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20 November 2018 Photo Varsity Sports
Sikholiwe Mdletshe rewarded with SA colours in Netball
Sikholiwe Mdletshe in action for the Kovsie netball team this year. She also represented the SA Student team and will soon play for the national U20 team.

With her expectations already exceeded for this year, Sikholiwe Mdletshe was further rewarded for a good year on the netball courts when she was selected for the South African U20 netball team.

The team will participate in the Africa Union Sport Council Region 5 Games in Botswana from 7 to 16 December 2018.

Sikholiwe is a second-year BCom Accounting student who plays wing defence or centre for the varsity netball team.

She played a big role in helping Kovsies win the Varsity Netball trophy. Sikholiwe earned two Player of the Match awards. Apart from playing for the Kovsies, she also represented the Free State and was the youngest team member in the national student team for the World University Championship in Uganda.

“It’s been a great year. I didn’t expect to make so many teams and actually play so many games; I feel so blessed that my dreams are starting to become a reality and I couldn’t be more excited for the future,” said Sikholiwe.

She attended Middelburg High School and was selected as a finalist for the Matriculant of the Year competition in 2016. “Once I saw how netball was going at Kovsies, the high calibre of players who formed part of the team, and speaking to their coach, Burta de Kock, my mind was fixed on the UFS as choice of university.”

Sikholiwe also paid tribute to her teammate, friend, and Protea netball player, Khanyisa Chawane. “KC is such a big inspiration, she inspired me from a deeper place than just netball,” explained Sikholiwe.  She further pointed out that she would like to focus on becoming a better player than she is today, and from there she wants to reach greater 

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Research at the UFS on the acceptability and modern use of earth building in newly settled urban areas can help the poorest of the poor to acquire hou
2003-08-26

The University of the Free State and the Technische Universiteit van Eindhoven in the Netherlands received a research bursary of R316 000 from SANPAD (South African Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development).

The aim of the research is to determine the public acceptability of sustainable, high quality, earth constructed public and private buildings as an alternative to the conventional way of building with bricks and steel.

“European countries like the Netherlands are far advanced with studies in earth construction and this is why the partnership was formed with the Technische Universiteit van Eindhoven,” says Prof Das Steÿn, Head of Urban and Regional Planning at the UFS and project leader.

Although research regarding mapping, typology and availability of natural and local resources has been done on a national level, little research has been done on the acceptability and the modern use of earth building in newly settled urban areas.

“South Africa has a large housing shortage and traditional methods such as earth building techniques are not used in urban informal housing. Preference is given to corrugated iron sheets and plastic,” says Prof Steÿn.

The use of upgraded earth construction might be more sustainable as far as the environment and the economy is concerned. “If we can make a breakthrough in the development and propagating of these methods it will help the poorest of the poor to acquire housing of a better quality.”

The research team from the UFS consists of Prof Steÿn, Ms Petria Jooste-Smit, Head of the Unit for Earth Construction in the Department of Architecture and Mr Gerhard Bosman of the Department of Architecture.
 

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