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14 February 2018 Photo Bonolo Nkoane
First Sesotho soundtrack for fulldome film launched at Naval Hill Planetarium
Tshireletso Nkoane, best known for her television roles in the drama series, Tshisa, the comedy series, Moferefere Lenyalong, as well as the miniseries, Naledi.
In December, the Naval Hill Planetarium used the voice of a well-known South African actress for yet another trailblazer: the first Sesotho soundtrack for a full-dome film.

“It is important for our children to become interested in science and astronomy through exposure to good language use in their mother tongue from an early age, so that we can still make a sound contribution to these fields in the future,” said Prof Matie Hoffman from the Department of Physics at the University of the Free State.

Space Shapes, a child-friendly fulldome film by the Ott Planetarium at the Weber State University in Utah in the US, was translated into Sesotho as Dibopeho tsa Sepakapakeng by Khantlapane Selina Ketla and Dr Andries Hoffman, following last year’s release of the short film by the Naval Hill Planetarium as Ruimtevorms in Afrikaans. The film, created by participants of the 2010 Blender Production Workshop in Utah, takes young audiences on a journey to explore the different shapes found in space.

The voice artist, Tshireletso Nkoane, a star in her own right, is best-known for her television roles in the drama series, Tshisa, the comedy series, Moferefere Lenyalong, as well as the miniseries, Naledi. She has several theatre and radio credits to her name, and also boasts a diploma in Electrical Engineering.

The premiere of this Sesotho trailblazer, as well as the CosmoQuest and Ward Beecher Planetarium’s English fulldome film, Cosmic Castaways, will take place at the Naval Hill Planetarium on Saturday 17 February 2018 at 17:30. Cosmic Castaways is an exciting work that reaches out to places where there are no constellations; where there are still isolated stars to be found in the voids between the galaxies.

Tickets for this double premiere, as well as for the weekly Saturday 17:30 shows, are available from Computicket – just search under ‘planetarium’ on the Computicket website or visit Checkers.

News Archive

Max du Preez on South Africa’s leadership vacuum
2011-08-29

 

Present at the CR Swart Memorial Lecture was, from the left: Prof. Hussein Solomon, senior Professor in our Department of Political Science; Prof. Theo Neethling, Head of our Department of Political Science; Max du Preez and Prof. Lucius Botes,Dean of our Faculty of Humanities.
Photo: Stephen Collett

“Much has been going wrong in South Africa in the last few years and it’s all due to a lack of strong, visionary leadership. South Africans deserve better and should demand more integrity, courage and vision from the present political leadership,” veteran journalist and author Max du Preez told the audience at a packed Wynand Mouton Theatre at our university, on 25 August 2011.

Delivering this year’s CR Swart Memorial Lecture on the topic “Of Jacob, Julius, Jimmy and the Dancing Monkey”, Du Preez told the audience to look with much more critical eyes at the political leadership and decide who is doing the obvious, following his or her basest instincts or simply trying to play to the gallery. “Why look at a man like Julius Malema and let him upset us, why listen to Floyd Shivambu with his crude manners and let them define us?” Du Preez asked the more than 300 people attending the memorial lecture. The CR Swart Memorial Lecture, the 41st hosted by the UFS, attracted one of the largest crowds ever for a public lecture, with some people sitting on the steps inside the auditorium of the Wynand theatre.
 
Telling the story of African philospher Morena Mohlomi, who acted as a teacher to Basuto king Moshoeshoe, Du Preez told the audience that the country needs counter-intuitive leadership like the two leaders had demonstrated. Calling Mohlomi southern Africa’s first Pan Africanist, Du Preez said the extroadinary thing about Morena Mohlomi and his student was their gift of counter-intuitive leadership, leadership that was daring and visionary, leadership that did not simply do the obvious. Pointing out other visionary leaders like Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Beyers Naude and Van Zyl Slabbert, Du Preez urged the audience to question “the quality of leadership of Cosatu, the Democratic Teachers Union that is messing up our education, the Communist Party, the Democratic Alliance, the Freedom Front Plus and Solidarity. If they don’t live up to our expectations, why do we still tolerate them?” Du Preez asked.
 
Du Preez also commended Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, for his counter-intuitive leadership regarding the Reitz Residence incident and said Prof. Jansen’s solution, as controversial as it was, brought a much better outcome.
 
Please find attached the full speech of Max Du Preez.

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