Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
07 March 2025
|
Story Anthony Mthembu
|
Photo Supplied
Crystal-Donna Roberts, recipient of the 2016 Kovsie Ambassador Award and award-winning actress, has died following a battle with breast cancer.
The University of the Free State (UFS) is deeply saddened by the passing of alumna and award-winning actress Crystal-Donna Roberts at the age of 41. According to Eyewitness News (EWN), Roberts passed away during the early hours of 6 March 2025, following a long battle with breast cancer.
The UFS extends its deepest condolences to Roberts’ family, friends, colleagues, and supporters.
Celebrating a beloved actress
Roberts graduated from the UFS with a BA Drama and Theatre Arts degree in 2005 and went on to create work that was beloved across the country and beyond. She starred in the Afrikaans soap opera 7de Laan and shows like Getroud Met Rugby, Montana and Vallei van Sluiers, among others. Her lead role in the film Krotoa earned her the Best Actress award in 2018 at the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs).
Her extensive career in film and television was one of the reasons she was recognised by the UFS with the Kovsie Ambassador Award in 2016. This is an award given to alumni whose accomplishments have not only benefited themselves but their community and the UFS. Although Roberts was well-known for her work on stage and screens, she was also an author. She released her debut novel Speurder Sammi: Die blou steen (Detective Sammi: The Blue Stone) in 2022.
Outpouring of praise
Since the news of Roberts’ passing broke, there has been an outpouring of tributes on social media. Many of her supporters and colleagues have described her as an iconic force who was full of life and inspired many. Alistair Izobell, who starred alongside Roberts in Arendsvlei, responded to the news through a Facebook post which said, “My dearest sister Crystal-Donna Roberts my heart is broken today. You got your wings and your pain is no more. I am thrilled I got to do a chapter of my life with you. I will remember you with the great spirit you were. Now rest sweetly.”
UFS is the most integrated campus in the country
2010-01-29
 |
Judge Ian van der Merwe, Chairperson of the University of the Free State's (UFS) Council and Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS at the official opening ceremony.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse |
“The University of the Free State’s (UFS) Main Campus is the most integrated campus in the country.”
This was said by Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS during the university’s official opening on its Main Campus in Bloemfontein today.
Addressing staff and students, Prof. Jansen said that the first-year students in the majority of the residences are now fully integrated on a 50/50 basis. “The majority of our house committees are now also integrated,” he said.
He used the ladies residence Welwitschia as an example. “When I walked into to this residence last year it consisted only of black female students. When I visited them again this year I could not believe what I saw: the residence is fully integrated and there are white and black students living together. This is an example of our young people’s willingness to live together and we must believe in their potential,” he said.
Prof. Jansen said that the UFS does not want to be good because “good is the enemy of great” (from Jim Collins in his book Good to Great). “We want to be great. This is the year in which our staff and students’ lives will change and this university will change as we take the first steps in making the leap from good to great,” he said.
Prof. Jansen said that there have been many developments at the UFS so far this year. “We have attracted some of the best scholars in the country and other parts of the world to this university, and we will be selecting from among them in the next two weeks. We have also attracted some of the best athletes in the country in our first-year class, including some of the best hockey players,” he said.
Prof. Jansen outlined the following as his priorities for 2010:
- The phasing in of compulsory class attendance as a way to drastically improve the quality of teaching at the UFS. “This will also enhance our throughput. However, before we can to this, we are going to accelerate the building of larger classrooms to accommodate all our students,” he said.
- The appointment of a senior vice-rector in the near future, who will manage the day to day operations of the UFS;
- To market the UFS to the best and most promising schools in South Africa. “This will start next week when I will be visiting schools in the Eastern Cape.”
- To raise R100 million to enable more students with talent to study at the UFS, and to build an endowment to be proud of for the future of the university;
- To upgrade the infrastructure in the residences;
- To require every member of the university’s academic staff to publish every year;
- To train administrative and support staff so that a world-class service culture can be created which takes every student, every parent and every staff member seriously; and
- To insist that the conditions of service of staff working for agencies outside the UFS be improved by increasing the minimum remuneration dramatically and by making study benefits available to them as well. “We will not renew our tenders with outside agencies unless they raise the minimum wage of their staff,” he said.
Prof. Jansen said that he was extremely proud of the Student Representative Council’s (SRC) leadership and what they have achieved so far during their term. He also thanked the staff for their hard work and the excellence they bring to the UFS.
Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (actg)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
29 January 2010