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Prof Botma Visser takes on rust diseases threatening South Africa’s wheat

09 September 2025 | Story Martinette Brits | Photo Stephen Collett

Safeguarding one of the world’s most vital staple foods was at the heart of the inaugural lecture delivered by Prof Botma Visser, Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), on Wednesday 3 September 2025. Prof Visser shared insights from nearly two decades of research into wheat rust – a devastating crop disease that threatens both South Africa’s harvests and global food security.

“Wheat production in South Africa is threatened by three fungal pathogens that cause rust disease on the crop. Understanding the factors that contribute to virulence on locally grown cultivars is crucial to ensure continued wheat production,” said Prof Visser.

The fight against evolving wheat rusts

For the past 17 years, Prof Visser’s research has focused on the genetic structure of rust populations and the risks they pose to food security. His work has shown that these populations are dynamic and constantly changing due to genetic mutations within existing races, as well as the introduction of new races into South Africa.

“Computer modelling showed that rust can spread over vast distances by prevailing winds. During the 20th Century, at least four Southern African stem rust races managed to move across the Indian Ocean from Southern Africa to Australia. South Africa, in turn, received multiple new races from mid-Africa across Zambia and Zimbabwe, without any means of stopping these introductions,” he explained.

To respond to this challenge, his team recently implemented MARPLE (Mobile And Real-time Plant disEase) diagnostics using fourth-generation nanopore sequencing technology. This approach allows the rapid characterisation of fungal isolates, specifically targeting genes linked to fungicide resistance and virulence.

“This work,” Prof Visser noted, “is part of an effort to safeguard global wheat production.”

His research is a collaborative effort with Prof Willem Boshoff (Department of Plant Sciences, UFS) and Dr Tarekegn Terefe (Agricultural Research Council – Small Grain, Bethlehem). Together, their work has positioned the UFS as an internationally recognised centre of excellence in wheat rust research.

About Prof Botma Visser

Prof Botma Visser obtained his BSc in Botany and Microbiology (1988), BSc Honours in Microbiology (1989), and MSc in Botany (1993) at the University of the Free State, where he also completed his PhD in Botany in 2004.

His career spans more than 18 years of research into wheat rust pathogens, combining annual surveys, race pathotyping, molecular genetics, and cutting-edge sequencing technologies. His expertise has not only advanced understanding of rust population dynamics in South Africa but also contributed to global collaborative studies on crop disease.

News Archive

SRC elections of our Bloemfontein Campus

2011-07-26

The Student Council elections of our university at the Bloemfontein Campus will take place on 29 and 30 August 2011. These official election dates were announced by Mr Rudi Buys, Dean: Student Affairs, on 25 July 2011.

Nominations open on Wednesday, 27 July 2011 and the elections, which are constituted according to the SRC Constitution, shall be handled by the Independent Electoral Agency, which shall be instituted by the SRC Constitution with this in view.

“The elections introduce a new era in student leadership and governance, because student representation will now constituted in such a way that affords the majority of students the opportunity to vote directly for their representatives. Senior leadership structures are extended in the new Constitution, in order to allow more students to hold senior positions,” states Mr Buys.

The SRC elections follow on the approval of a new Constitution that was accepted by our Council on 3 June 2011.

The Constitution was drafted over a period of eight months by the Broad Student Transformation Forum (BSTF), consisting of students, in order to design a new dispensation in student structures. The BSTF, which decided on new models of student representation in collaboration with independent facilitators, consists of more than 70 student organisations and residences. The changes to the Constitution were decided on and accepted by the BSTF, after recommendations from four student study groups, which investigated student leadership and governance in depth, at national as well as international level, were taken into account. The study groups visited nine (9) other SA universities, as well as investigated student representation at internationally renowned universities like Cornell, Yale and Stanford in the United States of America.

Ms Modieyi Motholo, Chairperson of the Interim Student Committee, says that she is very proud of what the students have achieved with the new Constitution. “I wish to accord recognition to all the students who lead the process for all their hard work. Constitutional revision is a strenuous process and it is nothing short of a miracle that the students could not only reconstruct the Constitution, but also have it accepted in less than a year.”

The important changes include, amongst others:

Candidates no longer stand on behalf of parties in the elections, but as independent candidates for 10 predetermined portfolios for which students can vote directly;
Students also directly vote for a President and a Vice-President;
Nine (9) SRC members serve ex-officio as SRC members by virtue of being chairpersons of nine additional student councils established by the Constitution. Amongst others, the councils include a postgraduate student council, an international student council, a student media council and a student academic affairs council;
More stringent eligibility requirements are set for candidates, namely that students who wish to run in the elections has to, amongst others, sustain an academic average of more than 60%, and hold proven student leadership experience (which could be verified by the Independent Electoral Agency).

“With the SRC elections, students have the opportunity to firmly entrench the changes in student governance on which they have decided on by themselves firmly, as a sustainable model for democracy at our Bloemfontein Campus. It speaks volumes that the number of leadership positions for which candidates can make themselves available, in essence has been increased by the number of additional student sub-councils from 21 to 67, because it brings about much more direct representation for different students across the campus,” says Mr Buys.

“I firmly believe that the upcoming student council elections will be a success,” says Motholo. “I wish the students, who are prepared to sacrifice a year of their lives in service of the student community as a member of the SRC, all of the best.”

The Qwaqwa Campus’ election schedule shall be announced within the next week, as well as the date of the institution of the Central Student Council (CSC).

Media Release
26 July 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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