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21 May 2019 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Ian van Straaten
Dr Thandi Gumede
Dr Thandi Gumede graduated with a PhD in Polymer Science. She is from Intabazwe, Harrismith.

The Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State was a hive of activity on 17 and 18 May 2019, when over 800 degrees, diplomas, and certificates were conferred on deserving achievers. These included six PhDs and 14 master’s degrees across the four faculties.

Congratulating the graduates on both days, was Africa’s youngest PhD and Industrial Psychology lecturer, Dr Musawenkosi Saurombe, and Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

Be like heat

Dr Saurombe started her address by relating her school journey that saw her starting Grade 1 at age 5, thus later matriculating at the age of 15, having skipped Grades 3 and 10. She went on to emphasise the importance of building an honourable character.

“As a graduate, you will soon realise that your degree is useless if you do not have character,” she said to an attentive audience that continued to marvel at her remarkable school history. She encouraged graduates to be like heat that cannot be seen but can only be felt. “Noise can often be seen and heard, but it cannot be felt. However, while heat cannot always be seen, it is always felt. Be like heat and may your presence always be felt,” she said.

Do not focus on yourself

Prof Francis Petersen also encouraged graduates to look beyond their degrees by developing a set of critical values.
 
“For us as the university, this ceremony is not just about your degrees. It is about the values that you must live by,” he said. “As a graduate of the UFS, do not just believe what you are told. Ask questions and engage critically. Secondly, do not just focus on yourself. Remember that you are part of a community and it is your responsibility to make our world a better place for others. You need to be socially responsive to the needs of your community. Thirdly, remember that integrity plays a very important role. This will determine how others value you,” he said.

The two ceremonies also saw three current SRC members graduating. They are Lebohang Miya (BEd FET – Accounting and Business Studies), Duduzile Mhlongo (BA – Geography and isiZulu), and Mhlongo Sinemfundo (BA – Geography and isiZulu).

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Faculty of Law bids farewell to Prof. Andries Raath
2012-11-27

Prof. Andries Raath and some of his colleagues during his farewell held in the Bobbert Room of the CR Swart Building. From the left are: Prof. Loot Pretorius, Dr Ilse Keevy, Prof. Andries Raath, Prof. Johan Henning and Prof. Gerhard Fick.
Photo: Christiaan van der Merwe
27 November 2012


The Faculty of Law had to bid farewell to another stalwart in Prof. Andries Raath last week. Prof. Raath retired after more than 30 years of service to the university.  Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law, described it as a day of “great personal sadness” due to the loss of a person who had made such a tremendous impact in the faculty, both at a personal and an academic level.

Prof. Raath was praised for his academic prowess and relationship with students who referred to him as a “real professor”, and doctoral students who often saw him as a father figure. For his part, the avid Anglo-Boer War buff thanked long-time as well as newer colleagues, whom he said had all left an imprint on him in some way or another.  He urged his former colleagues to maintain the “precious academic heritage” of the faculty, in which his personal career also had numerous highlights.

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