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18 April 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin

The Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice IRSJ) has initiated a Social Justice Week at the University of the Free State (UFS), which started on Friday 12 April  until Wednesday 17 April 2019. 

Ten key events took place during the week. It ranged from dialogues, workshops, talk shows, debates, and interactive displays and events on issues of multilingualism and diversity, social innovation, engaged scholarship, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, gender sensitisation, sexual consent, sexual preparedness, universal access, disability, anti-discrimination, and security.

There was also a round-table discussion on 17 April 2019 with various UFS stakeholders on off-campus student security as well as an inter-institutional discussion on the same topic. The UFS Debating Society will take on the topic of the UFS Language Policy, while Olga Barends from the Free State Centre for Human Rights will host a dialogue on sexual consent.

The IRSJ has also designed and implemented SOJO-VATION: Social Innovation/ Social Change, which strives to create a foundational platform where ideas of social justice, innovation, and engaged scholarship at the UFS and in society can be hosted. SOJO-VATION partners with the Office for Student Leadership, Development, and Community Engagement.

The collaborating partners for the Social Justice Week includes various UFS stakeholders such as the Sasol library, the Gender and Sexual Equity Office, UFS Protection Services, the Free State Centre for Human Rights, the Student Representative Council (SRC), the Office for Student Leadership Development, Kovsie Innovation, GALA, the FFree State Centre for Human Rights, SRC Associations, the Office for Student Governance, Kovsie Innovate, Start-Up-Grind, EVC, EBL, Community Engagement, the Institutional Transformation Plan (ITP) Dialogues Office, Residence Dialogues, UFS Debating Society, Debate Afrika!, the Center for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS), and the Gateway Office. 

News Archive

Kovsies champion sprinter sets South African records twice in a row
2015-07-02

Wayde van Niekerk
Photo: Anja Aucamp

On Saturday 13 June 2015, Wayde van Niekerk clocked 44.24 seconds at the 400m finish line of the Diamond League meeting in New York. Van Niekerk’s gold-medal performance improved on his previous South African record of 44.38.

The Kovsies champion sprinter now occupies third position in the world 400m rankings after beating former 400m record holder, Christopher Brown of the Bahamas, whose 44.74 dash earned silver, and United States’ Tony McQuay’s 45.26 won him bronze.

Van Niekerk experienced it as “a good race and a good confidence booster” in light of his forthcoming Diamond League meetings on 4 July in Paris (400m) and 14 July in Lucerne (200m).

The university was made proud recently when Van Niekerk broke the 1986 African record on Sunday 7 June 2015 at the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham. He made his mark with a time of 31.63 seconds, thus smashing Ivorian Gabriel Tiacoh’s 31.74.

In a single week, Wayde van Niekerk sets new African record, which placed him in 10th place on the world list in the 300m, and improves on a national record set by South African sprinter, Morné Nagel in 2006.

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