Johannesburg - Wits University will courier the academic records of struggling honours student Thobeka Sinxo to her without charge.
Sinxo, 25, graduated from Wits with a BA honours in June but could not afford to attend the ceremony because she lives in Motherwell, Eastern Cape, and is unemployed.
She has been struggling to look for a job because she does not have a copy of her degree and academic transcript.
Sinxo couldn’t afford to travel to Joburg to collect her academic records, and in order to raise funds, she decided to write an e-book Ezintakeni: A Literary Rite of Passage.
The book has eight short stories and 13 journals that document her life in the Motherwell community.
It costs R50 and she uses her cellphone to send it to interested readers.
After The Star reported on her plight on Wednesday, Wits decided to send Sinxo her degree at no charge.
Virginia Stirk, the head of postgraduate admissions, said Sinxo didn’t attend her graduation ceremony on June 30 and that Wits usually posted the academic transcripts.
“But we have stopped sending the degrees by post because they get lost in the post and for other security reasons. It has been hard for her to get the degree because she doesn’t have any family in Johannesburg,” Stirk said.
She said that because Sinxo, who paid her tuition with a partial scholarship, didn’t owe the institution any outstanding fees, the degree and transcript would be couriered to her home in Motherwell.
Readers of The Star also contacted Sinxo, offering to assist her.
“I am so relieved,” Sinxo said. “I feel like my situation is not that bad and there are people willing to help. I was even contacted by a guy from Congo who wanted to pay for the round trip to Joburg. I am so grateful.”
She added that orders for her book had been coming in as well.
“I’ve received about 30 orders for the book. I didn’t think that would happen.”