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28 June 2024 | Story Carmenita Redcliffe-Paul
Global Citizen Invitation Prof Thuli Madonsela 4 July 2024

The University of the Free State (UFS) and the South African Chamber of Commerce United Kingdom (SACC UK) are pleased to present a Global Citizen Series conversation, South Africa’s Future in Focus: the post-election impact on social justice, service delivery, higher education, and the economy, from the perspective of Prof Thuli Madonsela, Director of the Centre for Social Justice in the Faculty of Law at Stellenbosch University and Professor of Law in the Law Trust Research Chair in Social Justice Studies.

As part of the Global Citizen Webinar Series, Prof Madonsela – a member of the International Anticorruption Advisory Council and Global Justice Leaders – will join UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Francis Petersen, and SACC UK Chairperson, Sharon Constançon, for a conversation that explores what the future holds for social justice, service delivery, higher education, and the economy in South Africa.

After thirty years of democracy, South Africans once again made their mark on 29 May 2024 in one of the most pivotal elections since 1994. Join us in person during the Free State Arts Festival or online as we explore South Africa’s Future in Focus: The post-election impact on social justice, service delivery, higher education, and the economy.

Date: Thursday 4 July 2024
In-person event SA time: 18:00-20:00 SAST, Centenary Complex, UFS Bloemfontein Campus
Webinar SA time: 18:30-19:30 / UK time: 17:30-18:30

The livestream link will be shared with those who RSVP

Enquiries: Tebello Leputla - leputlatb@ufs.ac.za +27 51 401 3966

About Prof Thuli Madontsela

Prof Thuli (Thulisile) Madonsela is the Director of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in the Faculty of Law at Stellenbosch University and Professor of Law in the Law Trust Research Chair in Social Justice Studies. She is the founder of the Thuma Foundation for Democracy Leadership and Literacy and a member of the African Academy of Sciences. She was recently appointed to the UN Scientific Advisory Board and as Chairperson of Cities Alliance. She is a member of the International Anticorruption Advisory Council and Global Justice Leaders.

The former Public Protector of South Africa and full-time Commissioner in the South African Law Reform Commission was one of the 11 technical experts who helped draft the South African Constitution, and is a co-architect of several constitutionally mandated laws, including the Equality Act, Employment Equity Act, and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. She has an extensive background in applied constitutional, social justice, and administrative law principles, mainly based on her years of public service and her investigation of improper conduct in state affairs as Public Protector. A regular sought-after keynote speaker, Prof Madonsela has written, taught, presented papers, and published on these matters and ethical leadership, good governance, and gender mainstreaming for decades.

Prof Madonsela helped draft several international human rights instruments at UN, AU, and SADC levels, as well as country reports on such matters. She currently teaches Constitutional Law, Social Justice Law, Administrative Law, and Constitutional Governance and Ethical Leadership. She holds eight honorary law doctorates, in addition to two law degrees, a Harvard Advanced Leadership Certificate, and other postgraduate qualifications.

Named one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2014, Prof Madonsela’s global recognition includes more than 70 awards, including Rotary’s Paul Harris award, the Commonwealth Lawyers Truth and Justice award, and the global ACFE’s Cressy award. Prof Madonsela is a mother of two, a philanthropist, and an avid mountaineer who has summited Mt Kilimanjaro twice under the #Trek4Mandela-#Caring4Girls anti-period poverty campaign and the Musa Plan for Social Justice, and regularly hikes for the #Action4Inclusion campaign, a quest to end student debt.

News Archive

Traffic in translation between French and Afrikaans follows unique direction
2017-11-21

 Description: Traffic in translation between French and Afrikaans  Tags: Traffic in translation between French and Afrikaans

At Prof Naòmi Morgan’s inaugural lecture were, from the left:
Profs Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research; Morgan;
Heidi Hudson, Acting Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities;
and Angelique van Niekerk, Head of the Department of Afrikaans
and Dutch, German and French.
Photo: Stephen Collett

Translation is normally done from a so-called weaker language into a mightier one. This is one of the ways, according to author Antjie Krog in her book A Change of Tongue, which is used by a ‘weaker’ language to help it survive.

However, according to Prof Naòmi Morgan, Head of French in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at the University of the Free State (UFS), this is not the case with French, which is the mightier language, and Afrikaans.

Influence of translators on Afrikaans

“The number of translated titles from French into Afrikaans, from ‘great’ into ‘lesser’ language, is far more than the other way round, almost as if the translators wanted to make the Afrikaans-speaking readers literary self-sufficient, but did not feel the same need to extend the Afrikaans literature into other languages.”

This was Prof Morgan’s words on 8 November 2017 during her inaugural lecture entitled, Van Frans na Afrikaans: 100 jaar van byna eenrigting-vertaalverkeer, in the Equitas Auditorium on the Bloemfontein Campus. A PowerPoint presentation, with a symbolic background of the South African and French flags and relevant texts, formed part of her lecture. She also played video clips and pieces of music to complement it.

Among others, she has a doctorate in Modern French Literature from the University of Geneva, and her translations have earned her a French Knighthood and various prizes. She is also well-known for her translations and involvement in dramas such as Oskar en die Pienk Tannie and Monsieur Ibrahim en die blomme van die Koran.

Greater challenges in this direction

In her lecture, she looked at the two-way traffic from French into Afrikaans and from Afrikaans into French.

Three French citizens, Pierre-Marie Finkelstein, Georges Lory, and Donald Moerdijk, have translated from Afrikaans into French. Of course, their background and ties with South Africa also had an influence on their work. “In Moerdijk’s case, translation from Afrikaans, his second language, was a way in which to recall the country he left in his mind’s eye,” she said.

Prof Morgan is one of only two translators who translates works from Afrikaans into French, the other being Catherine du Toit. However, translations in this direction pose greater challenges. She said it involves “not only knowledge of the language, but also knowledge of the French target culture and literature”. In addition, there aren’t any good bilingual dictionaries, and the only Afrikaans-French dictionary is a thin volume by B Strelen and HL Gonin dating from 1950.

Prof Morgan still believes in translation

She believes there is a need to hear foreign languages such as French in the form of music in Afrikaans, and the speaking of a language alone might not be enough to ensure its survival. 

She still believes in translation, and quoted Salman Rushdie’s Imaginary homelands: essays and criticism 1981-1991 in this respect: “The word ‘translation’ comes, etymologically, from the Latin for ‘bearing across’. Having been borne across the world, we are translated men. It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in translation; I cling, obstinately to the notion that something can also be gained.”

Click here for Prof Morgan’s full lecture (only available in Afrikaans).

 

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