Patrick Xaba is determined to complete his matric before he dies.
The 65-year-old pensioner from KwaThema in Ekurhuleni dropped out of school in the late 70s while in Grade 9 to pursue a life of crime -- which saw him being in and out of prison all the time serving short sentences for petty offences like shoplifting.
In 1997 he was arrested in Springs for robbery and imprisoned. He served 12 years before he was released in 2010.
While at Modderbee Correctional Services he enrolled in Grade 9 and passed but was then transferred to Johannesburg Central Prison. He dropped out as he became part of a gang.
"I had to focus on surviving prison and coming out alive," he said.
"Deep down I knew I was making a wrong decision by dropping out but the environment in prison didn't allow me any space to focus on my studies."
After his release in 2010, the urge to study came back as he tried to pick up the pieces to rebuild his life and rebrand himself as a law-abiding citizen.
It took him another 12 years to finally enrol for a Level 4 which is equivalent to Grade 9 to study further. It took this long because his ego would not allow him to study with youngsters and he kept postponing the idea.
"An Abet teacher who knew me while I was growing up encouraged me to enrol for lessons. I finally submitted to the pressure and I enrolled for Level 3 last year.
"Unfortunately I passed only four of the six subjects I was admitted to, but this encouraged me to go back and fight even harder," he said.
Xaba is currently enrolled in mathematics, EMS and isiZulu and juggles his lessons with being a hawker.
After completing matric he is hoping to study towards a qualification in law which will make it possible for him to interpret the law better.
He told Scrolla.Africa that the journey to acquiring his matric is taking longer than normal, but he refuses to die before achieving that objective.
"It doesn't matter how long it takes but I am going to stay alive until I matriculate. I am not going to die without my matric," he said.
