Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

The threats to South Africa’s domestic stability and security challenges

16 March 2023 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath

The University of the Free State is pleased to present its first webinar titled, The threats to South Africa’s domestic stability and security challenges, which is part of the 2023 Thought-Leader Webinar 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 webinar in collaboration with the Free State Literature Festival. The aim of the webinar series is to discuss issues facing South Africa by engaging experts at the university and in South Africa.

First webinar presented on 4 April 2023

South Africa is facing a security risk and the state is not complying with its social contract. High crime rates driven by unemployment and poverty, collapsing infrastructure, political insecurity and tension, and an appetite for lawlessness, pose real threats to domestic stability. South Africans are cynical about state intelligence agencies, and the ability of government to lead an effective response to potential crises is questioned. What are the solutions to the threatening domestic instability and security challenges facing South Africa?

Date: Tuesday 4 April 2023

Time: 12:30-14:00

RSVP: Click here (no later than 3 April 2023).

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; A look into the future of South Africa.

Facilitator:

Prof Francis Petersen
Rector and Vice-Chancellor, UFS

Panellists:

Busisiwe Mavuso

Chief Executive Officer

Business Leadership South Africa

Palesa Morudu

Director: Strategy and Marketing

Clarity Global Strategic Communications

Prof Hussein Solomon

Senior Professor: Centre for Gender and Africa Studies

University of the Free State

Dr Ivor Chipkin

Co-Founder and Director

New South Institute

Bios of speakers:

Busisiwe Mavuso

Busisiwe Mavuso is a Chartered Certified Accountant (CCA) who qualified with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA – UK) and holds a master’s degree in Business Leadership, a postgraduate qualification in Management from GIBS, and a BCompt in Accounting from the University of South Africa (UNISA). Mavuso is currently completing her PhD.

She is the Chief Executive Officer at Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), and Resultant Finance (a PIC investee company) and serves on the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), the Advisory Committee of the Local Government Ethical Leadership Initiative (LGELI), The Alcohol Industry Advisory Council (TAIAC), the Drinks Federation of South Africa (DF-SA) Council of Members, and the Social Justice Council. Furthermore, Mavuso is a Visiting Adjunct Professor at the Wits Business School (WBS).

Mavuso is a member of the YPO (Young President’s Organisation), the IoDSA, and ACCA.

She was awarded the ‘2020 Influencer of Influencers Award’ by the Africa Brand Summit in October 2020, and was named second runner-up for ‘Businessperson of the Year’ by the Daily Maverick in 2021. In 2022, the Women in Economic Development Leadership Forum awarded her a Certificate of Acknowledgement to acknowledge the years of dedication to the field of business leadership and economic development in South Africa.

Palesa Morudu-Rosenberg

Palesa Morudu-Rosenberg is a Director at Clarity Global, a strategic communications firm based in Cape Town and Washington DC. She is also a writer and a political commentator. She is currently writing a book on the limits of identity politics for South Africa and the United States.

Dr Ivor Chipkin

Ivor Chipkin is the Director of the New South Institute, based in Johannesburg. Before that, he was the founder and director of the Public Affairs Research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town for ten years. In 2017, Chipkin – with several colleagues – wrote and released the Betrayal of the Promise report, a study of state capture that had a huge political impact in South Africa. Chipkin completed his PhD at the École Normale Supérieure in France, where he also did his DEA. Chipkin was an Oppenheimer Fellow at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Do South Africans Exist? (WUP: 2007) and Shadow State: the politics of state capture with Mark Swilling (WUP: 2018). His new book, The Shattered Vessel, is due to be published in 2023.

Prof Hussein Solomon

Prof Hussein Solomon holds a DLitt et Phil (Political Science) from the University of South Africa. He is currently Senior Professor in the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of the Free State. His research interests include conflict and conflict resolution in Africa; South African foreign policy; international relations theory; religious fundamentalism and population movements within the developing world. His publications have appeared in South Africa, Nigeria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Russian Federation, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Israel, Lebanon, India, Bangladesh, Spain, and Japan. Hussein is widely published and some of his recent books among others include, African Security in the Anthropocene (with Jude Cocodia, Springer, 2023), Directions in International Terrorism: Theories, Trends and Trajectories (Palgrave, 2021), Terrorism in Africa: New Trends and Frontiers (with Glen Segell and Sergey Kostelyanets, Institute for African Studies, Moscow, 2021).

Until 2022, he was Academic Head of Department in the Department of Political Studies and Governance at the University of the Free State. Hussein has vast experience -his previous appointments include Executive Director of the International Institute of Islamic Studies; Professor and Director of the Centre for International Political Studies at the University of Pretoria, Research Manager at the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, Senior Researcher: Institute for Security Studies, and Research Fellow: Centre for Southern African Studies at the University of the Western Cape, among others.

News Archive

During 2011: Sport

2011-12-01

Our sports stars set their gaols high and with hard work, dedication a good measure of determination they show that they will not give up until these goals are met. A place in the national team or a medal or award in hand is enough proof that our Kovsie sportsmen and women are serious about their successes on the sports field.

Description: 2011 Sport_Cricket Tags: 2011 Sport_Cricket

Description: 2011 Sport_Karate Tags: 2011 Sport_Karate

Description: 2011 Sport_Hockey Tags: 2011 Sport_Hockey

Description: 2011 Sport_Netball Tags: 2011 Sport_Netball

Description: 2011 Sport_Rugby Tags: 2011 Sport_Rugby

Some of our stars this year were:

Athletics:

Thuso Mpuang, our Kovsie Sportsman of the year, represented South Africa during the World Athletic Championships in Deague, Korea. He obtained the silver medal in the 200m during the World Student Games in Shenzhen, China and a gold medal as a member of the 4 x 100m relay team.

Janette Siebert represented South Africa during the Southern Africa Championships in Maputo, Mozambique.

Boy Soke represented South Africa during the Africa Cross Country Championships in Cape Town. He also represented South Africa during the World Cross Country Championships in China.

Cricket:

The 21-year-old former Kovsie, Obus Pienaar, who was still playing cricket for our university club until the end of the season (end of March), has been playing abroad for the Irish cricket club Waringstown from the end of April 2011.
We are proud of Obus’ achievements, in particular his contribution to the match against the CIYMS. During this game, Obus hit the highest score ever in the Northern Cricket Unions when he scored 244 runs in only 114 balls. This included 22 sixes and 13 fours. During his innings in this match, Obus also broke the July 2004 record of his compatriot, AB de Villiers of the Proteas.

Hockey:

Lesley Ann George represented the Protea Women’s Hockey Team during the series against China, Belgium and Azerbaijan. She was also a member of the Protea Women’s Hockey Team during the Champs Challenge in Ireland. The team finished fifth.

Nicole de Vries represented the Protea Women’s Hockey Team during the series against China, Belgium and Azerbaijan. She was also a member of the Protea Women’s Hockey Team during the Africa Cup in Bulawayo. The team obtained a gold medal.

Hettie Oosthuizen represented the Protea Women’s Hockey Team during the series against China, Belgium and Azerbaijan.

Izelle Lategan represented the Protea Women’s Hockey Team during the series against China, Belgium and Azerbaijan.

Nicole Kemp was a member of the Protea Women’s Hockey Team during the Africa Cup in Bulawayo. The team obtained a gold medal.

Karate:

Elsabe le Roux was a member of the Protea JKA Shotokan Karate Team that participated in the Africa Zone 6 Championships in Maputo where she obtained a gold and silver medal.

Bruno Schwalbach was a member of the Protea JKA Shotokan Karate Team that participated in the Africa Zone 6 Championships in Maputo where he obtained two gold medals. He was also a member of the Protea JKA Shotokan Karate Team that participated in the Common Wealth Karate Championship in Australia where he obtained one silver and two bronze medals. He was a member of the Protea JKA Shotokan Karate Team that participated in the All Africa Games in Maputo Mozambique where he obtained a bronze medal.

Balungile Nchofe was a member of the Protea JKA Shotokan Karate Team that participated in the Africa Zone 6 Championship in Maputo, where he obtained a gold medal.

Netball:

Kovsies’ netball team has performed well over the past year with, amongst others, the inclusion of players in the SA Universities World-cup Group.

Karla Mostert and Maryka Holtzhausen participated during the World Cup in Singapore in the SPAR SA Protea team.

We are also proud of the eight players who have been included in the SA team. They are Zimari Smit, Sheri Duimpies, Ane Botha, Danique du Toit, Nieke Loubser, Karla Mostert, Fikile Mkhuzangwe and Lauren-lee Christians.

At the SA tournament, Ane Botha was named as the centre-court player of the tournament, whilst Karla Mostert was named as the best defending player. Karla has also been included in the SPAR SA Protea team to the All African Games, which start in Mozambique at the end of August.

Rugby:

Boom Prinsloo and Robert Ebershohn are representing the Springboks in the HSBC Sevens World Series.

Soccer:

Gabisile Hlumbane, our Kovsie Sportswomanof the year, is a member of the Banyana Banyana National Soccer Team. The team obtained a bronze medal at the African Women’s Championships during October 2010, a gold medal at the Unity Cup Hosted during December 2010, a silver medal at the COSAFA Women’s Championship hosted during July 2011 and qualified for the London Olympics in 2012.

Squash:

Paul Rodrigues represented the South African U/ 23 team at the All Africa Squash Championships in Johannesburg.

Triathlon:

Nelmaré Loubser represented the SA Elite Team during the World Championships in Spain.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

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