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UFS Thought-Leader Series: Student protest action, politics, and higher education

20 October 2023 | Story Samkelo Fetile

The University of the Free State (UFS) is pleased to present a panel discussion titled, Student protest action, politics, and higher education, which is part of the 2023 Thought-Leader Webinar Series. Join Prof Adam Habib and Dr Max Price for a discussion about their respective experiences in leadership positions during the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student protest movements, the lessons learnt during these tumultuous times, and how these events continue to influence the current landscape in the higher education sector in South Africa and further afield. The discussion will reflect on their recent books Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall, and Statues and Storms, and will be facilitated by Prof Francis Petersen, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS.

Date: Tuesday 21 November 2023

Time: 13:00-14:30

Click to view document WATCH: vimeo.com/kovsies/tls23

For further information, contact Alicia Pienaar at pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za.

Some of the topics discussed by leading experts in 2022 included, 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. This year’s webinar series commenced with a discussion on Threats to South Africa’s stability and security challenges, followed by A culture of acceptance – is this South Africa’s greatest threat? and The need for a global and regional plan / approach to respond to the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Facilitator:

Prof Francis Petersen

Vice-Chancellor and Principal, UFS

Panellists:

Prof Adam Habib

Director: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Dr Max Price

Emeritus Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town; academic and consultant

Bios of speakers:

Prof Adam Habib

Prof Adam Habib is an academic, researcher, activist, administrator, and well-known public intellectual. A Professor of Political Science, Prof Habib has more than 30 years of academic, research, and administration expertise, spanning five universities and multiple local and international institutions.

Prior to his appointment as Director of SOAS, he was Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa between 2013 and 2020. He has also served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research at the University of Johannesburg, Executive Director of Democracy and Governance at the Human Sciences Research Council, and as Director of the Centre for Civil Society and Professor of Development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is widely published, including his two well-received monographs, South Africa's Suspended Revolution: Hopes and Prospects and Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #FeesMustFall.

Prof Habib’s academic contributions resulted in his election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in addition to serving as a fellow of both the African Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Science of South Africa. He also serves on the Council of the United Nations University.

Dr Max Price

Dr Max Price was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town in July 2008, completing his ten-year term in June 2018. During the first seven years of his term, UCT experienced growth and success in research and teaching, as well as global recognition. This continued during the last three years but was overshadowed by the Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall protests during 2015 to 2017. Dr Price led the university through these storms and back to safe harbour in 2018.

Dr Price studied Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), during which time he became deeply involved in student politics, becoming SRC president a year after the Soweto uprising. He subsequently did a PPE degree at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Following clinical work in academic and rural hospitals in South Africa, he gained a master’s degree in Community Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and then worked as an academic in the areas of health policy and economics, rural health services, and health science education.

He was dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits for ten years. He now consults in public health, higher education, strategic leadership, and advises foundations on grant making. He is currently a scholar in residence at the Atlantic Institute. He is the author of Statues and Storms: Leading through change, published in 2023.

News Archive

Workplace discrimination and unfair practices explored in new book

2017-09-13

Dr Denine Smit
Photo: Supplied

Two law scholars, Dr Denine Smit and Dr Damian Viviers, from the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently launched a book titled Vulnerable Employees, which was inspired by their interest in researching, creating awareness and providing a legal exposition in relation to employees who are vulnerable and experience prejudice and dignity violations in the workplace. These include workplace bullying, appearance-based discrimination, those who are gender fluid or have mental-health conditions.
“Dr Viviers, who is also a former student of mine, and I, have been working together for years and share a common understanding in relation to our various topics of interest. We often share the same train of thought. This is how we came to work together to produce this book,” said Dr Smit.

Research focused on employee challenges in the workplace
The book expands on the field of knowledge regarding certain categories of employees who, as a consequence of various mutable, immutable and semi-immutable characteristics, as well as behavioural experiences, are rendered vulnerable in their employment relationships. The book draws on various social, psychological and other empirical considerations, as well as comparative legal research from foreign and international law, in order to expand on the legal position under the South African legal framework governing these conditions. While the book first and foremost constitutes a compendium of research to be used for this purpose, it also serves as a practical guide for all legal practitioners, human resources managers, other labour stakeholders and the judiciary.

Book draws strength in other academic fields
Vulnerable Employees was launched on 28 July 2017 at the UFS library, to an audience of academics and students, with a panel discussion made up of the authors and two other panellists. One of the panellists was Dr Katinka Botha, a leading psychiatrist in the Free State who has a wealth of experience in this field. “Her selection as a panellist was motivated by the various significant inter-disciplinary considerations and intersections between psychology, psychiatry and law, contained in the book,” said Dr Smit.
“Dr Botha’s expertise was invaluable in shedding light on mental-health considerations during the panel discussion.”
Mr Lesley Mokgoro, the other panellist, is a leading labour law practitioner, as well as director and head of the Dispute Resolution Practice Group at Phatshoane Henney Attorneys. “His years of experience working with all role players in the employment domain, as well as his extensive legal knowledge and expertise, made him uniquely qualified to serve on the panel and deliver an opinion of the practical and academic value of the book,” said Dr Smit.

Workplace policies key to securing employee rights
There are a number of growing trends in the workplace that could shape the practice of labour law or workplace policies. Dr Smit said the need for employers to regulate workplace culture, particularly in relation to bullying, harassment and unfair discrimination, in line with the South African legal framework, was a fundamental need in all workplaces. Effective workplace policies may be used to clearly outline the relevant “dos and don’ts” to employees, as well as the procedures and processes that may be followed in order to address such conduct. Workplace policies serve to advance legal certainty and efficiency, since the rights and obligations of all role players are clearly demarcated, or should be, in terms of a well-drafted and considered policy.
The book is one of several publications produced by Dr Smit in collaboration with Dr Viviers on the topic of workplace discrimination and the law. The two scholars are working on another book to be published at the end of 2017.

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