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03 January 2023 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Evert Kleynhans
Dr Dolf van Niekerk
Dr Dolf van Niekerk.

The University of the Free State (UFS) would like to express its condolences to the family and friends of South African author, Dr Dolf van Niekerk, on his passing.

Dr Van Niekerk, the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the UFS, passed away on 31 December 2022. The UFS awarded a Doctor of Letters to Dr Dolf van Niekerk during its April 2021 graduation ceremony. 
 
Dr Van Niekerk was a celebrated author who also achieved fame as a dramatist and radio presenter. An alumnus of the UFS, he received a BA degree from the university cum laude in 1949. He also played a role in academia and was an emeritus professor at the University of Pretoria until his retirement in 1994. His work includes 27 books in philosophy, poetry, fiction, drama, and memoirs, for which he has received numerous awards. These include the Eugene Marais Prize, the MER Prize, and the Scheepers Award for Youth Literature.
 
“Dr van Niekerk is a Kovsie alumnus with a deep connection to the Free State. He played a significant role in the country’s literary history, and it was an honour for the university to award him with an honorary degree. A wordsmith of note, Dr van Niekerk’s contributions to South African literature, radio, and stage will live on," says Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

News Archive

UFS programme on governance officially opened
2008-01-24

This week altogether 38 students from across the country, Lesotho, and Namibia attended a contact session for the Master's Programme in Governance and Political Transformation, presented by the University of the Free State (UFS), on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. The opening address was delivered by Dr Choice Makhetha, Deputy Dean of Student Affairs at the UFS on the theme: "Is constitutional democracy strengthening in South Africa?". Some of the guests who attended the lecture were, from the left: Dr Makhetha, Ms Lineo Molise (Deputy Minister of the Department of Home Affairs, Lesotho), Prof. Gerhardt de Klerk (Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities at the UFS), Ms Mpeo Mahase-Moiloa (Minister of Justice, Human Rights, Correctional Services, and Constitutional Affairs in Lesotho), and Dr Tania Coetzee (Programme Director of the Programme in Governance and Political Transformation at the UFS).

Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 

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