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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).
Unique partnership flows out of our Schools Projects
2011-06-29
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| At the meeting between our university and principals and teachers of three of the 23 schools in our university’s Schools Partnership Project were, from the left: Mr Motlolometsi Tshidiso, Tsotseletso Secondary School; Dr Choice Makhetha, Vice-Rector: External Relations (acting); Mr Vuyo Mlinde, Bloem-Oos Intermediary School; back: Dr Peet Venter, Head of our South Campus, and Mr Tlhabedi Mafoyane from Kagisho Secondary School. |
Our university established a unique partnership flowing from two of its community initiatives; the UFS Schools Partnership Project and the Extreme Make-over for Schools Project. Bloem-Oos Intermediary School which will benefit from the Extreme Make-over for Schools Project formed a partnership with Kagisho and Tsotseletso Secondary schools becoming a feeder school for the two schools. Both Kagisho and Tsotseletso Secondary schools are now beneficiaries of the UFS Schools Partnership Project.
With the Schools Partnership Project, the university is working closely with the 23 schools for a three- to five-year-period to help schools to become top achievers of which the teachers, learners and parents could be proud. The schools were identified last year and the groundwork for this project was finalised in 2010 as well. The university’s involvement in the Extreme Make-over for Schools Project includes amongst others a partnership with the Department of Basic Education and the Bloemfontein business community to work together to launch the first of a number of a newly upgraded schools to learners, teachers and the community. Bloem-Oos Intermediary School became the first school in Bloemfontein to undergo an extreme makeover.
Management structures from the University, including Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, Dr Choice Makhetha, Vice-Rector: External Relations (acting), and Dr Peet Venter, Campus Head of the our South Campus, recently met with the principals and some of the teachers of three schools that form part of these two community initiatives of the university. The meeting between the university and principles Mr Tlhabedi Mafoyane (from Kagisho Secondary School), Mr Motlolometsi Tshidiso (Tsotseletso Secondary School) and Mr Vuyo Mlinde (Bloem-Oos Intermediary School) took place to enhance the relationships between the parties involved.
Dr Makhetha said, “When you support a school you groom learners to fit into the culture of the university. We were excited to learn that Bloem-Oos Intermediary School is a feeder school for Kagisho and Tsotseletso Secondary Schools. This partnership allows us to not only prepare learners already from an early age for university but also throughout their high school career. Let us make this project a model for South Africa.”
Continuous efforts and projects from the university as well as partners in the community, to invest in the learners of Bloem-Oos Intermediary School, include:
- The Project for Peace: A calculator project where learners will be taught on how to use a scientific calculator properly. A group of the learners will also be supplied with a free calculator.
- The Music Project: The Odeion School of Music at the UFS will also bring a music programme to the school.
- The Desk Project: This project includes fixing of all broken desks by Group 4 Correctional Facility. (This initiative includes all the broken desks of all the 23 schools in involve in the UFS Schools Partnership Project.)