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23 March 2023 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Stephen Collett
From left: Hanlie Grobler, Senior Officer at the CFM; Prof Koos Terblans, Head of the Physics Department; Nonkululeko Phili, Assistant Officer at the CFM; and Edward Lee, Junior Lecturer and Researcher at the CFM. Photo: Stephen Collett

The Centre for Microscopy (CFM) in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) unveiled a sophisticated JEOL High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM) during a two-day microscopy conference on 14 and 15 March 2023. The microscope is part of a larger investment into research equipment worth R65 million. 

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Prof Corli Witthuhn, out-going Vice-Rector: Research and Internationalisation, said the microscope purchase “is a significant milestone in the university’s bid for cutting-edge research”. The HRTEM is part of a larger consignment of JEOL equipment at the UFS and, according to Dr Sarah Harper from JEOL UK, it places the UFS in a unique position.  

UFS at the forefront in using electron microscopes  

The HRTEM microscope can be utilised across disciplines and will give the UFS an advantage in uncovering new solutions and creating national and international interdisciplinary research collaborations. “The UFS is at the forefront in this field in SA and continues to push the boundaries,” Prof Witthuhn said. This move will also positively impact the training of honours, master’s, and doctoral students. 

Prof Danie Vermeulen, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, reiterated Prof Witthuhn’s sentiments by saying that this equipment will set the faculty apart from its competitors. “The faculty already reached the goals of Vision 130 by being proactive,” he said. In the past seven years more than R300 million worth of equipment was acquired by the faculty, but he added that to be the best is not just about the best equipment – “the data coming from using this equipment is what will make the real difference”.

Prof Koos Terblans
Prof Koos Terblans opens the conference on 14 March 2023. Photo: Stephen Collett .

Road to the JEOL HRTEM started in 2018

The process of acquiring a HRTEM microscope started in 2018 and was concluded with the purchasing of the JOEL microscopes in March 2020, a few weeks before the first COVID-19 lockdown. The purchase was made possible through the collaboration between the faculties of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and Health Sciences. Thanks to the dedication of staff members in the Centre for Microscopy and Physics, it was possible to accept delivery of the new HRTEM in June 2021. Prof Koos Terblans, Head of the Physics Department and the Centre for Microscopy, who led the entire project, said this was one of the “proudest moments in my career”.  

Installing the equipment involved various university resources, including the University Estates Department, which had to make additional structural changes to the room where the equipment is housed. This included digging two metres into the existing floor and placing the HRTEM on a 70-tonne solid concrete block, to ensure that the equipment was secure and vibration free.

Prof Terblans said now that the HRTEM from JEOL and its supporting equipment – the final piece of the R65 million research investment puzzle – is part of the faculty’s resources, it is up to the scientists and academics to utilise it for innovative research, enhance research productivity, and foster new collaborations. 

Edward Lee
Edward Lee shows the new HRTEM electron microscope to colleagues and conference attendees.Photo: Stephen Collett 

News Archive

CR Swart Memorial Lecture: Mr Cecil le Fleur
2006-08-08

Khoe and San call for government to speed up policy dialogue with indigenous communities  

 Mr Cecil le Fleur, leader of the National Khoe-San Consultative Conference and member of the executive management of the National Khoe-San Council, has called for a national policy on indigenous peoples to protect the human rights and special needs of indigenous people in South Africa.

 Mr Le Fleur delivered the 38th CR Swart Memorial Lecture on the Khoe and San at the University of the Free State (UFS).  He commended the UFS for its serious approach to the Khoe and San and for initiating initiatives such as a research project on the Griqua in which various aspects linked to language, -culture, -history, - leadership, their role in the South African community (past and present) and the conservation of their historical cultural heritages will be covered.   

 “The policy dialogue with indigenous communities initiated by government in 1999 and supported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has been exceedingly slow, owing to political and bureaucratic problems,” said Mr Le Fleur.

 According to Mr Le Fleur the slow pace is also impacting negatively on the United Nations’ efforts to expand the international standards and mechanisms for human rights so as to include the special needs of indigenous peoples.

 “The successful adoption of a South African policy would probably have a major impact on the human rights culture of Africa and, more specifically, on the UN system,” he said.

 “South Africa has a powerful moral authority internationally and is willing to use this authority in multilateral forums. At this stage, however, South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) may not take an official position on UN instruments and declarations pertaining to indigenous issues, until the Cabinet has resolved its own domestic policy position,” he said. 

 According to Mr le Fleur it therefore came as a great surprise when the DFA brought out a positive vote in the UN for the adoption of the "Draft Declaration on the Rights of indigenous Peoples" in June this year, even before the completion of the policy process. 

 Policy consolidation in South Africa is the primary key to creating a new policy climate in Africa in order to protect the rights of indigenous peoples.  “The existing constitution of the Republic of South Africa is one of the most liberal on the continent, and embraces the concept of redress of past discrimination.  It already includes a clause (Section 6) making provision for the protection of language rights for Khoe and San peoples - the fist peoples of southern Africa,” he said. 

 “If South Africa can effectively integrate this ‘third generation’ of collective rights within an existing democratic constitution, this will send a clear message to Africa and the world that indigenous rights are a necessary component of human and civil rights in modern democracies,” he said.

 Mr Le Fleur proposed an institutional framework based on set principles that would satisfy the needs and aspirations of the Griqua and other first indigenous peoples in South Africa.  “The proposed framework was based on the notion of vulnerability as a result of colonialism and apartheid, which stripped us of our indigenous identity, cultural identity and pride as people.  This injustice can hardly be addressed within the existing mechanisms provided by the current text of the Constitution,” he said.

 Mr Le Fleur also proposed that the principles of unique first-nation status, as recognised in international law, should be applied in the construction of the framework of the constitutional accommodation for the Khoe and San. 

 Mr Le Fleur further proposed that the Khoe and San’s indigenous status in constitutional terms must be separate from the constitutional acknowledgement of their status as a cultural community, as envisaged in sections 185 and 186 of the Constitution of 1996.

 According to Mr Le Fleur, the suggested mechanism should make provision for structures such as:

  •  A statutory representative council for First Indigenous Peoples of South Africa at a national level;
  • a separate Joint Standing Committee on Indigenous and Traditional Affairs, in both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces on which the Khoe and San can be represented;
  • a representative structure for the Khoe and San in the legislature of each relevant province; and
  • ex officio membership in the relevant structures of local government.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za 
24 August 2006


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