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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

Centre for Human Rights at UFS geared to make impact in the region
2017-03-02

Description: Centre for Human Rights Tags: Centre for Human Rights

SAHRC situated in the Mabaleng building,
Bloemfontein Campus
Photo: Hannes Pieterse

After approval by the Rectorate, Senate and Council of the University of the Free State (UFS), the Free State Centre for Human Rights (FSCHR) began operations on 1 January 2016 on the Bloemfontein Campus, under the leadership of Prof Leon Wessels, founding member of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) as the Acting Director of the centre.

Human rights remain, undoubtedly, the dominant moral and political language of our times and thus demands multi-layered scholarly engagement as it influences national and international relations, and sets standards for political and democratic practice.

Establishment of centre fulfilment of court order
Top on the centre’s agenda will be to resolve the debate with the SAHRC relating to the February 2011 post-Reitz agreement of the UFS, which was subsequently made an order of the Equality Court. This order compelled the UFS to establish such a centre. The FSCHR presents new opportunities for cooperation between the FSCHR, the SAHRC and other stakeholders to the benefit of the UFS and the broader community.

Three divisions of the centre to achieve its mandate
The centre consists of three inter-related divisions with the potential to stimulate critical scholarship in the field of human rights through its postgraduate and research division. This is reflected in the centre’s mission to deepen the study of human rights and further its praxes by developing novel methodologies in which traditional human rights issues can be complemented by interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary approaches.

The Advocacy division of the centre will promote human rights among UFS staff and students, and the surrounding community. The aim is to establish a vibrant human rights culture in and across all campuses in which rights of all are respected and protected.

The Legal Services division will provide trustworthy legal services to individuals and groups whose fundamental rights have been abused, to improve the professional capacity of paralegals, students, counsellors, social workers, candidate attorneys and attorneys, equipping them to deal with cases of infringement of constitutional and human rights and to increase access to justice to rural and indigent communities in the Free State.

Centre key in positioning UFS as a regional leader in human rights issues
The centre, with its inter- and multi-disciplinary approach, has the potential to become one of the flagship projects of the UFS, and will strengthen both the Academic and Human Projects. A UFS human rights centre not only makes sound scholarly and practical sense, it also has limitless symbolic value. The location of one of UFS’s campuses within the city of Bloemfontein (the judicial capital of South Africa) and having partnered with the National University of Lesotho (NUL), is historically and geographically significant. This has a great impact on the UFS, the Free State province as a whole, and the Kingdom of Lesotho.  

The FSCHR will be officially launched on 14 March 2017 with Professor Bongani Majola, newly elected chairperson of the SAHRC, as guest speaker.

For further information on the work of the centre, please contact FSCHR@ufs.ac.za / +27 51 401 7216.

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