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06 May 2025 | Story Tshepo Tsotetsi | Photo Supplied
Critical Dialogue
Guest speaker, Prof Gordon Zide, delivers his keynote address at the EDSA Critical Dialogue Series 2025.

The Office of the Executive Director: Student Affairs at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted its annual Critical Dialogue Series on 29 April 2025 at the Centenary Complex on the Bloemfontein Campus. The dialogue brought together students, staff, and university leadership for an engaging conversation around ethical and servant leadership in higher education.

 

A conversation rooted in purpose

In his opening address, Temba Hlasho, Executive Director for Student Affairs said the dialogue was designed to provoke honest reflection and engagement on issues that affect student experience and institutional culture.

“We believe that there has to be some sort of transparency in terms of having to talk about topical issues that are very critical, that also touch on the very nerve of student experience,” Hlasho said.

He encouraged student leaders to see the platform not as ceremonial, but as a call to action. “You are in a country today where ethics have almost decayed. You, as the future of this country, will rely solely on the young people to change the narrative.”

 

Leadership anchored in service

UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof Hester C. Klopper delivered a powerful message on the importance of ethical and servant leadership in guiding the university’s direction. “Leadership – and specifically ethical and servant leadership – forms the cornerstone of what we stand for at the University of the Free State.”

She spoke about accountability, fairness, and leading with integrity. “It means treating every student fairly regardless of background or belief, and holding yourself accountable for your actions and decisions.”

Prof Klopper also highlighted the vital role student leaders play in shaping a culture of trust and excellence. “Leadership is not a title or a position, but a daily choice to serve with integrity, empathy, and purpose.”

 

Ubuntu, transformation, and power dynamics

The event’s keynote speaker was Prof Gordon Zide, an accomplished scholar, academic, intellectual, Africanist, author, transformation specialist, motivational speaker, and a former Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Vaal University of Technology. Prof Zide is also a former Registrar at the University of South Africa. Drawing from a lifetime of experience in the sector, he interrogated the moral responsibilities of leadership within the South African higher education landscape.

“Leadership is a function of being a servant and being in charge of others,” he said. “It also requires the capacity to give strategic direction for the effective, efficient, and valued functioning of organisations.”

He emphasised that ethical leadership should be grounded in values such as vision, passion, patience, integrity, honesty, decisiveness, character, and charisma. Reflecting on the African philosophy of ubuntu, Prof Zide remarked: “When talking about servant leadership, it’s important to recognise other people and say to yourself: ‘I am what I am because of other people.’”

He encouraged students, particularly the current generation, to take charge and assume ethical leadership roles in their spaces. Referencing prominent anti-apartheid figure Robert Sobukwe, he urged, “Even when we are no longer here, they will always remember that we were there.”

Prof Zide also noted the practical benefits of ethical leadership in institutions, saying that it improves brand image, boosts morale among staff and students, and strengthens the recruitment process. He concluded by challenging the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), saying its tendency to micromanage universities undermines the autonomy and leadership authority of institutional management.

 

A call to lead with intention

Reflecting on the impact of the event, Acting President of the Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) Mpho Maloka said, “These kinds of conversations are needed because they help us go back to the ‘why’ – why we became student leaders in the first place, and how we can serve students in ways that actually make a difference.”

She added, “People have turned student leadership into something so political that others don’t even want to get involved. Dialogues like this bring it back to what really matters – serving students and growing as ethical leaders.”

As Prof Klopper concluded: “The lessons in ethical and servant leadership that you learn and practise here prepare you not just for impactful careers, but for responsible citizenship in a world desperately in need of ethical leadership.”

News Archive

First-years at South Campus step into a bright future
2015-02-05

Photo: Stefan Lotter

This is the first step to a bright future.

This was the resounding message that welcomed first-year students to the South Campus. “Remember,” Tshegofatso Setilo, Manager of the University Preparation Programme said, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” But please do not get discouraged on your way, she urged, because “this is your first step to a bright future.

In his welcoming message, Prof Nicky Morgan, Vice-Rector: Operations at the UFS referred to the South Campus as the giant of the south. “This is one of the trailblazing campuses of the university,” he said. “No doubt what you’ll experience on this campus, you’ll never forget.”

This year, the South Campus boasts with 1 200 first-year students taking part in our University Preparation and Extended Programmes. These programmes allow students – whose matric marks did not reach the required total – the opportunity to study at the University of the Free State (UFS). The result? An astounding rise in pass rates. Some of the students on the South Campus outperform their peers studying at the Bloemfontein Campus, Prof Morgan remarked.

“You’ve got it in yourself. You’ve got the potential to unleash yourself on the world,” Prof Morgan said. You do not always realise the value of something that has come your way, he said. So, every moment you get an opportunity, he advised, use it to shape your future.

Addressing the newcomers’ fears, Prof Morgan urged each student to open themselves to the good and new experiences waiting for them. “When you find yourself in a new space, it always begins with you,” he said. Learn to understand how to live in harmony in different spaces.

Prof Morgan placed great emphasis on his closing remark: “At university, the more questions you seek to have answered – they’re worth more than the answers you have.”

 

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