UFS Thought-Leader Webinar: Corruption in South Africa: the endemic pandemic

The scourge of corruption in South Africa has become endemic at all levels of the state and has rapidly accelerated the nation’s descent from the position of credibility that it once occupied during the era of Nelson Mandela. 

With billions of rands stolen, the economy damaged, many state-owned enterprises rendered dysfunctional, and self-enrichment by some political party cadres continuing unabated – at the peril of stark poverty and deepening inequality of the broader population – are there grounds for optimism for South Africans who have been deeply wounded by the state of the nation? 

This is one of the questions that panellists will look to answer during the second webinar in the 2021 UFS Thought-Leader Series. This webinar series is part of the Free State Literature Festival’s online initiative, VrySpraak-digitaal. The aim of the webinar series is to discuss issues facing South Africa by engaging experts at the university and in South Africa. Some of the topics for 2021 include, among others, reimagining universities for student success; corruption; local elections; and the state of business – particularly in the Free State. 

The panellists for this webinar include adv Paul Hoffman, Director: Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa, and campaigning as Accountability Now; Justice Dennis Davis, Judge at the High Court of Cape Town and Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court; Advocate Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba, Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions (National Prosecuting Authority); and Prof John Mubangizi, Dean: Faculty of Law, University of the Free State. Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, is the facilitator.

In 2020, the webinar series saw the successful participation of leading experts engaging on COVID-19 and the crisis facing the country socially, economically, and politically. This year, in lieu of the Free State Arts Festival, the UFS will again present the webinar virtually over a period of five months. 

Date: Tuesday 4 May 2021
Topic:  Corruption in South Africa: the endemic pandemic 
Time: 12:30-14:00
RSVP: Alicia Pienaar, pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za by 1 May 2021 

• For more information on the webinar and the panellists, please visit the UFS website.