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18 April 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa
Geben van Niekerk
Gerben van Niekerk was recognized as a Bright Star at this year's Liberty Radio Awards.
In 2019, Kovsie FM was recognised by the Liberty Radio Awards as one of the radio stations that secures the future of the radio industry by employing excellence and motivating the consistent raising of standards. 

The Liberty Radio Awards is a transparent awards programme that promotes and highlights excellence by recognising and honouring South Africa’s outstanding radio talent, from in-front-of-the mic presenters to behind-the-scenes producers. The awards have the objective of ensuring that radio remains one of the country’s leading media choices.

The station was nominated in categories including the Best Community Project for the Kovsie FM Cool Kid takeover initiative, and the 2019 Bright Star award, of which University of the Free State (UFS) Student Media Manager and OFM Before Dawn radio presenter, Gerben van Niekerk, was inaugurated as one of the 2019 Liberty Radio Awards Bright Stars. 

Thabang Moselane, UFS alumnus, former OFM radio anchor on A Touch of Thabang, social-media manager for online publication, The Journalist, and freelance researcher, writer, and director for a Johannesburg-based film production company, was also recognised and inducted as a Bright Star at the 2019 Liberty Radio Awards.

2019 Liberty Radio Awards’ Bright Star winner, Van Niekerk, explained that the essence of his job at Kovsie FM is to ensure that the student talent that is produced and groomed in their studios daily, morphs into an array of folk who possess the unquestionable skill and aptitude that is widely sought in commercial South African radio.

A great testimony of Van Niekerk’s mission for Kovsie FM, is former Kovsie FM presenter, Smash Afrika, who has moved on to hosting Live at Night on 5FM, and co-presenting Massive Music on Channel O, and Mzansi Magic with Lalla Hirayama. Former station programme manager, Sam Ludidi, is another gem that was cultivated through Kovsie FM, and now works as rugby presenter on SuperSport TV, and also forms part of the OFM team. 

News Archive

Nine Kovsie students awarded NAC bursaries
2015-02-19

The UFS is proud to announce that nine of our Drama and Theatre Arts undergraduate students have been awarded National Arts Council (NAC) bursaries for their studies in 2015.

From the left in the photograph, these students are:

• Mbuyiselo Nqodi (first year)
• Marike Jonker (second year)
• Monique de Klerk (second year)
• Aldine van der Merwe (third year)
• Kado Cloete (third year)
• Rondo Mpiti (third year)
• Magnus McPhail (third year)
• Olivia Wyngaard (third year)
• Marica Laing (second year)

This year the amount awarded for the NAC busaries is R70 000.

Since 2005, the NAC has given bursaries to the UFS for the last 10 years. The amount varies from year to year.

“The number of undergraduate students who benefit varies depending on the amount allocated each year,” said Prof Nico Luwes, Head of the Drama and Theatre Arts Department at the UFS.

“Some years, the NAC prescribes how many students will be awarded a bursary and provides a profile of gender and academic prerequisites. Other years, such as the present one, there is no prescription and the UFS was able to cater for the applications submitted, and the number of students who will benefit, within the amount awarded. Normally, it is divided between successful candidates.”

The criteria according to which NAC bursaries are awarded to students every year include academic merit and, of course, their financial situation.”

“The full information of applicants from the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts is checked by the selection committee – all permanent members of staff in the department. The names are then sent to the NAC for approval.
UFS Finances ensures further that the bursary money is paid into the student’s class fees account. During the year and at the end, I report to the NAC on the progress shown by bursary holders. This, in turn, contributes to the excellent co-operation with the NAC so that the following year’s application is then generally successful,” says Luwes.

Bursary monies cover mainly registration and class fees for some or all modules, depending on the amount awarded.

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