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Navigating the path to an ethical, capable, and developmental state

19 October 2023 | Story Samkelo Fetile | Photo Stephen Collett

Public Management Memorial Lecture — From left; Prof Philippe Burger, Prof Francis Petersen, Premier Mxolisi Dukwana, and Dr Mareve Biljohn.

The University of the Free State (UFS), Department of Public Administration and Management recently hosted its Public Management Memorial Lecture, which was delivered by the Honourable Mxolisi Dukwana, the Premier of the Free State. This year's Public Management Memorial Lecture, titled 'Public Administration and Management as a Method and Tool of Delivering an Ethical, Capable, and Developmental State,' delved into crucial aspects of governance.

In his welcoming address, Prof Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS, provided insight into the university's Vision 130 and the university’s strategy, emphasising values such as accountability, social justice, and care. The university’s commitment to engaging on matters of public significance was also highlighted.

Fostering collaboration

Prof Petersen emphasised the importance of collaboration and co-creation – particularly in the post-COVID-19 era – to achieve optimal outputs and outcomes. “The Public Management Memorial Lecture aims to foster collaboration between academia, students, and practitioners in the field of public administration and management.”

In his introduction of Premier Dukwana, Prof Philippe Burger, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, highlighted Dukwana's role in various government positions, including as the ANC provincial treasurer and, more recently, as the Premier of the Free State.

Addressing challenges and opportunities

In his address, Premier Dukwana acknowledged the need for a collective effort to ensure an ethical, capable, and developmental state, emphasising the challenges faced in the current socio-political landscape. Premier Dukwana acknowledged the need for introspection regarding the state's foundations, values, and mechanisms of service delivery. “Understandably, this is quite an involved and extensive subject that interrogates not only the ethical and capable attributes of the democratic state, but also whether the democratic state is itself developing and evolving towards a horizon that is developmental in outlook.” He stressed the importance of upholding constitutional values and principles, accentuating the need for accountability, transparency, and adherence to the Batho Pele principles.

Premier Dukwana outlined key interventions in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), emphasising the need for a capable and honest government, improved leadership, good governance, and accountability. He called for modernised business processes, improved financial management capability, and participatory local governance mechanisms.

The importance of a social compact was also highlighted, as well as the need to set aside narrow interests for the common goal of long-term growth and development. He stressed the need for a vibrant civil society and underscored the role of public servants in effecting positive change in service delivery.

Reducing bureaucratic red tape

The Premier concluded his address by emphasising the importance of reducing bureaucratic red tape and initiating programmes to streamline service delivery. He expressed optimism for further collaboration with the UFS in strengthening governance and public administration practices. “I am looking forward to having further discussions with the UFS as it relates to the MOU between the UFS and the Free State Provincial Government. The UFS can play a crucial role in helping us to strengthen governance, and specifically improve on public administration and management approaches and practices with the aim of accelerated and improved service delivery.”

The Public Management Memorial Lecture served as a platform for robust discussions on the challenges and opportunities in public administration and management. Premier Dukwana's insights underscored the imperative for ethical, capable, and developmental governance, setting the stage for continued collaboration and engagement on these critical issues.

News Archive

Lecture by Judge Albie Sachs: ‘Sites of memory, sites of conscience’

2015-03-23

Judge Albie Sachs

Human rights activist and former Constitutional Court Judge, Albie Sachs, will deliver a public lecture on the Bloemfontein Campus. The topic of his discussion will be ‘Sites of memory, sites of conscience’. This lecture will form part of a series that focuses on how the creative arts represent trauma and memory – and how these representations may ultimately pave the way to healing historical wounds.

The details of the event are:
Date: Thursday 26 March 2015
Time: 12:30
Venue: Albert Wessels Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus
RSVP: Jo-Anne Naidoo at Naidooja@ufs.ac.za
A South African Sign Language interpreter will be present at the event.

Joining Judge Sachs on stage as respondent will be Dr Buhle Zuma, a young scholar and lecturer at the University of Cape Town's Psychology Department.

Expressing experiences of trauma
Judge Sachs is no stranger to the use of the arts as a way of expressing the inarticulable and overwhelming experiences of trauma. Targeted as an anti-apartheid freedom fighter, he lost his right arm and was blinded in one eye in a car bomb attack in 1988. As a judge of the Constitutional Court, he spearheaded conversations about the role of the arts in our constitutional democracy. This has led to the installation of some of the best artworks by South African artists at the Constitutional Court.

Vice-Chancellor’s Lecture Series on Trauma, Memory, and Representations of the Past
This lecture will launch of the Vice Chancellor’s Lecture Series on Trauma, Memory and Representations of the Past. It forms part of a five-year research project led by Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, funded by the Mellon Foundation. The event is hosted by the UFS Trauma, Forgiveness and Reconciliation Studies.

“One of the most remarkable aspects of trauma,” Prof Gobodo-Madikizela says, “is the loss of language, a moment of rupture that produces what some scholars have referred to as ‘speechless terror’. The arts, in all its forms – literary, performance, and visual – are a viable mechanism through which the unspeakable, traumatic past may be represented.”

These artistic forms of representing trauma are at the heart of this Vice-Chancellor’s Lecture Series. “We are interested not only in how experiences that transcend language are represented through the arts,” Prof Gobodo-Madikizela explains, “but also in probing the limits of trauma theory, and how the creative arts might be employed to bear witness in a way that may open up the possibility of healing.”

Dr Buhle Zuma
Former Mandela Rhodes scholar and one of the 2011 Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans, Dr Zuma is particularly interested in issues at the heart of our rainbow nation. His current research revolves around the question of freedom: what it means to be human for black people after centuries of dehumanisation, and the role of desire and fantasy in the political imagination of post-apartheid South Africa.

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