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Thought-Leader Series: A culture of acceptance – is this South Africa’s greatest threat?

12 June 2023 | Story Samkelo Fetile

2023 UFS Thought-Leader Series

PRESENTS

a panel discussion titled

A culture of acceptance – is this South Africa’s greatest threat?

Watch the livestream (live on 13 July 2023)

The University of the Free State is pleased to announce the upcoming UFS Thought-Leader panel discussion titled “A Culture of Acceptance – South Africa’s Greatest Threat?” as part of the 2023 Thought-Leader Series. A public South African higher-education institution, The University of the Free State (UFS) recognises its responsibility to contribute to the public discourse. In collaboration with the Free State Literature Festival, this event will bring together esteemed thought leaders to shed light on the social, political, economic, and business landscape of South Africa and its implications for our future. The panel discussion will be facilitated by Prof Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS.

Panel discussion presented on 13 July 2023

The general state of decay we are currently experiencing in our various structures of governance on nearly all levels is preventing the economic growth that our country so desperately needs to move forward. Our current national financial status is clearly the result of not only poor government performance, but also a totally deficient policy environment. Part of the threats currently facing our country is civil society’s attitude of accepting rampant corruption, crime, and economic degradation as if it is something inevitable and unavoidable. The question is: has our current situation created a society that has simply accepted its fate? Or has it created a society that has become more innovative and creative, actively navigating current challenges, and finding new solutions to societal issues independent of government? These are some of the aspects we look forward to discussing with the esteemed panel.

Date:	Thursday 13 July 2023
Time:	10:00-12:00
Venue:	Albert Wessels Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus
RSVP:	https://events.ufs.ac.za/e/ThoughtLeaderPanel by 10 July 2023

Refreshments will be served.

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

Some of the topics discussed by leading experts in 2022 included, among others, Crime in South Africa – who is to blame; Are our glasses half full or half empty; What needs to be done to power up South Africa?; and A look into the future of South Africa. This year’s webinar series commenced in April, when we discussed Threats to South Africa’s stability and security challenges.

Facilitator:	Prof Francis Petersen	Vice-Chancellor and Principal, UFS

Panellists:	Prof Bonang Mohale	President: Business Unity South Africa

	Prof Piet Croucamp	Senior Lecturer, Political Studies and International Relations: North-West University

	Dr Sipho Pityana	Founder and Chairman: Izingwe Capital (Pty) Limited

	Dr Lindie Koorts	Research Fellow: International Studies Group, UFS

Bios of speakers:

Prof Bonang Mohale

Bonang Mohale is the President of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), Chancellor of the University of the Free State, Professor of Practice in the Johannesburg Business School (JBS) College of Business and Economics and Chairman of The Bidvest Group Limited, SBV Services and ArcelorMittal! He is a member of the Community of Chairpersons (CoC) of the World Economic Forum.

Mohale, a highly respected South African businessman, has held several leadership positions; namely, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), Vice President and Chairman of Shell South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Executive Vice President of SAA and MD of Otis (Pty) Ltd, among others. A vocal, agent courageous change, Mohale is known for his patriotism and active role in advancing the interests of South Africa. Mohale has a distinguished career and track record of leading and building successful companies and making significant advances in the transformation of these companies.

An avid writer, Mohale is the author of the bestselling books, “Lift As You Rise“ and “Behold The Turtle” which contain and reveals the issues he is passionate about. Mohale has been included in the Reputation Poll International’s (RPI) 2023 list of the ‘100 Most Reputable Africans’. The selection criteria are Integrity, Reputation, Transparency, Visibility, and Impact.

Prof Piet Croucamp

Professor Piet Croucamp teaches politics at the North-West University. His research interest is the social origins of violence. He has published extensively in both national and international scholarly journals.

Dr Sipho Pityana

Dr Sipho Mila Pityana is a business leader with extensive experience, having served in both executive and non-executive capacities on several local and international boards of blue-chip companies. He is the founder and Chairman of his private investment firm Izingwe. He is currently Chairman of the JSE-listed Redefine Properties, and non-executive Director of the Absa Bank Group. He is the former Chairman of AngloGold Ashanti Limited, and Munich Re of Africa. He also served as a lead independent Director of the Absa Group and an executive director of Nedcor Investment Bank, among others. He was the founding delegate of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), and he was one of the founding members of the governing body of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. He served on the governing body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). His passion for education has seen him serve as Registrar of the University of Fort Hare, Chairperson of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), and former Chairperson of the Council of the University of Cape Town.

Dr Lindie Koorts

Dr. Lindie Koorts is a historian, biographer and author. She is a Research Associate at the University of the Free State's International Studies Group and a regular media commentator, who often writes on the links between current affairs and history.

Livestream

WATCH: 2023 UFS Thought-Leader Series (Live on 13 July 2023)

News Archive

“My time at the UFS was the golden gem of my career”

2016-07-04

Description: Zig Gibson Tags: Zig Gibson

Prof Alan St Clair Gibson
Photo: Oteng Mpete

“My time at the University of the Free State (UFS) was the golden gem of my career. I have worked at medical schools or biomedical research centres in the United Kingdom, United States and at some of the top medical schools in South Africa, but working at the UFS was one of the highlights of my career,” says Prof Alan St Clair Gibson, Head of the UFS School of Medicine.

After spending just over two years at the UFS, Prof St Clair Gibson resigned from the institution in June 2016 and will take up the position of Dean: Health and Human Performance Sciences at the Waikato University in New Zealand in mid-July, where he will assist to establish a new faculty for all the health-science disciplines. “It was a privilege to work at the UFS. I come from a strong research background and wanted to grow research at the university, which I achieved. I came to the UFS because of the Academic and Human Projects and am proud of what has been achieved at the School of Medicine during the time I was here,” he said.

Prof St Clair Gibson highlighted some of these achievements, including the development of a management infrastructure across the disciplines of the school. “The establishment of an executive management committee for the school, as well as research champions in departments, highlighted the importance of proper governance and strategic management. By developing data dashboards, my management team and I could develop an understanding of research income and productivity, how the school works, what the role of teaching and learning is, and how the school could benefit in terms of third-stream income from the many contracts obtained by its academic staff. As a result, contracts and the financial management model of the school have also been reconfigured to the benefit of the university so that the institution and school can benefit from it,” he said.

His strong belief in an open-door policy has made staff feel part of the environment and it has created an atmosphere of equality and inclusivity. He believes in staff development and has, for instance, established leadership and management courses for heads of departments. Another factor to be proud of is the increase in the number of young researchers who recently joined the school, such as Prof Ross Tucker, who is one of the foremost sport scientists in the country. “It is a fact that staff retire or resign in all schools and departments of any university. It is also true that these departures offer opportunities to bring new academic and professional staff into the UFS. In fact, for the first time virtually every department in the School of Medicine now has a full-time Head of Department and 46 new staff were appointed since January 2015,” said Prof St Clair Gibson.

“I am especially proud of contributing, together with the senior leadership of the UFS, to stabilise the relationship with the Free State Department of Health (DoH). With the assistance of these parties, as well as my executive management team, we could find a better way of working together to the benefit of the school and the province.’’

Transforming the student profile to be representative of the country’s demographics is another milestone Prof St Clair Gibson will remember. “The intake of black and white students is of such a nature that we now have a much more balanced ratio of black and white undergraduate students than before.”

“I wanted to stay longer to see the effect of all the changes I made at the school, but the deanship is an offer I cannot refuse. I would have liked to see a steadier increase in the number of permanent clinical staff and have worked hard with both the UFS management and the DoH to try and achieve that; but more work needs to be done.”

I have worked with a number of fantastic staff members at the school, who are determined to do good in a challenging environment. I am amazed at the energy of the university leadership and how the Human and Academic Projects are executed. My wish for the university is to maintain and grow its standards and for the School of Medicine to maintain its reputation as one of the best schools in the country. I will always be a proud alumnus of the UFS,” he said.

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