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02 November 2020 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Varsity Sports
Lefébre Rademan, the country’s top student netball player in 2019, has been snatched up by English netball club London Pulse to play in England in 2021.

 

Attempting to become an even better netballer, former Kovsies netball captain Lefébre Rademan decided to jet off to England to play in their league.

Rademan was contracted by London Pulse to compete in the European Superleague in 2021. She will be the fourth Kovsie after Maryka Holtzhausen (2015 and 2018-2019), Karla Pretorius (2016), and Khanyisa Chawane (2020) to play in the league.

Rademan said it was an easy decision, even though it will be far and a long time away from home. The league runs from February to July, with a pre-season in December. She will continue with her master’s degree at the University of the Free State next year.

“I am not going to play netball forever and such an opportunity doesn’t come often. Having competed against England, New Zealand, and Jamaica earlier in the year, I realised they play at a much higher level and if I want to improve and become the best, I would also need to move to a next level.”

“As a goal attack, having Protea teammate Sigi Burger (goal shooter) at the same club, will be an advantage for both of us and for the Proteas as a combination.”

Rademan has had a great past two years, making her Protea debut (12 tests in total) and receiving a number of accolades, such as the Varsity Netball Player of the Tournament in 2019.

In the Telkom Netball League in October, captaining the Free State Crinums, she was named Shooter of the Tournament. She was Player of the Match twice. Her goal average of 88,1% was the highest in the competition.

“Last year was such a good year for me personally, but that remains in the past. You can’t become complacent. I want to keep working hard and become a much better player,” Rademan said.

 

News Archive

UFS welcomes Constitutional Court’s ruling on its Language Policy
2017-12-29



The executive management of the University of the Free State (UFS) welcomes today’s judgement by the Constitutional Court in favour of the university’s Language Policy. The judgement follows an appeal lodged by AfriForum against the judgement and order delivered by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on the implementation of the UFS Language Policy on 28 March 2017. 
 
In a majority ruling, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng denied AfriForum’s application for leave to appeal the SCA’s ruling, and said the UFS Council’s approval of the Language Policy was lawful and constitutionally valid. The court found that the adoption of the Language Policy was neither inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution, nor did it violate the Constitutional rights of any students and/or staff members of the UFS.
 
Today’s landmark judgement is not only paving the way for the UFS to continue with the implementation plan for its Language Policy as approved by the UFS Council on 11 March 2016, but it is also an indication of the value which the university’s decision to change its Language Policy to English as primary medium of instruction has on higher education in South Africa.
 
“The judgement by the Constitutional Court is not a victory against Afrikaans as language. The UFS will continue to develop Afrikaans as an academic language. A key feature of the UFS Language Policy is flexibility and the commitment to strive for a truly multilingual environment. Today’s judgement allows the UFS to proceed with the implementation of its progressive approach to a language-rich environment that is committed to multilingualism,” says Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.
 
According to Prof Petersen, the UFS is dedicated to the commitments in the Language Policy and, in particular, to make sure that language development is made available to students in order to ensure their success as well as greater levels of academic literacy – especially in English. This includes contributing to the development of Sesotho and isiZulu as higher-education languages within the context of the needs of the different UFS campuses.
 
“We can now continue to ensure that language is not used or perceived as a tool for the social exclusion of staff and/or students on any of the three campuses, and continue to promote a pragmatic learning and administrative environment committed to and accommodative to linguistic diversity within the regional, national, and international environments in which the UFS operates,” says Prof Petersen.
 
The UFS is the first university in South Africa appearing before the Constitutional Court regarding its Language Policy. 
 
During 2017, the Faculties of Health Sciences, the Humanities, and Law started with the implementation of the new Language Policy at first-year level. This includes the presentation of tutorials in Afrikaans. The remaining faculties will start implementing the policy as from 2018.

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

Related articles:
UFS welcomes unanimous judgement about its Language Policy in the Supreme Court of Appeal (28 March 2017)
Judgement in the Supreme Court of Appeal about UFS Language Policy (17 November 2016)
Implications of new Language Policy for first-year students in 2017 (17 October 2016)
UFS to proceed with appealing to Supreme Court of Appeal regarding new Language Policy (29 September 2016)
UFS to lodge application to appeal judgment about new Language Policy (22 July 2016)
High Court ruling about new UFS Language Policy (21 July 2016)
UFS Council approves a new Language Policy (11 March 2016)

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