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Kovsie student Moeketsi Ngesemane making his mark through Sesotho music

15 December 2021 | Story Nondsindiso Qwabe | Photo Supplied

Bachelor of Education third-year student, Moeketsi ‘Escalator’ Ngesemane.

By day he is a third-year Bachelor of Education student on the Qwaqwa Campus, but this young man is a Sesotho music maestro with a deep-rooted passion for traditional music and a diligent devotion to unearthing new talent and connecting more people to the cultural artistry that Sesotho music has to offer.

Moeketsi Ngesemane, better known as ‘Escalator’ in the world of music, is only 22 years old, but he has already released one solo album and featured in two more, leads a group of more than 80 traditional singers and dancers, and is responsible for a string of groups around Qwaqwa. He has made strides far beyond his age, and Ngesemane says he is only getting started. He was also instrumental in coordinating the Qwaqwa traditional groups that performed during this year’s Multilingual Mokete festival, where he also featured.

Born and bred in Qwaqwa, Ngesemane pins his love for traditional music as something that was cultivated in his childhood while singing traditional songs with his mother and brother. “My mother is a traditional healer, so Sesotho music was a big part of my upbringing. As I grew older, my brother and I would perform in town and people would give us money. I have not looked back since.”

He cemented himself as an artist and artist manager in his first year in 2009. The name ‘Escalator’ came about in an uncanny way, as he fondly recalls. “I had a friend who was afraid of escalators when he first saw it – but I wasn’t, so he named me ‘Escalator’. I hated the name until I personalised the meaning behind it. It is able to take people from one point to another and from one level to another, which is something I am passionate about doing through traditional music, so the name was fitting.”

He captivated the minds and hearts of both young and old people who want to be under his leadership, and he grooms young people as young as ten, who will also thrive and take traditional praise singing and dancing to greater heights. This, he says, helps him alleviate some responsibilities so that he can focus on his schoolwork.

Celebrating the Sesotho culture through music

Word about his music skill often spreads quickly. “Even when I am on teaching practicals at different schools, once learners find out what I do, they ask to join my group and I can’t say no. Their ages range from 7 to 21, and I know that my group will have more than 100 members before the year ends,” he said.

He often puts together music shows with his group around Qwaqwa. This, he says, he does to promote Sesotho music and art.

Ngesemane has been selected to represent the Basotho Kingdom at the Indoni Mr and Miss Cultural South Africa – an indigenous event focused on promoting South Africa’s diverse cultural heritage, taking place at the Durban ICC on 17 December. He describes this as a dream come true.

“It’s a great honour to be representing the Basotho culture. I have discovered that young people, especially, have neglected their cultural roots and often look down on traditional music and regalia. I’ve made it my personal aim to promote and uphold the Sesotho culture through praise singing and dancing.”

You can vote for Ngesemane by SMS’ing ‘Indoni Mr Sotho’ to 33616.

News Archive

UFS breakthrough on SRC

2005-06-10

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) today unanimously approved the establishment of a Central Student Representative Council (CSRC) to ensure the democratic participation of students at its three campuses in the governance of the university.

In a major breakthrough and transformation step for student governance, the Central SRC will include representatives of the main campus in Bloemfontein, the Vista campus and the Qwaqwa campus of the UFS.

The establishment of the Central SRC follows the incorporation of the Qwaqwa campus into the UFS in January 2003 and the incorporation of the Vista campus in Bloemfontein into the UFS in January 2004.

According to Dr Ezekiel Moraka, Vice-Rector: Student Affairs, today’s decision of Council is the result of a lengthy, negotiated agreement between the three campuses. Independent experts facilitated part of the process.

With the establishment of a Central SRC, the UFS has adopted a federal student governance model whereby the CSRC is the highest representative student body on matters of common concern for all students.

However, the three campuses of the UFS will retain autonomous SRC structures for each campus with powers and responsibilities for matters affecting the particular campus.

This arrangement will be reviewed after a year to make allowance for the phasing out of students at the Vista campus, as was agreed in the negotiations preceding the incorporation of that campus into the UFS.

The central SRC will have a maximum of 12 members made up of members of the campus SRCs, including the presidents of these three SRCs. In total, the main campus will have 5 representatives, the Qwaqwa campus will have 4 representatives and the Vista campus will have 3 representatives.

From these 12 members a central SRC president will be chosen on a quarterly basis to represent the general student body at Executive Management, Senate and Council.

In another key decision and significant step forward affecting student governance, the Council also approved amendments the constitution of the Student Representative Council (SRC) of the main campus. These amendments were the results of deliberations of student organizations, the SRC and the Student Parliament of the UFS main campus.

The amendments to the constitution of the main campus SRC determines that nine of the 18 SRC members must be elected by means of proportional representation and nine on the basis of an individual, first-past-the-post election.

This decision comes in the wake of calls by certain student organizations on main campus for proportional representation to be included as a means of electing student representatives.

The following portfolios of the main campus SRC will be contested by individual candidates on the basis of first past the post:

president
secretary
academic affairs
legal and constitutional affairs
student development
arts and culture
men’s internal liaison
ladies internal liaison
media, marketing and liaison

The following nine portfolios will be contested by affiliated organizations on a proportional representation basis.

two vice-presidents
treasurerdialogue and associations
transformation
campus affairs and recreation
sport
international affairs
community service

It also is a breakthrough to have all constitutional changes processed and approved at the June meeting of the Council, with all relevant student organizations having been part of the process and accepting the outcome of the process.

According to the chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke, today’s unanimous decisions on student governance are an indication of how all UFS stakeholders represented in Council are committed to finding win-win solutions in the interest of the university.

“Once again the UFS has reached another milestone in its transformation and has shown the rest of the country that we are pioneers in the field of reaching intelligent solutions to complex situations,” Judge Hancke said.

According to Dr Moraka, the central SRC constitution will come into effect from the start of the second semester this year.

MEDIA RELEASE

Issued by: Lacea Loader
    Media Representative
    Tel: (051) 401-2584
    Cell: 083 645 2454
     E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za

10 June 2005

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