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17 February 2022 | Story NONSINDISO QWABE | Photo Thabiso Mdakana
Qwaqwa Campus vaccination drive
Andile Tshabalala and Theodore Hlalele, CSRC Qwaqwa Campus.

As the University of the Free State is encouraging staff and students to be vaccinated in order for all of us to return to campus life as we know it, the Qwaqwa Campus held its first in-person vaccination activation drive for its first and returning students. The drive was to further encourage students to vaccinate, and to keep themselves and others safe by educating themselves.

The cheerful and excited crowd of more than 100 students were gathered at the Amphitheatre on campus, where they got to know more about the COVID-19 Regulations and Required Vaccination Policy and interacted with Department of Health officials to understand more about the jabs and booster shots.

No one is forced, but everyone is encouraged

The university’s approved policy came into effect on 14 February, requiring staff and students to be vaccinated as a measure towards ensuring everyone’s smooth return to its three campuses. However, as Qwaqwa Campus Principal Dr Martin Mandew highlighted, “no one is being forced to vaccinate, but we are all strongly encouraged to do so”.

Dr Mandew said the student experience is too rich and vibrant to be confined to virtual learning. He showed students his own vaccination certificate, quoting a Zulu proverb, ‘indlela ibuzwa kwabaphambili’, which loosely translated means ‘those who have gone before you can show the way’.

“If you are not vaccinated, it will be impossible for us to enjoy face-to-face interaction again. Ask yourself: ‘If the principal is vaccinated, who am I not to be?” he said.

The lively drive also kept students entertained through live performances by local artists. 

Students could also raise pressing issues and questions with Department of Health officials – including common side effects, apathy against vaccination due to religious beliefs, the efficacy of the vaccine to protect against COVID-19, and the implementation of the UFS Vaccination Policy. 

The programme line-up also included messages of support from the Director: Student Affairs, Zoleka Dotwana, the Deputy Director of Housing and Residences, Zakhele Mdluli, and UVPERSU Vice-Chairperson, Dr Grey Magaiza.

The operating days of the on-campus vaccination site have been extended to accommodate streams of incoming students who still want to be vaccinated. 

News Archive

Breyten Breytenbach to speak on poetry and philosophy at UFS
2013-02-22

 

Breyten Breytenbach
Photo: Supplied
22 February 2013

The Department Philosophy is hosting a public lecture and panel discussion with the poet Breyten Breytenbach on poetry and philosophy on Wednesday 27 February 2013. Breytenbach will read from work that has never before been heard in public. Members of the public will also be able to ask him questions. The discussion will be in Afrikaans, with simultaneous interpretation to English and Sesotho. Entrance is free.

  • Wednesday 27 February 2013
  • 15:00
  • Odeion

Enquiries can be directed to Johann Rossouw at rossouwjh@ufs.ac.za

Short Breyten Breytenbach biography:

Breyten Breytenbach was born in 1939 on the banks of the Breede River in the Little Karoo. He studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Arts at the University of Cape Town and left South Africa in 1959. His exile was confirmed after the Sharpeville massacre and his marriage to Yolande Ngo Thi Hoang Lien of Vietnamese origin, which brought him into conflict with the Mixed Marriages Act and the Immorality Act.

In 1964 he began publishing poetry, as well as prose. Since the early sixties of the previous century, he started exhibiting in various European art galleries. In 1975 he clandestinely returned to South Africa where he spent seven-and-a-half years of a nine-year sentence for terrorism in South African prisons. He lectured at various universities in both South Africa and the United States. He helped establish the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, and was co-founder of the Gorée Institute in Dakar, Senegal, where he is still involved. He works from Catalonia, Paris and Gorée.

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