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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

UFS launches a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Observatory, first of its kind in South Africa
2013-12-04

In cooperation with its partners, the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State (UFS), launched the SME Observatory at a function on the Bloemfontein Campus. This initiative is the first of its kind in South Africa. 
 
According to Willem Ellis, Director of the Centre for Development Support, this is a public-private partnership between the UFS, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (detea), which aims to gather information for research on small and medium enterprises. “With this research we will endeavour to empower policy formulators to make the right decisions in terms of development on a local, provincial and national level,” Ellis said. 
 
Presentations and the panel discussion at the launch covered topics such as: 
  • How many enterprises can survive in a town?
  • Are entrepreneurs being set up for failure? 
  • Is SMEs the answer to the unemployment question? 
  • The cost of red tape: is SMEs being tied down? 

To demonstrate the applicability of the enterprise architect for issues relating to enterprise policy, as well as entrepreneurship strategies, it was decided to focus the pilot phase of the observatory on towns in the Free State. Dr Daan Toerien, research associate at the Centre for Development Support, and Johannes Wessels, Project Manager of the SME Observatory, compiled the report: “50 Towns in the Free State: What the Enterprise Architecture of these towns is telling us about Entrepreneurial Space.” 
 
In his presentation at the launch, Dr Toerien said: “The Enterprise Observatory’s prime goal is to present valuable facts and insights about enterprises in the domains it is observing.” He has developed a database that contains information on a large number of South African towns. He said that studying the enterprise architecture of towns will contribute significantly to inform the policy and strategy debate on LED and enterprise development. “These activities will add valuable data and insights to approach entrepreneurship in the Free State and, after the pilot phase, also in other provinces in South Africa. The Free State government, district and local municipalities, and the consultant fraternity serving them, should find the SME observatory’s activities of value,” he said. 
 
Wessels said that the SME Observatory of South Africa is dedicated to base its arguments on sound theory, science and applied research; to engage policy and decision makers on an evidence-based approach; operate in a politically non-aligned mode in order to mirror truthfully the impact of policies and decisions and to partner with policy makers, entrepreneurs, public administration, think tanks, research institutions, business representatives and NGOs on building networks and alliances to promote an open and competitive enterprise environment.

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