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J A N U A R Y - M A R C H 2 0 2 0
Bayanda Mahlaba with Minister of Basic Education, Angie
Motshekga
MUT STRATEGY 2025 IN ACTION:
Excellence in teaching and
learning
(Goal 1)
MUT STRATEGY 2025 IN ACTION:
Excellence in research,
innovation and
engagement
(Goal 2)
The name Bayanda Mahlaba graced every publication
when he defied the odds to become one of the
national top achievers in the 2019 National Senior
Certificate exams. Bayanda, who is doing his first year
of Mechanical Engineering at MUT, did not have an
easy matric journey as he was the victim of crime at
his home in Inanda. Being raised by an unemployed
single mother who had to struggle to make ends meet
brought many challenges during his formative years,
but the biggest hurdle of his life has been funding his
tertiary education. Although he was a national top
achiever with 100% for technical mathematics, and
placed third nationally for technical sciences which
he passed with 90%, he was facing the possibility of
staying at home as none of the funding institutions
would give him a chance. Bayanda’s case is one of
the sad realities that many young top achievers are
faced with.
Luckily for Bayanda, it was his outstanding results
and MUT’s community-mindedness that changed
his situation. One of the local media houses sent
an email to MUT’s stakeholder engagement office
to enquire about the possibility of MUT funding his
studies and assisting him with a space. “As soon
as I saw Bayanda’s matric results I knew that he is
exactly the type of student MUT wants in its student
records. A quick email to the head of the Department
of Mechanical Engineering resulted in him being given
a firm offer – but then there was the issue of funding.
Fortunately for him, he met the criteria set for the
alumni bursary fund which was launched in 2016 by a
group of alumni who also studied engineering at MUT,”
said Zama Sishi, Director: Stakeholder Relations
Management at MUT. Bayanda’s mom broke into tears
of joy when she heard that MUT was able to assist her
son with registration and accommodation fees.
Ayanda Bulose, Schools Liaison Assistant in the
Marketing and Communications Department, was
assigned to assist Bayanda to navigate successfully
through the MUT registration process, which he did
with great care and professionalism. Ayanda has
become a brother and mentor to Bayanda, who had at
some point lost hope that he would ever see himself
starting his tertiary studies in the first semester of
2020. Understanding the depth of his job as a student
recruitment officer, Ayanda has approached a couple
of funding opportunities and successfully secured a
full sponsorship bursary that will fund Bayanda until he
completes his Mechanical Engineering diploma. The
student recruitment team at MUT have grasped the
advantages of targeting better performing students
and are making sure to exploit every opportunity to
get the best students recruited and registered at MUT.
National top achiever accommodated by MUT