“There is no peace greater than knowing that your tuition fees are being paid. NSFAS was the last hope I had, so I made sure I did not play with the opportunity”
“I grew up in Matangari village, in Venda, Limpopo. I had six siblings and we were raised by a single mother after our father had passed on. My mother was a vendor who sold fruit and vegetables at the local market. As a last born in our home, I was very close to her and started selling vegetables with her from as early as Grade 2 in primary school. Everyday after school, I went to sell vegetables next to the road and at the market. My mother believed that they only way for us to get out of poverty, was through education. After passing Grade 12 in 1997, I took a bus to Gauteng and arrived at Technikon Northern Gauteng (Now Tshwane University of Technology. I applied for Journalism and had a problem when later on the institution wanted a registration fee, which I did not have. I resorted to selling hot dogs in Soshanguve in order to raise the registration fee. I paid my registration fee from this type of fund-raising.
Someone informed me about the presence of NSFAS on campus and the services they offered. I had a handwritten letter with me, from a local herdsman back home in Venda, which was a document I used as official notification that my father was deceased. I used this letter to apply and was excited when I was told that my application was successful. I saw a computer for the first time in my life at tertiary. For the whole duration of the course, I studied hard, because I had the peace of knowing that my tuition fees were being taken care of. I graduated in 2000 and got internship at the Department of Transport, where I was later offered a job as a Communication Officer and Speechwriter for Minister Kader Asmal. I became Deputy Director of Communications at Department of Transport and after Minister Kader Asmal left, I joined the Department of Human Settlement as Director of Communications and later worked for the Department of Defence as Head of Communications and Spokesperson for Minister Lindiwe Sisuslu. I moved with the Minister back to the Department of Human Settlement, where I am still Head of Communications. I also own a Guest House and Resort business that employs 32 people, who are able to support their families”.
“NSFAS was my father, in the absence of my late father. NSFAS turned a young man who used to go around with a handwritten letter from a herdsman in the rural village, confirming his family situation, to a man that I have become today. After I received the NSFAS funding, I was free from worrying about where my next tuition fee would come from. I was now able to concentrate on my studies. There is no peace greater than knowing that your tuition fees are being paid. NSFAS was the last hope I had, so I made sure I did not play with the opportunity. In my whole three years at the university, I never touched alcohol or smoked. That is how much I wanted to make the most from the support I was getting from NSFAS. I started paying back my NSFAS loan while I was still an intern because I did not want to deny other students the opportunity I got from NSFAS. Students who are supported by NSFAS must cherish the funding they receive and work extra hard. They must be grateful for this opportunity”.
