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15 June 2018 Photo Supplied
Kovsies dominate SA students athletics team
Marné Mentz is one of six Kovsie female athletes in the South African student team to the CUCSA Games.

Students of the University of the Free State (UFS) are well represented on the South African student teams for this year’s CUCSA Games.

The competition that takes places biennially is staged from 18 to 22 June 2018 in Gaborone, Botswana.

The Confederation of University and Colleges Sports Associations (CUCSA) comprises of the Africa Zone VI countries with its members being Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, who will all be a part of the action. 

The South African men’s and women’s teams will compete in athletics, basketball, soccer, table tennis and volleyball.

After UFS female athletes won the women’s competition at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) championships in April, it came as no surprise that they had produced the most athletes, with six out of the 17, in the national women’s athletics team. 

The athletes chosen are: Ané Erasmus (hurdles), Lynique Beneke (long jump), Marné Mentz, Tsepang Sello, Lara Orrock and Tyler Beling (all middle distances). Emmarie Fouché from KovsieSport will be one of the four athletics coaches at the games. Tsebo Matsoso (sprints), Ruan Jonck and Pakiso Mthembu (both middle distances) will form part of the men’s team.

Kovsies’ Gauta Mokati will captain the men’s football team. Jeranimo Power had initially been selected to play, but had to withdraw due to injury. Thabo Lesibe is another UFS player selected for the men’s team and Godfrey Tenoff of KovsieSport will serve as the assistant coach. Noxolo Magudu will represent Kovsies in the women’s football team.

Although there aren’t any UFS players in the CUCSA basketball teams, the men’s team will be managed by Clement Kock, an assistant coach for the Kovsies basketball team.

News Archive

Drawing Fire: Investigating the Accusations of Apartheid in Israel
2014-08-14

 Benjamin Pogrund
Photo: mg.co.za

Renowned journalist Benjamin Pogrund led a seminar on the current Israel/Palestine conflict in Gaza. The Department of Political Science hosted the event at the Bloemfontein Campus on 11 August 2014.

The discussion mainly centred around points Pogrund explores in his latest book, ‘Drawing Fire: Investigating the Accusations of Apartheid in Israel’.

Pogrund, who spent 26 years as a journalist in South Africa investigating apartheid, investigated the accusation that Israel is practicing apartheid and the motives of those who make it. His talk offered the audience a balanced view of Israel’s strengths and weaknesses and the problems facing the region. Pogrund drew a unique comparison between South Africa and Israel, explaining the complex political and social situations.

While researching and writing ‘Drawing Fire’, Pogrund experienced an intense emotional struggle. In the book, he explores the contradictions found in the region. It also deconstructs the criticisms against Israel as well as the boycott movement before arguing for two separate states – Israel and Palestine – as the only way forward for Jews and Arabs.

During the talk, Pogrund raised the question as to why the media coverage of Israel/Palestine conflict detracts so much attention away from the atrocities committed by ISIS currently terrorising the minority groups in Syria and Iraq.

Pogrund has been living in Israel for the past 15 years where he reports on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was the deputy editor of the Rand Daily Mail – South Africa’s leading anti-apartheid newspaper during the 1980s. Among other publications, he has written for the Guardian (London), Haaretz (Tel Aviv) and Facta (Tokyo). In May 2013, he was awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Media Council in London, on behalf of the Next Century Foundation, for encouraging understanding of the Middle East and war-torn areas of the world.


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