Four of the nine students supported through MEC Desbo Mohono’s intervention initiative have graduated at Taung College of Agriculture (TAC). This took place on Friday, 17 June 2022 at the much-jubilated graduation ceremony hosted by the college. The students were part of a team of nine and a class of 2019 intake who were identified from indigent households across the province. They were offered a bursary and a placed to study at TAC. The four have bagged their 3-year Diplomas of Agriculture in Irrigation on record time.
In 2019, after various engagements with young people, the North-West MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Desbo Mohono observed the interest of agriculture in many young people. The challenge, as raised by many at that time, was that of lack of funding to pursue their studies. It was then that she offered, through her office’s intervention, a bursary for those who were in dire need.
One of the students, from a group of four who graduated, is Nomalanga Sibinda from Pudumong village just outside Taung. Since finishing her matric, Sibinda said she struggled for some time as she did not have funds to pursue her studies. Although she had agriculture as one of her matric subjects, she did not consider it that much as her line of career. It was one of her former teachers who tipped her of MEC Mohono’s initiative and she grabbed the opportunity. “Whilst I was home, a teacher told me that MEC Mohono was talking in one her engagements about the desire to assist interested students to further their studies. I applied and I was fortunate to be accepted. I have a single parent who struggle to support me because of minimal job opportunities available and I was excited to get this opportunity, and this was also a relief to her,” Sibinda further explained.
Sibinda said her love for agriculture grew over time and she does not see herself anywhere besides in that field. She alluded that she is following (through digital media) a lot of young people who are in the field and are doing well. She is comfortable about the fact that many of these young people are modernising the sector thus creating a lot of interest for their peers especially females.
She asserted that agriculture was her home, and she was planning to make her mark within the sector with the acquired knowledge. The other four students who benefited and were graduating are Lesalagae Moranang from Lekubung in Zeerust, Zandi Dladla who also hails from Pudumong and Olebogeng Motshegare from Rustenburg.
MEC Mohono said she was proud to have made education accessible for these four kids. “These young people have managed to grab the opportunity and have completed their Diploma on record time. It is said that when you make education inaccessible, you make prosperity only possible for the already prosperous,” MEC Mohono said.
She further congratulated all the graduates and declared her pleasure at seeing young people acquiring knowledge irrespective of their challenges. “This is a special day for our children who have toiled the soil for about three tough years. These graduates are proceeding under tumultuous and boisterous times of COVID 19. They are rare breeds and we are proud of them, and this shows that our Taung and Potchefstroom Colleges produce not only students, but characters that can man-up and stand facing the entire world with its wrath,” MEC emphasised.
The Taung College of Agriculture hosted the 2022 ceremony and bid farewell to a total of 24 graduands with a total representation of 38% of whom were females and 62% males. All of them acquired a 3-year diploma of Agriculture in Irrigation.
