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Karla Pretorius Gsport Awards
Flying the Kovsie flag high: Kesa Molotsane, Raynard van Tonder, Karla Pretorius, and Sikholiwe Mdletshe.

While there hasn’t been any student sporting action since the end of March, this didn’t prevent a couple of Kovsies from making the news.  

Three former Kovsie sports stars, Kesa Molotsane, Raynard van Tonder, and Karla Pretorius, as well as current student, Sikholiwe Mdletshe, received recognition. 

At the Gsport Awards (for South African females in sport), Pretorius won the Global Woman in Sport trophy thanks to her stellar 2019 performance for which she was named the Player of the Tournament at the Netball World Cup. 

Getting credit for hard work 

“I see the award as a reward for your efforts and sacrifices. I am grateful for the wonderful platform that Gsport provides women,” said Pretorius.  

The athlete, Molotsane, is one of the digital education publication Inside Education’s 100 South African shining stars. Seven individuals were recognised in the sports and recreation category for contributing to their communities through excellence in their career fields. 

“This award is not just for me, but for the community that I’m impacting. I want to continue making a change in the society through my athletics career.” 

Van Tonder won the category Four-Day Domestic Player of the Year at the Knights cricket awards function. He finished the competition as the leading run-scorer with an average of 70.25.  

“It was a very big honour to receive the credit for your hard work. It wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible support of my Knights teammates and the great work of our coaching staff.” 

Mdletshe, captain of the South African U21 netball team in 2019 and 2020, feature among the newspaper Mail & Guardian’s 200 young South Africans. She is one of six winners in the sports category. “I see this as an opportunity to keep learning, growing, and using what I have to make the changes that we as young individuals want to see. The change we want to see starts with us.”

News Archive

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative
2006-05-10

At the conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue were from the left Dr Aldo Stroebel (senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate), Dr Edith Vries (acting Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Development Trust) and Prof Frans Swanepoel (Director: UFS Research Development Directorate).

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative

Two staff members of the University of the Free State (UFS) have been appointed as members of the advisory board of the national programme for the creation of small enterprises and jobs in the second economy.  This programme forms part of government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGI-SA).

Prof Frans Swanepoel, Director of the UFS Research Development Directorate and Dr Aldo Stroebel, senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate, are working with a team of experts from the UFS on a draft implementation strategy for the national programme.  Both Prof Swanepoel and Dr Stroebel are also associated to the UFS Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
 
“The strategy is being developed in collaboration with institutions like the Independent Development Trust, the Department of Agriculture, the National Development Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry,” says Prof  Swanepoel.  

The other team members of the UFS are Prof Basie Wessels, Director of the  Mangaung-University Community Partnership Programme (MUCPP) and Mr  Benedict Mokoena, project manager at the MUCPP.

Dr Stroebel was also member of the organising committee of a conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue that was recently presented in Johannesburg.  The conference was attended by more than 400 delegates from government departments, higher-education institutions and civil society, including Dr Kobus Laubscher, member of the UFS Council.

The conference was facilitated by Ms Vuyo Mahlati, previously from the WK Kellogg Foundation’s Africa programme and opened by Ms Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs.   

“The colloquium formed the basis of an induction workshop during which a group of 150 individuals (50 teams of three) from all nine provinces, identified to initiate the implementation of the national programme, was trained and orientated towards an induction manual in collaboration with Hand-in-Hand, an Indian counterpart,” says Prof Swanepoel.

Dr Stroebel and Mr Benedict Mokoena formed part of the team to conceptualise and finalise this training manual.  The induction training includes a case study of a successful community self-help partnership model, namely the MUCPP at the UFS. Prof Wessels and Mr Mokoena are both playing a leading role in the further development of subsequent training initiatives throughout South Africa, in partnership with the relevant provincial departments.

“The involvement of the UFS in the programme is a compliment to us.  It reflects the value government sees in the use of academics and experts in the management of the ASGI-SA initiative.  It is also an indication of one of the aims of the UFS to play a role in South Africa and Africa and in the transformation and change that is taking place in our country,” says Prof Swanepoel.  

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
10 May 2006

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