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14 May 2025 | Story Tshepo Tsotetsi | Photo Supplied
Africa Month 2025
Africa: Our identity, our journey, our future.

Each May, countries across the continent mark Africa Month, reflecting on the formation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 (now the African Union) and the shared vision for a united, thriving Africa. In 2025, the AU draws attention to justice and reparations for Africans and people of African descent. At the University of the Free State (UFS), the commemorative period invites reflection on African identity, futures, and connectedness through learning, dialogue, and cultural expression.

Throughout the month, a range of campus events will celebrate African identity, highlight voices from within the UFS community, and foreground indigenous knowledge systems and the arts – all integral to the institution’s vision of shaping a future grounded in African values and global relevance.

Prof Lynette Jacobs, Acting Director of the Office for International Affairs, believes the continent’s greatest potential lies in its people, cultures, and ways of knowing. “Africa is the heart of humankind … What excites me most is the growing recognition that Africa’s richness lies not only in its resources but also in its people, cultures, and knowledges, both ancient and contemporary,” she says.

Prof Jacobs highlights the university’s role in fostering ethical leadership and driving innovation rooted in African priorities. “We need to produce locally grounded graduates who can hold their own amongst the world’s best; we need to foster ethical, service-oriented leadership; and to serve as hubs for interdisciplinary research. By nurturing innovation, collaboration, and critical thinking, institutions like UFS can help shape an Africa that is not only self-reliant but also a key contributor to global progress.”

Portia Mtawarira, the SRC representative for international students on the Bloemfontein Campus, echoes this belief. “I envision Africa as a continent where we embrace and celebrate diversity – a future where people come together for a common goal: to improve access to quality education, fight social injustice and corruption, reduce unemployment, and promote globalisation and internationalisation,” she says.

She adds that UFS provides a space where this kind of leadership can grow. “The university has created platforms where students can develop the skills needed to become ethical leaders, problem-solvers, and change-makers … It’s now our responsibility to go back into our communities and put into practice the knowledge we’ve acquired here.”

From international collaborations and mobility networks to the everyday spirit of mutual support on campus, Prof Jacobs says she sees interdependence as the African spirit embodied at UFS. “It reflects the deep awareness across African societies that our progress is bound together, and that solutions emerge from solidarity, not divisiveness.”

As UFS continues on its Vision 130 journey, Africa Month affirms the institution’s enduring commitment to connection, celebration, and co-creating a future shaped by African excellence.

 

Africa Month Events Calendar:

 

Intercultural Sports Day

The offices of SRC International Students and SRC Sports will host an Intercultural Sports Day that will celebrate cultural diversity through sports.

Date: 16 May 2025

Time: 13:00–17:00 

Location: Bloemfontein Campus

 

Africa Day Memorial Lecture

The Centre for Gender and Africa Studies will host its annual Africa Day Memorial Lecture presented by Prof Cyril Obi, Program Director at the Social Science Research Council, New York. The theme of the lecture is ‘Caught between De-Democratisation and Re-Democratisation: Grappling with Africa’s Complex Conjunctures through the Lens of Political Dialectics’.

Date: 21 May 2025

Time: 18:00

Venue: Equitas, Bloemfontein Campus


 

Africa Day commemoration podcast panel discussion

The Office for International Affairs will host its annual Africa Day commemoration podcast panel discussion featuring UFS Chancellor Prof Bonang Mohale and the former Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor. The theme is ‘Africa’s Future: Higher Education and Global Impact’. 

Date: 22 May 2025 

Time: 19:00–20:30 

Venue: Albert Wessels Auditorium, Bloemfontein

Click to view document Click here to RSVP

News Archive

Prof Tim Murithi calls for Africa to design new global order
2016-06-02

Description: Prof Tim Murithi calls for Africa to design new global order Tags: Prof Tim Murithi doen ’n oproep op Afrika om ’n nuwe wêreldorde te skep

From left: Prof Heidi Hudson, Head of Centre for Africa
Studies (CAS); Prof Tim Murithi, Extraordinary Professor
at CAS; Prof Lucius Botes, Dean of the Faculty of
the Humanities; and Prof Prakash Naidoo, Principal of
Qwaqwa Campus.
Photo: Stephen Collet

“What do Africans have to say about the remaking of the global order?” was the opening question of Prof Tim Murithi’s lecture which was hosted by the Centre for Africa Studies (CAS) of the University of the Free State (UFS) to celebrate Africa Day on 25 May 2016.

The annual Africa Day Memorial Lecture, entitled: Africa and the Remaking of the Global Order, doubled as Prof Murithi’s inaugural lecture. He is CAS’s newly-appointed Extraordinary Professor, as well as the Head of the Justice and Reconciliation in Africa Programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town. He made a compelling argument for the need for Africa to exert an active influence on international narratives of peace, governance, justice, and reconciliation.

“If we are waiting for American leadership to get us out of the quagmire of a situation we are in, we will be waiting for a long time,” said Prof Murithi.

The Head of the Centre, Prof Heidi Hudson, concurred with Prof Murithi’s suggestion of devising African solutions for African problems. She quoted Audre Lorde’s well-known assertion that “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”

Remembering 1963
Over five decades ago, on 25 May 1963, the Organisation of African Unity was formed, and was renamed the African Union in 2002. Africa Day marks this pivotal point in the continent’s history. On this day, we reflect on the continent’s journey into democracy, peace, stability and socio-economic development. It is also an opportunity to celebrate African identity and heritage.

Continent-building dialogues
The UFS Sasol Library celebrated Africa Day with a book launch. Facets of Power. Politics, Profits and People in the Making of Zimbabwe's Blood Diamonds by Tinashe Nyamunda is a reflection of some of the challenges that Zimbabwe continues to face. It details the disadvantaged position which the country finds itself in due to greed, maladministration, and corruption, despite possessing large deposits of minerals.

In celebration of Africa Month, CAS has held a series of lectures by esteemed scholars from across the globe.  Earlier in the month, Prof Henning Melber presented lectures on Namibia’s independence and the African middle class. Kevin Bloom and Richard Poplak unpacked the issues surrounding Africa’s continental shift, while Prof Joleen Steyn Kotze focused on the possible fall of the African National Congress.

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