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Forging towards student wellness: Health and Wellness Centre launches improved building

14 March 2025 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Kaleidoscope

Kovsie Health Launch 2025 — Prof Hester C. Klopper, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Free State (UFS), officially opening the Health and Wellness Centre during a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony.

In an effort to ensure continued student wellness, the Division of Student Affairs (DSA) at the University of the Free State (UFS) launched the improved Health and Wellness Centre (formerly known as the Kovsie Health Building) on 12 March 2025.

In attendance at the launch of the improved building were Prof Hester C. Klopper, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS; Dr Munita Dunn-Coetzee, Director of the Health and Wellness Centre; Themba Hlasho, Executive Director of the DSA; along with Prof Prakash Naidoo, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Operations at the UFS, among others.

The building, which took more than 36 weeks to complete, has been described as a passion project. In fact, in his address at the launch, Hlasho said: “The reimagination of the Health and Wellness Centre is not only about providing students with a supportive environment, but also about addressing the issue of efficiency.” As such, the architecture of the building was intentional in that it created a ‘one-stop shop’, as there was an integration of wellness services, including Kovsie Health and Student Counselling and Development (SCD) – all in one building.

Prof Klopper officially opened the building during a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony, after which the attendees had the opportunity to get a first look at the building.

What the new building entails

There have been several changes and improvements in the new building. Firstly, there is more office space in the building and according to Tebogo Malatjie, Counselling Psychologist in SCD, this is a much-appreciated change. “More office space speaks to the need for more psychologists who can provide more services for the students. So, I am really glad that it was one of the aspects that was prioritised, because we now have a larger staff component,” said Malatjie. The centre also has what is referred to as the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) room. According to Mosa Setlaba, Counselling Psychologist in SCD, this is a room in which students are able to connect with SADAG counsellors, who assist with referring the students to the type of help they need at the centre right after each consultation.

In addition, there has been an expansion to the psychometric testing room and services provided. “We now offer scholastic assessments, conducted by our interns as they rotate in primary and high schools as part of their internship programme,” explained Setlaba. There is also a stronger focus on accessibility, particularly when it comes to people in wheelchairs. In fact, the elevator in the centre has an intercom system that students can call, which alerts the staff that someone might need help using the elevator to access the building.

As the building is officially open to cater to the needs of the student community, Malatjie and Setlaba indicate that they would like to welcome the students as they enter this space, which was designed with them in mind. In addition, Prof Naidoo expressed the hope that the Health and Wellness Centre will grow from strength to strength.

News Archive

Inaugural lecture explores the compatibility of commercial certainty and constitutionalism

2015-10-15

From the left: Prof Caroline Nicholson,
Prof Elizabeth Snyman van Deventer,
Justice Malcolm Wallis and Dr Lis Lange.

Justice Malcolm Wallis presented his inaugural lecture, entitled “Compatibility of commercial certainty and constitutionalism”, to the Faculty of Law on 17 September, 2015. The occasion was attended by faculty staff, students, and senior members of the Bloemfontein judiciary.

In her welcoming remarks, Prof Caroline Nicholson, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the UFS, expressed the immense pride the faculty has in hosting such an occasion, and the remarkable work of Justice Wallis in the South African legal fraternity over his forty-year career.

Justice Wallis spoke of the constitution’s important role in ensuring that the law in commercial matters is enforced fairly without the prejudice or undue influence from the desire to obtain or preserve personal advantage. “Try, if you can, to conceive of a society in which commercial relationships are enforced and enforceable purely as a matter of discretion. Ask yourselves: how would such a society function?” he said.

He reiterated that the role and the rule of law is to guide and protect parties in commercial transactions. It has considerable impact on society in how it is enforced. “Commercial disputes may seem to involve only the parties to the proceedings, but when they involve significant changes to established commercial law, their impact is inevitably wider. Such changes affect other agreements, other relationships, underlying financing transactions, and, in our modern world, contracts of insurance and reinsurance. The latter at least will always have an international dimension,” he said.

He explored specific judgements and the role the concept of “Ubuntu” played in delivering them, the fair enforcement of commercial law, and how this should be an integral part of South African law under the constitution.

In closing, Justice Wallis stated that “in principle, the existence of a constitution and constitutional rights need not destabilise commercial law, or the reasonable expectations of business people.”

Justice Wallis has received numerous accolades locally and internationally during his long career, including his appointment as a Professor Extraordinary in the Department of Mercantile Law at the University of the Free State in 2014.

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