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09 May 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Varsity Sports
Lefébre Rademan
Lefébre Rademan, new captain of the Free State Crinums netball team, could be one of the star players in the Premier League. She is a fifth-year Education student.

The Free State Crinums netball team, a de facto Kovsie team with all 15 squad members enrolled for courses at the University of the Free State (UFS), will draw inspiration from their success in last year’s Varsity netball tournament. The Kovsies won the student competition for a record third time. 

During the weekend of 10 May 2019, the Crinums will play their first match in the 2019 Premier League. They lost a couple of key players in captain Alicia Puren, Protea Khanyisa Chawane, (both playing for the national invitational team in the league), Khomotso Mamburu (moved to Cape Town), and Meagan Roux (injured). They do, however, still have the services of players such as Tanya von Berg (playing in her sixth Premier League, one of only a handful of players to do so), Lefébre Rademan, Sikholiwe Mdletshe, Ané Retief, Gertriana Retief, and Rieze Straeuli. Rademan is the new captain and was one of the standout players in last year’s Varsity netball, earning three Player of the Match awards, including the Player of the Final. 

The team will again be coached by Burta de Kock, who is also the head coach of the Kovsies. Under her leadership, the Crinums won the Premier League for the first three years (2014 to 2016). Last year, the Crinums ended fourth. De Kock will be assisted by Martha Mosoahle-Samm. She is a former Protea assistant coach who also captained South Africa and played for the UFS between 1997 and 1999.

There are four first-year students in the squad of 15 players: Oageng Khasake (wing attack), Ancia Pienaar (goalkeeper), Rolene Streutker (goal shooter), Boitumelo Mahloko (goal defence). Pienaar and Mahloko both represented South Africa at junior level in 2018.

■ Crinums squad: Ané Retief, Gertriana Retief, Jana Scholtz, Lefébre Rademan, Sikholiwe Mdletshe, Tanya von Berg, Rieze Straeuli, Claudia van den Berg, Zandré Smit, Oageng Khasake, Bianca de Wee, Ancia Pienaar, Rolene Streutker, Chanel Vrey, Boitumelo Mahloko.


News Archive

Race, technology, and maritime labour in the 19th century
2016-06-23


Prof John T. Grider

 

“When employers
impose
worker identity,
it creates problems.”

What does identity mean to people today, and how is it formed? Religion, politics, race, ethnicity, and gender make up individual and community identity. However, Prof John Grider (University of Wisconsin – La Crosse) is of the opinion that employment moulds our identity, since we spend so much time on the job.

Prof Grider joined the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ) on the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses to discuss his research on the maritime industry, published in his book, Foreign Voyage - Pacific Maritime Labour Identity: 1840 to 1890. “When employers impose worker identity, it creates problems,” he said. Particularly, this “creates instability in communities, and a vulnerability and insecurity amongst the employees”.

To illustrate his point, Prof Grider expanded on the history of 19th-century Atlantic sailors, a highly-skilled workforce, who failed to adapt to changes in their labour environment. Initially, the sea-faring community was very diverse racially. However, as the Pacific, and particularly Asian, marine community gained precedence, this tide turned to such an extent that, in 1886, the Atlantic sailors formed their own Coastal Seamen’s Union in San Francisco, causing a split between Asian and non-Asian sailors. Atlantic sailors had failed to integrate with the new technology of the day (steam power), nor had they accepted the demographic changes that flooded their community rapidly with cheap labour from Chinese shores. 

Prof Grider highlighted the need to maintain an adaptable mentality in the ever- and rapidly-changing labour world, since division amongst workers could lead only to further exploitation of the workforce.

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