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#WomenOfKovsies: Being a woman is being resilient – Esihle Mhluzi

01 September 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa

“I was determined to be more than just ‘the girl on crutches’; I wanted my brilliance to speak for itself,” said Mhluzi in response to the question, “What inspires you?”

As part of its #WomenOfKovsies campaign for 2019, which profiles inspiring women on our three campuses, the UFS celebrates LLB Law student, Esihle Mhluzi. She has served on a few SRC executive committees, UFS women empowerment organisations, and is also the Chairperson of the Universal Access Council for 2019.

Mhluzi says she was ‘graced’ with a physical impairment at the age of 10. She uses the word ‘grace’, because she appreciates what it means for the world and for women today to be in a body like hers. She also recently started pursuing a career in modelling, forming part of the top five of Miss Capable SA, and is currently one of the ﬁnalists for Face of Free State Fashion Week 2019.

Mhluzi explains that her decision to pursue modelling was propelled by her rationale to inﬁltrate spaces that were not necessarily designed for girls who ‘looked’ like her. She found that society seldom embraces and ‘accepts’ young women of her calibre on prestigious modelling platforms. Her mission is to ensure that she becomes the voice for the many women she represents. “With my additional modelling career path, I envisage us – women – running towards victory hand in hand,” said Mhluzi.

For her, being a woman means “being empty of yourself in order to create a better life for your fellow sister”. She believes a woman’s purpose is to extend grace and create safe spaces for each other to exist, heal, overcome, and conquer the world together, being in control of your narrative, and starving the noise. “Being a woman means having the audacity to be unapologetic in your brilliance,” she enthuses.

Mhluzi, who describes herself as ‘multifaceted’, believes that Women’s Month should be celebrated in order to pay homage to the phenomenal women who went before us. She highlights the importance of picking up where they left off.

“I look forward to the day when being a woman simply means BEING.”

News Archive

A tale of many cities – new dictionary of place names reveals our heritage

2015-01-28

‘The Dictionary of Southern African Place Names’ provides not only the answers, but also gives insight into how our places and our people were shaped. Penned by three academics from the University of the Free State (UFS), it is the fourth edition of this fascinating book.

Prof Peter Raper from the UFS Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, together with his colleagues Prof Theodorus du Plessis and Dr Lucie Möller, created more than a reference book. They provide the reader with deeper understanding of events, our heroes, beliefs, values, fears and aspirations.

Jonathan Ball Publishers describes the book as “the most comprehensive glossary of Southern African towns, villages, railway stations, mountains, rivers and beaches. The 9 000 short entries incorporate data from sources dating as far back as 1486, encapsulating the linguistic and cultural heritage of all the peoples of the subcontinent, past and present.”

And what would the origin of the name Bloemfontein be?

This dictionary provides the following answer.

“Capital city of the Free State and judicial capital of South Africa. It was established in 1846 by Major HD Warden at a fountain on the farm Bloemfontein, originally owned by a Griqua, Mauritz Pretorius. It has been claimed to have been named after a person with the surname Bloem, or in honour of the Khoikhoi chief Jan Bloem, or after an ox with this name. Probably, however, it was named after flowers growing at the fountain, from Dutch bloem, ‘flower’, fonteijn, ‘spring’. The name is thought to be a translation from a Bushman name of which Mangaung is the Sotho adaptation; ma- is the Sotho plural prefix or class marker; the component ngau is comparable to the Bushman word //au, ‘flower’, and the final ng is cognate with the locative demonstrative ?, ‘that (one) there’. Bloemfontein attained municipal status in 1880.”

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