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16 October 2024
Prestige Lecture by Justice Albie Sachs

Invitation

Who actually wrote the Constitution?

The Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof Serges Kamga, invites you to a Prestige Lecture which will be delivered by Emeritus Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs.

Date: 30 October 2024

Time: 17:30

Venue: Equitas Auditorium

RSVP: Before 20 October 2024 (RSVP here)


Albie Sachs is an activist, writer and former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa (1994 – 2009). He began practising as an advocate at the Cape Bar at the age of 21, defending people charged under the racial statutes and security laws of apartheid. After two spells of being detained in solitary confinement without trial, first for five months, then for three months, he went into exile in England, where he completed a PhD at Sussex University. In 1988, he lost his right arm and his sight in one eye when a bomb was placed in his car by South African security agents in Maputo, Mozambique. After the bombing, he devoted himself to the preparations for a new democratic constitution for South Africa. When he returned home from exile, he served as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the African National Congress until the first democratic elections in 1994.

Sachs is a Board member of the Constitution Hill Trust, which promotes constitutionalism and the rule of law. He has travelled to many countries sharing South African experiences that might help heal divided societies.

He is the author of several books, including The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs, Justice in South Africa, Sexism and the Law, Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter and The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law. His latest books are We, the People: Insights of an activist judge (2016) and Oliver Tambo's Dream (2017). He received an honorary doctorate in Law from the UFS in 2022.

News Archive

Dr Charlotte Boucher and Lindi Heyns examine possible anti-microbial activity in the skin of Western olive toad species
2014-12-22

 

Researchers Lindi Heyns and Dr Charlotte Boucher are working together on an interdisciplinary project between the Departments of Zoology and Entomology and Veterinary Biotechnology at the University of the Free State (UFS). The focus of their research is on the preliminary biochemical description of skin secretions in some South African toads.

The project forms part of an Honours study executed by Dwayne Pike under Heyns’ supervision. He is co-supervised by Dr Boucher who is assisting with the biochemical and microbiological assays.

Dr Boucher said, “Amphibians are characterised by the presence of cutaneous glands spread over the skin. There are two types of glands, namely mucous and granular (poison), located on the inner surface of the epidermis. Mucous glands are widely dispersed over the skin, while granular glands can be grouped and enlarged in specific regions. Mucous glands are generally associated with maintenance of humidity and cutaneous respiration, whereas granular glands function in chemical defence against predators and/or microbial infection. Studies indicate that the compounds produced by the granular glands belong to numerous chemical classes with diverse pharmacological activities.”

The products secreted by granular glands are rich in low molecular weight constituents of varied molecular types, including proteins, peptides and toxins. These secretions make the toad foul-tasting to predators and even toxic to other frog species. In addition, amphibians offer an attractive source of novel antimicrobials. Studies indicate that as a response to inhabiting microorganism-rich environments they synthesise and secrete a diverse array of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as an innate form of defence. Extensive research by various other research groups has been carried out on antimicrobial peptides of the genus Rana; however, hardly any studies have investigated the antimicrobial activity of African frog species.

The focus of this preliminary project is to determine the protein composition of the glandular secretions of the Western olive toad (Amietophrynus poweri), using biochemical tests, such as SDS-PAGE also known as protein gel electrophoresis combined with mass-spectrometry used to identify unknown peptides and proteins. This will give us an overview of the composition of the glandular secretions. Furthermore, we are also looking at microbiological tests, which include assays that test for possible anti-microbial activity against various bacterial and fungal species.

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