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Thabiso Khoeli
Dr Thabiso Khoeli, Lecturer in Historical and Constructive Theology at the UFS, celebrates the completion of his PhD.

The University of the Free State (UFS) celebrated one of its own, Dr Thabiso Khoeli, a Historical and Constructive Theology Lecturer in its Faculty of Theology and Religion, when he received his PhD in Theology with specialisation in religion studies during the recently completed April graduation ceremonies. 

Dr Khoeli’s achievement not only marks a personal milestone but also advances the university’s Vision 130, a strategic initiative to position UFS as a research-led institution by its 130th anniversary in 2034. Dr Khoeli’s academic journey is one of resilience, transformation, and a profound commitment to telling African stories from an African perspective. 

 

From uncertainty to purpose

Dr Khoeli’s path into studying Theology was unplanned. As a former KovsieFootball  player, his initial academic interest was in Sports Science. However, after some admission hurdles, he found himself directed towards Theology, a field that soon captured his full attention.

“Honestly, I did not choose Theology, instead it chose me,” he shares. “… Theology whispered to me and said, ‘Do not deviate, Brother. Your calling is here.” Despite initial scepticism, his first semester revealed the intellectual and spiritual depth of the discipline, compelling him to pursue it with passion.

 

A research focus on African voices

His doctoral research, titled ‘Exploring the Zion Christian Church’s Teachings and Qualities in Comparison with Zion Churches’, examines the theological, historical, and cultural distinctiveness of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), one of the largest and most influential religious movements in Africa. Motivated by a desire to decolonise theology and challenge externally imposed narratives, Dr Khoeli engaged directly with primary sources, including archival materials and interviews with Church elders.

“Africans must now write their own stories and never rely on the findings presented by others,” he says. His work not only fills critical gaps in theological scholarship but also reflects the UFS’s vision of becoming a centre of thought leadership on the African continent.

 

Research shaping teaching

As a Lecturer in Historical and Constructive Theology, Dr Khoeli’s research directly informs his methods of teaching. He approaches the classroom with a decolonised, historically grounded perspective that helps his students engage with both their spiritual heritage and contemporary realities critically.

“My research enabled me to analyse documents and align them to my objective,” he explains. “That is the strategy I use to collect the relevant reading materials to prepare for the students.” His teaching method fosters independent thinking and encourages students to become scholars who are both academically rigorous and socially conscious.

 

Overcoming challenges through community and conviction

Gaining access to the ZCC’s historical documents was a major challenge. The Church’s deep-rooted secrecy required careful relationship-building and persistent effort. But Dr Khoeli remained undeterred. “I intended to leave no stone unturned,” he says. Through perseverance, mentorship, and faith, he accessed essential material for his literature-based study.

He also credits colleagues at the Faculty of Theology and Religion for their belief in his potential at a time when few others would give him a chance. “It feels great,” he reflects. “I don’t have enough words to explain how overwhelming it feels to prove to yourself that you are the greatest.”

 

A vision beyond the doctorate

With his PhD now complete, Dr Khoeli is setting his sights on further research projects that contribute to the reconstruction of African religious history and knowledge systems. He sees his work as part of a larger mission to revive indigenous spirituality and cultural identity in the face of modern erasure.

“Modernity is converting us to be a nation without roots,” he cautions. His aim is to produce scholarship that restores heritage while also responding to the physical and spiritual needs of African communities, one of the fundamental goals of the UFS’s Vision 130.

 

Inspiring the next generation

To current and future UFS students, especially those considering postgraduate study, Dr Khoeli offers this message, with his own story as proof: “Believe in your purpose, even when the path seems uncertain… There is greatness in you.” 

Through his academic excellence, teaching innovation, and dedication to African-centred research, Dr Khoeli exemplifies the values of the UFS’s Vision 130. His journey reflects a university that is not only committed to high-impact research but also to empowering scholars who bring change, both in the academic world and beyond.

News Archive

Is milk really so well-known, asks UFS’s Prof. Osthoff
2011-03-17

Prof. Garry Osthoff
Photo: Stephen Collett

Prof. Garry Osthoff opened a whole new world of milk to the audience in his inaugural lecture, Milk: the well-known (?) food, in our Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

Prof. Osthoff has done his research in protein chemistry, immuno-chemistry and enzymology at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria and post-doctoral research at the Bowman-Grey School of Medicine, North Carolina, USA. That was instrumental in establishing food chemistry at the university.
 
He is involved in chemical aspects of food, with a focus on dairy science and technology. He is also involved in the research of cheese processing as well as milk evolution and concentrated on milk evolution in his lecture. Knowledge of milk from dairy animals alone does not provide all the explanations of milk as food.
 
Some aspects he highlighted in his lecture were that milk is the first food to be utilised by young mammals and that it is custom-designed for each species. “However, mankind is an opportunist and has found ways of easy access to food by the practice of agriculture, where plants as well as animals were employed or rather exploited,” he said.
 
The cow is the best-known milk producer, but environmental conditions forced man to select other animals. In spite of breeding selection, cattle seem not to have adapted to the most extreme conditions such as high altitudes with sub-freezing temperatures, deserts and marshes.
 
Prof. Osthoff said the consumption of the milk as an adult is not natural; neither is the consumption of milk across species. This practice of mankind may often have consequences, when signs of malnutrition or diseases are noticed. Two common problems are an allergy to milk and lactose intolerance.
 
Allergies are normally the result of an immune response of the consumer to the foreign proteins found in the milk. In some cases it might help to switch from one milk source to another, such as switching from cow’s milk to goat’s milk.
 
Prof. Osthoff said lactose intolerance – the inability of adult humans to digest lactose, the milk sugar – is natural, as adults lose that ability to digest lactose. The symptoms of the condition are stomach cramps and diarrhoea. This problem is mainly found in the warmer climates of the world. This could be an indication of early passive development of dairy technology. In these regions milk could not be stored in its fresh form, but in a fermented form, in which case the lactose was pre-digested by micro-organisms, and the human population never adapted to digesting lactose in adulthood.
 
According to Prof. Osthoff, it is basically the lactose in milk that has spurred dairy technology. Its fermentation has resulted in the development of yoghurts and all the cheeses that we know. In turn, the intolerance to lactose has spurred a further technological solution: lactose-free milk is currently produced by pre-digestion of lactose with enzymes.
 
It was realised that the milks and products from different species differed in quality aspects such as keeping properties and taste. It was also realised that the nutritional properties differed as well as their effects on health. One example is the mentioned allergy against cow’s milk proteins, which may be solved by the consumption of goat’s milk. The nutritional benefits and technological processing of milk aroused an interest in more information, and it was realised that the information gained from human milk and that of the few domesticated species do not provide a complete explanation of the properties of milk as food. Of the 250 species of milk which have been studied, only the milk of humans and a few domesticated dairy animals has been studied in detail.

Media Release
15 March 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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