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Nkahiseng
Nkahiseng Ralepeli will join the Rhodes Scholarship cohort of 2019.

Aspiring lawyer and political prodigy, Nkahiseng Ralepeli, will soon join a cohort of Rhodes Scholarship recipients at the University of Oxford in the UK later this year. He completed his LLB at the University of the Free State (UFS) in 2018, and it comes as no surprise that this young achiever has his eyes set on greater heights.

As a student, Nkahiseng was always a cut above the rest, with his involvement in non-governmental organisations such as Corruption Watch and Debate Afrika, where he used debating to not only educate youth in South Africa but to engage various social ills that plague the country in whichever way he could. He represented the UFS at various debating tournaments such as the Pan-African Universities Debating Championships and the World Universities Debating Championships.

“This is something I’ve wanted for an incredibly long time. Receiving this scholarship is so important, and makes me feel that all my efforts and work have been validated. What I’ve learned is that regardless of the situation you’re born into, rich or poor, hard work is rewarded. I hope this experience will help me realise my dreams and career goals, but most importantly I want to have a significant impact in whatever space I find myself in and on the people I encounter,” said Nkahiseng.

As an Abe Bailey Bursary recipient, he is deeply interested in the transformation of African political theory and the establishment of various structures in the development and maintenance of African ‘infant’ democracies and post-civil wars. He later hopes to pursue a career in South African politics. His list of achievements keeps getting longer as he adds to it the Rhodes Scholarship. The UFS is truly proud to have an alumnus of this high calibre.

News Archive

UFS honours Dr Ben Ngubane
2010-05-19

 
 Prof. Teuns Verschoor, acting Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, and Dr Ben Ngubane.
Photo: Stephen Collett


The University of the Free State (UFS) yesterday conferred an honorary doctorate on Dr Ben Ngubane, Chairperson of the SABC Board, during its autumn graduation ceremony held on the South Campus in Bloemfontein.

Dr Ngubane received the degree Philosophiae Doctor (Honoris Causa) for his immense contribution towards positioning South Africa as a major and an influential player in the development of arts, culture, science and technology internationally.

“I want to thank the UFS for this honour bestowed on me and accept this honorary doctorate in all humility and with great gratitude. I am comfortable to regard myself inextricably part of this university and its mission and will always be a worthy ambassador for this institution and what it represents. I am a proud Kovsie!” said Dr Ngubane after receiving the honorary doctorate.

“The world is changing at a rapid pace. Universities not only respond to such changes, they have become critical engines in the reshaping of that world through knowledge production and research innovation. Sitting at the tip of the African continent, and in the centre of South Africa, it is crucial to the ambitions and agendas of the UFS to be constantly aware of how the world of knowledge, innovation and scholarship is changing with respect to higher education, and how the UFS can best contribute to and benefit from such changes,” he said.

“A university worthy of its name thrives on the universality of ideas and people that come with the cross-currents of international scholars and students on its campus. The International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice, to be launched shortly at the UFS has the potential to become a leading centre of scholarship acknowledged globally.”

Dr Ngubane said that the UFS is now well positioned and has the right strategies in place to become truly internationally recognised, with a proven ability to deal successfully with diversity, embedding in its students a humaneness and respect for the dignity of others, as well as an institution with an increasing through-put rate and with research outputs displaying excellence at international level.

Dr Ngubane was the first Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in the new, democratic South Africa appointed by the former President, Nelson Mandela, in 1994. He was re-appointed to lead this ministry again by former President Thabo Mbeki in 1999.

As Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from 1996 to 1999, Dr Ngubane is credited for his role in bringing about peace and reducing the political violence that ravaged the province at that time. In 2004 he was appointed as Ambassador to Japan where he initiated, among other projects, the South Africa-Japan University Forum (SAJU).

He holds Honorary Doctorates from the universities of Natal, Zululand, the Medical University of South Africa (Medunsa) and the Tshwane University of Technology.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (acting)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za  
19 May 2010
 

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