Commitment conquers all for township achievers
● Shack fires destroyed Cape Town pupil Melani Lallo’s home twice during her matric year. Unable to handle the loss, her mother committed suicide.
But Lallo, 19, from Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay, Cape Town, shed tears of joy on Friday when she attained a bachelor pass.
She was among thousands of residents who were displaced by fires in the informal settlement — and who are still struggling to rebuild their lives. Her school, Silikamva High, achieved a 72% pass rate.
“I am really excited. I intend studying dental technology but I was selected to go and work in Germany for a year, so I am taking a gap year,” said Lallo.
She said 2017 was her worst year. “I lost my home twice, in March and in July. In March I was able to save everything I needed, but in July I lost everything except for the clothes I was wearing. Shortly after that I lost my mother,” she said. “I almost gave up.”
Deputy principal Dianne Morgan said teachers could not recover the time lost when pupils stayed away to rebuild their homes.
“The second fire was too devastating for Melani’s mother to handle and she committed suicide. But Melani wrote the exams and passed, we are very proud of her,” she said.
Nothando Dlamini, 18, wept for almost 20 minutes after seeing her results. She also got a bachelor pass but she will not be studying further this year because she did not apply to universities.
While many matriculants look forward to freedom and a new adventure at university, the top pupil from Durban’s Menzi High School is just excited about having running water and electricity.
The son of a street-sweeper, Thembelani Dlamini, 17, earned seven distinctions and a spot to study mechatronics at the University of Cape Town.
Living in a student residence would be a far cry from the one-room shack he shares with his mother and three younger brothers in Umlazi, south of Durban.
“Just the thought of having running water and electricity is easing my fear about moving away from home. I am excited about having those things,” he said.
Menzi High School, which has maintained a 100% pass rate for several years, starts at 6.30am and ends at 4pm for matric pupils. But teachers stayed until 6pm daily so he could study.
“I just didn’t have anywhere to study at my home. It is a shack. I used to try to get up early so I could study when my brothers were asleep, but that didn’t work. But the school was always here for me and that really helped,” he said.
For Mandisa Xaba, 18, from Sakhelwe High School in Ezakheni township in Ladysmith, being named top student from a nofee school was the realisation of a promise she made to her father before he died 10 years ago.
Xaba, who obtained seven distinctions, said it was her father’s wish that she be among the best pupils in South Africa when she matriculated. He died when she was in Grade 3.
“My father wanted me to become a better person and he wanted me to make him proud and I had to pull up my socks and not let circumstances define me. So I decided to stand up and work towards my goal of being the best person I could be, and to live my purpose in this life.”
She said she had grown up poor in eSitholeni village in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Xaba hopes to obtain a BSc in computer science and physics at UCT.