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Lively vaccination drive encourages students on the Qwaqwa Campus

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

Students have a responsibility in SA, says Ntuli

2016-02-19

Description: 2016 SRC presidents Tags: 2016 SRC presidents

Lindokuhle Ntuli (left), President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), and Paseka Sikhosana, president of the SRC on the Qwaqwa Campus, are in agreement about their vision for the UFS in 2016.
Photo: Johan Roux

You and I have a role to play in building the new South Africa built upon the Constitution of 1996.

These are the words of Lindokuhle Ntuli, President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS). They echo his and the SRC’s message of a “campus for all students, locally and internationally, irrespective of colour.”

Ntuli and Paseka Sikhosana, president of the SRC on the Qwaqwa Campus, were in agreement about their vision for the UFS in 2016.

According to Sikhosana, a well-known slogan accentuates a feeling of uniqueness at the university. “United in diversity. No wonder we say only a Kovsie knows a feeling,” he says.

“As the SRC, we believe that complete transformation on campus is through promoting a non-sexist, non-racial, but democratic student society that acknowledges diversity and change. That further promotes and embraces one student’s difference in terms of culture, tradition, religion, and sexual orientation.”

A new South Africa

Ntuli means students have a responsibility. He referred to a quotation from Frantz Fanon’s book, The Wretched of the Earth, to illustrate this. Fanon was a revolutionary and writer whose works are influential in post-colonial studies. “Every generation has a mission. It is the responsibility of every generation to discover its mission. Once you have discovered it, you have to fulfil it or betray it into relative obscurity,” Ntuli quoted.

According to him, the South African Constitution holds pious promises of a better life for all, and each citizen needs to help to achieve that.

SRC has open door policy

Ntuli says the UFS remains committed to human embrace, diversity, integration, and human togetherness. He added that the SRC has an open door policy, and will avail itself in helping students.

According to Sikhosana, it is the objective of the SRC to represent the student community in all interactions within the university and externally.

“There is nothing for us, about us, without us students,” he says.

• The above excerpts have been taken from Ntuli and Sikhosana’s respective welcoming speeches to first-year students on the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses.

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