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Allan Gray Achievement Awards recognise outstanding UFS EMS Faculty students

07 November 2023 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo SUPPLIED

Katherine Swartland, a representative from Allan Gray addressing the delegation at the Allan Gray Achievement Awards, hosted on the UFS’s Bloemfontein Campus.

The Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences (EMS) at the University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with Allan Gray, proudly hosted the annual Allan Gray Achievement Awards on 11 October 2023. This special event, held at the Awela Restaurant on the UFS’s Bloemfontein campus, was designed to celebrate the academic achievements of top-performing students within the faculty, recognising their excellence based on their year of study.

The award ceremony was attended by distinguished members of the EMS Faculty, the Commercio Students Association, and a delegation from Allan Gray, including Katherine Swartland, Managing Business Analyst, Yonela Makalima, Business Analyst, and Steven Motloung, Manager. The evening's guest speaker was Liz Letsoalo, a renowned entrepreneur and TEDx speaker. Notably, this ceremony marked a significant return to in-person events since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Katherine Swartland, who served as the programme director, described this resurgence as truly exciting.

The award winners

The Allan Gray Achievement Awards highlighted outstanding students from various year levels. In the second-year category, Modisaotsile Seekoei received a prestigious award of R5 000 along with a Thule backpack, while Melissa Mlotshwa was granted a prize of R3 000. Among the third-year students, Anthea Ralane was recognised with an award of R8 000 and a Thule backpack, and Modiehi Mpakathe was the recipient of a R5 000 prize. In the fourth-year category, Kelebogile Motlhanke earned a remarkable R12 000 reward and a Thule backpack, and Rykers Lues was presented with a prize worth R8 000.

Although not all students attending the ceremony received awards, Prof Brownhilder Neneh, the Vice Dean for Research Engagement and Internationalisation, aptly reminded the audience, ’It is important to recognise that each of you here is already a winner, as your presence signifies that you are among the top achievers in your field. You have demonstrated that with passion, perseverance, and a commitment to your goals, there are no limits to what you can accomplish.’’

A longstanding relationship

The Allan Gray Achievement Awards holds deep roots in a special relationship between the UFS and Allan Gray. Swartland noted that this initiative was founded by Faizil Jakoet, an executive at Allan Gray, and the awards ceremony, in part, celebrates the continued partnership between the UFS and Allan Gray. This enduring relationship has thrived for over a decade, despite changes in leadership, creating opportunities for meaningful engagement between Allan Gray and UFS students. Swartland further emphasised the importance of this bond, saying, ‘’Another special relationship is formed every time we visit the UFS, between us and you, a lot of exceptional students.”

As the event approached its conclusion, the audience had the privilege of hearing from guest speaker Liz Letsoalo, Founder of Masodi Organics, a prominent beauty and wellness brand. Letsoalo’s address centered on the ‘practicality of creating’, encouraging students to view themselves as creators, allowing them to pivot and adapt as their aspirations evolve. She urged students to stay dedicated to their dreams, emphasising that taking necessary actions and persevering is essential to turning their dreams into reality.

The Allan Gray Achievement Awards signify the remarkable achievements and potential of the UFS EMS Faculty students. This event not only celebrates academic excellence, but also reinforces the enduring partnership between the University of the Free State and Allan Gray, paving the way for further opportunities and engagement.

Prof Brownhilder Neneh and Anthea Ralane

Prof Brownhilder Neneh and Melissa Mlotshwa

Prof Brownhilder Neneh and Modisaotsile Seekoei

Prof Brownhilder Neneh and Kelebogile Motlhanke

News Archive

In her inaugural lecture, Prof Helene Strauss explores symbols that reflect our history

2014-02-18

Prof Helene Strauss
The burning tyre – image of promise and disappointment
Photo: Stephen Collett

Prof Helene Strauss did not disappoint in her highly-anticipated inaugural lecture “The Spectacles of Promise and Disappointment: Political Emotion and Quotidian Aesthetics in Post-transitional South Africa”. She posed some very challenging ideas on the promises and disappointments that arouse from apartheid. Prof Strauss pointed to the fact that “… a promise must promise to be kept; that is, not to remain spiritual or abstract, but to produce events, new effective forms of action, practice, organisation, and so forth.”

She underscored the message of her lecture by making use of the image of a burning tyre – a symbol commonly associated with apartheid. This act of ‘necklacing’ is closely connected to the violence and protests of that era. Prof Strauss used this image to represent an array of social concerns: global mass protest, modernity and mobility, waste economies and waste management, environmental destruction, as well as poverty and resistance in varied formats.

Some of South Africa’s greatest artists have used the burning tyre in their work, particularlyBerni Searle and Zanele Muhloi. Not only does it trigger the shadow of the damaging past, but “more recently, it has come to figure also in the spectacles of promise and disappointment that have marked the country’s transitional and post-transitional periods,” Prof Strauss remarked.

Prof Strauss focuses her research on these symbolisms in our history because of “the questions that they raise about the emotional cultures produced in the aftermath of apartheid and for the unique contribution that they make to current debates on political and aesthetic activism.”Her passion for this subject comes from the “affective or emotional legacies of various forms of structural inequality, an interest that owes a sizeable debt to postcolonial, queer and feminist critical theory and creative work of the past hundred or so years.”

Prof Strauss accepted a position at the University of the Free Sate in 2011 and currently works in the Department of English. She is part of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme and holds a PhD from the University of Western Ontario. Previously, she held the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Canada, where she resided for 11 years.

Among the guests were Prof Jonathan Jansen, Profs Botes and Witthuhn, lecturers in the Department of English, members of the Faculty of the Humanities, students and some of Prof Strauss’ colleagues from Canada.

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