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UFS Drama Department triumph: ‘Ons wag vir Godot’ sweeps kykNET Fiësta Awards

18 March 2025 | Story Litha Banjatwa | Photo Supplied

Fiesta winners 2025 — Ons wag vir Godot shines at the 2025 kykNET Fiësta Awards, winning three major accolades and cementing UFS’s reputation for world-class theatre excellence.

Ons wag vir Godot, a groundbreaking stage production from the University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Drama and Theatre Arts, was one of the biggest winners at the 2025 kykNET Fiësta Awards, which celebrate the best of Afrikaans theatre.

The awards ceremony was held at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town on 27 February 2025.

Ons wag vir Godot, an Afrikaans translation of Irish writer Samuel Beckett’s celebrated 1953 play Waiting for Godot, won three of its four nominations: Best Director for Dion van Niekerk, Best Translation for Naomi Morgan, and Best Supporting Actor for Gerben Kamper. This haul positioned Ons wag vir Godot as the second biggest winner of the evening, and marked an unprecedented achievement for a Free State production at the Fiësta Awards.

This success builds upon the play’s earlier triumphs at the Free State Arts Festival, where it received accolades for Best Director, Best Translation, Best Supporting Actor (Peter Taljaard), and Best Ensemble.

Director Dion van Niekerk said what set Ons wag vir Godot apart was its unique origin: it is the first Afrikaans translation of Beckett's masterpiece directly from the French original. Securing the translation rights was no small feat, requiring a special appeal to the notoriously selective Samuel Beckett Estate.

“The production’s greatest challenge lay in making the play accessible to a South African audience,” Van Niekerk said. “We aimed to find a stage language with visual imagery that would situate the play within a recognisable South African context."

This was achieved through Naomi Morgan’s “immaculate translation work, which captured the existential concerns of the play with precisely the right Afrikaans vocabulary and turns of phrase”. The production team further grounded the play in South African reality through the creation of characters, setting, and costuming that evoked the stark beauty of the Karoo landscape.

The success of Ons wag vir Godot has profound implications for the UFS Department of Drama and Theatre Arts. It firmly establishes the department among the nation’s leading drama institutions, showcasing its ability to contribute high-quality, meaningful work to the South African artistic landscape. “This production highlights the importance of performing translated classics,” Van Niekerk said. “Works like Waiting for Godot are part of the canon of great international theatrical works. South Africa was banned from producing this play during apartheid, and it has been rarely seen since, predominantly in English.” This production, therefore, offers Afrikaans-speaking South Africans and others a unique opportunity to engage with Beckett’s timeless work.

The impact of this success extends to the department’s students. Sibabalwe Jokani, a student cast member, shared in the nominations for Best Ensemble at both the Free State Festival and Fiësta Awards. Jokani said the play’s success has inspired the student body and reaffirmed the department’s commitment to high standards and industry access.

When asked about the future of Afrikaans theatre, Van Niekerk said, “This production will hopefully inspire others to continue to reconsider the value that great theatrical works that have been created in other languages might have in a contemporary Afrikaans context.”

News Archive

First-year students encouraged to attend UFS welcoming function

2005-01-12

The University of the Free State (UFS) will host a welcoming function for all new first-year students and their parents on Saturday 15 January 2005 in the Callie Human Centre on the main campus in Bloemfontein.

The function starts at 11.00 and will be addressed by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie. UFS staff will also be available to provide vital information to first-year students on academic matters.

According to UFS Registrar, Mr Vernon Collett, Saturday’s welcoming function can assist students and parents by providing vital information on the many high quality academic learning programmes on offer at the UFS in six faculties.

“If students and parents have this information it will make the registration process which starts next week Monday 17 January much smoother,” Mr Collett said.

The UFS has split the registration process into various categories of students and Mr Collett appealed to all students to adhere to the dates and times which apply to them as a one-stop service will be available so as to avoid unnecessary delays in the registration process.

The registration of first-time entering first-year students who applied before 30 November 2004 to study at the Bloemfontein campus will take place from Monday 17 January 2005 to 21 January 2005 at the Callie Human Centre.

Senior undergraduate students (that is, students entering their second or later year of study) may register from 22 to 29 January 2005.

Postgraduate students, first time entering first year students and other students who applied for admission to the main campus after 30 November 2004 must register at the Callie Human from 31 January 2005 to 4 February 2005.

Due to the limitations placed by government on student numbers, the applications of students who applied late will be regarded as pending and will be processed as places became available.

Vista campus

The Vista campus in Bloemfontein – which was incorporated into the UFS in January 2004 – no longer accepts applications from first-year students. Such prospective students had to apply to the UFS main campus.

Students who had been registered as Vista students last year must register at the Vista campus on the same dates as applicable on the main campus.

Qwaqwa Campus

At the Qwaqwa campus of the UFS, all first-time entering first-year students must report on 17 January 2005, after which the registration of these students will take place according to a specific programme.

The official welcoming functioning for new first-years at the Qwaqwa campus of the UFS will take place on Saturday 22 January 2005 at 11am in the Rolihlahla Mandela Hall on the Qwaqwa campus. As on the main campus, this function will also be addressed by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Fourie.

Mr Collett appealed to first-year students who have applied to study at the Qwaqwa campus and their parents to attend this function which fulfills the same role as the one held on the Bloemfontein campus.

Detailed information on the dates and times of registration for the various faculties and academic learning programmes is available on the UFS website: http://www.uovs.ac.za/content.php?cid=9

Prospective students may also call 051-401-3000 for more information.

Media release
Issued by: Anton Fisher
Media Representative
Cell: 072-207-8334

12 January 2005

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