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02 October 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Hannes Naudé
Pakiso Mthembu and Prof Prakash Naidoo
Pakiso Mthembu (right) receives the trophy as the University of the Free State Senior Sportsman of the Year from Prof Prakash Naidoo, Vice-Rector: Operations. Khanyisa Chawane (Senior Sportswoman of the Year) and Sne Mdletshe (Junior Sportswoman of the Year) was unable to attend the awards function.

Pakiso Mthembu was recognised for his performances in cross-country and Khanyisa Chawane for her feats on the netball court at the KovsieSport Awards function on Tuesday night.

The two were honoured as the University of the Free State’s Senior Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year for 2019. Achievements between 1 October 2018 and 30 September 2019 were taken into consideration.

Mthembu was South Africa’s second-best senior male athlete at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Denmark earlier this year. He also came second in the senior men’s 10 km category of the South African Cross Country Championships and won a bronze medal at the University Sport South Africa Championships in the 10 000 m. It was the seventh consecutive year and ninth time in the last ten years that the men’s winner came from the athletics code.

Chawane has played in 14 of the last 17 tests for the Proteas. She was a member of the World Cup team in July, where they finished fourth – their best performance in 24 years. She also represented the SA Fast5 team and was named as the player of the tournament in the 2018 Varsity Netball competition.

The Junior Sportswoman of the Year award went to another netballer, Sne Mdletshe. She was the co-captain of the SA U20 team for the Africa Union Sport Council Region 5 games in Botswana, which was won by the team. At the National Championship, she was named the best centre-court player. There was no winner in the Junior Sportsman of Year category this year.

News Archive

The UFS produces some of the finest teachers in the country
2015-03-02

 

The quest for producing well-grounded, excellent and prolific teachers at the UFS is bearing fruit. Numerous accolades have over the years been bestowed on some of the UFS Qwaqwa Campus's finest graduates.

"For us as the faculty, it is gratifying and rewarding to learn about the achievements of our students. These achievements do not only validate our efforts, but inspire us as well,” says Dr Dipane Hlalele, Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Education at the UFS.

Dr Hlalele also revealed that, in the recent past, the faculty at the Qwaqwa Campus has experienced an increase in the enrolment figures for teacher training.

"Numbers in our initial teacher education programmes grow in leaps and bounds and we produce some of the best teachers in the country. We are proud to say that on graduation day, our students receive at least two things, i.e., their qualifications as well as entry into the teaching profession," added Hlalele.

Some of the shining examples that Dr Hlalele referred to, are Tebello Tshabalala (English), Mthobisi Khumalo (Mathematics), Thabo Mohapi (Physical Sciences), Lehlohonolo Khanye (Accounting) and Yvonne Tsotetsi (Business Studies). All of these are educators at Lekgulo Senior Secondary School in Qwaqwa and have each produced a 100% pass rate in the 2014 examinations.

There is also Nape Motloung, whose excellent Mathematics results at Botshabelo's Lefikeng High School have placed him as the Top Mathematics Educator in the Free State. Motloung's consistent excellent results have also placed his school in the Top 10 of the Best Performing Schools in Mathematics. This has also won his school R100 000 from the Free State Department of Education.

At yet another Qwaqwa school, Sekgutlong Secondary, Malefetsane Mokomotoane's Mathematics results over the years have earned him a runner-up prize in the category Excellence in Teaching Mathematics at the 2014 National Teachers Awards hosted by Minister Angie Motshekga.

"I am proud to have had 98% of my learners pass Mathematics, with 10 distinctions," said an elated Mokomotoane, who has just been appointed Principal of Selelekela Secondary School in Qwaqwa.

"Having achieved an average of 59%, my highest ever, has taught me and my learners that through hard work, anything is possible," added Mokomotoane.

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