Mlamuli Sabela (22) of Mandawe, Scottburgh made his mother proud as he graduated Cum Laude and obtained the prestigious Dean’s Merit Award for his Diploma in Analytical Chemistry at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) 2023 Spring Graduation opening ceremony on Monday morning, 18 September 2023.

He was ecstatic to be honoured his academic excellence as he felt that all the struggles, sleepless nights and early lectures were worth it.

“A new chapter has been opened. No one knows how hard I worked and prayed for this achievement, now I’m proud to be the star of the show I created. This encourages me to continue working hard since my hardworking is finally paying off,” shared Sabela.

The top achiever believes coming from a disadvantaged background was what pushed him to work hard and dream big. Back home he dedicates his time to mentoring grade 12 learners to help them prepare for university. His dream is to see the youth from his community furthering their studies and becoming the change that is needed to alleviate poverty.

“I believe to every disadvantage there is a corresponding advantage. During holidays, I prefer to participate in voluntary activities such as teaching matriculants in my leisure time, this helps me to enhance and strengthen their skills such as communication, problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, public speaking, and personal growth,” shared Sabela.

Speaking about his career choice, Sabela said studying Analytical Chemistry at DUT was exhilarating and magnificent because he got a chance to do in-service training see how chemistry operates in actual world.

“This programme taught us some of the basic skills of life every student need such as time management, critical thinking and decision making. My journey has been fortunate enough to have full support from the Chemistry Department lecturers especially during preparation of exams. I am grateful to Dr P Ntola for assisting us in finding in-service training in companies because this is the most stressful and draining stage in completing the course since in some varsities students spend full two years at home seeking in-service spaces,” said Sabela.

Some of the challenges he faced during his studies was adapting to online lectures and he missed most of them due to poor network connection in his hometown. Sabela indicated he had to read all the slides alone during the day and had to stay up till late at night to download the recordings of his classes. Sabela kept his academic excellence a secret from his family as he wanted to surprise them as graduation.

His mother, Mrs Makhosazane Sabela-Mkhungo (41) said she was very proud when she heard her son’s name being called on stage and being applauded for his hard work.

“ I am so proud of him. He is a good example to his two younger siblings. His younger brother is in his second year at DUT and he has now challenged him to also do well in his studies. I wiish him all the best and may he continue shinning and leading by example,” she said.

Pictured: The top achiever, Mlabuli Sabela with his mother and gogo at graduation.

Photographer: Khulasande Tshayile.

Simangele Zuma