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UFS helps students with food parcels during lockdown

17 June 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied

Between 40 and 50 students from the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein receive daily food parcels during the lockdown, thanks to the cooperation between the Food Environment Office at the UFS, Tiger Brands, and the Total Garage in Brandwag.

Annelize Visagie from the Division of Student Affairs (DSA), who is heading the Food Environment Office at the UFS, says just before the national lockdown started in March, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Tiger Brands to sponsor 500 food parcels to students who do not have bursaries. This is part of the UFS strategic goal of improving student success and wellbeing. UFS staff is working hard to implement initiatives and obtain sponsorships – such as this one with Tiger Brands – as well as food donations to ensure that students do not go hungry.

“Then the lockdown happened. However, the project continued, with Tiger Brands still sponsoring food parcels. Students email me and I respond to those emails. We are also looking at including students from the South Campus in the project.”

“I deliver the food parcels to the Total Garage across from the campus, where students collect it. We give between 40 and 50 parcels every day and have helped 650 students thus far. These parcels cost Tiger Brands R80 000 a month. We also provide students with vegetables from vegetable tunnels on campus,” says Visagie.

Visagie says the cooperation between the outside companies, the UFS, and even staff and students who volunteer, is heart-warming to see especially during this time of crisis. So is the gratitude from the students. They are also in discussions with the humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers to provide 200 food parcels to needy students from next month.

“We have a supply chain going on in the storeroom at the Thakaneng Bridge. It is great to see how staff members and students jumped in to help us pack the parcels. We have permits and more students want to help, but they can’t get onto campus at this time. We would not be able to do this without the help of Tiger Brands and the Total Garage.”

The DSA Food Environment Office is also collaborating with senior management on the UFS Qwaqwa and South campuses to distribute food parcels on these two campuses.

News Archive

Dr Malete elected Chairperson of PanSALB

2010-09-06

Dr. Elias Malete

The Principal of UFS’s Qwaqwa Campus, Dr Elias Malete, was recently elected Chairperson of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) at the 62nd General Board Meeting held in Pretoria. He is taking over from Prof. Sihawukele Ngubane from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

PanSALB is a constitutional body tasked with promoting and creating conditions for the development and use of eleven official languages in South Africa, including the likes of German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, amongst others.

“Our mandate going forward is to complement the good work that was done by Prof. Ngubane. We are charged with the responsibility of maintaining quality, respect, honesty and accountability in order to realise our new vision of promoting and ensuring respect for all languages commonly used by South African communities, including the Khoi, Nama and San languages, as well as South African Sign Language,” said Dr Malete.

“Our main focus in the next twelve months of office will be the development of programmes which will support PanSALB’s three-year strategic plan. These programmes will focus on administrative matters to ensure prudent financial and effective corporate governance of PanSALB, as well as aligning our structures like national language bodies, national lexicographic units and provincial language committees with the new strategic plan. This alignment is crucial if we are to create conditions for the development of all languages, thus promoting multilingualism and ensuring respect for all South African languages,” said Dr Malete.

Meanwhile, Dr Malete was invited by the Athens Institute for Education and Research to present a paper at the 3rd Annual International Conference in Literature, Language and Linguistics in Athens, Greece. His paper, Negation of adjuncts in Sesotho, was well received by the international audience.

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