Together it took them more than a decade and having to rewrite their matric exams, but two students who were eventually accepted at the Durban University of Technology in 2009 will graduate cum laude on Wednesday.
Nomalungelo Ngcobo, 26, of Pietermaritzburg, who will be capped with a national diploma in library and information studies, had unsuccessfully applied to various universities every year for five years.
She then returned to high school to better her maths, business economics and biology marks, and was finally accepted by DUT in 2009.
“My advice to other students is never to give up. If you’ve ever been told not to buckle in the face of adversity, they were talking about situations like mine… Never tell yourself that you’re unworthy,” Ngcobo said.
She said she had not expected to perform as well as she had, although she had spent all her spare time studying.
Bonisiwe Dube, of Zululand, who once worked as a petrol attendant, also found the road to graduating cum laude long and winding.
Dube will receive her national diploma in cost and management accounting on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old, whose parents could not afford to pay her tuition fees, said she had been ill-informed about financial aid options and had given up on becoming an accountant.
“I worked at a garage as a petrol attendant and also worked at a supermarket after finishing high school because of financial constraints and my lack of knowledge about the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.”
Dube rewrote matric maths twice, getting a B on her third attempt in 2008, and then secured funding through the scheme.
“Until this day I don’t understand how I had failed the subject in the first place; it was the first time I had failed a subject. I then went to DUT (in 2009) and received distinctions from there on,” she said.
Dube said her age had been an advantage in excelling academically, because she was more focused than her peers and had experienced life’s challenges. - The Mercury