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03 October 2018 | Story UFS | Photo Varsity Sports
First ever netball final in Bloemfontein
The Kovsies will be aiming to lift the Varsity Netball trophy in front of their home supporters on Monday when they face Tuks in the final in the Callie Human Centre.
The netball team of the University of the Free State, once again after five years, earned themselves the right to stage a final in the Varsity Netball competition. The two-time champion, the Dream Team, qualified for the final after topping the log and then wiping the floor with the Maties on Monday (1 October 2018) in the semi-final. The score was 56-45. 

They will come up against Tuks in the Callie Human Centre on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus for the final tonight. The match will get underway at 18:45.

The team won the very first two years of the competition in 2013 and 2014. On both occasions, they had to play away from home – in 2013 against the Pukke in Potchefstroom and in 2014 against Tuks in Pretoria. 

It will be the fourth meeting between the Kovsies and Tuks within three months. The Free State students won the group fixture in August by 68-43, but Tuks had to do without a number of their star players. At the University Sport South Africa tournament in Bloemfontein during July, Tuks triumphed twice, winning the final by 48-30.

Apart from the winners’ medals, an award will be handed to the tournament’s top player. Centre Khanyisa Chawane is one of three finalists. The winner gets chosen through public votes.

Dream Team players have won the prize four of the five times. Ané Botha was crowned in 2013, Karla Pretorius in 2014 and 2015, and last year it was the turn of current Kovsie player, Khomotso Mamburu.

To vote for Chawane, click here hover your mouse over the like button and choose the heart emoticon. Voting is closing on 5 October and the winner will be announced after the final.

News Archive

Visually impaired UFS student an inspiration
2016-10-05

Description: Zingisa Ngwenya Tags: Zingisa Ngwenya

Zingisa Ngwenya at the 2016
Spring Graduation Ceremony at the Callie Human
Centre on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Johan Roux

“Zingisa, I saw the tears streaming down your face when you were being hooded,” said an emotional Dr Khotso Mokhele, Chancellor of the University of the Free State. “And you were not the only one with tears streaming down your face.”
 
Zingisa Ngwenya, a visually impaired BA Communication Science student, was one of those who graduated at the UFS 2016 Spring Graduation on 15 September 2016 at the Bloemfontein Campus. By her side were her guardians, Derek Watts, the presenter of the current affairs TV programme Carte Blanche, and his wife Belinda.

Dream becomes reality with support from community
Watts first met Ngwenya at the Audi Pioneer School Rally in Worcester, Western Cape, in which she was his co-driver. He admired her ability to read all her instructions in braille. “I was inspired by her because she had lost her sight late in her school career,” said Watts at the graduation ceremony. Ngwenya was academically strong and her aspirations to go to university led to the relationship.  

The UFS Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support, the Kirsty Watts Foundation, Gavin Fourie from Richmond, and Symington and De Kok law firm in Bloemfontein helped make Ngwenya’s dream a reality. “We managed the facility for her to do well, but it’s nothing compared to what she has done to get this degree,” Watts said.

Support from Watts family made things possible
Ngwenya will be studying towards a law degree at UFS, as well as working part-time at, Symington and De Kok. “She never bemoans what has happened to her in life. She just looks ahead to make the most of her life,” Watts said.

“Derek and Belinda’s support means everything to me. Without them it would not have been possible because it has really been a struggle, but they believed in me,” Ngwenya said.

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