ZIWAPHI • VOL 4 NO 1 • 15-28 JANUARY 2010

MNBOMBELA

Amidst the gloom of achieving the lowest pass rate in the country, three Mpumalanga matriculants had reason to celebrate: they scored full marks in one subject each.

Because of the late printing of Mpumalanga’s results, they only knew about these achievements by Thursday and not their overall results.

Muzi Tshabalala (16) was the star of the day when he was praised by Mpumalanga MEC for education Reginah Mhaule during a special handover ceremony for scoring 100% in maths.

Tshabalala, who wrote his exams at the rural Khutsalani Secondary School in KaBokweni near White River, said his secret was having a personal time table for his studies.

“My time table helped me to allocate time properly. And I only had one hour for watching television per day,” said Muzi, adding that he was “over the moon” with the trophy he received for Mhaule.

Muzi said although maths was his “easiest subject”, he had never rested until he got all his formulas right.

Attending classes on Saturday also helped Muzi to gain an in-depth understanding of what he had been taught during the week.

“I also need to thank my teachers for giving us the extra hours. That really assisted. Now I am going to the University of Pretoria to study actuarial and financial mathematics,” he said proudly.

Friends Mareli Olivier (18) and Naomi Smit (18) from Hoerskool Nelspruit were equally elated about scoring full marks in history.

“We are both going to the University of Pretoria. We find it amazing to be among the best matriculants in history in the country,” Mareli said.

She wants to study journalism while Naomi wants to do consumer studies.

Another proud matriculant from a rural area was Jamela Mthembu, who wrote her exams at ML Nkuna High School in Mkhuhlu township in Bushbuckridge.

Jamela scored 269 out of a potential 300 in agricultural science, which qualifies as a distinction.

“I was shocked when I received a call late last night that I should come and receive this trophy. For me, there is no other secret except hard work. I had nothing else on my mind except for my studies,” said Jamela.

She said her father, Andrew Mthembu, supported her during the year, ensuring that she had enough text books for her subjects.

“There were no adequate texts books at school. Some of them were not even correct for the curriculum but my father managed to help me,” she said.

Jamela is on her way to the University of the Witwatersrand to study medicine.

She said although all their subjects’ results would only be released officially on Friday, she was confident that she did well enough in the other subjects to qualify for her studies to become a doctor.

Bright stars lift the matric gloom