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01 November 2023 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Francois van Vuuren
UFS empowers through Human Settlements Training Programme
At the graduation ceremony for the Free State Provincial Department of Human Settlements, were from the left, front: Caren Somiah, Director: Housing Capacity, Building and Partnerships in the Free State Department of Human Settlements; Kagisho Motlhanke, Housing Coordinator at the Mangaung Metro; back: Thomas Stewart, Senior Lecturer in the UFS Department of Urban and Regional Planning; Dr Kgosi Mocwagae, Head of the UFS Department of Urban and Regional Planning; Adv Moferefere Dhlamini, Chief of Staff in the Office of the MEC; Sello Senoge, Matjhabeng Municipality; and Cyril Monyela, Deputy Director-General in the Free State Department of Human Settlements.

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted a certification ceremony for the Free State Provincial Department of Human Settlements on the Bloemfontein Campus on 30 October 2023.

A group of 40 officials from municipalities and the Provincial Department of Human Settlements were awarded certificates for completing four short learning programmes (SLPs) in Human Settlements, offered by the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. The training was conducted between November 2022 and May 2023.

Sustainable human settlements

“The overall aim of this training was to equip the participants to play a constructive role in human settlements in their respective places of employment,” said Dr Kgosi Mocwagae, Head of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the UFS. 

This is in line with the mission of the department to deliver – through excellent teaching and scholarship – competent urban and regional planners who will contribute to the creation of sustainable human settlements and improve the quality of life, particularly in Africa.

Dr Mocwagae reflected on the training presented, stating that it aimed to achieve several key objectives, including enhancing participants' understanding of the institutional framework governing the development and management of human settlements. It also sought to nurture a sensitivity to the principles of sustainable human settlement development, considering factors such as climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), local legislation, and best practices. Additionally, the training placed significant emphasis on the importance and processes involved in upgrading informal settlements. Furthermore, it aimed to empower participants with the necessary skills to structure a proposal for the enhancement of informal settlements within the current legislative and administrative frameworks applicable in South Africa.

Building capacity

Cyril Monyela, the Deputy Director General in the Free State Department of Human Settlements, delivered the keynote address, congratulating the cohort of officials on their remarkable achievement.

In his address, he referred to the various pieces of legislation that have emerged over the years and emphasised the need for capacity to implement human settlement sector programmes, ensuring that millions of informal households in South Africa have access to decent shelter. Enhancing sector capacity by developing the skills of staff is one of the department's primary institutional objectives.

“It is the first of many skills courses designed to enable and ensure that practitioners in the Free State Department of Human Settlements execute the department’s mandate,” he stated.

The event concluded with an address from Advocate Shirly Hyland, Director of the Kovsie Phahamisa Academy. According to her, it is important to remember where one comes from, but it is also key to focus on our future. “Witnessing plans that originated in the 1950s coming to fruition, while not perfect yet, is encouraging and instils hope in South Africans regarding the progress being made,” she remarked. 

Adv Hyland referenced a quote from a corporate giant, ‘You are not your work, and your work is not you.’ “For you, this is not the case. Those of you who work in human settlements – your work literally follows you home. Human settlements affect every person from every sphere of life. The right to adequate housing is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, and with the expertise you have learned in these programmes, you have been equipped with the knowledge and power to bring this human right to life.”

“In completing this short learning programme, you have been entrusted with a critical task. You get to contribute to an environment in which citizens live and thrive. The environment where a veggie garden can feed a community; the environment in which the Protea or Bafana Bafana national teams can nurture their talents; and the environment in which the leaders of tomorrow are born and raised,” she said. 

In her final remarks, Adv Hyland referred to a quote from former President Nelson Mandela about education being the most powerful weapon one can use to change the world. “And this is exactly what you are doing. You have worked hard,” she said, urging the group of practitioners to change the world, one human settlement at a time. 

News Archive

About 4 000 UFS students to graduate
2010-05-03

 The University of the Free State’s (UFS) autumn graduation and diploma ceremonies will once again be held in the Arena on the South Campus (formerly known as the Vista Campus) this year.
This arrangement has been made because this year’s graduation ceremonies coincide with the examinations for which the Callie Human Centre on the Main Campus will be used.

The various graduation ceremonies will take place on 18, 19, 20 and 21 May 2010.

A total of 2 775 degrees, 833 diplomas and certificates, 40 doctorates and two honorary doctorates will be conferred.

The full programme is as follows:

  • Tuesday, 18 May 2010:

    - From 08:30, a total of 488 degrees and eight doctorates will be awarded to students from the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, including 3-year B.Sc. degree.
    -At 14:30 on the same day 285 degrees and five doctorates will be awarded to students in the Agricultural and Building Sciences, still in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, including 4-year B.Sc. degree. An honorary doctoral degree will be awarded to Dr Ben Ngubane, the current SABC Board Chairperson.
     
  • Wednesday, 19 May 2010:

    - From 08:30, 293 B.Com. and B.Com. Honours students in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences will graduate.
    - At 14:30, 477 students in BML, B.Admin., B.Pub., B.Acc. and related Honours degrees and all Master’s and Doctoral degrees in this faculty will graduate. An honorary doctoral degree will also be awarded to the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan.
     
  • Thursday, 20 May 2010:

    - A total of 345 degrees and 12 doctorates will be awarded to students in the Faculties of Health Sciences, Law and Theology at 08:30.
    - At 14:30, 349 degrees and two doctoral students in the Faculty of Education will receive their degrees.
     
  • Friday, 21 May 2010:

    - From 08:30, 581 degrees and 10 doctorates will be awarded to students in the Faculty of the Humanities.
    - At 14:30 on the same day, 833 diplomas and certificates will be awarded to students from all of the university’s faculties.

Academic dress must be booked at fimt@ufs.ac.za before Tuesday, 18 May 2010 and can be collected from Monday, 3 May to Monday, 17 May between 08:00 and 16:00 at the Robe Storeroom in Rector’s Avenue (opposite Armentum Residence).

Please note that academic dress will not be available on the South Campus.

Furthermore, the graduation and diploma ceremonies at the Qwaqwa Campus will take place on Saturday, 8 May 2010, at 10:00 where 187 degrees, two doctorates and 63 diplomas will be conferred.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
3 May 2010
 

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