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11 November 2022 | Story Edzani Nephalela and Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane | Photo iStock
Language
The UFS and UKZN have formalised an agreement on a Language Collaboration Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to advance the development of the Sesotho and IsiZulu as academic languages.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has forged an exciting new partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) to promote the two provinces’ most widely spoken languages, Sesotho and IsiZulu.  

This historic collaboration will see these institutions employing their skills, expertise, and resources to advance the development of the Sesotho and IsiZulu as academic languages through the development of terminology for various disciplines and research collaborations among other activities. 

The UFS formalised the agreement by signing a Language Collaboration Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UKZN. The MOU process, facilitated by Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane, Director of the UFS Academy for Multilingualism, and Nikile Ntsababa, UFS Registrar, was sealed by Dr Engela Van Staden, UFS Vice-Rector: Academic. 

The objectives of the collaboration are to: 

• allow the UFS open access to all the UKZN isiZulu materials and UKZN open access to all UFS Sesotho language terminology, corpus materials, terminology banks, and applications for various disciplines; 
• develop the Sesotho terminology for various disciplines;
• assist in identifying and closing any gaps in the UFS’s development of isiZulu terminology and in the UKZN’s development of isiZulu, and further develop the relevant language terminology of various disciplines in order to fill any existing gaps;
• share expertise through hosting webinars, seminars, colloquia, and workshops on Sesotho and isiZulu terminology development;
• explore research opportunities regarding the development of Sesotho and isiZulu terminology for various disciplines; and 
• share expertise and resources in all human language technology development initiatives.

“The UKZN has championed the intellectualisation of IsiZulu over the years. We do not want to reinvent the wheel,” Dr Ngubane said. “Our focus now is on the acceleration of the development of Sesotho. Our vision and mission is to be the hub for the advancement of Sesotho at regional, national, and international levels. Collaboration with UKZN is instrumental in achieving this mandate.”

The Academy for Multilingualism said it considers this collaboration historic and groundbreaking because resources will now be invested in the development of Sesotho.

News Archive

Record broken at UFS auction
2010-09-06

 Prof. Niel Heideman (Acting Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, UFS) and Ntembeko Isaac Manyashe from BKB with the bull that was sold for R135 000.
Photo: Lize du Plessis

A provincial record was recently broken when a remarkable R135 000 was paid for a Sussex bull at the weekly auction of the Lengau Agricultural Development Centre at the University of the Free State (UFS). The bull, called Platdrif Dunlop, was bought by Mr Adri Basson from Vendetta Ranch in Windhoek.

The Sussex breed is one of the oldest breeds in the world. Platdrif Dunlop’s previous owner, Mr Nollie Stofberg from Worcester, has raised the bull since its birth approximately three years ago, after the animal’s potential as a stud bull became clear. Mr Basson also bought some heifers at the auction and they travelled with Platdrif Dunlop to Vendetta Ranch last week.

The weekly auction at the Lengau Agricultural Development Centre is held in collaboration with BKB Louwid. According to Dr Leán van der Westhuizen, Head of the Lengau Agricultural Development Centre, the weekly auctions attract a lot of interest amongst the Bloemfontein agricultural community and anybody is welcome to attend it.

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