Jubilation was written all over the faces of this year’s 14 recipients of the much-coveted Nelson Mandela Scholarship for post-graduate studies abroad.
A Unilever initiative, the only ‘payback” condition is that ‘recipients must return to South Africa and apply their skills and knowledge here”. Auditing firm Deloitte is funding four of the scholarships.
To date the two companies have made a joint investment of R65-million benefiting a total of 105 young South Africans.
the Teacher spoke to five of the scholarship’s recipients.
Nqulelo Matai
Matai is presently working for Anglo-Coal, a division of Anglo-American, based in Mpumalanga, where he is tasked with change management and transformation.
But, in his free time he coaches a group of 40 women, who are involved in vegetable farming. He also facilitates a ‘process of upskilling mine workers’ wives by teaching them sewing” which has turned into one of the thriving businesses in the area.
Matai hails from the Eastern Cape province and would be going to the United Kingdom to study for his Masters of Business Administration (MBA).
‘Academically, I never got an A. I always got Bs and winning this scholarship might just be an opportunity for me to achieve something awesome,” said Matai.
He did his matric at Westering High School in Port Elizabeth and thereafter enrolled with the University of Port Elizabeth (now known as Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University), completing his BA Honours in Labour Relations and Human Resources in 2002.
Matai said his parents inspired him a lot. ‘They were not rich and educated, but went the extra mile to provide for us and more importantly ensure that we got an education,” he said. ‘Out of eight children, they managed to get five, including me, through tertiary education and this is quite an achievement,” said Matai.
Rudzani Muloiwa
A medical doctor by profession, Muloiwa grew up in Venda in the Limpopo province.
He started his schooling in 1981 at Koranani Lower Primary — where his teachers had a great influence on him —and then proceeded to Ngovela Higher Primary.
He was good in maths and science and enrolled with Mbilwi Secondary School, a school known to produce outstanding results in the two subjects. But his schooling was interrupted by his involvement in politics.
‘Teachers were so concerned they asked my parents to take me to a safer and quiet place. And that place became St. Alban College near Pretoria for 1991 and 1992.
In 1993, he went to the University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal) where he studied medicine. He later specialised in paediatrics at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital and the University of Cape Town and ended up working at Pietersburg Hospital in Polokwane.
Muloiwa’s ‘goals are to be a leader in the field of paediatric public health initiatives and to become an academic in this field”. He would be going to London to study for a Masters in Business Administration in the medical field from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Busisiwe Vilakazi
Vilakazi comes from Evaton, south of Gauteng. She attended Phahamang Primary Shool and completed her matric in 1999 at Qedilizwe High School.
She said her favourite subjects were, and still are, maths and science.
‘My science teacher was definitely the person who inspired and motivated me. He would always push me to achieve higher marks. I remember he cajoled me into entering the Science Olympiad when I was in grade 11, which I ultimately won.”
After school, Vilakazi, who is employed by Eskom, completed a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in electrical engineering. She will be doing her doctorate studies in engineering in London.
Hendrik Mabunda
Mabunda attended Ga-Seabe Primary School, Thabana Higher Primary School and Mmashadi High School in Mpumalanga. But, circumstances forced him to drop out before he could finish his Grade 12.
‘I have never met my father and my mother is disabled. This situation forced me out of school. There was no one I could turn to for financial help,” he said.
However, he scraped together money to study matric through private college Damelin and passed in 1994.
Armed with a Grade 12 certificate, Mabunda got a cleaning job at the Tshwane Metro Council’s electricity department. In this time he enrolled with Unisa to study for a Bachelor of Arts in adminiistration, which he completed in 2002. He then registered for an honours degree in industrial psychology and graduated in 2002. This led to his appointment as a personnel officer and in 2004 he became deputy manager of service delivery: water and sanitation.
Mabunda will jet off to the United Kingdom to study for a Masters in Business Administration at Glasgow, Queen Margaret in Edinburgh.
‘Being awarded this scholarship is the defining moment of my life. By furthering my studies, I will be able to make a better contribution to my employer and my community,” said Mabunda.
Patricia Mathabe
Mathabe was born in Mamelodi West in Tshwane. She started her schooling at Refentse Primary School in 1991 and in 1992, she enrolled at Settlers Agricultural boarding school in Limpopo.
Here she had to choose between studying home economics and agricultural science. She opted to get involved in poultry, piggery and artificial insemination.
She finished school in 1996 and thereafter got a bursary from arms manufacturer Denel.
She said she is indebted to her mother and a colleague, Marietta O’ Kennedy.
‘She [mother] only had a junior certificate at the time, but continued to work hard to complete her matric and obtained a string of other qualifications such as a higher diploma in education, BA and others,” said Mathabe.
‘O’ Kennedy inspired me the first time when I visited the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for two weeks while I was in Grade 8. Her knowledge and passion for what she does got me fired up to follow in her footsteps,” she said.
And by coincidence, O’ Kennedy works at CSIR where Mathabe also works. Mathabe is a proteomics scientific researcher. Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions.
Her dream is to become the first black female proteomics specialist.