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Sello Molewa completed his studies in 2007, however, his degree was withheld by the University of Limpopo because of an outstanding bill. Molewa claimed he was being punished for being too poor. But eight years after his last class, an anonymous donor has settled his debt.
A terrible shock
When Molewa attended his graduation ceremony at South Africa’s University of Limpopo in 2008, he thought he would finally receive the Bachelors of Arts in Media Studies that he had worked so hard for. He aimed to use his degree towards a career in journalism. But to his surprise, the university handed him an envelope with an outstanding debt notice for R9 770 (£505). He claims to be in debt because the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s failed to fully settle his fees for the final year, but they have not confirmed this.
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Robbed of an opportunity
After being denied his degree, Molewa was forced to return to the squatter camp he was living in. He had to work menial labor jobs while his classmates, who had gotten their degrees, were able to go after more exciting opportunities. Molewa believes that if the university had given him his degree at graduation, he would have been far better off in life at this point.
An amazing response
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon ordeal. University debt is a big problem in South Africa. It has become common for schools to do this; they began to withhold degrees and results in order to force people to pay. This practice is controversial because many are poor, and it is hard enough to succeed in university. Molewa’s story was seen by an Australian man who decided to remain anonymous. The unknown man offered to pay off his debt since he had received a generous bonus and wanted to give some of it away to someone in need. This was very good news for Molewa, who is now 32, and hails from a poor family living in the rural town of Tzaneen. There is still much work to do. But now that he has his degree, he thinks that he has the ticket out of his poverty.
