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26 March 2025 | Story Edzani Nephalela | Photo Lethabo Machabaphala
Theology MOU 2025
Prof Zorodzai Dube, Head of the Department of Religion Studies at the UFS, and Thabo Seotsanyana, representative for the African Centre of Excellence, formalised a collaboration to advance research into African spirituality.

The University of the Free State (UFS) Faculty of Theology and Religion recently made history as the first institution to partner with the African Centre of Excellence in a significant collaboration advancing research and education on African indigenous spirituality.

This partnership is set to foster a deeper understanding of African indigenous knowledge, highlighting its importance and addressing misconceptions about its practices.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the parties outlines the facilitation of joint research and teaching initiatives. According to Prof Zorodzai Dube, Head of the Department of Religion Studies at the UFS, the MoU will provide UFS students with the unique opportunity to engage with African indigenous knowledge systems, particularly those related to herbs, healthcare, and traditional healing practices.

“The collaboration aims to enrich the students’ academic experience and provide them with critical insights into African indigenous spirituality,” Prof Dube said. “Furthermore, this partnership is seen as a key step toward furthering UFS’s vision to become a leading institution in research, including Africanisation and pan-African research.” He added that the faculty views this collaboration as a springboard for strengthening its position as a leader in addressing Africa-related issues in education and research.

Significance of this partnership

Thabo Seotsanyana, Curriculum Developer for the African Centre of Excellence, emphasised that this partnership will challenge long-standing misconceptions about African spirituality while fostering a deeper appreciation for its value and relevance in contemporary society. “This collaboration is a landmark event for several reasons. It emphasises the importance of African indigenous spirituality in academic discourse and provides a platform for decolonising knowledge systems.”

In his address, Seotsanyana highlighted that the African Hidden Voices is committed to transforming mindsets, particularly within African nations. He spoke about how generations have been influenced by ideologies that dismiss African spiritual practices in favour of foreign belief systems, and how this partnership aims to reverse that trend.

“We are delighted to be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with one of the most highly regarded institutions in South Africa,” Seotsanyana shared, reading a message from Imboni Dr uZwi-Lezwe Radebe, founder of African Hidden Voices. “This marks a significant milestone in our history that will be remembered for years.”

Impact on future generations

Seotsanyana highlighted that the organisation is dedicated to educating individuals about African spirituality, fostering African leadership, and embracing traditional African ways of life.

“Our mission is to nurture a new generation that understands, values, and actively engages with African spirituality,” he explained. “This initiative marks a significant step in the academic exploration and preservation of African indigenous spirituality. It aims to leave a lasting legacy that inspires future generations to reconnect with their heritage, challenge outdated views, and adopt an inclusive, spiritually enriched way of life. This aligns with the University of the Free State’s Vision 130, which promotes inclusivity and ethical values, ensuring that everyone feels represented, welcomed, and has access to the university’s resources.”

News Archive

Award-winning photographer exhibits ravages of war, 25 May 2016 until 17 June 2016
2016-06-02

Description: Unsettled exibition Tags: Unsettled exibition

The ruins of the Dimbaza Border Industrial Park built
in the 1970s as a source of cheap labour for industrialists
and ostensible employment for Ciskei Homeland citizens.
This industrial zone collapsed after 1994.
Photo: Images courtesy of the Galerie Seippel. 
All images © Cedric Nunn

Cedric Nunn’s latest photographic exhibition, Unsettled: One Hundred Years War of Resistance by Xhosa Against Boer and British, opened on 25 May 2016 at the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery of University of the Free State, and will run until 17 June 2016. Since 2014, the exhibition has travelled through South Africa and the USA as well as Germany.

The photographer, documentary film-maker, and artist’s photographic journey was launched in the early 1980s in Durban. In 2011, he won the first FNB Joburg Art Fair Award.

Narratives of the victors and the vanquished

Unsettled deals with the nine wars that Xhosa people were subjected to between 1779 and 1879 in their fight against Afrikaner and British colonial settler forces. Nunn’s art seeks to instigate social change, and highlight lesser-seen aspects of society.

The work emanated from his awareness of a notable gap in the telling of this piece of South African history, as well as the fact that, to date, little has been done to memorialise these acts of colonial aggression and Xhosa resistance. He decided to document the land where these struggles took place.

“Through revisiting this painful past in the contemporary scenes of today, this work attempts to place the present in its factual context of dispossession and conquest,” said Nunn.

Unsettled
forms the first component of what will be a trilogy. The next component will address the legacy of colonial dispossession through “bringing ‘the first inhabitants’ back into the picture by giving a select number of self-describing Khoi, Griqua, and San or Bushmen a contemporary face and presence”. The final component will look at slavery.

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