WE CHOOSE to remember her late mother by going up on stage dressed in willows and carrying a t-shirt with a message written on her death, a student of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who was graduating on Friday.
Thembisani Mntungwa, who grew up in Malukazi, near Sipingo, is graduating with a Bachelor of Social Science in Criminology and Forensic Studies degree, not even two months have passed since her mother, Ms. Nondumiso Mntungwa (40), passed away.
The t-shirt he was carrying with his mother’s picture showed that she passed away on March 21, this year.
The message was written: “The person who always inspired me more than all of them. Right now you are my guardian angel. Mom, you are the reason I am fighting today.”
Narrating the death of his mother, he said it left a big void.
“I wish she was there so that we could enjoy this moment together. We planned it, we discussed how we would celebrate it. She was my mother, a friend and very supportive,” said Mntungwa.
He said that by going on stage with a t-shirt with this message, he wanted the whole world to know that his qualifications are, well, his mother’s.
Remembering something else, he said his mother sacrificed a lot to ensure that he and his three siblings who are recovering from him were cared for properly.
“She was a domestic worker, and sometimes, she goes to sell on the street to ensure that we always have food and money to run the school,” Mntungwa recalls.
He said that even when he started his studies at the university, his mother would always call him to check how things were going and ask him about his grades.
“Those were small things that were important to me, and in difficult times, when I want to give up, I just remember that I have someone at home who believes in me a lot and who is proud of me, who wants to see me get these degrees, and become a scholar,” he said.
When he was about to graduate, he was escorted by his father as well as his grandmother.