South Africa: Kagiso Trust Scholarship Benefits Rural Students

	Email This Page Print This Page Comment on this article Visit The Publisher's Site

BuaNews (Tshwane)

24 April 2008
Posted to the web 24 April 2008

Bathandwa Mbola
Pretoria

About nine students from the most rural and disadvantaged villages in the country have received funding to study their three or four year degrees in the scarce skills sectors.

Awarded by the Kagiso Trust, the Eric Molobi Scholarship Programme funds cover books, educational equipment, accommodation, transport, administrative and management expenses.

In addition the scholars are presented with an opportunity to integrate theoretical and practical experiences with the Kagiso Group companies for the duration of their undergraduate studies.

Speaking during the official welcoming of the second intake of the students to the Kagiso Trust hosted at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria on Wednesday, First Lady Zanele Mbeki, who is also a patron of the trust, encouraged the learners to succeed.

"We [Kagsiso Trust] are really committed in investing and developing education in this country ... and it is for this reason we are investing in you because we believe you have what it takes to develop this country," Ms Mbeki said.

The First Lady told learners that South Africans were looking up to them to change it for the better while giving back to their communities.

Kagiso Trust Chief Operations Officer (COO) Themba Mola told BuaNews that the programme was set up with the vision of creating a viable, vibrant network of business and science by 2019.

"These leaders would support, inspire and be the vocal social conscience in their fields by consistently reminding their peers that financial success demands redressing socio-economic injustice, if it to be sustainable," Mr Mola said.

According to Mr Mola, when you arm young people with education, you arm them with the world, adding that the trust believed that investing in educating the youth would eradicate poverty.

With this in mind he said the scholars were encouraged but not exclusively, to study towards a degree in the property and construction sectors so that they could play a role in the delivery of houses, which was one of the country's greatest challenges.

Fulufhelo Khangale, 18, from the Lwamondo village has benefited from the trust.

Studying towards a degree in Civil Engineering at the Tshwane University of Technology, Ms Khangale comes from humble beginnings.

Speaking to BuaNews during the welcoming function, Ms Khangale said that her family comprised of six members who were all dependent on the deceased father's pension payout.

"My mother supplements the family's income by selling fruit and vegetables," she said, adding that although there were serious challenges in the family, she strived to overcome this.

Ms Khangale said she always wanted to obtain the impossible, in this regard she believed her qualification would enable her to plough back to her community.

She plans to go back to her home town and among other things, serve her community by sharing her knowledge.

Another student, Mboneni Dzimbae, 20, who is studying towards a degree in Mining Engineering at the University of Witwatersrand said since the funds his life has changed.

"When I got here [Gauteng], I did not know how to communicate in English but through perseverance and dedication I can now communicate with confidence. I also never thought that one day I would study in a university," he said proudly.

Before coming to Johannesburg for his studies, Mr Dzimbae from Thoyandou, stayed with his grandmother whose main source of income was the state's social grant.

He indicated that his mother passed away when he was preparing for his Grade 11 trial examination.

However, he believes that his mother's passing strengthened his character and motivated him to excel in his school work.

The Kagiso Trust was established in 1985 with funds from the European Union's Special Programme for the Support of Victims of Apartheid.

It is non-partisan in character and promotes non-racialism, reconstruction and development in South Africa.

The trust seeks to improve the quality of life of the poor and marginalised and regards development as an integral part of transformation and social change, especially in the context of the history of deprivation and poverty faced by millions of South Africans.

Read comments. Write your own.

AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.

Share this on: Facebook Digg Del.icio.us StumbleUpon Muti

Copyright © 2008 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >>

Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account

Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.