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
03 October 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Gallo Images
Lappies Labuschagne
Lappies Labuschagné got his first rugby contract with the Cheetahs after impressing for the Shimlas. He is now playing for Japan – the first Shimla to do so.

Former Shimla Lappies Labuschagné made his ex-coach Jaco Swanepoel proud when he was recently included in the Japan Rugby World Cup (RWC) squad.

Labuschagné, made his debut for Japan on 28 September as captain shortly before the tournament, which is currently under way there, then led Japan to a historic win over Ireland, the world’s fourth-ranked team.


Labuschagné has been playing his rugby in Japan since 2016. Previously, he played for the Shimlas between 2009 and 2012 and captained the team in 2012. At that time, Swanepoel was the head coach of the Shimlas. 

“I’m extremely glad that he got his chance to play in the World Cup, just to prove that he can compete at that level. It was wonderful to see the leadership we knew he had on Saturday,” Swanepoel said.

He believes Labuschagné was unlucky not to have played for the Springboks. In 2013, he was called up to the South African squad, but failed to force his way into the congested Springbok back row. 

“Subjectivity in team selection was the reason that he wasn’t considered. He deserved to be selected and he worked extremely hard. I don’t know of a player who worked harder than him. Nobody wanted to work out with him in the gymnasium, because he always put in extra effort. That made him special.”

Swanepoel describes Labuschagné as a “very special person”.

“Lappies the human being is perhaps a little bit better than Lappies the rugby player.”  

“Hopefully we can get a Japan rugby jersey from him to display in the Shimla room soon,” Swanepoel added.

Labuschagné isn’t the only former Kovsie at the RWC. In the Springbok management team, Rassie Erasmus (head coach), Jacques Nienaber (defence coach), and Vivian Verwant (physiotherapist) are also former Kovsies.


News Archive

US author launches book at UFS on African volk
2016-10-17

Description: Dr Jamie Miller Tags: Dr Jamie Miller

Dr Jamie Miller, Postdoctoral Fellow at the
University of Pittsburgh and author of
An African Volk: The Apartheid Regime
and Its Search for Survival.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

“I realised the importance of not just accessing the policies and political approaches of the leaders of the apartheid regime, but understanding the ideas and world views that informed them. Part of the solution to this was to learn Afrikaans.”

This is according to Dr Jamie Miller, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh, on how he went about getting inside the mind of South Africa’s apartheid regime in order to complete his book, An African Volk: The Apartheid Regime and Its Search for Survival.

The book was launched on 11 October 2016 by the Archive for Contemporary Affairs at the University of the Free State on the Bloemfontein Campus.

Volk refers to the Afrikaner nationalist movement
The book is an ambitious new international history of 1970s apartheid South Africa. It is based on newly declassified documents and oral histories, the majority in Afrikaans, which focus on the regime’s attempts to turn the new political climate to its advantage.

The term volk refers to the Afrikaner nationalist movement, also known as Afrikanerdom. The story of Afrikaner nationalism was the medium through which the regime gained power.

Four main messages from the book
Dr Miller says there are four main messages for his readers. Firstly, the apartheid regime looked to contest and hijack new ideas and norms that formed the postcolonial world, and secondly, that we need to start thinking more seriously about the Cold War in terms of domestic politics, not just geopolitics.

Thirdly, South Africa should be integrated into histories of the global South, and lastly, we should conceptualise the apartheid regime by looking at it not just as an imperial holdover, but also by looking at what was happening in the world in the time period in question.

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