. As we approach the end of 2022 and reflect on the year that was, what opportunities are there to regain the confidence of our nation, establish much-needed credibility globally, and charter our country into a prosperous and successful terrain – where do we see ourselves? These are some of the aspects we look forward to discussing with the esteemed panel.

Date: Thursday 6 October 2022
Time: 10:00-12:00
Venue: Albert Wessels Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus
RSVP: https://events.ufs.ac.za/e/ThoughtLeaderFutureofSouthAfrica

Refreshments will be served.

For further information, contact Alicia Pienaar at pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za.

Some of the topics discussed by leading experts in 2021 included, among others, reimagining universities for student success; corruption in South Africa – the endemic pandemic; South African politics and the local government elections; is South Africa falling apart: where to from here; predications for 2022; and why vaccinate? This year’s webinar series commenced on 31 May 2022 with the topic Crime in South Africa – who is to blame? This was followed by webinars held in July and September, respectively titled Are our glasses half full or half empty? and What needs to be done to POWER up South Africa?

Facilitator:

Prof Francis Petersen
Rector and Vice-Chancellor, UFS

Panellists:

Moeletsi Mbeki
Deputy Chairperson
The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)

Pieter du Toit
Assistant Editor
In-depth news
News24

Dr Mareve Biljohn
Head: Department of Public Administration and Management
University of the Free State

Bios of speakers:

Moeletsi Mbeki

Mr Moeletsi Mbeki is a political analyst, author, and entrepreneur. He is a director of several companies, Chairman of KMM Investments (Pty) Limited, KMM Review Publishing (Pty) Limited, MGM Capital Investments (Pty) Limited, and Executive Chairman of Pomegranate Media (Pty) Ltd. Mr Mbeki is the author of Architects of Poverty: Why African Capitalism Needs Changing. He edited Advocates for Change: How to Overcome Africa’s Challenges. Both books have been translated into Chinese. He recently co-authored A Manifesto for Social Change: How to Save South Africa with his niece, Dr Nobantu Mbeki. He is Deputy Chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) – an independent think tank based at the University of the Witwatersrand – and is a member of the council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which is based in London. After returning to South Africa from exile in 1990, he was appointed Head of Communications for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), and Media Consultant for the African National Congress. During most of the 1980s, he was a senior journalist for Zimbabwe Newspapers in Harare. As a result of the outstanding work that he did for the Zimbabwe Newspapers Features Department, he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University for the 1988-1989 academic years. Mbeki began his journalism career in London in 1979 as a contributor to the Africa, New African, and Africa Now magazines and the BBC Africa Service. He studied Building, Building Management, and Sociology in England, obtaining an MA degree in Sociology from the University of Warwick in 1982. He worked in the construction industry in the United Kingdom and in Tanzania during the 1970s.

Pieter du Toit

Pieter du Toit is Assistant Editor at News24, where he is Head of Investigative Journalism. He was previously a crime reporter, parliamentary correspondent, and news editor at Beeld and Netwerk24. He is the author of two books – Enemy of the People, which is about state capture – and The Stellenbosch Mafia. His third book, The ANC Billionaires, will be published next month.

Dr Mareve Biljohn

Maréve IM Biljohn is a senior lecturer and Head of the Department of Public Administration and Management at the University of the Free State. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public Administration (University of the Free State), Master of Public Administration (Stellenbosch University), BPA (Honours) Public Administration (Stellenbosch University), BAdmin (Honours) Industrial Psychology (University of the Western Cape), and BAdmin (University of the Western Cape). Prior to her appointment at the University of the Free State, she worked for a district municipality in the Western Cape, South Africa. Her research interests and expertise are in the fields of social innovation in service delivery, citizen participation in local government service delivery, and citizen participation in the governance of local government service delivery. She has presented her research at several local and international research conferences and published her research in local and international journals. Her work includes, among others, publications on:

Social innovation as an alternative approach to South African local government service delivery.
Determinants for citizen and third-sector participation during social innovation in local government service delivery.
Considerations for South African local government for using SI in open and closed governance systems.

She has also authored and co-authored book chapters, titled ‘Leading self in South Africa’s VUCA local government environment’, and ‘Social innovation to enhance service delivery by local government’

News Archive

Mushrooms, from gourmet food for humans to fodder for animals

2016-12-19

From the UFS Department of Microbial Biochemical and
Food Biotechnology are, from left: Prof Bennie Viljoen,
researcher, MSc student Christie van der Berg,
and PhD student Christopher Rothman
Photo: Anja Aucamp

Mushrooms have so many medicinal applications that humans have a substance in hand to promote long healthy lives. And it is not only humans who benefit from these macrofungi growing mostly in dark spaces.

“The substrate applied for growing the mushrooms can be used as animal fodder. Keeping all the medicinal values intact, these are transferred to feed goats as a supplement to their daily diet,” said Prof Bennie Viljoen, researcher in the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the UFS.

Curiosity and a humble start
“The entire mushroom project started two years ago as a sideline of curiosity to grow edible gourmet mushrooms for my own consumption. I was also intrigued by a friend who ate these mushrooms in their dried form to support his immune system, claiming he never gets sick. The sideline quickly changed when we discovered the interesting world of mushrooms and postgraduate students became involved.

“Since these humble beginnings we have rapidly expanded with the financial help of the Technology Transfer Office to a small enterprise with zero waste,” said Prof Viljoen. The research group also has many collaborators in the industry with full support from a nutraceutical company, an animal feed company and a mushroom growers’ association.

Prof Viljoen and his team’s mushroom research has various aspects.

Growing the tastiest edible mushrooms possible
“We are growing gourmet mushrooms on agricultural waste under controlled environmental conditions to achieve the tastiest edible mushrooms possible. This group of mushrooms is comprised of the King, Pink, Golden, Grey, Blue and Brown Oysters. Other than the research results we have obtained, this part is mainly governed by the postgraduate students running it as a business with the intention to share in the profit from excess mushrooms because they lack research bursaries. The mushrooms are sold to restaurants and food markets at weekends,” said Prof Viljoen.

Photo: Anja Aucamp

Natural alternative for the treatment of various ailments
“The second entity of research encompasses the growth and application of medicinal mushrooms. Throughout history, mushrooms have been used as a natural alternative for the treatment of various ailments. Nowadays, macrofungi are known to be a source of bioactive compounds of medicinal value. These include prevention or alleviation of heart disease, inhibition of platelet aggregation, reduction of blood glucose levels, reduction of blood cholesterol and the prevention or alleviation of infections caused by bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic pathogens. All of these properties can be enjoyed by capsulation of liquid concentrates or dried powdered mushrooms, as we recently confirmed by trial efforts which are defined as mushroom nutriceuticals,” he said.

Their research focuses on six different medicinal genera, each with specific medicinal attributes:
1.   Maitake: the most dominant property exhibited by this specific mushroom is the reduction of blood pressure as well as cholesterol. Other medicinal properties include anticancer, antidiabetic and immunomodulating while it may also improve the health of HIV patients.
2.   The Turkey Tail mushroom is known for its activity against various tumours and viruses as well as its antioxidant properties.
3.   Shiitake mushrooms have antioxidant properties and are capable of lowering blood serum cholesterol (BSC). The mushroom produces a water-soluble polysaccharide, lentinan, considered to be responsible for anticancer, antimicrobial and antitumour properties.
4.   The Grey Oyster mushroom has medicinal properties such as anticholesterol, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumour and immunomodulatory properties.
5.   Recently there has been an increased interest in the Lion’s Mane mushroom which contains nerve growth factors (NGF) and may be applied as a possible treatment of Alzheimer’s disease as this compound seems to have the ability to re-grow and rebuild myelin by stimulating neurons.
6.   Reishi mushrooms are considered to be the mushrooms with the most medicinal properties due to their enhancing health effects such as treatment of cancer, as well as increasing longevity, resistance and recovery from diseases.

Description: Mushroom research photo 3 Tags: Mushroom research photo 3

Valuable entity for the agricultural sector
Another research focus is the bio-mushroom application phenome, to break down trees growing as encroaching plants. This research is potentially very valuable for the agricultural sector in the areas where Acacia is an encroaching problem. With this process, waste products are upgraded to a usable state. “It is therefore, possible to convert woody biomass with a low digestibility and limited availability of nutrients into high-quality animal fodder. By carefully selecting the right combination of fungus species to ferment agro-wastes, a whole host of advantages could become inherently part of the substrate. Mushrooms could become a biotechnological tool used to ‘inject’ the substrate that will be fed to animals with nutrition and/or medicine as the need and situation dictates,” said Prof Viljoen.

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