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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 paint Bethlehem red!
2010-03-20
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At the matric evening of the Secondary School Witteberg in Bethlehem were, from the left: Lebogang Motaung; Rozelle Venter; Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS; Ernest Bezuidenhout; Donald Motaung; and Mr Rudi Buys, Dean of Student Affairs at the UFS.
Photo: Lynda Greyling |
“The learners of the High School Witteberg are a wonderful example of the quality of students that we can expect as first years here at Kovsies next year,” Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS) said last night during a matric evening attended by 121 Grade 12 learners and their parents in a packed hall at the Secondary School Witteberg in Bethlehem.
Prof. Jansen and his wife Grace, as well as some of his colleagues were guests of honour at the event.
“We want to make a difference in the lives of our students at Kovsies and we want to ensure that our students make a difference in a divided world. This is why I want each Grade 12 learner who is here tonight to come and study at the UFS,” he told the learners and their parents.
“The UFS is going to become the university in the country that is serious about quality. We want to draw the best students. Quality entails hard work. It is about perseverance and your commitment towards your studies. That is the type of students we want.”
“My door is open to our students and they have access to come and talk to me. I also regularly sit at different places on the campus and then invite students to come and talk to me. I want our students to feel at home here.”
“I also want our students to feel free to talk about the use of language at the UFS. We love Afrikaans, English and Sesotho and are not going to fight about language. We are going to develop the use of Afrikaans so that more students can speak it – and this also goes for English and Sesotho.”
Prof. Jansen said that Kovsie students had to be balanced students. “Our students must also excel in sport, art, etc., because the development of students who are properly prepared for the workplace is what we strive for as a tertiary institution. Therefore we are going to establish an office that assists students in their career preparation and will offer students internships so that they can come into contact with leading firms in the commerce and industry sectors.”
“However, we shall also actively enhance our students’ learning experience and therefore we are going to send a group of first-year students overseas in the second semester this year to gain knowledge about issues like integration and collaboration.”
At the occasion Prof. Jansen announced that bursaries to study at the UFS in 2011 would be awarded to the two top Grade 12 learners of the school.
The Secondary School Witteberg had a 100% pass rate in the Grade 12 final examinations the past few years. In 2009 the school was seventh amongst the top 50 schools in the Free State Province. Five learners from the school were also amongst the top 20 learners in the Province last year. The school has already produced many top students for the UFS.
Mediaverklaring
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (acting)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
18 March 2010