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UFS launches Greener SA: planting the seeds of a sustainable future

17 September 2025 | Story Martinette Brits | Photo Martinette Brits and Kaleidoscope Studios

The University of the Free State (UFS) launched Greener SA, a five-year initiative to plant 400 000 trees across South Africa, at the Paradys Experimental Farm on Friday 12 September 2025. Backed by the Mastercard Foundation through the TAGDev 2.0 programme and RUFORUM, the project brings together government, industry, students, and academics around a shared commitment to sustainability and food security. The launch was marked by the planting of the first 100 trees, a symbolic act that set the tone for the years ahead.

Prof Jan-Willem Swanepoel, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, reminded the audience that the UFS is one of 12 African universities entrusted with a $100 million investment in agricultural transformation. “This project is not a hit-and-run – it’s about sustainability, inclusivity, and building value chains that empower farmers and entrepreneurs,” he said. He ended with a parable of a farmhand who could ‘sleep when the wind blows,’ urging everyone to be proactive in preparing for inevitable challenges.

Responsibility and partnerships

That call for responsibility was echoed by Elzabe Rockman, Free State MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, who linked Greener SA to the presidential One Million Trees Programme. She cautioned that planting without accountability leads to wasted effort. “If we plant trees, we want to be sure someone takes responsibility for them,” she said, highlighting the need for fire-resistant species, fruit trees in community gardens, and natural borders to replace vulnerable fencing. Looking at the students from Kovsie ACT who joined the launch, she added: “Jobs are not going to fall from the sky. They will come from agriculture and the environment. Harnessing youth energy is the way forward.”

Industry also pledged its support. Representing Empact Group – the sponsor of the trees – Helena Prinsloo described tree planting as an investment in legacy. “At Empact Group, we believe that doing right by our community and our planet is not just a responsibility. It’s a value that defines who we are and how we lead,” she said. Quoting the proverb that societies grow great when people plant trees whose shade they will never sit in, she added: “Today we are sowing seeds of hope, resilience, and opportunities for generations to come.”

Science, vision, and practice

Prof Corli Witthuhn from the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences placed the launch in a global context, pointing to conflict, inequality, and climate change – and the sobering United Nations report showing that only 20% of the sustainability goals have been achieved. For her, the Greener SA project is a response to urgent global challenges. “We want our students to be globally work-ready,” she said. “That means beyond textbooks, and this farm represents exactly that. We don’t want to produce graduates with degrees, we want to produce graduates who can walk into a lab, into a policy meeting, into a business anywhere in the world and make an impact.”

Her message was supported by expert voices. Guest speaker Prof Ben du Toit from Stellenbosch University explained that agroforestry systems can simultaneously provide timber, food, biodiversity, and resilience. “Agroforestry is not planting trees over here and grazing over there – it’s about integration, so that benefits reinforce each other,” he said.

At the Paradys Experimental Farm, this integration is already underway. Johan Barnard, Farm Manager and Junior Lecturer, described how shaded tree pockets will improve grazing fields and protect water resources, while fruit trees planted in partnership with Kovsie ACT will contribute to student nutrition and new food value chains. “We’re capturing value chains and taking it to the next level so that our students have research opportunities and the farm delivers real outputs,” he explained.

The launch of Greener SA showed that tree planting is about much more than beautification. It is a collective commitment – to resilience in the face of global challenges, to science applied in practice, and to building partnerships that prepare the next generation to make an impact.

News Archive

State of our campuses: Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year on UFS students

2016-10-08

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,

Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year

The University of the Free State (UFS) reiterates its support and commitment to the cause of free higher education. We have stated our position in all the available spaces. We want to work with UFS students to put pressure on the government to commit itself to accept the many suggestions put forward to make free education possible within a negotiated timeframe.

We are also seriously committed to our responsibility of providing education to all students enrolled at the university. We are doing our outmost to ensure that we can resume academic activities next week.

Description: " Academic non-completion 2016 Tags: " Academic non-completion 2016

We want to bring to your attention what will happen to individual students if the UFS cannot resume classes fully on Monday 10 October 2016.

Currently we have extended the academic year by one week. Some faculties are working on Saturdays and Sundays, starting earlier and finishing later to complete the material that needs to be taught and the practical work that students need to do to be able to write exams.

In the three biggest faculties at the university: Education, the Humanities, and Natural Sciences, this is what will happen:

Education will fail to graduate 1 193 students
Humanities will fail to graduate 1 125 students
Natural and Agricultural Sciences will fail to graduate 1 390 students

In the professional faculties: Economic and Management Sciences, Health Sciences, and Law, this will happen:

Economic and Management Sciences will fail to graduate 997 students
Health Sciences will fail to graduate 633 students
Law will fail to graduate 619 students

In total, approximately 6 000 students will not receive complete transcripts of their degrees and the certificates for their qualifications.

The university currently has 3 238 students on NSFAS bursaries. None of these students will be able to apply for bursaries for the lost year. They will be regarded as having failed or not completed their courses. They will not only miss this year, but the opportunity of studying in the future.

These students come from families to which their success in higher education was supposed to mean a change in the future of the entire family. Some parents/guardians hold more than one job to be able to pay tuition fees.

In not allowing the year to continue and students to finish, we are throwing away the efforts that entire families of poor people have made for four or five years to put their children through university. The promise of free education for future generations means nothing to these families who are poor in the present.

In terms of the academic calendar, it is a false argument to say that universities will be able to enrol first-years, because what 2016 students will miss, is the second semester.

We do not have the capacity to teach double the number of students in the second semester. This also misses the point that those students who were completing modules in order to graduate, will waste an entire year (assuming they have funding) to complete their degrees. This argument does not see the knock-on effect that students, not promoting in modules from first to second and second to third year, etc., will have. Finally, this also misses the point of what will happen to students who have to repeat first-semester modules.

In terms of academic staff, students are discounting the willingness of academic staff to teach double or to have the academic year extended by approximately six weeks between teaching and examinations. The same can be said for all the administrative and support staff required for running the university.

In our case, all the students in the University Preparation Programme (UPP) on the South Campus in Bloemfontein will be stuck without being able to move into mainstream modules, preventing a new intake of UPP students for 2017. These are the poorest and most disadvantaged students at the UFS.

It is absolutely necessary to find a means of protest and political action that will not jeopardise the future of current students and the country’s desperate need for critical skills. The interdict against violent protest secured by the UFS is still in force. The police will intervene if the interdict is not respected and the UFS will have no control over police actions.

We trust that parents/guardians and students understand the implications of the situation.

Kind regards,

Prof Nicky Morgan
Acting Rector
University of the Free State

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

State of our campuses #11: Academic activities on UFS campuses continue

State of our campuses #10: Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year on UFS students

State of our campuses #9: Academic programme on all UFS campuses to resume on Monday 10 October 2016

State of our campuses #8: UFS extends vacation as from 28 September until 7 October 2016, 28 September 2016

State of our campuses #7: All three UFS campuses will be closed today, 27 September 2016.

State of our campuses #6: All UFS campuses reopen on Tuesday 27 September 2016

State of our campuses #5: UFS campuses to remain closed on Monday 26 September 2016

State of our campuses #4: Decisions about the UFS academic calendar

State of our campuses #3: UFS campuses closed until Friday 23 September 2016

State of our campuses #2: UFS Bloemfontein and South Campuses closed on Tuesday 20 September 2016 (19 September 2016)

State of our campuses #1: Academic activities suspended on UFS Bloemfontein Campus (19 September 2016)

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