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05 March 2023 | Story Kekeletso Takang and Lacea Loader | Photo UFS Photo Archive
Tate_Makgoe
Tate Makgoe, late MEC of Education in the Free State.

The management of the University of the Free State (UFS) is shocked and saddened to learn of the untimely passing of Tate Makgoe, member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education in the Free State, who passed away on Sunday 5 March 2023 after a car accident.

MEC Makgoe was a UFS Council member as representative of the Free State Premier for two terms, from 1 November 2010 to 31 December 2018. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of Council in his second term.

“On behalf of the UFS Council, the university management, and the university community, I would like to express our heartfelt condolences to MEC Makgoe’s family, Premier Mxolisi Dukwana, and the Executive Council of the Free State, as well as the Free State education sector at large, for the loss of a great leader,” said Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor.  

MEC Makgoe had a strong relationship with the UFS, which saw him collaborating on numerous projects, including the Internet Broadcast Project from 2012 to 2022, which was aimed at supporting Grade 12 learners and teachers.

Prof Petersen acknowledged MEC Makgoe for his contributions to the university, the institution’s Council, and the province’s education sector. “We are proud to have been associated with MEC Makgoe. Not only in his capacity as MEC, but also as alumnus. He held an Honours degree in Commerce from the UFS and was registered for a PhD in Education Leadership and Policy Studies at the university at the time of his passing. In 2013, he received a Cum Laude Award during the Chancellor's Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony,” said Prof Petersen.

Through continued collaboration and under his leadership, the Free State reclaimed its top spot in the National Senior Certificate examination results in 2019 and has maintained it to date. “This would not have been possible without the leadership of MEC Makgoe; we salute him for the significant role he played, and for his contribution to the success of the province over the past few years,” said Prof Petersen.

News Archive

Statement regarding pulping of books by the UFS Sasol Library
2017-12-07


With reference to reports in the media and social media since 5 December 2017 about the pulping of books by the UFS Sasol Library, the executive management of the University of the Free State (UFS) would like to put the matter into perspective.
 
The book collection of the library is governed by a Library Committee of Senate, and no books can be removed from the library without formal approval from the committee. The university values the wealth of knowledge preserved in the library, and will not act irresponsibly with its collection.
 
Although the executive management takes note of the comments of some concerned organisations and members of the public in the media and social media the past couple of days, no books were removed from the library and sent to be pulped – only bound journals of which the university has online versions. These are journals that have been removed from the journal section for quite some time, and have not been used for a considerable number of years.
 
The decision to reduce the size of the collection to at least 35%, and to secure remote storage in close proximity of the library in Bloemfontein for some of the collections, was taken after a thorough external review of the library in 2014 as well as a gap review this year.
 
Two aspects were actioned after the review: books which have not been used at all in the past 20 years were moved to a storeroom in the library; journals removed from the journal section which have not been used actively for quite some time and which are not available online or cannot be found elsewhere through any means, will be moved to a remote storage in Bloemfontein and be retrieved as the need arises.
 
The only journals sent for pulping were those readily available online through current subscriptions, journals that the library is not subscribed to but are freely available online, journals that have since become Open Access Journals, magazines that have popular titles and are of no academic value, annual reports of societies and associations, and some abstracts. Thorough and responsible evaluation of these bound journals was done before they were sent for pulping.
 
The move of the books to a store room in the library and the removal of the bound journals will provide space to implement recommendations by the task team assigned by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, to investigate repurposing the library into a world-class, state-of-the-art library where physical and virtual space is created to support multi-purpose learning spaces for students, collaborative and group learning, and providing space for more innovation in the library through technology, thus enhancing the overall student and user experience.

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

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