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UFS Debate Society win Jozi Rumble again!

02 May 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa

After competing in the Jozi Rumble final for six consecutive years, the UFS Debate Society won the competition – Africa’s largest intercollegiate debate open – for the second consecutive year. The tournament took place at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in April 2019.

After seven preliminary rounds, three UFS teams out of a total of 100 competing teams overall were placed in the top 16, earning them a place in the quarterfinals – where they faced each other. A composite team of UFS LLB graduate and LLM student, Lehakoe Masedi, and a partner from Wits beat all teams, qualified for the final themed ‘This house regrets the glorification of opulence in popular culture’, and won the league.

“It was one of the most validating moments of my entire debating career; everybody wants to win the Jozi Rumble, and to have done it and to be the best speaker is truly amazing,” said Lehakoe. The top-ranking speaker at the tournament added that she had been working hard, and that she is glad that her efforts are coming full circle.

The UFS sent six teams overall to the tournament, including two novice teams competing in their first-ever intercollegiate debate tournament.

“Speaking at the Jozi Rumble debate tournament for the first time was truly an educational experience; it exposed me to the dynamics of varsity-level debating,” said Simphiwe Yana, debater in of the UFS novice teams.

The UFS speaking squad consisted of Lehakoe Masedi, 2018 Abe Bailey Bursary victor and Rhodes scholarship recipient Nkahiseng Ralepeli, Khotso Khokho, Siyanda Rixana, Morena Moabi, Simphiwe Yana, Luvuyo Shoco, Asemahle Noholoza, and Nontobeko Msimangu. Former Chairperson of the UFS Debate Society and Editor-in-Chief of the IRAWA newspaper, Tshiamo Malatji, was also present at the tournament as the Tabulation Director.

On 11 May 2019, the UFS will travel to the University of Pretoria to defend yet another debate open title at the Pretoria Parlay Intervarsity.

News Archive

‘Language central to multidisciplinary society’

2012-03-22

Dr. Neville Alexander (right) discussed the role of language and culture in creating tolerance in South Africa. On the left is Prof. André Keet, Director of the UFS' International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconcilliation and Social Justice.
Photo: Johan Roux
22 March 2012

A multilingual state and culture could lead to more tolerance in South Africa, and schools and universities could play a leading role in the creation of a multilingual culture.

This is according to Dr Neville Alexander, one of South Africa’s foremost linguists and educationalists.

Dr Alexander spoke during a discussion session on language issues in a new South Africa at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice.

He said in a multidisciplinary society, language is central to everything we do.

“Language has the ability to empower people or to disempower them. Yet the present government failed to value the other official South African languages, apart from Afrikaans and English.”

Dr Alexander said it is “convenient and cheap” for the government “to only govern in English”.

Government officials and academics often used the shortage of terminology and glossaries in various African languages as an excuse to use only English as the medium of instruction. This tendency puts young children in the South African school system at a disadvantage since it deprives them of their right to mother tongue education.

According to Dr Alexander, this is similar to the problems that academics experienced centuries ago when only Latin terminology existed for certain disciplines.

“It is the task of educationalists and experts to develop the necessary word lists and terminology to offer more economic value to all our official languages.”

If multilingualism was promoted at school level, a multilingual culture would become more acceptable in future. In this way, we could have an isiZulu of isiXhosa dominant university in South Africa in 30 years time.

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