NMMU student’s dream comes true
Anonymous attorney sponsors desperate Limpopo teen after Herald report
AN NMMU student who thought her dreams of a higher education were dashed after being denied government financial aid will start university all smiles today, thanks to an anonymous donor. An attorney was so touched by Limpopo student Lucy Mathebula’s plight that he offered to sponsor her studies this year. Mathebula, 18, who spoke of her disappointment at her failed National Students Financial Aid Scheme application last week, on Friday had her tuition and residence registration fees paid by the attorney and was treated to a shopping spree for some basic necessities. The 67-year-old attorney said while reading The Herald’s story on Mathebula and another student, Rudzani Mautunga, 20, he had been touched by Mathebula’s words. “I normally read my Herald in the evening. So when I read what the student was saying about sometimes going to bed with an empty stomach, I knew I had to so something to help,” he said. The attorney said although he was now privileged, he knew what it meant to live without and so he felt the pain of the students. “I didn’t grow up privileged. There were times I went to school without shoes and went to school in winter [wearing] shorts ... because my mother didn’t have the money,” he said. The attorney called The Herald on Friday, asking the newspaper to facilitate a meeting with Mathebula to see how he could help.
The desperate Mathebula was quick to heed the call and met the attorney and told him her story. By the end of the day, Mathebula’s accommodation and tuition registration fee of R8 800 was paid. She will study for a national diploma in mechanical engineering. Mathebula also went on a R4 000 shopping spree at Greenacres on Saturday for clothes, bedding, toiletries and other necessities. “I don’t know how I would have been able to get all of these things. God is really good, I am so grateful,” an emotional Mathebula said. The attorney said the shopping was important for Mathebula’s selfesteem so that she would be able to fit in with other students. He called on other attorneys to avail themselves to assist struggling students. “I hope that other attorneys come and show a helping hand. “I hope that they follow through, because they are able to do so,” he said.
