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20 February 2023 | Story Gerda-Marié van Rooyen | Photo Supplied
Nthabiseng (JahRose) Jafta, a Publishing Coordinator at the University of the Free State (UFS), recently received the Silver Medal Award and other accolades at the Eurasian Literary Festival held in Egypt. She says writing is a way of life for her and she writes anywhere and anytime.

Nthabiseng (JahRose) Jafta, a Publishing Coordinator at African Languages Press in the Library and Information Services at the University of the Free State (UFS), recently received the Silver Medal Award and other accolades at the Eurasian Literary Festival held in Egypt. Jafta, an MA scholar (Creative Writing) at Rhodes University, describes herself as an international performing poet, artpreneur, teacher, festival curator, content developer, and creative strategist born in the Free State.

Being an introvert, she says her love for writing gives her a voice. “I can echo my thoughts and colour my grey sky,” she explains poetically. She feels writing is as natural to her as breathing. She is comfortable writing anywhere and anytime. “There’s no physical area needed. We type on WhatsApp in the taxi. We catch brainwaves whenever they appear.” Jafta's creative juices seem to be overflowing, as she confessed to even getting an idea while contemplating her love for writing. “Life throws you prompts from all spheres, but you have to be present to recognise its call. And sometimes the piece decides if it wants to be happy, erotic, or sad.”
 
Her literacy cap serves Jafta's career as a publisher and her creative writing when time allows. “I read and write. Publish what I read or write. I also happen to recite, read, and sing what I write. It’s all in alignment.” This Deputy President of the National Writers Association of South Africa and founder of the Poetic Blues Virtual Festival writes in her mother tongue, Sesotho, and English. She also has additional experience in the poetry industry, as she was previously the Curator of the Macufe Poetry Festival. She also attended the International Writing Centre at Beijing Normal University part time. Her poems have also been translated into Mandarin and published in Chinese literary magazines.

Jafta says besides the growing catalogue of more than 40 publications, she also has an upcoming multilingual poetry compilation featuring Spanish, Danish, Mandarin, Arabic, KiSwahili, IsiZulu, and Sesotho translations from English. This poet believes poetry is a gift that feeds lyrics to melodies. “And that song carries us to humanity's highs and lows. Prose is how we navigate that gift daily. They are rainbows on melting clouds, events plants rejoice on their rhythmic drops.”

News Archive

Law degree in Reproductive and Sexual Rights introduced
2005-08-26

The Masters of Law degree (LL M) in Human Rights, specialising in Reproductive and Sexual Rights, was introduced at the University of the Free State (UFS) this year.  The programme is the first one of its kind in South Africa to be presented by a tertiary institution and is presented in partnership with the Ford Foundation.

The programme mainly focuses on grooming lawyers from the African continent to play an important role in the realisation of reproductive and sexual rights at national and international level. 

This week's workshop focused on curriculum development for the programme and was attended by delegates from South African and other African universities, and the University of Toronto in Canada .

Front from left:
Prof Rebecca Cook, extraordinary professor at the UFS Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law, and Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto; and Prof Charles Ngwena, coordinator of the programme and a member of the UFS Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law

Back from left:
Prof Loot Pretorius, Director of the Centre for Human Rights Studies at the UFS; Ms Mmatsie Mooki, lecturer at the UFS Faculty of Law, and Ms Patience Sone, LL M student at the UFS

PHOTO:  Volksblad


 

 

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