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Leadership: Bonang Mohale is many things, yet, beyond the impressive titles and achievements lies something far more important: a deep and abiding love for people. Photo: TBCSA / Thabang Radebe

You have to love your people to lead them

Too often, leadership is seduced by power. The allure of authority, prestige and influence can slowly overwhelm the original motivation to serve people. What begins as a…

COPE co-founder Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota has died at age 77.

Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota, the family man

Like many of our struggle heroes, the many years he spent serving prison terms denied him a stable family life. This left his wife Cynthia, to raise their children largely alone…

Increased vehicular traffic and better-paved roads in montane environments heighten the risks to wildlife. (File photo by Kerri Wolter)

Expanding roads in mountainous regions endanger Africa’s wildlife

Growing road networks are endangering African wild dogs, lions, and vultures, as roadkill incidents rise with increased traffic and habitat disruption

Of the planet’s rarest species, the Himalayan brown bear. Picture: Supplied.

SA team helps safeguard Himalayan brown bear

Himalayan Brown Bears, Critically Endangered, University of the Free State, Pakistan, Francois Deacon, Willem Daffue, Saving the Survivors

Brought to book: Students started protesting against tertiary education fees in 2015 with the Fees Must Fall movement. Nsfas funding still fails to cover the so-called missing middle students. Photo: Michele Spatari/AFP

University funding crisis: Economy crumbling under weighty student debt

Student debt is growing quickly and, if something doesn’t change, it could jeopardise the country’s already struggling economy

“The Maloti-Drakensberg alone supports 30 million people, sending water as far as Upington.”  (Photo by Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

SA’s poorly-documented mountains are vital water towers for millions of people

They also boast exceptional biodiversity but invasive species, overgrazing and climate change are destroying them with dreadful consequences

Professors and students face off at UFS on how and why protests should happen

Students want to be heard and universities need peaceful protests. The University of Free State began discussions on how to bridge the divide

UFS said in its announcement that it consulted widely with stakeholders including legal firms that and up to 85% of the university’s senate supported the decision.

Solidarity vs University of Free State in vaccine mandate court case

The union wants the court to decide whether the policy of enforcing vaccinations at UFS holds water.

A Basotho horseman rides a horse along the road leading to the Maluti Mountains. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP)

Southern Africa’s ‘water tower’ slipping towards ecosystem collapse

Communal rangeland degradation, invasive species, environmental destruction and climate change all threaten the Maloti-Drakensberg mountain range

Waste not, want not: A farm in Limpopo. In South Africa, the agriculture industry accounts for 50% of food wastage.

Benefits of red meat ignored in shift towards plant-based diets

The World Wide Fund for Nature says change needs to happen to halt the negative effects of livestock production on biodiversity and climate

#FeesMustFall cost 18 varsities more than R460m in damage to property alone.

Party political meddling threatens future of universities

Campuses elsewhere in Africa have seen the damage done by student activism influenced by political parties, a matter that has raised concern at South Africa’s higher education…

Solution: Vaccine vials, which need to be kept cool and are costly to transport,  may soon be replaced by vaccines on a thin-film membrane, which will do away with weight, cost and cooling issues. (Jane Barlow – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

What universities are doing in the fight against Covid-19

While teaching students during lockdown, institutions of higher learning are also using their expertise to make masks, develop vaccines and research labour abuses

(John Moore/Getty Images)

Filling the gaps in our Covid-19 data

With questions about government’s Covid-19 data, researchers have started collating the information from different sources, including more details and is putting it on a…

(John McCann/M&G)

Preparing graduates for the workplace

Imbuing students with entrepreneurial thinking can also provide value to the larger economy

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

Free State explores statutes on statues

No matter the future for the Steyn statue, the university’s process has already reaped rewards

Delayed payments only affected fees and not allowances and stipends

Payment delays anger students

Nearly half of those who qualify for funding are affected but the financial aid scheme blames institutions for being tardy

Dr Jabu Nukeri

FameLab South Africa: University of the Free State’s Emmie Chiyindiko wins

She will now compete in the international competition in the UK

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

Free State university decries financial exclusion article

UFS has rejected the perception created by Thato Rossouw in ‘The cold shadow of exclusion’

‘The black students were promised access to the university space by those who look like them but those promises are never kept

The cold shadow of exclusion

It is black students at the University of the Free State who cannot complete their degrees

ConCourt ruling on UFS missed the point

‘Students “choose” English. This is not the “choice” anticipated by the Constitution’