Zululand medical student laid to rest
IT was an emotional send-off for fifth year Zululand medical student Cebo Makhaye who was laid to rest in his hometown in Manguzi last week.
The 23-year-old straight A student was one of two students who drowned in a swimming pool in Cuba earlier this month.
He was described as an intelligent young man, a perfectionist and someone who excelled in all that he did.
‘We always knew that he would make it in life in a big way. He was just incredibly intelligent. You only had to teach him something once, and it would be in his head,’ said Zakhele Zwane, Makhaye’s former teacher at Hambisanani High School.
Echoing Zwane's sentiments, teacher Christine Mthembu of Malangabi Primary school said: ‘There was never any doubt that Cebo would go a long way in life. He had it in him. He was academically gifted. We were looking forward to him becoming a doctor. But it was not to be.’
Makhaye had just 18 months’ experiential training in South Africa left to complete before graduating as a doctor.
One of Makhaye’s three sisters S’ne said: ‘He gave us hope. He was just the best. Only the Lord knows why this had to happen. We know that God is with us. This, too, will come to pass. What is most painful is that he was so young,’ she said.
‘We know that there is a shortage of doctors in our country, like in other parts of the world. In Cebo, we had pinned many hopes,' said Umhlabuyalingana Mayor Nkululeko Mthethwa
‘We hope that Cebo’s life story will encourage others to get up and go and study.'