How Social Media Made This Young South African Doctor’s Graduation Possible

South Africans celebrated the inspiring story of Dr Sinenhlanhla Ziqubu‘s graduation this week, after she managed to raise the outstanding R30,000 blocking her from graduating from medical school — all via social media crowdsourcing.

 

Ziqubu is one of many potential graduates facing the crippling reality of unaffordable student fees in the country.

It’s what inspired a group of young South African professionals, including media personality Maps Maponyane, to start a crowdfunding platform that makes supporting students easy and affordable.

From as little as R100, individuals and institutions can fund students who list themselves on The Bursary Network, with each one background checked and validated by the network. In three years the platform has raised R700,000, helping more than 70 students realise their dreams of tertiary education.

Actuary Isheunesu Mudzengi (25) is one of the bright minds behind the Bursary Network idea, which was created after the #Feesmustfall protests of 2015.

“We realised after the protests that the government wouldn’t come up with a solution quick enough to solve the fee funding situation, so we decided to make something possible for the public to donate as little as a hundred rand at a time,” Mudzengi told HuffPost SA.

They set up the platform with whatever funds they could pool together themselves.

“When we started we saw that government has to provide more than R42-billion in order to ensure students can get free education. If the costs keep getting higher and higher it will become something only available to the privileged few. Both corporate and government need to come together now to subsidise education. The future, as we see it, is in corporate partnerships, but only if government and corporate can do it together.”

To get involved, head to The Bursary Network site.