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08 August 2023
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Story EDZANI NEPHALELA
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Photo EDZANI NEPHALELA
Mbulelo Aven Jafta, Xhariep Municipality Corporate Services Director, and Dr Engela van Staden, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at the UFS, sign a memorandum of understanding to enrich various communities in the Xhariep Municipality areas through leadership training.
The University of the Free State (UFS) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the Xhariep Municipality that is aimed at positively impacting communities through strategic partnerships. The organisations plan for their collaboration to make a significant difference by training 35 of their employees via the UFS Business School – 15 will undertake the Foundation Skills Short Learning Programme, and 20 the Bachelor’s degree in Management Leadership.
This joint effort will equip these employees with essential skills and knowledge and empower them to carry out their responsibilities efficiently and effectively. Rooted in the UFS’s Vision 130, this initiative fosters positive change within the community by enhancing social justice and innovation.
Dr Engela van Staden, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at the UFS, emphasised the university's dedication to human resource development and empowering individuals. “We were very excited when we got this engagement with you, and I hope it will be fruitful for you, because that’s the intention. We are also reaching out to other municipalities because we are doing it for our country, and the sooner we do it, the better the services you will deliver to people.”
Xhariep Municipality expressed gratitude for the collaboration, recognising its significance in empowering its employees. Mbulelo Aven Jafta, Corporate Services Director at the municipality, thanked the university for accepting the partnership. “As a municipality, we are interested in capacitating our employees to perform their duties optimally. It is through these partnerships that we reach our intended targets. This is the first two projects, and many more will be coming as our partnership progresses, and we intend to use this opportunity to the best of our abilities.”
Jafta said that such partnerships encourage a more interconnected and interdependent world. “As organisations work towards common goals, they create a ripple effect that can lead to a brighter and more promising future and play a vital role in shaping a positive and sustainable future.”
Mafuma aims at elusive tournament victory with Junior Springboks
2016-06-03
The University of the Free State’s Mosolwa Mafuma
recently scored five tries in the Junior Springboks’
three practice matches against a Golden Lions U20
invitation team, a Maties team, and the
South Western Districts. Photo: SASPA
He has never won a rugby tournament, so Mosolwa Mafuma has only one goal: to win the Junior World Cup as Junior Springbok in England.
Even though the 20-year-old Shimlas wing has achieved success, and it is pleasing to excel individually, he believes it is more satisfying when his team triumphs. According to Mafuma, who could just as well be an athletics star, he wants to help the South African U20 team take a different approach.
He and the prop Kwenzo Blose are players from the University of the Free State who will represent the Junior Springboks from 7 to 25 June 2016 in Manchester. The team will play the first of three group matches on 7 June 2016 against Japan in the Academy Stadium.
New approach for SA U20 team
Mafuma, who was Player of the Tournament in his first Varsity Cup in 2016, says the Junior Springboks are well prepared. “We have the skills, and the structures at the Junior Springboks are different than before. There is not just one game plan like playing with big guys. We want to try new things and have a different approach.”
It is with this team that he wishes to achieve something. “It is one thing to be able to say that you are the Player of a Tournament, but your team did not win. I have not won something at school (with St. Benedict’s Boys College in Johannesburg) or this year with the Shimlas.”
Speedster on athletics track
The speedster is one of only a few rugby players who also have a profile on the IAAF website. His fastest time in the 100 m is 10.37 seconds (a national U17 record) and 20.37 s in the 200 m.
In high school, this first-year Psychology student played rugby during winter and took part in athletics during summer. Only at the end of Grade 11 did he started focusing on rugby. “I was more of an athlete than a rugby player,” he says.
It is no coincidence that the nickname he acquired due to his speed, is Dash. His other nickname, Senkie (derived from the Afrikaans word ‘seuntjie’) he received as a child from his parents because he was such a small child.