08 October 2026
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Story Tshepo Tsotetsi
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Photo Stephen Collett
.jpg?sfvrsn=a087ca20_1 "Service Awards (237)")
From the left: Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies; Charlotte Louw, Catalogue Librarian, Library and Information Services; Prof Johan Venter, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry; Prof Hester C. Klopper, Vice-Chancellor and Principal; Prof Ylva Rodny-Gumede, Executive Director: Advancement and Stakeholder Relations; and Dr Temba Hlasho, Executive Director: Student Affairs, at the University of the Free State’s 2026 Recognition of Service Awards.
A working life can pass quietly. One year becomes five, five becomes ten, and before you know it, the place where you have spent so much of your career has become familiar in ways that are difficult to measure. That is the experience behind this year’s Recognition of Service Awards at the University of the Free State (UFS), where staff members reaching between 25 and 40 years of service were recognised, alongside colleagues retiring in 2026.
Together, the recipients represent 1 610 years of service to the University. Their roles are as varied as the people themselves, spanning academic, professional, and support staff, researchers, and service workers across the institution.
“When I think about those years, I think less about time and more about people,” said Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Hester C. Klopper. “I think about the student who received encouragement at precisely the moment it was needed, the younger colleague who benefited from someone’s experience, and the work done meticulously, year after year, because somebody understood that other people depended on it.”
The people behind the milestones
Those years have been spent across different parts of the University and through periods of considerable change. Careers have developed, responsibilities have shifted, and generations of students and colleagues have come and gone.
Prof Johan Venter, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, and Charlotte Louw, Catalogue Librarian in Library and Information Services, have seen four decades of that change. Both reached 40 years of service this year – the longest service milestone recognised in 2026.
Speaking on behalf of the staff members receiving recognition, Prof Venter looked back on just how different the University and working life have become during that time. “Forty years is a long time. The University has changed in many ways – the people have changed, the way we teach and work has changed, technology has changed, and life has changed. When we look back, I think what we will remember most are the lives of the students and colleagues we have touched and the difference we have made in their lives.”
Yet, amid the deadlines and responsibilities that fill a working day, Prof Venter said there is something much simpler worth remembering. “We sometimes become so focused on lectures, deadlines, research proposals, and administration that we forget why we are doing it. One of the good reasons that we can put forward is that people matter.”
People are also central to Lena Maema’s 30 years at the UFS. As Manager for Housekeeping in Residence Cleaning Services, her working days have been closely connected to the residences and the students who call them home. “It has been a privilege to work at the University of the Free State. It was not easy to get to 30 years. It took hard work and a lot of dedication. What has kept me here is the culture, the people, and the students that I work with every day, and knowing that I am contributing by making sure that our residences are clean,” Maema said.
Maema’s milestone is one of many across the University, with colleagues also recognised for 25 and 35 years of service. Their different roles and experiences are brought together by the significant portion of their working lives they have spent at the University.
Some of those careers are now drawing to a close, as the University also recognises staff members retiring in 2026. Their departure brings years of accumulated experience into sharper focus, particularly the knowledge shared with the people who have worked alongside them.
Prof Klopper placed that contribution within the University’s own development.
“The University of the Free State we know today has been shaped by people who have given years of their lives to its work,” she said.
Much of what is learned over decades of work is difficult to capture in a job description or hand over when someone leaves. It is carried in experience, judgement, and an understanding of the University developed over years.
“The knowledge accumulated over 25, 30, 35, or 40 years resides in the judgement formed through experience, in institutional memory, and in knowing what to do when circumstances change. Our community will carry forward all that you have taught them,” Prof Klopper said.
The 1 610 years recognised in 2026 have been accumulated one career at a time, across different roles and generations of staff. Together, they form part of the work – and the people – that have made the University of the Free State what it is today.