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Academic programme to continue online with immediate effect

02 August 2023

Sporadic disruptions of academic activities occurred yesterday and this morning on the Bloemfontein, South and Qwaqwa Campuses.

In recent weeks, the university management has made various attempts to keep the campuses open for face-to-face learning and teaching amid challenges experienced with the disbursement of students’ National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) allowances through eZaga, an online digital banking service, tasked with dispersing direct payments to NSFAS beneficiaries.

These attempts include, but are not limited to, the attendance of meetings by UFS representatives with NSFAS, arranged by Universities South Africa (USAf); meetings with NSFAS attended by Prof Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal; constant engagements with NSFAS by the university’s Financial Aid Office; a meeting with the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, to discuss the matter – this was postponed to a later date; constant engagements with the Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) on matters relating to NSFAS, etc. These attempts are, however, not acceptable to our students.

To minimise the risk to the academic programme, as well as the fact that this is a sector-wide challenge, the academic programme, (activities, classes, and assignments) will continue online as far as possible from 2 to 4 August 2023. Further information about students’ online academic programme will be communicated by the respective faculties.

The university management would like to thank our academic staff for their commitment during this time, and for ensuring that the academic programme continues through online delivery.

The university is not closed; all other activities will continue as normal. All campuses are also accessible. The situation on the campuses is being monitored closely and the necessary security measures are in place to ensure the safety of students and staff.

The university’s protocol during protests provides guidance to students and staff on how to act during protests.

Students and staff will be updated on the situation.

News Archive

Eusibius McKaiser gives first talk on new book at Kovsies

2012-05-09

Eusibius McKaiser
Photo: Johan Roux
9 May 2012

Students and staff from our university got the first glimpse of political and social commentator Eusibius McKaiser’s new book, There is a Bantu in my bathroom, during a public lecture of the same title held by the author on the Bloemfontein Campus.

McKaiser told the audience that they were amongst the first people to get a preview of his book, a collection of essays on race, sexuality and politics.

His talk centred on domestic race relationships, posing the question whether it was acceptable to have racial preferences with regard to whom you live with. Recounting an incident he encountered while looking for a flat in Sandton, McKaiser said the country was still many kilometres away from the end-goal of non-racialism.

McKaiser, who hosted a weekly politics and morality show on Talk Radio 702, and is a weekly contributor to The New York Times, said the litmus test for non-racialism in South Africa was not what people utter in a public space, but rather what was said in private.

“We need to talk more about the domestic space. In public, we are very insincere and quick to preach non-racialism.”

Recounting conversations he had with Talk Radio 702 listeners on the incident, McKaiser said that preference about whom you live with was not specific to white people’s attitude. He said many of his black listeners also felt uncomfortable living with a white person. “The question is, ‘What do these preferences say about you? What does it say about where we are as a country and people’s commitment to non-racialism?’”

McKaiser was the guest of the International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice.

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