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16 March 2023 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath
UFS Thought Leader webinar

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:
Chief Executive Officer
Business Leadership South Africa

Director: Strategy and Marketing
Clarity Global Strategic Communications

Senior Professor: Centre for Gender and Africa Studies
University of the Free State

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

UFS Winter Graduation Ceremony
2012-06-18

UFS awards record number of master’s degrees and doctorates

The University of the Free State (UFS) celebrated an increase in postgraduate successes with a record number of master’s degrees and doctorates that were awarded during the winter graduation ceremony at the Bloemfontein campus on Thursday 14 June 2012.

A total of 481 master’s degrees and 82 doctorates were awarded in two ceremonies in the Callie Human Centre on the Bloemfontein Campus. This is the most postgraduate qualifications to be awarded at a single graduation ceremony.

DiMTEC has reason to celebrate

Dr Andries Jordaan (second from right) with some of the people who received their master's degrees. From the left are Kehinde Balogun, the couple Olive Chisola-Darris en Clement West Darris, and the couple Everson Ndlovu en Patience Sibongile Ndlovu.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar
18 June 2012

DiMTEC had reason to celebrate at the winter graduation ceremony. The Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa delivered a healthy crop of 32 master’s degrees and one doctorate.

This was the most master’s degrees that the centre has been awarded at one opportunity. The doctorate, however, was not at DiMTEC – Andries Jordaan, the director of the centre, obtained his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economy.

It was also the first time that two couples received their master’s degrees at the centre at the same time.

Speaking at the event, Dr Jordaan said former students of the centre were using their expertise worldwide. Some of them are in senior positions at the United Nations, in African countries, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. DiMTEC’s students hail from 17 African countries, including French-speaking countries.

“I am proud that we have a footprint right across Africa,” he said.

Three travel all the way from Europe for their MBAs

Smiles on an important day. From the left are: Kasina Baker, Friederike Hackelberg, and Johanna Kössler and her parents and sister.
Photo: Stephen Collett
18 June 2012
No distance, time or money could prevent three MBA graduates from Europe from attending the winter graduation ceremony in Bloemfontein. Two of them were exchange students who were so captivated by the university and the country that they undertook their MBA studies at the Business School.

Friederike Hackelberg of Bremen, Germany, was an exchange student in 2008 and extended her stay to do an MBA. Johanna Kössler of Bolzano, Italy, was also an exchange student who succumbed to the charms of the UFS and South Africa. She brought her parents, George and Nannie, and her sister, Magdalena, with her to attend the graduation ceremony.

Kasina Baker of Warsaw, Poland, began her studies while her husband was working in Kenya. She wanted to study at a quality institution and thus chose the UFS's Business School.

Jessica gets three prestigious medals

Jessica Potgieter (right) was the first student in almost three decades to receive three prestigious medals at the Winter Graduation Ceremony. She received the Dean's medal as best Master's student in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, the Senate Medal as best Master's student at the university and the Award for Scientific Achievement by the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. She is seen here with her mother, Mrs Ilse van Rhyn, and Dr Khotso Mokhele, Chancellor.
Photo: Johan Roux
18 June 2012
Three daughters, three degrees for proud Kovsie mom
Liezel Alsemgeest and Adri Kotzé.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
18 June 2012

Adri Kotzé, Faculty Manager in the Faculty of Law, is a very proud parent. In the course of one year, all three her daughters will receive degrees from the University of the Free State (UFS). First in line is the eldest, who received her Ph.D. in Business Management at the Winter Graduation Ceremony.

Liezel is a lecturer in the Department of Business Management at the UFS, where she lectures, publishes and hopes to further her research in finance. “I enjoy working at the university because you have the freedom to do your own thing and focus on whatever you like,” she says.

The title of Liezel’s thesis is Customers’ perception of business units within an agricultural business in South Africa. Her focus is on the subjects of customer satisfaction and financial management, with a specific focus on the management of agricultural businesses.

Middle sister Corné will be graduating with a master’s degree in Occupational Therapy in December, while the youngest, Adéle, will receive her B.A. in Media Studies and Journalism at the Autumn Graduation Ceremony in 2013.

“I am very proud of all three my daughters,” says Adri.

Sasolburg minister receives Dean's Medal for best master's degree in Theology
Rev. Frans Redelinghuys.
18 June 2012

Rev. Frans Redelinghuys of the Reformed Church in Sasolburg received his master’s degree in Theology at the University of the Free State’s Winter Graduation Ceremony. Rev. Redelinghuys was also awarded the Dean’s Medal as the best master’s degree student in the Faculty of Theology.

The focus of his dissertation is Spirituality. “My lecturers are all people who practice what they preach and they have shared their knowledge with me.,” he says.

“My studies also contributed to my personal development,” says Rev. Redelinghuys.

Student from the Netherlands receives degree at UFS Winter Graduation Ceremony

Deborah Van den Bosch-Heij.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
18 June 2012

Deborah Van den Bosch-Heij from the Netherlands was awarded a Ph.D. at the Winter Graduation Ceremony by the Faculty of Theology of the University of the Free State (UFS). Her thesis, Spirit and healing in Africa: A reformed pneumatological perspective, is an interdisciplinary investigation of the relationship between the Holy Spirit and healing in Southern Africa. The research addresses the need for a reviewed and contextually reformed approached to healing.

Deborah started her career as a minister at the Valkenburg Congregation of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands in 2001. She was appointed by the missionary department of her church to lecture at the Justo Mwale Theological University College in Lusaka, Zambia in 2005. It was here that she decided on the topic of her thesis. Prof. Rian Venter from the Department of Systematic Theology at the UFS, who is also involved at the Justo Mwale College, is Deborah’s promoter and assisted her in her studies whilst she was in the Netherlands. It was also Prof. Venter who made Deborah aware of the importance of interdisciplinary research.

Well-known judge's granddaughter receives degree

Judge Joos Hefer and Annelie de Man.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

Annelie de Man, a law researcher at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein received her master’s degree at the Winter Graduation Ceremony of the University of the Free State (UFS). She is Judge Joos Hefer’s granddaughter. Annelie was also awarded the Dean’s Medal as the best master’s degree student in the Faculty of Law.

“Today is one of the biggest highlights in my career,” says Annelie, who received exposure to the field of law from a young age.

In September, she will be leaving for Italy to study for a master’s degree in European Human Rights at the European Inter University.

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