[SAHS] SAHS Exco Tenure Term 2019-2022

[Prinisha Badassy]

Greetings Fellow SAHS Members

Our last communication during April 2020 coincided with an enormous difficult period of the rapid spread and increasing fatalities connected to COVID-19 pandemic. From that time, South Africa entered various phases of regulatory lockdown that made it almost impossible to carry out normal academic and university functions. The initial lockdown rules also led to the closure of most public facilities we use for our researches and linked networks. It also forced universities to place suspensions on holding events, whilst making it impossible for fellow academics to travel. Fortunately, with the easing of lockdown rules from the beginning of October 2020, university academic activities are steadily returning, albeit, we are still required to maintain safety protocols.

You will recall that the said immense difficult period also led to the unfortunate cancellation of a June 2020 Conference that was organised by our colleagues, from the Historical Association of South Africa (HASA), which was to be hosted by Sol Plaatje University. As a result, we - the SAHS executive, decided to concede June 2021 to our HASA colleagues for the reorganisation of their conference. The SAHS executive also decided that we hold our conference, which will be hosted by the University of Fort Hare, during June 2022. We acknowledge that change may inconvenience those who were already thinking ahead. The decision was prompted by not only our respect of the efforts the HASA executive had put in preparing for the cancelled event but, by also our endeavour to support both conferences for growth and interest on the discipline of history.

The rescheduling of the SAHS conference to June 2022 also implies a shift from our mandatory cycle of holding this event every second year. In normal circumstances, the functional spell of the SAHS executive that was elected during our last conference at Rhodes University in June 2019 should come to an end in June 2021. We are however cognisant of the requirement to maintain stability until the designated June 2022 conference. Thus we have discussed that aspect as the SAHS executive in our recent meeting (7 October 2020), and respective members are happy to continue in their own roles, with your approval, until at least the June 2022 conference. To that end, we are also happy to receive whatever emerging objections to this arrangement.

In the meantime we aware there are still lingering international travel restrictions and we hope these will have changed by the time we will be hosting the SAHS June 2022 conference. We will also continue to monitor the national situation for further updates and we will also follow further changes from different universities through Universities South Africa (USAf). As per the norm, the SAHS will continue with its relationships with Editorial Committees, Taylor & Francis Group, and our associated Journals; the South African Historical Journal, and Journal of Natal and Zulu History.


We wish that you continue keeping safe, and maintain good health during these trying times.

Sincerely Yours,

Luvuyo Wotshela
President SAHS


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