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28 June 2024 | Story Carmenita Redcliffe-Paul
Global Citizen Invitation Prof Thuli Madonsela 4 July 2024

The University of the Free State (UFS) and the South African Chamber of Commerce United Kingdom (SACC UK) are pleased to present a Global Citizen Series conversation, South Africa’s Future in Focus: the post-election impact on social justice, service delivery, higher education, and the economy, from the perspective of Prof Thuli Madonsela, Director of the Centre for Social Justice in the Faculty of Law at Stellenbosch University and Professor of Law in the Law Trust Research Chair in Social Justice Studies.

As part of the Global Citizen Webinar Series, Prof Madonsela – a member of the International Anticorruption Advisory Council and Global Justice Leaders – will join UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Francis Petersen, and SACC UK Chairperson, Sharon Constançon, for a conversation that explores what the future holds for social justice, service delivery, higher education, and the economy in South Africa.

After thirty years of democracy, South Africans once again made their mark on 29 May 2024 in one of the most pivotal elections since 1994. Join us in person during the Free State Arts Festival or online as we explore South Africa’s Future in Focus: The post-election impact on social justice, service delivery, higher education, and the economy.

Date: Thursday 4 July 2024
In-person event SA time: 18:00-20:00 SAST, Centenary Complex, UFS Bloemfontein Campus
Webinar SA time: 18:30-19:30 / UK time: 17:30-18:30

The livestream link will be shared with those who RSVP

Enquiries: Tebello Leputla - leputlatb@ufs.ac.za +27 51 401 3966

About Prof Thuli Madontsela

Prof Thuli (Thulisile) Madonsela is the Director of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in the Faculty of Law at Stellenbosch University and Professor of Law in the Law Trust Research Chair in Social Justice Studies. She is the founder of the Thuma Foundation for Democracy Leadership and Literacy and a member of the African Academy of Sciences. She was recently appointed to the UN Scientific Advisory Board and as Chairperson of Cities Alliance. She is a member of the International Anticorruption Advisory Council and Global Justice Leaders.

The former Public Protector of South Africa and full-time Commissioner in the South African Law Reform Commission was one of the 11 technical experts who helped draft the South African Constitution, and is a co-architect of several constitutionally mandated laws, including the Equality Act, Employment Equity Act, and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. She has an extensive background in applied constitutional, social justice, and administrative law principles, mainly based on her years of public service and her investigation of improper conduct in state affairs as Public Protector. A regular sought-after keynote speaker, Prof Madonsela has written, taught, presented papers, and published on these matters and ethical leadership, good governance, and gender mainstreaming for decades.

Prof Madonsela helped draft several international human rights instruments at UN, AU, and SADC levels, as well as country reports on such matters. She currently teaches Constitutional Law, Social Justice Law, Administrative Law, and Constitutional Governance and Ethical Leadership. She holds eight honorary law doctorates, in addition to two law degrees, a Harvard Advanced Leadership Certificate, and other postgraduate qualifications.

Named one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2014, Prof Madonsela’s global recognition includes more than 70 awards, including Rotary’s Paul Harris award, the Commonwealth Lawyers Truth and Justice award, and the global ACFE’s Cressy award. Prof Madonsela is a mother of two, a philanthropist, and an avid mountaineer who has summited Mt Kilimanjaro twice under the #Trek4Mandela-#Caring4Girls anti-period poverty campaign and the Musa Plan for Social Justice, and regularly hikes for the #Action4Inclusion campaign, a quest to end student debt.

News Archive

‘Your capacity for change is limitless’
2013-09-13

 

Ready for the world - students taking part in the 2013 Leadership for Change programme getting ready to travel to universities in the USA, Europe and Asia.
Photo: Johan Roux
12 September 2013

 “You will change this campus, city, country, continent and the world, because you have the capacity for greatness,” Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), said.

He addressed the 2013 group of first-year students in the Leadership for Change programme at a farewell function before they will leave for universities abroad. The first 104 students from the 2013 total of 144 will depart on 18 September and return on 3 October 2013. The second group of 40 students will be abroad from 11 to 25 January 2014. The students are from the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses. They will be accompanied by mentors from the UFS.

The students will visit 17 universities in the USA, Europe and Asia.

The first 71 first-year students in the Leadership for Change programme were sent abroad for two weeks in September 2010 to get intense exposure to the academic, social, cultural and residential lives of students in the USA. In 2011 the student number more than doubled and universities in Europe were included. In July 2012 the programme brought students from around the globe to the UFS for the Global Leadership Summit.

Prof Jansen inspired the young leaders, saying, “If you learn leadership values in your four years of study, a change will come. Build the new value system and take it into the country. Your capacity for change is limitless.”

He encouraged them to learn to know the stranger, not only abroad, but also the beggar at the street corner. “Learn to be comfortable with the beggar, as well as with the professor in the classroom.”

A stringent evaluation and training programme preceded the group’s visit abroad, and Prof Jansen could not formulate their achievement better: “I cannot tell you how proud I am of you.”

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