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07 March 2025
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Story Anthony Mthembu
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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.”
Zakes Mda honoured at UFS Summer Graduation
2013-11-21
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| The awarded author, Dr Zakes Mda, received his honorary doctorate at the University of the Free State at the December Graduation Ceremony. Pictured here with him is Dr Khotso Mokhele, Chancellor of the UFS. |
Live streaming will be available: http://www.ufs.ac.za/ufslivestreaming/
On Thursday 5 December 2013, the University of the Free State (UFS) will award more than 300 degrees and qualifications during the Summer graduation at the Bloemfontein Campus.
The graduation will take place during two ceremonies in the Callie Human Centre, where master’s and PhD degrees will be awarded during the first ceremony at 10:15 and diplomas, certificates and undergraduate qualifications awarded to students from the School of Open Learning and the Faculty of Health Sciences at 14:30.
An honorary doctorate from the UFS will also be bestowed on the author, Dr Zakes Mda, during the morning ceremony.
Dr Mda is a South African literary icon and public intellectual with extraordinary local and international influence. Mda’s contribution to world literature and contemporary South African public life resonates powerfully with some of the fundamental principles of the Academic and Human Projects articulated in the strategic thrust of the University of the Free State, which makes him an ideal candidate for an honorary doctorate from our university.
Some of his most famous works include Ways of Dying, Heart of Redness, The Madonna of Excelsior, The Whale Caller, Cion, Black Diamond and his recent memoir: Sometimes There is a Void: Memoirs of an Outsider.
The Springbok rugby player, Jannie du Plessis, will address graduandi during both ceremonies.