The University of Limpopo’s (UL) School of Law has this year (2022) introduced wall of honour to pay homage to current and former staff and students whose outstanding contribution to the law fraternity and the School has stood the test of time
Following the introduction of wall of honour, the School has recently inaugurated its Wall of Honour, to induct its former senior lecturer, Alvina Thoka (deceased), who served the University for 30 years as the first female lecturer in the school.
The induction, titled “Unveiling in Honour of an Uninterrupted, Selfless Service to the Proletariat: 01 August 1983 – 30 June 2013,” recognised Thoka for her significant contribution to the School’s programme development, as well as other academic projects, such as the business of teaching and learning.
Thoka is the first inductee of the School of Law Wall of Honour, and according to the School’s Acting Director, Adv Mashele Rapatsa, the School will induct law practitioners who have contributed to the knowledge, profession, society, and touched the lives of others throughout their careers on an annual basis.
“To begin with, we honour an academic who has made a significant contribution to the School of Law at this institution on this historic day. Thoka’s name is the first to be engraved on the School of Law Wall of Honour,” Rapatsa stated.
In appreciation of the honour of their late mother, Thoka’s three children pledged R30 000 in bursaries to law students at UL in a moving gesture upon her induction. Dubbed “Ebenezer Bursary”, the funding will be awarded to three deserving students during the 2022 academic year.
Lerato Thekiso, speaking on behalf of her sisters, said they learnt a lot and are still doing most of the things their late mother taught them because “they are the most gracious things that shaped us. As her children, we had to learn integrity, respect and the value of education,” she asserted. She added that the bursary intends to fund more law students at UL to keep Thoka’s legacy alive.
Adv Reuben Letseku, a contemporary of Alvina Thoka who is a lecturer in the Department of Mercantile and Labour Law at UL, described the late Thoka as a mentor, teacher, sister figure, astute lecturer and loyal intellectual. “She espoused enormous respect, and she was never charged, warned, suspended, or fired in her 30 years of service,” Adv Letseku recalled.
By Malatji Monyelegwete