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27 September 2018
KovsieSport crowns their best
The University of the Free State honoured their best sports achievers on Wednesday night. The major winners are, from the left: Tyler Beling (best junior sportswoman), Raynard van Tonder (best sportsman),Lynique Beneke (best senior sportswoman), and Rynardt van Rensburg (best senior sportsman).

The athletes Rynardt van Rensburg and Lynique Beneke walked away with the two major awards at the KovsieSport honours function on Wednesday 26 August 2018.

The two were announced as the Kovsie Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year. Both of them represented South Africa at international level in the past 12 months and were the national student champions in their items.

Van Renburg’s major achievement was the 1:45.15 he ran in the 800 m at the Hengelo World Challenge meeting, which is the 32nd fastest time in the world in 2018 and also his personal best. Beneke, among others, earned a bronze medal at the African Senior Championships in the long jump and won the item at the National track and field championships for a sixth consecutive year.

Tyler Beling, another athlete (middle distance), was named the Junior Sportswoman of the Year while cricketer Raynard van Tonder was the best Junior Sportsman. Van Tonder captained the South African team to the U19 Cricket World Cup, where he scored the third most runs at an average of 69.6. Beling is the country’s best junior in the 1 500 m.

Juanelie Meijer, Louzanne Coetzee (athletics), and Johann van Heerden (swimming) received special awards for their achievements as athletes with a disability.

Other nominees on the night were:

Senior Sportsman of the Year: Ox Nche (rugby).

Senior Sportswoman of the Year: Kesa Molotsane, Ts’epang Sello, Yolandi Stander (all athletics), Khanyisa Chawane, and Meagan Roux (both netball).

Junior Sportsman of the Year: Pakiso Mthembu (athletics), Lubabalo Dobela, and Rewan Kruger (both rugby).

Junior Sportswoman of the Year: Casey-Jean Botha (hockey) and Michaéla Wright (athletics).

News Archive

UFS academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages
2006-05-22

During the colloquium presented in Belgium by the Province Antwerp were from the left Prof Pol Cuvelier (University of Antwerp), Prof Theo du Plessis (Director: Unit for Language Management at the UFS), Mr Ludo Helsen (Permanent Deputy: Province of Antwerp) and Mr Jean-Pierre Rondas (Flemish radio journalist).

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UFS academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages at international conference

Prof Theo du Plessis, Director of the Unit for Language Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), was the main speaker at a colloquium titled “Routes:  Where to now? - Een traject van het Nederlands naar het Afrikaans en de Afrikatalen”, which was recently presented by the Province Antwerp in Belgium.

 The aim of the colloquium was to discuss the future cooperation in the field of language between the Province Antwerp and South Africa. 

 The Province Antwerp is already involved with projects in South Africa.  One of these projects is the Multilingual Information Development Programme (MIDP), a partnership project between the UFS and the Free State Province that is mainly funded by the Province Antwerp. 

 The project has been running since 1999 and was recently in the news with the presentation of a symposium on multilingualism and exclusion on the Main Campus of the UFS.  It is hoped that the Routes colloquium will indicate new stages on which can be added to the already successful cooperation in the area of language.

 Prof Du Plessis’s presentation titled “Nederlands, Afrikaans en die Afrikatale – kan samewerking slaag? Die geval MIDP in die Vrystaat”, investigated the successes that have been made with the MIDP.  He discussed two possible approaches to cooperation in the areas of language, that of a sentimentalistic  approach against an instrumentalistic approach. 

Cooperation in the first approach makes language the aim.  In the second approach language is used as a means to a greater aim.  According to Prof du Plessis the first approach is driven by a romantisised idea about the relation between the Flemish and Afrikaans speaking people, which may unfortunately polarise the position of Afrikaans in South Africa even further.

 He argues that, given the time that we are in, the second approach will deliver more constructive results as language can among others be used for to further  democracy in South Africa.   This can happen by cooperation in the institutionalising of multilingualism in our society.  The more languages are used in education, law and government administration, the more we can be assured a successful democracy.

 The Routes colloquium was facilitated by the well-known Flemish radio journalist, Jean-Pierre Rondas. About twenty South African and Flemish language specialists took part in the colloquium.  Dr Fritz Kok, outgoing chief executive officer of the ATKV took part in the opening ceremony and Dr Neville Alexander from the University of Cape Town and well-known activist for multilingualism in South Africa was also one of the main speakers.

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