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‘I wanted my family to be proud of me’, says BML graduate

08 December 2023 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Charl Devenish

Thabo Dithebe received his Bachelor of Management Leadership (BML) qualification during the University of the Free State’s December graduation ceremonies. His life journey of resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to embrace unexpected opportunities is an inspiring story that needs to be told.

Born in the farming community of Bothaville, Thabo initially wanted to pursue a career in engineering, and he chose maths, science, and technical subjects in high school. However, a temporary job in retail near home and experiencing the toll of retrenchment redirected his path to sales and marketing and pushed him to apply for a BML in the UFS Business School.

“When I enrolled for the BML, my childhood dream of going to university became a reality. Although the journey was not easy, it was worth pursuing,” says Thabo, who is employed as an area sales manager at Marltons Pet Care.

Balancing studies and responsibilities at home

In addition to managing the pressure of being stretched to the limit in class, Thabo also had to balance his studies with the responsibilities at home – taking care of his sick and disabled daughter.

“Balancing these commitments was always a challenge, but I was fortunate to have a supportive caregiver who understood the needs of children living with disabilities. There were tough times, especially during submission seasons when my daughter would fall ill. In those moments, I had to prioritise her health, temporarily setting aside my studies until she received proper care at the hospital,” he states.

Besides caring for his daughter and being retrenched, he also went through a breakup. Thabo believes that things could have turned out differently if he had stopped imagining and dreaming, because he had every reason to give up. He describes reaching this significant milestone in his life as ‘unreal’.

He says that he was motivated to persevere, because from the first day he enrolled, he wanted to make his family proud of him. “There were times when I asked myself if I had what it takes to complete the programme. Should I choose not to complete the course, what would I say to my son when life knocks him down, when he sees me giving up? How do I face my mother if I came back defeated? I had good people on my side who wanted me to succeed,” he says.

Ready to take on the next challenge

Having reached this significant milestone in his life, Thabo is ready for the next challenge. “I am hoping to be accepted into the PGDip in Business Administration programme for the 2024 intake,” he says.

He advises others who face challenges while pursuing their educational goals to understand that their situation is not permanent and that there is strength in adversity. “It is important to celebrate the small victories often and to associate yourself with people who work harder than you,” he adds.

On 7 December 2023, as Thabo walked across the stage, he looked for the face of his mother in the audience – a lady who made several sacrifices to raise him and his five siblings. “I hope that when she saw me, she was very proud of me,” he concludes.

News Archive

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC

2005-08-03

The UFS Central SRC

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC of the University of the Free State, Mr Tello Motloung on Wednesday 3 August 2003

The Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke,
The Vice-chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie
The Vice-Rector Student Affairs of the UFS, Dr Ezekiel Moraka
The Presidents of the main campus SRC and the Vista campus SRC
Colleagues in the Central SRC, campus SRCs, students and fellow South Africans

Please receive my heartfelt revolutionary greetings

Vice-chancellor and rector what I bring here with me assisted by facts, is just the work of my imagination. Like a love letter addressed to a sweetheart miles away, even though you do not know how she feels, what she wants to hear, and do not even know what she looks like.

I value speech as just an honest intimation, that’s why I got into a habit of establishing a dialogue with people, looking at each other’s face, and persuading one another of what we are saying.

Vice-chancellor, today marks an important milestone in the history of the existence of the UFS. Today reflects the confidence and trust that students of the UFS have placed in us. They are confident that the Central SRC has both the will and the capacity to take our university forward as we confront the challenge of transformation.

Students are confident that they are correct to trust the Central SRC as the principal agent of change in our university that is genuinely committed to the objective of building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic university. We need to frankly ask ourselves, as CSRC members, whether are we up to all these challenges?

All Central SRC members have to understand this fully, internalize it, and ensure that everything we do, does not betray the confidence and trust of students, or disappoint their expectations. I say this knowing that all Central SRC members have committed themselves to serve the students of the UFS, black and white, and no one among us (CSRC) needs any special lectures about this central commitment.

The UFS should be an omnibus, welcoming everybody on board. But we should be a bus with a clear direction. We will certainly lose our way if we, as an institution, don’t have a clear road map spelling out where we are heading to.

There should be clear guidelines on the role of students in the transformation process. Students should also be viewed as role players in transformation along with the University management, and not just opposing forces. There is no right time, other than this one, to move away from the politics of opposition to politics of transformation.

However, we need the support of management to do so. The University should value the role and contribution of student leaders, hear our legitimate claims and consider them as part of political and policy decision making.

Vice-chancellor and Rector, it remains our task to ensure that the UFS is transformed into an institution that is seen to be playing a vigilant role in developing students academically, intellectually, socially, culturally, politically and otherwise. The process of transformation is not ending tonight, it is just beginning tonight.

Judge Hancke, Prof Fourie, Dr Moraka, fellow students and fellow South Africans, I lead students at this university with a sense of pride and duty, and I know very well that I lead men and women, students who are all determined that we reach our destination safely and on time.

A navy divided within its ranks will be destroyed and vanquished by the enemy, but the navy united in purpose and action, loyalty and commitment will not sink but sail on to victory.

It is befitting to mention that every drop of my blood is telling me that the UFS is my home. I firstly became a student here, I became the SRC treasurer in my first year here, I became the deputy president here, and I became the first president of the Central SRC of the UFS.

Therefore you should never doubt my commitment towards the transformation of this university. To paraphrase what was said by students at another institution, “If there is no UFS in heaven, then I am not going.”

Let me conclude by thanking my ancestors for teaching me that even if I wined and dined with kings and queens, I am not a king myself, so I should not turn my back on people who made me what I am today.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the Almighty God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving me time and power to lead this university.

It will be theoretically irresponsible if I ended my speech without indicating that “Only a Kovsie knows the feeling”.

I thank you.

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