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22 December 2022 | Story Jóhann Thormählen | Photo Anja Aucamp
Peter Makgato
Peter Makgato showed true perseverance in coming back after being out of action for more than a year with an Achilles tendon injury. The Kovsie long jumper won a bronze medal at the South African Championships in 2022.

If it wasn’t for Peter Makgato’s UFS support system, he would have been lost to South African athletics. The road of recovery after a serious injury can be lonesome, but he was never alone.

The promising long jumper had to learn to walk again after the injury to his Achilles tendon and could only compete more than a year after his dreams were shattered in November 2020.

Only months after returning to jumping in 2022, he was winning medals again.

Keeping me focused

“Without KovsieSport, I believe I would have hung up my spikes after that injury,” says Makgato. “Throughout the entire journey back, I had support from my coach (Emmarie Prinsloo; Head of KovsieSport Jumping Academy) and Oom DB (Prinsloo; Head of Athletics at KovsieSport).”

He also praises “the expert medical help” from Kovsie Health and says he went through nothing alone. “My progress was monitored by a team that knew me before the injury and this meant they were able to keep me focused on the progress and not on the injury.”

Although he had injuries before, Makgato says the emotional challenges were much bigger. “What really helped me were a few words from Wayde van Niekerk days after my operation when I went back to the track on crutches. He told me not to lose my head.

“That is the best advice you can give someone in my position. Physically I was broken, I had to make sure that mentally I fought to stay above the waters.”

Bigger goals in mind

He was only able to walk again from May 2021, started rehab in August 2021, and was running properly by December 2021.

He was only able to jump competitively again in March 2022, and a month later claimed a bronze medal at the South African Championships (7,47 m). This was followed by a USSA bronze in May 2022 (7,46 m).

“I had bigger goals in mind. Now that I look back, I realise that for a person who could not even run properly five months before and who had little preparation time, I was doing pretty good.”

And now the Master of Laws student has his sights on bigger things again: The World Athletics Championships next year and the Olympic Games in 2024.

News Archive

Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture – Reflections of a historical icon
2015-04-28

The Annual Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture was held at the Bloemfontein Campus on 22 April, 2015 hosted by the Faculty of Law in collaboration with the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality. 

The theme of this year’s lecture was “Pillars of The Constitution”.  In his keynote address, the Executive Mayor of Mangaung, Cllr Thabo Manyoni described the exemplary life of Bram Fischer and the incredible sacrifice he made for the emancipation of the people of South Africa by his opposition to a system of injustice.

He further described the character of Bram Fischer as one of outstanding leadership that was close to the hearts of the people: “Bram Fischer sincerely believed in the foundation laid in Jefferson’s “all men are born equal”. This idea was later articulated in the Freedom Charter’s preamble “that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people”, he said.

The lecture was attended by the university community, members of the public, and the Fischer family.  This was one in a series of lectures held in Bloemfontein throughout the memorial week. Some of the speakers include; Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, Prof Caroline Nicholson, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof Neels Swanepoel, who introduced the Department of Public Law, and Lindokuhle Ntuli, who introduced the recently re-opened Student Court.

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