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09 April 2025 | Story Tshepo Tsotetsi | Photo Supplied
EMS PhDs
Dr Shaun Watson, Prof Philippe Burger, Dr Marese Lombard, and Dr Ambrosé Du Plessis.

As the University of the Free State (UFS) continues to celebrate the achievements of its graduates during the April 2025 graduation ceremonies, three academic staff members from the UFS Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) are among those marking a significant milestone with the successful completion of their doctoral degrees.

Prof Philippe Burger, Dean of the EMS Faculty, reflected on the significance of the moment and applauded the trio of new EMS PhD graduates: Dr Shaun Watson, Dr Marese Lombard, and Dr Ambrosé Ray du Plessis.

“For the EMS Faculty to have three staff members obtain a PhD on one day is very special,” Prof Burger said. “These colleagues have grown their standing in the scholarly community and are now, with a PhD in the bag, ready to take on the academic world and the world at large. The EMS Faculty places a high premium on our staff holding a PhD, so we strongly encourage those who are not in possession of a PhD to pursue one.”

Prof Burger added that their achievements not only reflect personal dedication and professional growth but also contribute to the University of the Free State’s Vision 130 goal: to have 75% of academic staff holding doctoral degrees by 2034.

The EMS academics who graduated during the April 2025 ceremonies are:

 

Dr Shaun Watson: Understanding markets through restatements

Dr Shaun Watson, a senior lecturer in the UFS School of Accountancy since 2006, earned his PhD in Management Accounting with a thesis titled ‘Market Efficiency and Share Price Reaction Following the Retrospective Restatement of Financial Statements of JSE-Listed Companies’. His study analysed how financial restatements affect market behaviour, providing key insights for policymakers and investors navigating emerging markets.

“For me, it was both a personal challenge and a professional goal,” Dr Watson said. “I’d often wondered if I had what it takes to complete a PhD and, as an academic, I saw it as the pinnacle of our field. My wife was the one who told me to ‘Nike – just do it!’ Her belief in me, along with the quiet support of my family, gave me the push I needed to start, and the strength to keep going.”

To those still considering the journey, Watson offered this advice: “Do it for yourself – because if you don’t, you will never finish. It is a demanding journey that requires sacrifice and perseverance, but the reward of discovering something meaningful is worth every moment.”

 

Dr Marese Lombard: Taxation as a tool for sustainable agriculture

Also from the School of Accountancy, Dr Marese Lombard received her PhD in Taxation. Her research, ‘Taxation as a Method to Promote Sustainable Agriculture in South Africa’, is the first of its kind to offer empirical evidence on how tax provisions could be used to incentivise sustainability in local agriculture.

“I hope to see a conversation regarding policy changes as to how taxation can be used as a positive method to impact sustainability,” Dr Lombard said. “If taxation can be used to further assist our agricultural industry to become more sustainable, it can not only increase our competitive edge but also address the concern of food security.”

Reflecting on her personal growth, she said, “It has taught me that we are more resilient than we think. The challenge of taking on a PhD has made me more open to other ideas and approaches, and more comfortable with criticism – not just in academia, but in life.”

 

Dr Ambrosé Ray du Plessis: Rethinking the political-administrative divide

From the Department of Public Administration and Management, Dr Ambrosé Ray du Plessis earned his PhD in Public Administration and Management. His thesis, ‘The Political-Administrative Dichotomy in Coalition-Led Metropolitan Municipalities: A South African Perspective’, developed a fresh conceptual framework for understanding the tensions and complexities within coalition-led governance, using the City of Johannesburg as a case study.

“For me, academia is a calling, and I believe that a PhD is an essential stepping stone to be successful in academia,” Dr Du Plessis said. “Being the first in my family to do a PhD motivated me to work harder, as I wanted to inspire those who will come after me.”

Balancing full-time lecturing and doctoral research required immense discipline: “I often had to work at night and over weekends to meet my deadlines… but the emotional and intellectual support from my PhD promoter, Prof Liezel Lues, was central to my success.”

Now, Dr Du Plessis hopes to deepen academic discourse on coalition politics: “My research addresses critical gaps and provides fresh insights into the political-administrative discourse as it can be applied to real-world coalition government problems in South Africa… I hope my work can leave a lasting impact – not only within academia but also in practical applications that benefit society.”

 

A testament to resilience and purpose

While their research topics differ vastly, all three describe their PhD journeys as transformative, both professionally and personally. From late nights and weekend writing sessions to intense supervision relationships, each story reflects a deeper commitment to scholarship – and to growing the UFS’s intellectual capital.

News Archive

Media: ANC can learn a lesson from Moshoeshoe
2006-05-20


27/05/2006 20:32 - (SA) 
ANC can learn a lesson from Moshoeshoe
ON 2004, the University of the Free State turned 100 years old. As part of its centenary celebrations, the idea of the Moshoeshoe Memorial Lecture was mooted as part of another idea: to promote the study of the meaning of Moshoeshoe.

This lecture comes at a critical point in South Africa's still-new democracy. There are indications that the value of public engagement that Moshoeshoe prized highly through his lipitso [community gatherings], and now also a prized feature in our democracy, may be under serious threat. It is for this reason that I would like to dedicate this lecture to all those in our country and elsewhere who daily or weekly, or however frequently, have had the courage to express their considered opinions on pressing matters facing our society. They may be columnists, editors, commentators, artists of all kinds, academics and writers of letters to the editor, non-violent protesters with their placards and cartoonists who put a mirror in front of our eyes.

There is a remarkable story of how Moshoeshoe dealt with Mzilikazi, the aggressor who attacked Thaba Bosiu and failed. So when Mzilikazi retreated from Thaba Bosiu with a bruised ego after failing to take over the mountain, Moshoeshoe, in an unexpected turn of events, sent him cattle to return home bruised but grateful for the generosity of a victorious target of his aggression. At least he would not starve along the way. It was a devastating act of magnanimity which signalled a phenomenal role change.

"If only you had asked," Moshoeshoe seemed to be saying, "I could have given you some cattle. Have them anyway."

It was impossible for Mzilikazi not to have felt ashamed. At the same time, he could still present himself to his people as one who was so feared that even in defeat he was given cattle. At any rate, he never returned.

I look at our situation in South Africa and find that the wisdom of Moshoeshoe's method produced one of the defining moments that led to South Africa's momentous transition to democracy. Part of Nelson Mandela's legacy is precisely this: what I have called counter-intuitive leadership and the immense possibilities it offers for re-imagining whole societies.

A number of events in the past 12 months have made me wonder whether we are faced with a new situation that may have arisen. An increasing number of highly intelligent, sensitive and highly committed South Africans across the class, racial and cultural spectrum confess to feeling uncertain and vulnerable as never before since 1994. When indomitable optimists confess to having a sense of things unhinging, the misery of anxiety spreads. It must have something to do with an accumulation of events that convey the sense of impending implosion. It is the sense that events are spiralling out of control and no one among the leadership of the country seems to have a handle on things.

I should mention the one event that has dominated the national scene continuously for many months now. It is, of course, the trying events around the recent trial and acquittal of Jacob Zuma. The aftermath continues to dominate the news and public discourse. What, really, have we learnt or are learning from it all? It is probably too early to tell. Yet the drama seems far from over, promising to keep us all without relief, and in a state of anguish. It seems poised to reveal more faultlines in our national life than answers and solutions.

We need a mechanism that will affirm the different positions of the contestants validating their honesty in a way that will give the public confidence that real solutions are possible. It is this kind of openness, which never comes easily, that leads to breakthrough solutions, of the kind Moshoeshoe's wisdom symbolises.

Who will take this courageous step? What is clear is that a complex democracy like South Africa's cannot survive a single authority. Only multiple authorities within a constitutional framework have a real chance. I want to press this matter further.

Could it be that part of the problem is that we are unable to deal with the notion of "opposition". We are horrified that any of us could become "the opposition". In reality, it is time we began to anticipate the arrival of a moment when there was no longer a single [overwhelmingly] dominant political force as is currently the case. Such is the course of change. The measure of the maturity of the current political environment will be in how it can create conditions that anticipate that moment rather than ones that seek to prevent it. This is the formidable challenge of a popular post-apartheid political movement.

Can it conceptually anticipate a future when it is no longer overwhelmingly in control, in the form in which it currently is and resist, counter-intuitively, the temptation to prevent such an eventuality? Successfully resisting such an option would enable its current vision and its ultimate legacy to our country to manifest itself in different articulations of itself, which then contend for social influence.

In this way, the vision never really dies, it simply evolves into higher, more complex forms of itself. If the resulting versions are what is called "the opposition" that should not be such a bad thing - unless we want to invent another name for it. The image of flying ants going off to start other similar settlements is not so inappropriate.

I do not wish to suggest that the nuptial flights of the alliance partners are about to occur: only that it is a mark of leadership foresight to anticipate them conceptually. Any political movement that has visions of itself as a perpetual entity should look at the compelling evidence of history. Few have survived those defining moments when they should have been more elastic, and that because they were not, did not live to see the next day.

I believe we may have reached a moment not fundamentally different from the sobering, yet uplifting and vision-making, nation-building realities that led to Kempton Park in the early 1990s. The difference between then and now is that the black majority is not facing white compatriots across the negotiating table. Rather, it is facing itself: perhaps really for the first time since 1994. It is not a time for repeating old platitudes. Could we apply to ourselves the same degree of inventiveness and rigorous negotiation we displayed up to the adoption or our Constitution?

Morena Moshoeshoe faced similarly formative challenges. He seems to have been a great listener. No problem was too insignificant that it could not be addressed. He seems to have networked actively across the spectrum of society. He seems to have kept a close eye on the world beyond Lesotho, forming strong friendships and alliances, weighing his options constantly. He seems to have had patience and forbearance. He had tons of data before him before he could propose the unexpected. He tells us across the years that moments of renewal demand no less.

  • This is an editied version of the inaugural Moshoeshoe Memorial Lecture presented by Univeristy of Cape Town vice-chancellor Professor Ndebele at the University of the Free State on Thursday. Perspectives on Leadership Challenges In South Africa

 

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