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30 October 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Sonia Small
Springboks
Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, paid a special visit to the Springboks in 2018 before they faced England in Bloemfontein. From the left are Jacques Nienaber (Springbok assistant coach), Oupa Mohoje (Springbok), Prof Petersen, Rassie Erasmus (Springbok head coach), and Swys de Bruin (Springbok consultant coach at the time). De Bruin, Erasmus, Nienaber, and Mohoje are all Kovsie alumni.


Like the rest of the country, we are behind our Springboks all the way. This is what Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), told alumnus Rassie Erasmus in a letter this week.

Prof Petersen wrote the letter to Erasmus, the head coach of the Springboks, to wish him everything of the best in the team’s preparation and for the game on Saturday (2 November 2019) at which they face England in the Rugby World Cup final in Japan.

"On behalf of the staff and students of the University of the Free State, I would like to wish you and the Springbok team all the best with your preparations this week and for the final. I know that Saturday’s match will be played with vigour and determination,” Prof Petersen wrote.

Prof Petersen said the UFS community was extremely proud of the Springboks’ achievements during the 2019 Rugby World Cup – especially with Erasmus at the helm of the team. The Boks defeated Japan in the quarter-final and Wales in the semi-final to reach their first final since 2007.

“As a former Shimla player and Kovsie Alumnus of the Year 1998, we are truly proud of what you have achieved during your career in South African rugby, and especially during the World Cup tournament. We are also proud of our other alumni – Jacques Nienaber as defence coach, and referee Jaco Peyper.”

Peyper refereed one of the quarter-finals and will be an assistant referee in the bronze medal play-off between New Zealand and Wales on 1 November 2019.

Under Erasmus the Springboks won the Rugby Championship this year, the first time since 2010. Erasmus and Nienaber have a long relationship. They met in the army in 1991. Later Nienaber served as physiotherapist with the Shimlas and Erasmus captained the team. They worked together at the Cheetahs, Cats, Stormers, Munster and now the Springboks.

News Archive

Discussion on mass violence and genocide in Africa
2013-09-25

25 September 2013

Africa’s contested pasts have frequently been characterised by violence. The manner of the continent’s subjugation to colonial rule; processes of indigenous resistance and accommodation; patterns of dispossession and accumulation; the construction and reconstruction of gendered identities; liberation movement dynamics; and the postcolonial politics of patronage have all shaped African experiences of violence and antagonisms.

To this list could be added past and present manifestations of xenophobia; the struggle for scarce resources in conditions of extreme inequality and climate change; and many more.

Looking at the above, the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice will host a colloquium on Mass Violence and genocide in Africa: Colonial and postcolonial perspectives on 26 September 2013.

The aim of the colloquium is to account, through a mixture of historical case studies and over-arching contemporary thematic and conceptual analyses, for a spectrum encompassing individual trauma, mass violence and genocide.

Time: 08:00-16:45
Place: Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (DF Malherbe House and the Centenary Complex)
RSVP: DemanA@ufs.ac.za

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