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03 May 2024 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Supplied
IISLT Conference
Diving deep into the intricacies of land tenure in rural communities at the International Interdisciplinary Security of Land Tenure Conference.

The Law Faculty is excited to host the International Interdisciplinary Security of Land Tenure (IISLT) Conference and extends an invitation for broad online institutional engagement in the event. Participants are encouraged to register early to secure their virtual presence and bookmark the link, which grants access throughout the conference days from 6 to 8 May 2024.


See the attached final conference programme.

Conference Programme

The University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with esteemed research partners, will host the IISLT Conference scheduled for 6-8 May 2024 on the Bloemfontein Campus, Equitas Building. The conference aims to address the pervasive issue of insecure land rights plaguing rural communities in South Africa, despite constitutional safeguards and landmark legal decisions.

Transforming the rural land economy

Under the theme Transforming the rural land economy: the creation of secure land rights for the enhancement of rural livelihoods and sustainable development, the conference seeks to explore solutions to the complex challenges surrounding land tenure security.

Dr Anthea-Lee September-Van Huffel, Lecturer in the UFS Department of Private Law and a member of the IISLT Planning Committee, emphasised the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to address land tenure security issues. She stated, "Security of land tenure requires an interdisciplinary approach that is conscious of the intersectionalities between property, environmental law and conservation, customary law and succession, gender and traditional practices, natural resources and socio-economic rights, development, agriculture and land reform, poverty, politics and governance. It is time for innovative holistic rights-based solutions."

The conference proudly collaborates with international and national research partners such as Anglia Ruskin University in London, England; Imo State University in Owerri, Nigeria, the National University of Lesotho's United Nations Development Programme Human Rights Chair, Lesotho; the Law Faculty of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria; the University of Stellenbosch, Department of Private Law,  and the Free State Centre for Human Rights. Other closely associated research collaborators are Public Affairs Research Institute and the UFS Centre for Development Studies.

The International Interdisciplinary Security of Land Tenure Conference presents a unique platform for stakeholders to engage in critical discussions, share insights, and propose innovative solutions towards securing land rights for rural communities and fostering sustainable development. Join us for this pivotal event aimed at transforming the rural land economy for the betterment of society. The conference is strongly aligned with Vision 130 and the Sustainable Development Goals (8) Economic growth, (10) Reduced inequalities, (11) Sustainable communities, and (15) Life on land.

Contact information:

For general enquiries, contact Riekie Viljoen via email at viljoenr@ufs.ac.za.

News Archive

Kovsies to celebrate excellence at 2014 December Graduation Ceremony
2014-12-02

 

Live streaming: http://apps.ufs.ac.za/ufslivestreaming/ 

On Thursday 11 December 2014, the University of the Free State (UFS) will award degrees and qualifications during our Summer Graduation Ceremony at the Bloemfontein Campus.

The graduation will take place during two ceremonies in the Callie Human Centre, where master’s and PhD degrees will be awarded during the first ceremony at 09:30. Diplomas, certificates and undergraduate qualifications will be awarded to students from the School of Open Learning and the Faculty of Health Sciences at 14:30.

Radio personality, Redi Thlabi, and cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Susan Vosloo, will address the graduates.

Apart from her radio show on 702 and CapeTalk, Thlabi has also hosted local television news shows and anchored for international broadcasters like SKY and the BBC. In addition, she has presented two of her own TV shows: ‘Redi’ on Mzansi Magic and ‘South to North’ on Al-Jazeera.

Her first book, Endings and Beginnings (Jacana) received popular acclaim and is currently being turned into a screenplay for a movie.

Dr Susan Vosloo, a Kovsie alumnus, graduated in 1980. She completed her internship in Pretoria and spent the following year in Critical Care Medicine at Universitas Hospital, Bloemfontein, before starting her surgical training in Johannesburg.

She is currently in independent private practice at the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital in Cape Town, having also worked from 1998 – 2012 at the Vincent Pallotti Hospital in the same city.

Dr Vosloo maintains close ties with our university and has quite a number of addition roles to that of surgeon:

• member of the Council of the UFS;
• UFS Council Representative in the Senate;
• member of the Standing Advisory Committee of the School of Medicine, UFS;
• member of the Provincial Department of Health;
• Africa representative for the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society; and
• founding member of the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery.

Prof Boelie Wessels will also be awarded his 10th academic degree from the UFS since 1974. Adding his Honorary Doctorate degree to the list, it will make this his 11th degree. Prof Wessels is 84 years old and has 18-plus academic qualifications from various institutions – a phenomenal achievement.

Furthermore, Moses Lubinga and his wife, Stellah, will be the first married couple to be awarded their PhDs at the same graduation ceremony at the UFS. Mr Lubinga will receive his Doctorate in Agricultural Economics, while Mrs Lubinga’s PhD is in the field of Economic and Management Sciences.

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