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08 April 2021
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Story Thabo Kessah
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Photo UFS Photo Archive
Dr KPD Maphalla with former UFS Chancellor, Dr Franklin Sonn, during the graduations in April 2007.
The University of the Free State is sad to learn of the passing of alumnus and award-winning Sesotho literary giant, Dr KPD Maphalla.
The literary works of Dr Khotso Pieter David Maphalla, like many other African writers and artists, were influenced and characterised by his own era of powerful forms of oppression and exclusion from dominant literary discourses. In his own right and through his writings of poetry, novels, short stories, and kodiamalla (dirge), he articulated a deliberate political and social protest and pushed for a place for African languages in literature at the height of apartheid.
“He entered the professional scene with his ground-breaking novel, Kabelwamanong, in 1982 at the age of 27. His career actually started in 1971 while he was still at school. Since his first novel, he has produced at least two books annually, covering the genres of poetry, novels, dramas, and short stories. As a dramatist, Dr Maphalla has written a number of excellent and educative radio dramas for the then Radio Sesotho (now Lesedi FM),” said his long-time friend and Head: African Languages at the University of the Free State, Dr Nyefolo Malete.
“It was for this writing prowess that he received recognition from the UFS when he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature by the Department of African Languages during a momentous ceremony on the Qwaqwa Campus in 2007,” added Dr Malete.
Dr Malete also revealed that, despite losing the use of his right hand after suffering a stroke following a car accident in the late 1990s, Dr Maphalla continued writing using his left hand. “He was adamant that, what he referred to as his ‘supposed disability’, would not deter his passion for writing.”
Dr Maphalla’s work has also produced numerous scholarly studies by the likes of Profs Moleleki Moleleki (protest poetry), Thapelo Selepe (lament and protest poetry), and Dr Seema Seema (process of cross-cultural communication). He was a committed Qwaqwa community member, who was also instrumental in the founding of Qwaqwa Community Radio (2000) and Metjodi Writers (2006), among others. He has written more than 70 books, many of which have been prescribed texts in schools.
Some of the awards he has won include:
South African Centre for Digital Language Resource (SADiLar) Sesotho Lexicographic Unit (Sesiu sa Sesotho) Lifetime Award for outstanding literary works and for promoting Sesotho literature (2019).
The Literature Festival and the University of the Free State Award for enormous contribution to Sesotho literature by a South African writer (2019).
Lifetime Achiever Award in Literature awarded by the Department of Arts and Culture (2005).
M-Net Book Prize for Sesotho poetry (2005). The first and thus far the only Sesotho author to have received this honour.
M-Net Book Prize for best novel (1996).
De Jager-HAUM Literary Award for his volume of short stories, Mohlomong Hosane (1993).
Thomas Mofolo Trophy for Best Novel, Best Poetry, and the Overall Award (1992).
Thomas Mofolo Trophy for Best Poetry (1991).
Dr JJ Moiloa Floating Trophy for Best Sesotho Poetry Book of the Year, Kgapa tsa ka (1985).
Kovsies SRC President cycles to raise money for registration
2017-11-27
Asive Dlanjwa, Bloemfontein SRC President, will cycle to Cape Town to
raise money for the 2018 registrations.
Photo: Moeketsi Mogotsi
“When I came to the University of the Free State (UFS), all I had was a R50 note and I did not know how I was going to register.” This is what Bloemfontein Campus SRC President, Asive Dlanjwa, encountered when he arrived at the UFS. He says the biggest struggle for students is not having finances for registration at the beginning of the year.
R2 million to be raised for 2018 registration
It is for this reason that Dlanjwa will be partaking in the Right to Learn Cycle tour challenge from 27 November to 4 December 2017. The Student Representative Council (SRC), in partnership with Institutional Advancement, came up with this initiative to cycle from Bloemfontein to Cape Town in eight days in an effort to raise R2 million for 2018 registration.
Bringing hope to prospective students and their families
Dlanjwa says, “We want to give access to as many students as possible. This initiative is not only about the students, it’s about giving hope to their families and taking them out of poverty.” He recalls an incident where a student went to the SRC offices to seek help at the beginning of the year, with nothing but an identity document and the clothes he had on. The student had been sleeping at the Bloemfontein Tourism Centre because he had no money for accommodation and registration. “These are the types of cases that we have to deal with at the start of each year,” says Dlanjwa.
He urges the community to partner with them in ensuring that many students get access to higher education by donating money through the Give-n-gain page. Dlanjwa, joined by a few more guest cyclists, left Bloemfontein on Monday 27 November 2017 and are expected to arrive in Cape Town on Monday 4 December 2017.