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16 January 2025 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Supplied
Jurie Blignaut
Jurie Blignaut, top achiever in the 2024 matric exams for quintile four schools in SA and finalist of the UFS 2024 Matriculant of the Year competition.

The University of the Free State (UFS) is proud to announce that the top achiever in the 2024 matric exams for quintile four schools in the country, Jurie Blignaut, will be studying towards an MBChB at the UFS from 2025.

Blignaut, a pupil of the Rustenburg High School, was one of the 14 finalists in the 2024 UFS Matriculant of the Year competition.

“Congratulations to Jurie on this wonderful achievement. We look forward to welcoming him and our cohort of 2025 first-year students to our campuses,” says Prof Anthea Rhoda, acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS. 

Boasting 11 distinctions and an average of 96,5%, Blignaut is not only an exceptional academic achiever but also participates in several cultural activities. He was the winner of the Kovsie Alumni Trust’s special award for personal cultural achievement in the final round of the competition. This head boy of his school is an excellent public speaker and musician. 

Blignaut’s highest achievement in public speaking was his national second place in last year’s ATKV public speaking competition in the section for Afrikaans home language. He plays the cello and has performed solo with the Pretoria Symphony Orchestra, was part of the school choir and band, and participated in the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival. 

“On behalf of the university management, I would also like to congratulate Dr Mantlhake Maboya, MEC for Education in the Free State, and her executive team on the Free State being the top-achieving province in South Africa,” says Prof Rhoda. 

Other finalists in the 2024 UFS Matriculant of the Year competition who excelled during the matric exams include Susan Bender from Voortrekker High School – top achiever in the Free State province – and Chris Goosen from Grey College Secondary School, who is also one of the top achievers in the Free State. 

News Archive

Colloquium on legal ethics
2006-03-22

The Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) presented a colloquium on legal ethics.  The topic was The churches and the legality of abortion in South Africa.
 

 

 

 Some of the speakers at the colloquium were front from the left Cardinal Wilfrid Napier (Head:  Roman Catholic Church in South Africa), Mr Jeffery Ventrella Esq (guest speaker and Deputy Director, Alliance Defence Fund, United States of America) and Mrs Miranda Pillay (representative of the Anglican Church of South Africa and from the  Faculty of Theology at the University of the Western Cape). In the middle from the left were Dr Michiel du Rand (General Surgeon,  School of Medicine, University of Pretoria), Ms Jeanine McGill (Abortion Activist and Secretary of the ACDP, Western Cape), Prof Etienne de Villiers (representative of the Dutch Reformed Church and from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria) and Prof Jakobus Vorster (Dean: Faculty of Theology, University of the North West). Back from the left were  Mr Shaun de Freitas (organiser of the colloquium and senior lecturer at the UFS Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law) and Mr John Smyth QC (legal representative of 'Doctors for Life', South Africa). 
Photo: Stephen Collett

 

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