Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
15 August 2023 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Supplied
Ndumiso Mbuthuma
Ndumiso Mbuthuma is currently pursuing a PhD in Development Studies with a focus on floods and disasters.

Ndumiso Mbuthuma, a PhD student at the University of the Free State (UFS), was part of a team that won the Durban leg of the Students Reinventing Cities competition. “It was a beautiful experience and an opportunity to not only be a student again but to contribute to the greater good,” Mbuthuma said.

The Students Reinventing Cities competition is coordinated by C40, a global network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities who are united in action to confront the climate crisis.

The Umgeni Interchange Team, which consisted of Mbuthuma, who is a student in the UFS Centre for Development Support, three students from the University of Cape Town, and one from an institution in France, participated in the Durban leg of the competition, which began in April 2023. 

After deliberations by C40 and city representatives, the team was informed on 13 July 2023 that they had been selected as the winners of the regional Durban competition.

The Students Reinventing Cities competition provides a platform for students and academics to work with cities around the world to formulate plans to combat climate change. This year the competition took place in 12 cities, including Barcelona, Durban, Rome, Melbourne, and Milan, among others. “The aim of the competition is to find ways in which we can begin to build cities that are climate change-friendly,” Mbuthuma said. 

The winning presentation

The Umgeni Interchange Team was allocated four hectares of land by the eThekwini municipality to come up with a development idea. The team members, who specialise in various fields, had to rely on each other to create a winning project. Their proposal entailed the development of a mixed-use, commercial, retail, and affordable-housing block. 

“We wanted to ensure affordable housing not just for the rich but even for those who aren’t,” Mbuthuma explained. His PhD, which focuses on floods and disasters, provided guidance on ensuring that the housing block was resistant to floods and other disasters. The proposal also suggested sustainable resource use, including the use of solar panels to generate energy in order to reduce the impact of loadshedding. 

Even though a victory in the competition is a great feeling, Mbuthuma is more appreciative of the opportunity to have been active in the battle for a more sustainable future. “To hear that policymakers are interested in hearing what I have to say is a big deal to me.”

Future endeavours

Although there has been a concerted effort globally to combat climate change, Mbuthuma believes that in countries such as South Africa there hasn’t been adequate discourse around how development will take place in a future defined by climate change and the resulting disasters expected. As such, he is committed to working towards normalising these conversations.

News Archive

Workplace bullying can cause a toxic teaching environment
2014-04-15

A study done by the University of the Free State’s Faculty of Education exposed how teachers in South Africa fall victim to bullying in the workplace on a daily basis.

This study by Prof Corene de Wet from our School of Open Learning and Dr Lynette Jacobs from our School of Education Studies, exposed the commonness of workplace bullying (WPB) among teachers.

More than 2 700 teachers, from all school levels in urban, township, informal settlements, rural and farm schools, took part in a 43-question survey. Teachers from eight provinces were included in the study.

About 90% of the respondents were victims of WPB by school colleagues and/or management during the 12 months that preceded the study.

These acts included direct shunning, having untrue things said about them, verbal abuse, threats and ridicule, insults and teasing, damaging of possessions as well as physical violence.

Dr Jacobs says WPB is an extremely serious problem in some South African schools, compared to the occurrence in other countries.

“South African teachers are working in ‘toxic’ environments characterised by disgruntled, overworked and stressed teachers. There often are high levels of learner-on-learner and learner-on-educator violence and bullying, communities fraught with moral degradation, racial conflict, violence, lawlessness and economic despair. In schools where despair and disrespect prevail, teachers often turn on one another,” she says.

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