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12 June 2024
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Story Lunga Luthuli
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Photo supplied
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.
Eco-building workshop and rehabilitation through collaboration
2017-03-17
A demonstration of eco-building at Lebone Village
recreation centre
Photo: Supplied
An intimate learning platform was created when Velile Phantsi and Mokoena Maphalane, two community members who had received training in eco-building from the University of the Free State (UFS) Centre for Development Support (CDS) under the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, presented a workshop for 10 Free State psychiatric patients in Bloemfontein on 23 February 2017.
Building self-sustaining communities
The training programme took place at Lebone Village recreation centre, at a structure that was built through the eco-building initiative, Qala Phelang Tala (Start Living Green). The collaboration between the Department of Occupational Therapy at the Faculty of Health Sciences and CDS has the potential to address unemployment and housing backlogs and forms a significant part of the rehabilitation of vulnerable people. It has also created prospects for community-based research.
Training and support to rehabilitate vulnerable people
Following the sharing of skills, the Department of Occupational Therapy will continue to work with patients through this community engagement project. Trainees will receive support in building a recreation centre structure at their own complex. During the presentation Mokoena Maphalane shared his personal experience of how physical activity such as eco-building helped him recover from the debilitating effects of a stroke. It is something he hopes will assist other patients in the future.
More information on eco-building.