They are a usual sight on campus. Sipho Mkhize and Mvuselelo Mabaso, general workers in the Procurement and Stores division, quietly go about doing their job, delivering orders to offices. They push the trolleys and sometimes ride a four-wheeler. Come the end of the day, the two men become something else. While many others think of retiring to their beds or doing some light work, the hard part of the day only begins for the two MUT general workers. They become students and begin “the hard work”, as Mabaso described their studies towards an Advance Diploma in Public Administration. On 23 April 2025, the pair graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Public Administration. When asked why they chose this qualification when they graduated last year, they said it has some aspects of what they do. Now, they have taken it a notch higher.
Mkhize and Mabaso said they were studying because studying is a necessity. “We need to acquire knowledge; that is why we will seriously consider furthering our studies soon, so we do not get rusty,” said Mkhize, a man from KwaMagaye, eMathafeni, in Umzinto, on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal. The two men joined the rest of the evening students and focused on their studies. They said they were encouraged by their colleagues in the division to study. “There were challenges. We were tired after the day’s work. Our job requires us to do a lot of legwork. But we persevered. We knew what we wanted. It was not easy,” said Mabaso, from Ndwedwe, north-west of Durban.
The two men are tenants at Umlazi; they leave for home on weekends or during long breaks.