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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.
Renowned Sign Language expert heads UFS department
2009-11-27
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| Mr Philemon Akach |
The Department of Afro-asiatic Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice in the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State recently appointed Mr Philemon Akach as its new chairperson.
Mr Akach, hitherto a senior lecturer in the department, succeeds Prof Annelie Lotriet who left the university earlier this year after having been elected to serve in the national parliament by the Democratic Alliance.
“To head the entire department has never crossed my mind because I think I am discipline oriented,” he said.
He said the confidence that his colleagues have in him gives him the impetus to succeed. “It gives me the opportunity to rethink my position within the department and the university at large,” he said.
However, his Sign Language students will be glad to know that he will not be lost to them as the result of this new responsibility.
“I cannot neglect Sign Language,” he stressed. “I have to teach because the academic side of Sign Language has to be maintained within the university, as well as nationally and internationally. I just have to divide my time between the administration of Sign Language and the teaching and research application in my discipline (Sign Language).”
To ease the load that comes with his new responsibility and the added pressure of being the only Sign Language lecturer, he said they have contracted former students to teach some courses in Sign Language.
“We have to keep in place the disciplines that keep this department’s name going,” he said.
A major challenge facing his department, according to Mr Akach, is getting more students enrolled in the disciplines offered by the department.
“To get students we need to convince them that we are the best, and that is not just a challenge for me but for the department and the lecturers in the department teaching those disciplines.”
He said he will strive for excellence in the department as part of the overall vision of the university.
“We need to get research output while not neglecting the teaching part. It is research that brings in new knowledge and it is through research that scholars expose themselves to the outside world, and by doing that they actually put the name of this university on the international map,” he said.
Mr Akach will serve in this position for the next three years.
Media release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za
26 November 2009