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22 September 2021
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Story Michelle Nöthling
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Photo Supplied
Annemarie Le Roux.
“I love working with children.” This is one of the first things Annemarie le Roux mentions when asked to describe herself. This love for children propelled Annemarie into the field of education and she graduated in 2006 with a BEd in Foundation Phase at the UFS. Annemarie immediately immersed herself in the Deaf community, enriching the lives of children at the Thiboloha School for the Deaf in Qwaqwa and the De la Bat School for the Deaf in Worcester.
The academic world enticed Annemarie back to the University of the Free State (UFS) and she was appointed as a junior lecturer in the Department of South African Sign Language (SASL) and Deaf Studies in 2013. Going from strength to strength, Annemarie completed her master’s degree in SASL in 2019, and published an
article earlier this year that she co-wrote with Marga Stander. In this article, they found that SASL “has become an increasingly popular language that hearing university students want to learn as a second language” and subsequently explored different teaching methods used for this emerging group of interested students.
Although now firmly established in academia, Annemarie is still committed to the practical application of SASL. “I am closely involved in student and community engagement through the
SIGNALS Sign Language student association that helps empower the Deaf community and South African Sign Language.” She also interprets for the Deaf community whenever she gets an opportunity, as well as for Deaf students in class and meetings.
On the importance of Sign Language and the recognition of the Deaf community in South Africa, Annemarie believes it will open greater opportunities for development. “More people will be able to learn SASL, and it might even become a subject in school for hearing children.”
UFS mourns the death of a former Rector
2008-06-23

Photo: Prof. Wynand Mouton, last year during the launch of the UFS's Centenary Book.
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It is with great sadness that the management of the University of the Free State (UFS) heard of the death of Prof. Wynand Mouton (79), former Rector of the UFS.
Prof. Mouton passed away this weekend in the Ferncrest Hospital in Rustenburg as a result of a cardiac arrest. He was visiting his son, Dr Wynand Mouton in Rustenburg when he fell ill three weeks ago and was admitted to hospital. Prof. Mouton’s wife, Daleen, passed away in April this year.
Prof. Mouton was Rector of the UFS from 1976-1988. His ties with the UFS stretch over 60 years. He studied for the B.Sc. degree at the UFS in 1948 and obtained doctorates in Physics and Nuclear Physics in 1960 and 1962, respectively, at the University of Utrecht.
Before his appointment as Rector of the UFS, Prof. Mouton was the first Vice-Rector of the University of Stellenbosch. He was jointly responsible for the establishment of the UFS Sasol Library and helped to stabilise the Development Trust Fund.
“Prof. Mouton left deep footprints at the UFS. He led the UFS to become a foremost research university in the country. Under his leadership, extensive sports fields were also developed on the west campus, including Shimla Park. He enlarged the university’s art collection and saw to it that student productions were staged in a modern, well-equipped theatre (later named after him),” says Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Acting Rector of the UFS.
“I am glad that we could honour him for this and other valuable contributions in 2004 with a Centenary Medal before he passed away,” says Prof. Verschoor.
Prof. Mouton was Chairman of the UFS Council from 1991-1996 and Chancellor of the UFS from 1996-1999. In 1995 he received an honorary doctorate from the UFS.
“Our sympathies go to Prof. Mouton’s children, Wynand, Hendrik and Ms Saretha Curry, as well as his three grandchildren,” says Prof. Verschoor.
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Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za
23 June 2008
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