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UFS karate star Karabo Khanye awarded SA national colours

03 July 2025 | Story Vuyelwa Mbebe and Aimee Barlow | Photo Supplied

In a defining moment for both his personal career and the sporting legacy of the University of the Free State (UFS), karate champion Karabo Khanye has been awarded South African national colours. The honour was conferred at the National Karate Awards Ceremony on 21 June in Durban in recognition of his outstanding achievements on the international stage.

The awarding of national colours is one of the highest accolades in South African sport, symbolising excellence, dedication, and the ability to represent the country with distinction. For Khanye, this moment is the culmination of years of hard work and discipline. His selection followed a remarkable showing at the Commonwealth Karate Championships, where Khanye competed against some of the world’s top athletes. Representing Karate South Africa, he walked away with two silver medals.

“I feel privileged that I was chosen for the Commonwealth team,” Khanye said. “Being able to bring home two silver medals just makes it that much better.”

The awards ceremony in Durban was not merely a formality but a moment of personal significance for the UFS athlete. Receiving his national colours served as both validation and motivation for the sacrifices he’d made to pursue excellence in his chosen sport.

“It shows that the hard work I put in was not for nothing,” he said. “I am grateful to receive my national colours.”

With this latest honour under his belt, Khanye went on to compete at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) Karate Championships, held from 26 to 27 June in Pietermaritzburg. He successfully defended his title in the U60kg elite category, which he’d claimed at last year’s tournament.

Khanye’s journey has been a source of pride for the UFS KovsieSport community. His success adds to the university’s growing reputation for producing high-performance athletes across various sporting codes. UFS celebrates Khanye’s achievements and looks forward to what promises to be an even more inspiring and successful future for this remarkable athlete.

News Archive

Kovsies hoist the rainbow flag to show support for International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia

2015-05-25

Photo: Lihlumelo Toyana

Kovsies reaffirm diverse expressions of love (Facebook video clip)

Transformation is not about black or white anymore, it's about including different diversities (Facebook video clip)

Violence and discrimination against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex (LGBTI) community is rife in South Africa. Advancing the spirit of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Human Project, Out@Kovsies and the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ) showed their true colours by hoisting the rainbow flag in front of the Main Building on the Bloemfontein Campus.

International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia

This event was in anticipation of International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia celebrated on Sunday 17 May 2015. People across the world, regardless of their sexual orientation, come together annually on this day in support of the LGBTI community. This year, Kovsies became part of that global community when, for the first time in history, the rainbow flag – a popular symbol of LGBTI pride – fluttered high over the Red Square.

Human embrace

Committed to the human embrace, this event was another decisive step towards true transformation. “Transformation is not about black or white anymore,” said Zanele Thela, coordinator and guardian of Out@Kovsies, during the event. “It’s about including different diversities, different sexual orientations.”

Laura-Jane Watkins, research assistant at the IRSJ, said that this day “reflects our attitude as a collective community to embrace difference. Today is a day that we reaffirm diverse expressions of love beyond societal perceptions of gender as an inherent human need and right. Let us now stand together as a student community to promote the value of humanness.”

Rainbow flag

The rainbow flag, also fondly known as the freedom flag, was designed by civil rights activist, Gilbert Baker, and was hoisted publically on 25 June 1978. The modern version of the flag consists of six colours, each with a specific meaning. Red stands for life, orange for healing, yellow depicts sunlight, green stands for nature, blue for serenity, and violet for spirit.

The hope that Thela holds is for everyone to be free to express themselves and their love for one another, because “that’s the one thing we all have in common: love”.

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