‘This is my mother’s graduation’

08 April 2019 | Story Carla Bernardo. Photo Brenton Geach. Read time 9 min.
Ntebogang Segone says his graduation belongs to his mother.
Ntebogang Segone says his graduation belongs to his mother.

There are many parts to Ntebogang Segone’s graduation story: Small-town boy heads to the Mother City to pursue his academic dreams. Or, comeback kid proves he deserves his place at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Possibly: How the student leader managed to juggle it all. But, ultimately, Segone’s 17 April graduation is all about one woman.

Reflecting on a recent conversation with a friend, Segone said there are certain things that young, black students need to accept do not belong to them. One of these is graduation.

“My graduation is not for me … this graduation is my mother’s,” the proud Bachelor of Science (BSc) graduand said.

His mother, Lettie Segone, has always been his number one supporter, and this degree is her return on investment.

Despite growing up in Vuyolethu Shelters in Kimberley with no electricity and just three communal taps shared between 45 shacks, Segone best remembers his mother’s resilience.

On her domestic worker’s salary, she single-handedly raised seven children – her two and her sibling’s five. When she lost her job, she joined a stokvel so that there was always food in the house like tinned fish, baked beans and chicken on Sundays.

“One could say that I lived a very poor life, but for me … I lived a good and happy life,” he recalled.

His mother also stretched her salary to ensure her children enjoyed access to quality education at Kimberley Boys’ and Girls’ high schools.

It was there that Segone thrived, particularly in mathematics for which he received a distinction in matric. His results ensured him a place at UCT.

A place to call home

But like many students, he struggled to secure funding for tuition, accommodation and food. Immediately after receiving his matric results, Segone was in and out of the Northern Cape Premier's office seeking assistance. All along, Mam’Lettie was there for support.

 

“I said to God, if I get the funding, this is your sign to tell me [I’m] going to UCT.”

Fortunately, because of a long working relationship with the Premier’s Office, which included co-founding a tutoring programme, Segone was able to secure R70 000. While this wasn’t enough to cover all his expenses, he saw it as “a sign from God”.

“I said to God, if I get the funding, this is your sign to tell me [I’m] going to UCT.”

With the funding, his mother’s blessing and the promise of temporary accommodation with his friend Prince Nwadeyi, Segone took the bus from Kimberley to Cape Town, the longest trip he had made on his own.

While on the waiting list for a place in residence, Segone stayed with Nwadeyi. He ate jam sandwiches most days with the occasional dining hall leftovers as a treat from fellow students.

As orientation week (O-Week) approached and still without a place to call home, Segone considered off-campus accommodation. But the cheapest room he could find was R3 000 a month. Although his mother offered to pay – it was R600 more than her monthly salary – Segone couldn’t accept her generosity.

Instead, he decided to enjoy O-Week. If, by the end of it there was still no accommodation, he’d return to Kimberley with, at the very least, memories of a fun week at UCT.

A few days before the start of term, he heard he’d got into Kilindini Residence. But the biggest test was yet to come.

Second chance

At registration, Segone was surprised to discover that he needed to choose a second major and electives. Without much thought or time, he chose physics as his second major.

“I came here thinking that I was only going to do maths,” he said, pointing to the lack of preparedness that can come with being the first in your family to enrol at a university.

“It just prepared me for destruction … I was doing something that I hated.”

 

“There is just this ongoing cycle of poverty in my family and I need to break it.”

Faced with courses he had felt rushed to choose, along with little understanding of how the university functioned and its support structures, Segone was academically excluded in his first year.

He knew he could do better, but his application for readmission was unsuccessful. Once he found out the reasons, he approached Professor Hugh Corder who was dealing with his case. He laid bare the realities of his situation.

“I just poured my heart out to him. I explained that this degree is not for myself, it is for my family as well.

“There is just this ongoing cycle of poverty in my family and I need to break it.”

On Corder’s advice, Segone spoke to the Faculty of Science’s assistant dean, Associate Professor David Gammon. Two days later, he received an email saying he had been reinstated on a probationary basis.

“Basically, I had six months to prove to the university that I deserved to be here.”

It was time to shine.

He changed his academic programme, swapping physics for a politics and governance major, stuck to a timetable and took full advantage of lectures, tutorials and other support structures.

Outside of academics, he served as co-chair of the Institutional Forum and successfully ran for the Studentsʼ Representative Council under the campaign slogan, “I represent you, I am you”. During their tenure, the SRC helped raise over R2 million for students in financial difficulty.

“I was like, I have to show off. You give me a second chance... honey, I will smash it.”

Comeback kid

By the end of his six-month probation, Segone had proven to UCT that he was indeed “worthy”.

He finished the probation period with an 80% average, attended two international leadership programmes, was elected president of the Black Management Forum, and finished the academic year with a 70% average.

This is my mother’s graduation’
After his six-month probationary, Segone achieved an 80% average.

And come 17 April, he will graduate on the Dean’s Merit List in recognition of constant academic excellence.

“When I saw my name on the Merit List I was shook. It is one of the greatest achievements,” he said.

 

“As a black individual, you need to understand that you are here at the university to get a better job, so you can provide for your family.”

Segone has since started his honours in public administration and policy. And while he would like to study further, he plans to enter the workplace as soon as he graduates again in a year’s time.

“I’m black at the end of the day. As a black individual, you need to understand that you are here at the university to get a better job, so you can provide for your family.

“I would love to study further but in reality, as a poor person, I just don’t have the luxury.”

Should there be a way he can study further and send money home, Segone would certainly consider a longer life in academia.

But for now, he’s trying to play catch-up with his family on graduation preparations.

So far, six family members will join the celebrations in Cape Town. Among those attending are his mother and his sister. Their plans for the family’s first university graduation began as early as January 2017.

“They were talking about outfits; how great it’s going to be… They are so excited.”

 Segone also has one more obstacle to overcome – finding  his own perfect outfit.

“Last year, when my friends were graduating, I was like, girl, boy, you don’t have your graduation outfit? Get a life!” he laughed.

“And now, I’m the one struggling to find a graduation outfit.”


Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Please view the republishing articles page for more information.


Highlights from 2019

 

As we look back on 2019, we celebrate the top 40 stories that were most popular with readers of the UCT News website during the year.




Prestigious scholarship for star pupil Prospective UCT student Terrell Demorgan has been awarded the inaugural Daniel Samuel Maseko Memorial Scholarship for 2020. 31 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
UCT adds Khoekhoegowab to its language courses UCT announced during its Africa Month celebrations the addition of Khoekhoegowab, the indigenous Khoisan language, to its multilingual short courses. 30 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
UCT in top 1.3% globally UCT ranks best in Africa, according to the latest Center for World University Rankings. 30 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Touch down for SA’s banking Siri Four UCT students have developed a one-stop banking shop that performs banking transactions, monitors account activity and speaks four South African languages. 30 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Warm response to Moloi-Motsepe’s election as chancellor Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe has been elected as the University of Cape Town’s sixth chancellor. She will take up the position from 1 January 2020. 29 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
UCT tops in Africa in all five major rankings UCT took the top spot in South Africa and jumped back into the 201–300 band in the latest ShanghaiRankingʼs Academic Ranking of World Universities 2019. 28 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
UCT best in Africa in world rankings UCT has been ranked the best university on the continent in the 2020 US News Best Global Universities rankings. 27 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Cape Town’s drought under the microscope PhD candidate Precious Mahlalela dedicated her masterʼs thesis to understanding the cause of the Mother City’s recent drought and received recognition in a top international journal. 27 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
SA’s first ‘LinkedIn for creatives’ Three UCT Commerce students have designed an online platform that gives creative professionals a way to network and share their work with a vast audience. 27 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Common contraceptive could raise TB risk A breakthrough study at UCT has revealed that one of the country’s most commonly used injectable contraceptives could potentially increase users’ risk of contracting tuberculosis. 26 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
UCT graduates ‘highly sought after’ UCT Careers Service’s Graduate Exit Survey confirms that the university’s graduates remain “highly sought after”, with only about 10% of the 2018 class still seeking jobs. 25 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Levelling the maths, physics playing field Thabang Sebetoane’s brainchild, the tutoring project Tshehetso, uses coaching and mentoring to prepare potential engineering students for success at university. 24 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Dual degree was ‘a juggling act’ With diligence and perseverance, UCT student Kira Düsterwald simultaneously graduated with her degree in medicine and her masterʼs in neuroscience. 24 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Balance key to two-in-one degree Balance was key to UCT’s Nicola Steinhaus graduating with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree concurrently. 24 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
UCT master’s degrees pull international students A significant number of UCT’s 605 new international students in 2019 have signed up for master’s degree programmes, a trend that’s evident across all six academic faculties. 23 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
‘This is my mother’s graduation’ While it’s his name on the degree, Ntebogang Segone says his 17 April graduation belongs to his mother. 23 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
New ‘fully funded’ scholarship for top young researchers UCT's new Vice-Chancellor Research Scholarship will support and develop the university's top young researchers as they tackle society's most pressing challenges. 23 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Hon doc for maths ‘trailblazer’ Phakeng VC Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng says her honorary doctorate from the University of Bristol is “a recognition of the many people who made me, those I represent”. 22 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Student’s urine-recovery system for R600m building In a first for South Africa, a urine-recovery urinal system developed at UCT has been incorporated into the design of a R600-million Centurion office building. 21 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Tackling the fake qualifications threat Universities and employers in South Africa have a vital tool to tackle the fake qualifications menace, thanks to the country’s world-first online verification system MiE. 20 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Changing face of UCT infrastructure A new 500-bed residence, an education building and a redeveloped North Bus Stop are among seven new developments in the pipeline to meet UCT’s needs to 2035. 20 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Student’s 3D-printer plan to change education UCT student Denislav Marinov has big plans for democratising quality education in South Africa, one 3D printer at a time. 20 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Black women academics: ‘Stay in the system’ Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng’s plea to young black women academics ahead of Women’s Day is that they “stay in the system” to change the status quo in academia. 19 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
UCT back in top 10 for development studies UCT has moved up two places in the 2019 QS World University Rankings by Subject, to reclaim its position in the top 10. 19 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
‘Something is deeply wrong with our society’ During a memorial service for Uyinene Mrwetyana, UCT chancellor, Mrs Graça Machel, said South Africa faces a deeply rooted problem and needs help. 19 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Students share their top study tips With just over a week to go before exams start, UCT students share their tried and tested tips for study success. 18 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Leverage privilege to change education, Madonsela urges Apartheid has cast a huge shadow over the country, particularly education, and it will need all of society to break the cycle of poverty. 18 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
UCT says ‘Enough is enough’ at Parliament picket UCT students and staff were joined by members of the public in a picket at Parliament to protest escalating sexual and gender-based violence. 18 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Matric maths pass rate poses significant challenge for universities Universities may have to swop targeted interventions for systemic change if they are to successfully graduate the strongest students currently exiting the South African school system. 17 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Solving SA’s literacy crisis An education expert told UCT Summer School participants that thereʼs no quick fix for South Africaʼs literacy crisis. It will take time and hard work. 17 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
Racism and ‘xenophobia’: 10 key points UCT News highlighted 10 key points from UCT PhD candidate Ivan Katsere’s op-ed on the centrality of racism in violence against African migrants. 17 Dec 2019 Highlight from 2019
TOP