Against all odds, Malefetsane Mohapi triumphs over financial hardship to graduate with an Advanced Diploma in Human Resource Management at the CUT 2026 Autumn Graduation.

For Mohapi Malefetsane, graduating is more than an academic milestone. It is a powerful testament to resilience, sacrifice, and unwavering determination.

After completing matric in 2017, his journey to higher education was anything but straightforward. For nearly three years, he faced repeated challenges in securing admission.

When he was finally accepted at the CUT Welkom Campus in 2021, he carried not only relief, but a deep appreciation for the opportunity he had fought so hard to earn. “Waiting for that opportunity was not easy,” he reflects, “but it taught me patience and made me value my chance to study even more.”

Yet gaining admission was only the beginning. His academic journey was soon disrupted by the far-reaching effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and student protests, which led to missed assessments and ultimately failure in his first semester of second year. For many, this might have marked the end, but for Mohapi, it became a turning point.

In 2023, determined not to let setbacks define his future, he submitted an academic appeal. When it was approved, it reignited his hope and gave him a second chance to prove himself. He seized it with both hands.

The greatest challenge, however, came in the form of financial hardship. In 2024, after moving into accredited student accommodation, his funding was first delayed and then frozen due to verification processes. With his accommodation left unpaid, uncertainty loomed over his daily life. The pressure was immense, and the risk of losing everything he had worked for became very real.

Still, he refused to give up. “Even when things were uncertain, especially with funding and accommodation, I stayed committed to finishing what I started,” he says. “It was not easy, but I kept going because I knew why I had begun this journey.”

Through every setback, Mohapi found strength in his family, especially his mother and paternal relatives, whose unwavering support carried him through moments of doubt. Their belief in him became his anchor when everything else felt unstable.

Today, Mohapi Malefetsane stands victorious, graduating with an Advanced Diploma in Human Resource Management, he closes one chapter of struggle and opens another filled with promise. Now pursuing postgraduate studies, he continues to build on a journey defined not by obstacles, but by the courage to overcome them.

His story is a reminder that resilience is not the absence of hardship, but the decision to rise above it again and again until victory is achieved.