Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
12 February 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Charl Devenish
Kovsie ACT
The University of the Free State encourages its students to prioritise social awareness through fun and exciting community-engagement activities.

9 February 2019 marked the conclusion of the Kovsie Act programme, which took to a competitive start with the UFS Bloemfontein South College being named as the overall winners of the Kovsie ACT 2019 Eco-vehicle race. West College won the trophy for the drag and slalom races, with the South College taking the trophy for endurance.

The UFS Kovsie Act theme for 2019 was centred around building social awareness and encouraging students to develop and maintain lasting methods of preserving the environment that they live in.

The 2019 group of first-year students enjoyed a fun- and adventure-filled first two weeks (28 January–9 February) of varsity life as they undertook a number of projects and activities that aligned community engagement and service learning in order to invest in and promote overall responsible behaviour and a sustainable environment.

Activities that formed part of the line-up included a tree-and-traffic-signs project that entailed old T-shirts/material being sewn/crocheted together to make different patterns that were fitted around the trees on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus in order to create a beautiful piece of art portraying a message of social awareness.

A canvas painting put together by first-years with assistance from their seniors addressed environmental, crime, gender-based, and other societal issues, and will be placed on the wall at the Thakaneng Bridge at a later stage.

Art sculptures were built to form part of the Eco-vehicle race, and if approved, will be assigned a spot on campus where they can spread the message of awareness and be appreciated by fellow students.  

Kovsie Act, as per norm, succeeded in getting students involved with social-awareness campaigns that are detailed and purposeful, and allowed them to put their time and effort into meaningful projects to aid the development of a sustainable environment.

The day of the Eco-race progressed into a festive one, with members of the Bloemfontein community and students amassing at the Bloemfontein Campus rag farm to enjoy musical performances from industry giants, such as Bittereinder, Busiswa, and Shod Madjozi at the Kovsie Act Music Festival. The audience rumbled in a frenzy, with shouts of enjoyment and gratification as the stage came alive with beautiful performances.

News Archive

Head of SA Witness Protection Programme pays UFS a visit
2010-05-04

 
Receiving the Head of the South African Witness Protection Programme are, in front: Prof. Hennie Oosthuizen, Head of the Department of Criminal and Medical Law at the UFS; back: Adv. Beatri Kruger from the UFS Unit for Children’s Rights, Ms Lani Opperman, Member of the Free State Human Trafficking Forum (FHF), Adv. John Welch, Head of the Witness Protection Programme in South Africa; and Lene van Zyl, a LLM student at the UFS who is doing her thesis on human trafficking in body parts.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs


Recently Adv. Beatri Kruger from the Unit for Children’s Rights in the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) invited Adv. John Welch, Head of the Witness Protection Programme in South Africa, to address the Free State Human Trafficking Forum (FHF) on the safe-keeping of victims who are witnesses against human traffickers.

Human trafficking is prevalent in the Free State, especially in Bloemfontein. The Unit for Children’s Rights is one of the founding members of the FHF that was established to take action against and fight the disturbing reality of human trafficking more efficiently.

According to Adv. Kruger the FHF identified the problem of trafficked witnesses being threatened by human trafficker syndicates.

Adv. Welch made some suggestions with regard to the safe-keeping of trafficked victims. He also, with some of the forum members, paid a visit to the areas in Bloemfontein where human trafficking is prevalent as well as to the local shelter for trafficked victims.

Adv. Welch undertook to join forces with the FHF in assisting trafficked victims and the local Witness Protection Programme Office is now a member of the forum.

Since December 2009 members of the FHF managed to disrupt the work of the human trafficking syndicates. “The traffickers have not stopped this inhumane practice but there are indications that they have moved to other buildings in the inner city and even to houses in the suburbs. It was reported to the forum that approximately 27 males suspected of being involved in human trafficking had been arrested, and since they are illegal in the country, they were deported to their countries of origin,” said Adv. Kruger.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept