UCT announces first Uyinene Mr

Image: Lerato Maduna/UCT Website

UCT announces first Uyinene Mrwetyana Scholarship recipient

The University of Cape Town has selected Luhlanganiso Majebe as the first recipient of the scholarship named after Uyinene Mrwetyana who was brutally murdered in 2019.

UCT announces first Uyinene Mr

Image: Lerato Maduna/UCT Website

The University of Cape Town (UCT) has awarded its first recipient of the Uyinene Mrwetyana Scholarship to Luhlanganiso Majebe, a first-year student at the university.

This scholarship was established in honour of Mrwetyana, the first-year UCT student who was a victim of a brutal murder and rape in 2019 by Post Office worker Luyanda Botha. Mrwetyana was a film and media student at the time of her death

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MAJEBE REACTS TO THE GOOD NEWS

In an article on UCT’s website, Majebe detailed how she felt when she received the e-mail about the scholarship from UCT Faculty of Humanities dean Shose Kessi.

Majebe is a first-year social science student, majoring in political studies and sociology and was hoping for the news to be positive upon receiving the e-mail.

“It is my pleasure to inform you that your application for the Uyinene Mrwetyana Scholarship in 2021 has been successful, read the opening line of the e-mail sent to Majebe.”

UCT’s article also pointed out that e-mail confirmed what Majebe and her family had been praying for and that she has never been more grateful.

“I feel honoured, humbled and privileged that I have been selected to receive this scholarship. I don’t take this decision lightly, because I am well aware of the responsibility that now rests on my shoulders,” Majebe stated in the article.

Aim of the Uyinene Mrwetyana scholarship

The scholarship is an initiative of the Faculty of Humanities and has been set up in partnership with UCT’s Development and Alumni Department. It’s aimed at eligible students in the humanities faculty.

The scholarship provides wrap-around funding which covers tuition, textbooks, accommodation, as well as health and wellness, for the duration of the recipient’s undergraduate degree at UCT.

Preserving Mrwetyana’s memory

The scholarship provides Majebe the opportunity to study towards the degree of her choice in a field that fascinates her, and it provides a platform for her to raise awareness of gender-based violence in South Africa, and she wants to preserve Mrwetyana’s memory

“It is important that everyone understands the impact Uyinene’s tragic passing has had on UCT, South Africa and society. This scholarship is a way of propagating her legacy within the university, and to help fight GBV,” said Majebe.