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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).
UFS establishes Centre for Education Development
2007-09-26
At its meeting on 14 September 2007 the Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) took a number of key decisions on matters recommended by the Executive Management of the university for its consideration or approval.
The Council gave the green light for the merger of the Section Upgrading of Education (School of Education) and Research Institute for Education Planning (RIEP) to create a single unit for education development. The qualifications and courses currently offered by these two units will henceforth be offered by the newly formed unit. The new unit will be known as the Centre for Education Development.
Under this new dispensation, amongst others, the functions of the unit will be extended to include other in-service training of teachers and empowering courses and qualifications as well. Some of the existing RIEP courses will be converted into credit-bearing short courses in more learning areas than are presently available, and that the focus will also be on offering short courses as the need may arise. Research will become a prominent function of this new unit.
The Council has also approved the reinstatement of the Department of Genetics as a stand-alone department. Currently Genetics is a sub-discipline of Plant Sciences. Its reinstatement as an independent department will have several advantages for the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, as well as the university, namely:
- with its own identity, Genetics as a subject will attract more students, through which the UFS will be able to get more subsidies.
- postgraduate students who leave the university for others will have an incentive to stay.
- researchers in Animal Genetics and Behavioural Genetics will be able to fulfil their full role.
- service delivery to the industry will result in the generation of third-stream income.
The Council also extended the terms of office of the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof Johan Henning, and that of the Director of Finance, Mr Chris Liebenberg, for a further five years each.
The Council further appointed Dr Elias Nyefolo Malete as the Campus Principal of the UFS Qwaqwa Campus for a term of three years. Dr Malete has been acting in that position prior to his appointment.
Other matters involved the condonation of the Council’s 1995 resolution to sell the Hertzog House in Goddard Street in Bloemfontein, and the approval of the sale of another house in Biddulph Street in Harrismith.
Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@mail.ufs.ac.za
26 September 2007