Setso › History › Colleges

Before it was Maluti TVET…

Bonamelo.
Sefikeng.
Tshiya.

The colleges where QwaQwa trained its teachers, artisans and clerks. Where they came from, and what they are today.

1972first college opens
6colleges merged in 2002
2institutions today

Ask anyone over forty in QwaQwa where they studied, and you’ll hear these names. Most of them still stand, under new names. Here’s what became of each.

1972
Then

Itemoheleng Trade School

Known to everyone as "Ambag". Motor mechanics, carpentry, electrical and plumbing. Later Itemoheleng Technical Institute, then a technical college.

Now

Maluti TVET · Itemoheleng Campus

Mampoi Street, Phuthaditjhaba.

See the campus →
1975
Then

Bonamelo College of Education

Opened as Monnafeela Mota Teacher Training College, renamed Bonamelo in 1976, and made a college of education in 1985. Generations of QwaQwa's teachers qualified here.

Now

Maluti TVET · Bonamelo Campus

Phuthaditjhaba.

See the campus →
1977
Then

Manpower Centre

Skills training for work. Upgraded to a technical college in 1997.

Now

Maluti TVET · Kwetlisong Campus

Riverside, Phuthaditjhaba.

See the campus →
1979
Then

Sefikeng College of Education

Began as a teacher training school in Tsheseng, offering the Primary Teachers' Certificate. A college of education from 1985.

Now

Maluti TVET · Sefikeng Campus

Tsheseng. Now the college's home for agricultural studies.

See the campus →
1980s
Then

Lere La Tshepe

Used by Tshiya College of Education for teacher training, and later by the University of the North for its first QwaQwa classes. Teacher training here ended in 1998.

Now

Maluti TVET · Lere La Tshepe Campus

Tseki, about 8 km from Phuthaditjhaba. Business Studies, N4–N6.

See the campus →
2001
Then

Tshiya College of Education

When South Africa's colleges of education were folded into universities, Tshiya joined the University of the North's QwaQwa campus.

Became part of

UniQwa

The QwaQwa campus of the University of the North.

2003
Then

UniQwa

The University of the North's QwaQwa campus, known to everyone as UniQwa. Its first classes were held at Lere La Tshepe before it moved to its own campus.

Now

UFS QwaQwa Campus

Part of the University of the Free State since 2003, with about 3,800 students. Tshiya and UniQwa live on in the university.

See the campus →
2002

Six colleges become one

On 1 September 2002, the colleges merged to form Maluti FET College, today Maluti TVET College. Its main campus and central office are in Phuthaditjhaba, with campuses in Bethlehem and Harrismith too.

Your story is our history

Which college
made you?

  1. Your college
  2. The year you finished
  3. The lecturer nobody forgets

Write to info@qwahabedi.co.za — or send your old photographs to the same address. Tell us who is in them and who took them, and we will ask before anything is published.

Help us get it right. This page is built from published records and from people who were there. If a date, name or detail is wrong, tell us. Every change is checked before it goes live.

Sources: Free State Department of Education, history of Maluti FET College campuses · News24 (Dec 2000), colleges of education becoming part of universities · University of the Free State, QwaQwa Campus.