Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter A first-year student at the Central University of Technology (CUT) is facing a charge of attempted arson after he tried to burn a building the institution’s Bloemfontein campus in the early hours of Thursday. A statement sent out by the university on Friday said the student and an alleged accomplice tried to burn the BHP Building in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology using a homemade explosive. “One suspect, who is a first-year student, was seen throwing a homemade bomb mixed with highly inflammable liquids at the BHP Building, the bottle missed the building hitting…

I have touched on this topic before but I feel I should revisit it. From the outset I must state that I have never advised anyone to buy a house as a student res. Why not? Well, the norm is to buy a pretty decent family home and convert it into a student hostel by adding rooms in the lounge, dining room, maid’s room and garages. Essentially killing its appeal as a normal family home. Recently, student house owners have had to register with the varsities to enable students with bursaries to stay with them. Not only do the rooms…

Staff Reporter The University of Free State (UFS) will only allow access to its Bloemfontein campus to students who have to take face-to-face modules while the rest will have to study online. UFS rector and vice-chancellor Professor Francis Petersen told a virtual media briefing on Thursday that while the university would have wanted to have more students on campus, disruptive protests by students at its Bloemfontein and QwaQwa campuses over the past few days have made this impossible. The QwaQwa campus has since been closed and all students have been ordered to go home as a result of protests. “If…

Dylan Stableford Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a pre-dawn attack on Ukraine on Thursday, hitting cities with airstrikes and sending tanks across the border. The long-anticipated move, which US intelligence agencies have been predicting for months, was widely condemned by world leaders. Here’s what to know about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: What exactly happened? In a televised speech just before 6am Moscow time, Putin announced that his forces were entering Ukraine in what he described as a “special military operation” aimed at the “demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of the sovereign nation. Within moments of Putin’s address, distant explosions were witnessed by…

Staff Reporter The Central University of Technology (CUT) has been left reeling in shock following the sudden death of a 24-year-old student who collapsed at the institution’s Bloemfontein campus on Tuesday. The late student, Carla Steytler, was in the second year of her radiography studies with the university. The cause of her death has not been revealed, with the university only saying in a statement that she had “passed on unexpectedly after collapsing”. The CUT on Wednesday described Steytler as an “active member of the university community and dedicated class representative in the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences”. “This is…

Fans thought it was maybe a joke, a way to promote one of his shows or lyrics. They kept begging him on social media to please tweet or say anything to prove that he was alive and that the rumours of his death were just malicious. But it wasn’t meant to be. Rapper, Rikhado “Riky Rick,” Muziwendlovu Makhado, aged 34, has died. One of his last posts on Twitter left his followers puzzled and also assuming maybe it was another one of his “deep” and spiritual posts. No one assumed that it would be one of his last posts alive.…

Staff Reporter Former Free State premier Ace Magashule will have to wait for up to three months to know the outcome of civil litigation proceedings that he and three of his co-accused in the asbestos corruption case initiated in a bid to have charges against them thrown out. Magashule, together with former head of department for Free State human settlements Nthimotse Mokhesi, businessman Edwin Sodi and former human settlements director-general Thabane Wiseman Zulu, this week approached the Free State High Court claiming their arrests were unlawful and that the charges against them were frivolous and should therefore be dismissed. The…

Staff Reporter Premier Sisi Ntombela has singled out youth unemployment as one of the major problems facing the Free State at a time the province’s economy is reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In her opening remarks at the two-day Executive Council Budget Lekgotla that started on Tuesday in Bloemfontein, she challenged the provincial government to come up with solutions to the province’s socio-economic challenges. “The majority of the population in our province are young people – this army of unemployed youth is a ticking time bomb, which can explode at any given moment if we do not…

Staff Reporter The civil litigation case in which former Free State premier Ace Magashule and three co-accused in the asbestos corruption case are seeking the withdrawal of charges against them will resume in the Free State High Court Tuesday. Magashule, who has since been suspended as the ANC secretary-general, has teamed up with former head of the human settlements department in the Free State, Nthimotse Mokhesi, businessman Edwin Sodi and Thabane Wiseman Zulu to have all charges against them thrown out by the court. Legal counsel for Mokhesi, Sodi, and Zulu on Monday argued that the state is relying on…

Staff Reporter Four of the accused persons in the Free State asbestos corruption case have brought an application before the Free State High Court to have the charges against them withdrawn. The four are former Free State premier Ace Magashule, former provincial human settlements head Nthimotse Mokhesi, businessman Edwin Sodi and Wiseman Zulu. Magashule, who has since been suspended as the ANC secretary-general, claims the charges against him are politically motivated and must be withdrawn. He also wants the list of witnesses that will testify against him in the multi-million-rand corruption case. Mokhesi, through his legal representative Advocate Christo Meiring,…