The road to seven distinctions

by | Jan 22, 2025 | Featured 1

The Matric Class of 2024 broke numerous records, and one in their number achieved it all at just 16. 

Meet Ngeletshedzo Mutwanamba. She considers herself a simple girl who likes reading and listening to music. But these hobbies and her social life took a back seat so she could achieve something extraordinary.  

At just 16 years of age, Ngeletshedzo has managed to pass Grade 12 with a remarkable seven distinctions, becoming the top achiever of her school, Blue Hills College. Her high school journey, marked by the challenges of the covid-19 pandemic and constant load shedding, was anything but easy. 

Achieving seven distinctions in Grade 12 involved little sleep and a seemingly unending workload.  

“I had to make sure that I was able to manage my time because the minute you start making things pile up everything just goes crazy. So, I really had to make sure that I was able to stick to what I wanted to do for the day,” she said. 

As the year went on, Mutwanamba found that she got lazier, another mental barrier she had to overcome. “My motivation was the distinction at the end of the day. I knew that if I did not do (an assignment) at that exact moment I might be costing myself a distinction in the next coming year,” said Mutwanamba. She added that she aimed for eight distinctions, but “unfortunately” only achieved seven.  

Mutwanamba started her high school journey in 2020, the year of the covid-19 pandemic, a huge shift for her personal and academic life. 

“It was the first year of high school, a whole new environment for me…now all of a sudden there’s this disease, now I can’t go to school, and I personally enjoy seeing the teacher physically,” she said, stating that online Zoom meetings were not ideal. 

Due to the pandemic, her school implemented a system where different grades attended on different days, which in turn meant that the curriculum was cut short. “…I actually missed out on fundamental things that would have really helped me out in Matric,” said Mutwanamba, as some of these fundamentals include core elements of English and Mathematics. 

Social distancing restrictions eventually eased in 2022, but it was the same year that load shedding became a very frustrating issue as South Africa experienced 205 days of load shedding.

“Load shedding was quite the killer,” she said, as the load reductions would delay her from doing work at certain times.  The blackouts also meant that she would have to work in the dark using rechargeable lights and plan her days in advance.

An early start at school and skipping a grade five were indicators of Mutwanamba’s smarts, but for her, seeing a friend achieve a 90% pass in their grade eight year is what fuelled her further. This drive culminated in a Mutwanamba donning the coveted white blazer at her school for being the top achiever.  

When asked what advice she would give to people pursuing their dreams, she said, “Always remember your goals…. If you remember the reason why you are there in the first place, if you’re in school the reason why you chose a specific subject. If you’re working the reason why you applied for that job…there’s that specific reason that pushed, you to make that choice. So, remember that reason, remember the goals you set for yourself.”  

Mutwanamba will go on to study Computer Sciences at the University of Pretoria this year. 

FEATURED IMAGE: Photo of Ngeletshedzo Mutwanamba with her parents. Photo: Lungile Makiza.

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Res students struggle through load shedding

by | Mar 14, 2014 | News

Res students were among the worst affected on campus by last week’s load shedding, since faulty generators caused them to experience power outages for longer than other areas.

“Some of the East and West campus generators have been faulty from time to time,” according to Rob Sharman, director of Campus Housing & Residence Life.

Residences ready for blackouts

With no lights in their rooms, some Jubilee Hall and Trinity House residents made the trek to West campus which has its own main generator so they could study, while others moved their desks and laptops into the corridors, where backup generators provided light.

Not all residences experienced power cuts. According to Sharman, most of the Parktown residences have not had night-time outages as these were only scheduled “on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6am-12pm, if necessary”.

He explains that residences are not served by one main generator. “The main campus residences are, however, connected to the generator house alongside the Wits Theatre. In addition, Girton, Medhurst, Reith and Wits Junction all have huge permanent generator capacity and Noswal Hall’s lights are all on a new generator.”

[pullquote]“They don’t even have those lamps that most educational institutions have in case of no power. In fact, when there was no power people were congregating outside to share light and have company since there is practically nothing you can do when the power is out”[/pullquote]

The university is also looking at installing generators at Esselen and Braamfontein. Sharman, however, rejected claims of students having to eat dinner off campus due to power outages during dinner time.

All the dining halls have generators and use gas to cook their meals. He said the only problems have been with access to the meal booking system, so students have had to produce their student cards and sign lists to access meals.

Safety, a concern for students

A number of students complained to Wits Vuvuzela of not feeling safe when walking from one part of campus to the other in the dark. However, Campus Control director Rob Kemp said there are a number of security measures in place, advertised on campus and on the university website. “We have 24 hour patrol, on foot and in vehicles, as well as a dog section and during power outages all personnel on duty are put on extra alert.”

There is also a Safe Walk programme available to students. “We encourage students to use it. They just have to phone the control room and request an escort from the library to their res, from the dining hall to their res or anywhere across campus.”

Students remain hesitant about future load shedding

Despite these efforts, many students still have hesitations about future power outages.

“They don’t even have those lamps that most educational institutions have in case of no power. In fact, when there was no power people were congregating outside to share light and have company since there is practically nothing you can do when the power is out,” said Silindokuhle Mavuso, geology and palaeontology honours, who stays in International House residence.

Many will resort to studying in other parts of campus to beat the next series of blackouts.

Sipho Malinga, 2nd year BSc Construction Studies, from Men’s Residence Hall said last time it happened, he couldn’t study and “plans to work on West campus when the load shedding happens again”.

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Wits Vuvuzela: Lights out for Witsies. March 7, 2014