Tafadzwa moved to South Africa from Zimbabwe in early 2009. Arriving in Port Elizabeth he struggled to gain grade ten admission into a public school and started self-study Life Sciences, Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the local library to keep up to date with the syllabus.
He was eventually admitted at Paterson High School in May 2009 and ended the year as the top grade ten pupil and remained top of the class and grade up to his matric year.
He also completed the Geography grade 10 – 12 syllabus on his own as it clashed with his Accounting timetable and was also the only learner to write the matric Mathematics paper 3, also mainly self-study.
He advises his peers, students, scholars and alumni to not give up on themselves in the face of adversity. “There was a large number of people who grew up in my community both in Zimbabwe and South Africa (Port Elizabeth and northern areas), who looked up to me and if I gave up, I was simply giving up on them”, he shared.
Tafadzwa is an active alumnus, Student Alumni Society mentor and an ambassador for Nelson Mandela University. During his studies he received support from the Alumni Association Bursary Fund and is a great role model to encourage and promote alumni giving that can support struggling undergraduate students, not covered by NSFAS, as well as postgraduate students.
We wish him well on his life journey and encourage fellow alumni share similar stories as well as to support the Alumni Fund to support more deserving students.