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05 April 2021
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Story Dr Nitha Ramnath
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Photo Supplied
Jamba Isaac Ulengo.
François van Schalkwyk and Keenan Carelse, UFS alumni leading the university’s United Kingdom Alumni Chapter, have put their voices together to produce and direct the podcast series. Intended to reconnect alumni with the university
and their university experience, the podcasts will be featured on the first Monday of every month, ending in November 2021. Our featured alumni share and reflect on their experiences at the UFS, how it has shaped their lives, and relate
why their ongoing association with the UFS is still relevant and important. The podcasts are authentic conversations – they provide an opportunity for the university to understand and learn about the experiences of its alumni and to celebrate
the diversity and touchpoints that unite them.
Our podcast guest
Born in the North West town of Vryburg, Ulengo first played provincial rugby at the U16 Grant Khomo Week in 2005. While attending Jim Fouché High School in Bloemfontein, Ulengo was chosen to represent the Free State at various youth levels. As
an up-and-coming player, Ulengo made his break via the FNB Varsity Cup Competition where he starred for the Shimlas, scoring 11 tries in 18 appearances over the three seasons between 2010 and 2012. A short stint with the Free State Vodacom Cup side
saw him make his debut for the Blitzboks (Glasgow 2012), followed by a tournament at the London Sevens in 2014. Ulengo has been a prominent member of the South African Sevens since making his debut for the team in the Scotland leg of the 2011-2012
IRB Sevens World Series. He played in the two final tournaments of that season and then signed a two-year contract with the South African Rugby Union to represent the team in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 series. While he only competed at four events
in his first full season, he was involved in seven of the tournaments in his second season.
Ulengo made his return to the sport by signing a contract to play Currie Cup rugby for the Pretoria-based Blue Bulls in 2014 and for their Super Rugby franchise, the Bulls, from the 2015 Super Rugby season.
Mekondjo! National exhibition to reveal the courage, determination, repression and torture of PLAN
2014-05-21
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Angelina Angula ex PLAN soldier injured during the 1978 Cassinga attack - photo by John Liebenberg. |
A pioneering exhibition by John Liebenberg and Christo Doherty is about to open on the Bloemfontein Campus. ‘Mekondjo! born in the struggle for Namibia’ gives South Africans their first insight into the lives of the men and women who fought against the SADF in the bush of Northern Namibia and Angola from 1966 – 1989.
This public exhibition presents eleven portraits of People’s Liberation Army veterans in the process of speaking about and coming to terms with their very different experiences in the Namibian War of Liberation.
When the People’s Liberation Army (PLAN) returned to Namibia after the UN-supervised elections of 1989, it had been fighting against South African rule for 23 years. Formed in 1966 as the armed wing of the South West African Peoples’ Organisation, PLAN had developed from a handful of poorly armed guerrillas to a sophisticated mechanised force. These soldiers fought alongside Angolan, Russian and Cuban soldiers against the SADF and UNITA. Since SWAPO’s election victory, the new government has mythologised the heroism of the armed struggle. The stories of the individual PLAN fighters’ experiences are only now being articulated, though.
Their stories are of great courage and determination against often impossible odds; but also of repression, torture, and disastrous decisions by the PLAN leadership.
The exhibition will be on display from Thursday 22 May to Friday 23 May for the duration of the Silence after Violence conference. The conference is hosted by the UFS Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice and the Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont.
Date: Thursday 22 May and Friday 23 May 2014
Place: Centenary Complex, Reitz Hall, Bloemfontein Campus
Exhibition Introduction: Thursday 22 May, 14:00 – 15:30
Other viewing times: intermissions during the Silence after Violence programme
The public is welcome to attend.
* Spotlight photo: PLAN commissioner Nkrumah Mushelenga, Windhoek 2013 – photo by John Liebenberg