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Join the Africa Month celebrations

07 May 2024 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Supplied

UFS Celebrating Africa Month — The University of the Free State celebrates 2024 Africa Month.

May is widely recognised across African nations as Africa Month, a time dedicated to commemorating the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, a precursor to the African Union (AU). This historic milestone marked a significant shift towards continental unity and the collective pursuit of nation-building, championing the ideals of freedom and liberation from oppression.

On 25 May 2024, Africa celebrates the 61st anniversary of the founding of the OAU, now evolved into the AU. In alignment with this rich tradition, the University of the Free State (UFS) is proud to embrace Africa Day and its core principles once again in 2024, hosting a series of engaging events to highlight the importance of African indigenous knowledge in higher education, both locally and globally.

Honouring our legacy

Even preceding the formation of the OAU in 1963, countless initiatives spearheaded by Africans, both on the continent and within its diaspora, aimed to reclaim Africa’s rightful place on the global stage. South Africans have notably been at the forefront of these efforts, with figures like Pixley ka Isaka Seme delivering his seminal speech on the “Regeneration of Africa” in 1906, a sentiment echoed by subsequent generations through various initiatives geared towards decolonisation and revitalisation.

Africa Month serves as a platform to promote and cultivate appreciation for African arts and culture, fostering robust trade markets and stimulating economic growth across the continent.

Shaping the future

Vision 130 stands as the UFS’s strategic roadmap towards 2034, when the university will celebrate its 130th anniversary. One of its core values of ‘Innovation and Impact’, underscores the institution’s commitment to driving societal progress through impactful endeavours. Embracing creativity and challenging conventional norms, the UFS aims to leverage its knowledge resources to propel the development of the Free State, South Africa, and the African continent, while also contributing to global knowledge and understanding. With a firm commitment to regional engagement, the UFS seeks to be a catalyst for positive change, both locally and continentally.

Events calendar

For 2024, the theme of Africa Month is “Educate and Skill Africa for the 21st Century”, as designated by the African Union. In celebration of this significant milestone, the UFS is organising a diverse array of events throughout the month of May:

5km Fun Run & Walk

The Faculty of Health Sciences will host a 5km Fun Run & Walk, featuring live music, fitness sessions by KovsieFit, and exciting prizes.

Date: 11 May 2024

Time: 06:00

Venue: Francois Retief Building, Bloemfontein Campus.

World citizenship and African higher Education

The Office for International Affairs will host an event on World Citizenship and African Higher Education focusing on preparing students for a globally connected world.

Date: 22 May 2024

Time: 16:00-18:00

Venue: Centenary Complex, Bloemfontein Campus

Livestream to Qwaqwa Campus: https://events.ufs.ac.za/e/events.ufs.ac.za/e/africa2024

Africa Month book launch

The Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) will host a launch a book titled Migration, Borders, and Borderlands꞉ Making National Identity in Southern African Communities which was edited by Dr Munyaradzi Mushonga, Prof John Aerni‑Flessner, Prof Chitja Twala and Dr Grey Magaiza.

Date: 22 May 2024

Time: 14:00 – 15:30

Venue: E0014, Education building, Qwaqwa Campus

Livestream: https://livestream.ufs.ac.za/

Africa Day Memorial Lecture

The CGAS on the Qwaqwa Campus will also host the Africa Day Memorial Lecture titled “Peacebuilding in Africa: Challenges, Trends, and Futures” presented by Prof Ismail Rashid.

Date: 22 May 2024

Time: 16:00-18:00

Venue: E0014 Education Building, Qwaqwa Campus

Livestream: https://livestream.ufs.ac.za/

Faculty of Theology and Religion Africa Day celebration

The Faculty of Theology and Religion on the Bloemfontein Campus will host an Africa Day Celebration.

Date: 24 May 2024

Time: 12:00-13:00

Venue: 10 H van der Merwe Scholtz Hall, Bloemfontein Campus

News Archive

Professor’s research part of major global programme

2011-04-04

Prof. Zakkie Pretorius, professor in Plant Pathology in the Department of Plant Sciences at our university

Research by Zakkie Pretorius, professor in Plant Pathology in the Department of Plant Sciences at our university, has become part of Phase II of a mayor global project to combat deadly strains of a wheat pathogen that poses a threat to global food security.

Prof. Pretorius focuses on the identification of resistance in wheat to the stem rust disease and will assist breeders and geneticists in the accurate phenotyping of international breeding lines and mapping populations. In addition, Prof. Pretorius will support scientists from Africa with critical skills development through training programmes. During Phase I, which ends in 2011, he was involved in pathogen surveillance in Southern Africa and South Asia.

The Department of International Development (DFID) in the United Kingdom and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will invest $40 million over the next five years in the global project led by the Cornell University. The project is aimed at combating deadly strains of Ug99, an evolving wheat pathogen that is a dangerous threat to global food security, especially in the poorest nations.

The Cornell University said in a statement, the grant made to the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) project at Cornell will support efforts to identify new stem-rust resistant genes in wheat, improve surveillance, and multiply and distribute rust-resistant wheat seed to farmers and their families.

Researchers worldwide will be able to play an increasingly vital role in protecting wheat fields from dangerous new forms of stem rust, particularly in countries whose people can ill afford the economic impact of damage to this vital crop.

The Ug99 strain was discovered in Kenya in 1998, but are now also threatening major wheat-growing areas of Southern and Eastern Africa, the Central Asian Republics, the Caucasus, the Indian subcontinent, South America, Australia and North America.

Prof. Pretorius was responsible for the first description of this strain in 1999.

Among Cornell’s partners are national research centres in Kenya and Ethiopia, and scientists at two international agricultural research centres that focus on wheat, the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (known by its Spanish acronym as CIMMYT), and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), in Syria. Advanced research laboratories in the United States, Canada, China, Australia, Denmark and South Africa also collaborate on the project. The DRRW project now involves more than 20 leading universities and research institutes throughout the world, and scientists and farmers from more than 40 countries.

Media Release
28 March 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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