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12 June 2024
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Story Lunga Luthuli
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Richard Molefe, a final-year BCom Investment Management and Banking
student at the University of the Free State (UFS), was recently elected uncontested as the National Chairperson of the Black Management Forum (BMF) National Student Chapter. The BMF aims to empower managerial leadership among black individuals in South Africa. Molefe's election signifies a step towards inclusive leadership structures that reflect wider societal values.
In an exclusive interview, Molefe shares his vision for youth empowerment and his plans for the Student Chapter's endeavours.
“The Black Management Forum’s programmes of development and advancement of managerial leadership and socio-economic transformation have exposed me to leadership opportunities that enhance my potential and aspirations. The opportunity is an indication that I have done something right, but I must constantly remind myself that I have not arrived,” said Molefe.
In his one-year term of office, Molefe wants to ensure that national structures of the Student Chapter exist and are functional, key pillars – promoting leadership, managerial leadership development skills, and entrepreneurial skills development in higher education institutions.
Humour a powerful tool to address serious issues
2017-12-06
Michelle Malan received a Dean’s medal from the Faculty of Humanities at the mid-year
graduation ceremonies for her Master’s degree.
Photo: Jóhann Thormählen
People, in most contexts, are more open to engage in serious issues such as politics and economics if it is presented in a humorous way. This makes humour a very powerful tool to address burning issues in our society.
These are some of the findings in the research of Michelle Malan, a part time lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and Language Practice at the University of the Free State (UFS).
How comedians and cartoonists use humour
The basic premise of her research, titled The Intersemiotic Translation of Humour, was to see how comedians and cartoonists take news stories and translate it into humour. She received the Dean’s medal for the best Master’s degree in the Faculty of the Humanities at the mid-year graduation ceremonies in June 2017.
“More specifically, I explored how the medium constrains potential meaning-making in cases of intersemiotic translation in which humour is constructed,” she says.
Cartoon vs a comic television show
According to her the medium in which a message is given, in this case comedy, definitely influences how one is able to form meaning from it. “For instance, a cartoon (visual medium) would have a different meaning-making potential than a comic television show.”
She also notes that one must understand the workings of humour, which includes the mediums in which it is presented, so that the intended humour does not do more harm than good.