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16 July 2020 | Story Valentino Ndaba
Add these emergency safety contacts to your speed dial.

Staying safe during the coronavirus pandemic extends to ensuring that students at the University of the Free State (UFS) are safe from crime. Crime in South Africa remains an unfortunate reality which continues to affect students, staff and the institution in general. 

“Crime requires constant vigilance from the community and this can only be achieved through initiatives that are aimed at informing the community on what to do and what not to do. To this end the BSafe Safety First flyer is geared at informing specifically the student community on safety measures that must be taken,” said Cobus van Jaarsveld, Assistant Director: Threat Detection, Investigations and Liaison at Protection Services.

The Safety First flyer is a guide for students to be crime-conscious whether at their accommodation, on the street, or in their vehicles. It also offers tips on how to act responsibly as far as alcohol and drugs are concerned.

Engaging students on their safety 

UFS Protection Services recently engaged with off-campus residence students in Bloemfontein in order to provide tips on how to stay safe in their neighbourhoods. During the engagement, the new Safety First pamphlets were distributed, and students were encouraged to join the Student Crime-Stop Brandwag WhatsApp group.

As from 15 June 2020, Nissi Armed Response was deployed from 18:00 to 06:00. This initiative has already led to them responding to several suspicious persons and vehicles, as well as some minor incidents and disturbances. Two arrests were made on different occasions as a result of the deployment. In the first incident, a suspect was arrested on 27 June 2020 after a burglary in Brandwag, and the second relates to a suspect who was arrested on 10 July 2020 after threatening students at Universitas.

These successes were the result of student and community participation in providing information, coupled with excellent response from private security companies, including Nissi Armed Response, VR Security, and BloemSec.

News Archive

Supplementum analyses the San origin of South African place names
2013-09-25

 

At the launch were, from the left: Prof Lucius Botes (Dean: Faculty of the Humanities), Christine van Deventer (SUN MeDIA), Prof Peter Raper (author), Prof Theodorus du Plessis (Head of Department: Linguistics and Language Practice), and Prof Dirk van den Berg (outgoing editor).
Photo: Jerry Mokoroane
25 September 2013

The Acta Academica Supplementum 2012 (2), under the outgoing editorship of Prof Dirk van den Berg, was launched on 16 September 2013. The author, Prof Peter Raper, is one of the leading place-name experts in South Africa. The Supplementum analyses the San origin of South African place names whereby different layers of language contact are exposed. For example, Dipodi (previously Jakkalsdraai), is an adaptation of the original San name. The first ‘di’ is the added Sotho preposition. ‘Po’ is equal to the San word ‘po’ (jackal) and the last ‘di’ equal to ‘/gi’ (to bend). Prof Raper’s research indicates that many place names carry evidence of various language shifts. By analysing these language layers, different phases of language contact are exposed. This research is instrumental in the preservation of a unique aspect of the South African cultural heritage.

Prof Raper is since 2011 Honorary Professor: Linguistics, in the Department of Language Management and Language Practice at the University of the Free State. He is one of South Africa’s leading toponymists. The fourth edition of the New Dictionary of Southern African Place Names, with Dr Lucie Möller and Prof Theodorus du Plessis as co-editors, is currently in the press. He is a member of the Commission for Toponymy of the International Geographical Union, as well as the Working Group for Toponymy of the International Cartographic Association, of which there are only ten members worldwide, and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal Names.

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